Jesus
is considered to be one of the most influential people to have ever lived.
Realizing this, we must look deeper into who this man was and why he is so influential.
He is known as the most important leader of Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth[1]
is known as a prolific teacher by almost everyone who believes he was real
because he taught good morals and encouraged help for the needy. While this is
all true, it significantly falls short of the true account of Jesus as can be
found in the Bible. Jesus is known in the Bible as the Son of God, God himself,
Lord, and Savior. As one considers the Bible more fully, they find more titles
given to Jesus identifying this person as the true Savior of men.
Jesus
is known rather fondly as the Son of God. It is very difficult to take this
title at face value and believe in the oneness of the Trinity. If Jesus is the “Son”,
then it is obvious after some amount of reasoning that someone “begot” or
“created” Jesus. But as we look at the beginning of John, we find the following:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all
things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was
made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”[2]
Jesus is
referred to as “the Word” in this text, and it is obvious that the author makes
it clear to his audience that Jesus was “with God” and at the same time “was
God.” This means that he was both God and a different person from God. God did
not beget Jesus, but rather Jesus was given the title of Son So that his
personage would be seen as separate from God the Father. We find something
along these lines in the beginning verses of Hebrews when Jesus is described as
the “Son,” yet having the exact “nature” of God and being the “radiance” of
God’s glory. Dr. Sproul explains that this radiance implies that Jesus is also
the “exact image of God.”[3]
Grudem would explain that this the “exact representation (or ‘exact duplicate’)
of the nature of being of God.”[4]
John 20.25-31 also gives a very good description of Jesus’ person being both
God and a separate person from God. This seasoned concept is well known as
being the “hypostatic union.” After inspection, it is clear that if one
recognizes what the Bible says about Jesus as truth, then one would have to
come to the conclusion that Jesus is both God and the Son of God.
As
we continue to consider the person of Jesus, we have already acknowledged His
deity, and now we must examine his humanity. First, as we look at the biblical
account of Jesus’ birth, we find that a Jewish girl, Mary, was chosen to bear
the Messiah even though she had never been with a man in an intimate way. Jesus
was then born to his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. It is interesting to
consider the people that were the chosen parents of Jesus, because after
careful analysis of Joseph’s lineage, we find that he was of the tribe of Judah
and of the lineage of David the King. As one reflects on the Old Testament, he
will find in Genesis 49 the prophecy to Judah that his “brothers shall praise
you” and that the “scepter shall not depart from Judah.”[5]
We also find in 2 Samuel 7.12-13 a covenant made from God to David that He
would “raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body…and I
will establish his kingdom forever.” We see both of these passages fulfilled in
Jesus in his birth as a human. Jesus is seen as human in his birth.
Jesus
then lived the life we couldn’t live. As we reflect on Christ’s life on earth,
it is important that we look at the ministry that he was so popular for. Jesus
is known for his unique ability to do miracles and teach parables that taught
such potent truths. But we must look deeper into his ministry. Jesus was able
to live a sinless life, which is completely unique to him because no other
human has been able to live this kind of a life.[6]
Again, Jesus lived a life that we could never live. Also, being sinless meant
that Jesus did not lie, but that everything that he said was truthful. This
fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 53 that “neither was there any deceit in his
mouth.” Because he spoke truth from God and never spoke any deceit, Jesus can
be considered as the perfect Prophet.
Jesus
then died the death we deserved to die. He lived a sinless life and did not sin
even to the point of death. But as he died, he took on the sin of many,
resulting in the separation from His Father, because God cannot look on sin. We
find this substitution for people’s sins described again in the account of the
suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Paul says that Christ became “ a curse for us.”
Because Jesus died the death we deserved to die, we are obligated to recognize
that Jesus atoned our sins and became a propitiation for us. Jesus literally
turned away God’s wrath from us. We deserved to die for our sins, but Jesus,
because he was sinless and God, was the only worthy candidate to both turn away
and absorb God’s wrath for us, so that he can take us to a state of being
“at-one” with God.[7] It is
obvious from the 2 Corinthians 5.21 that this sacrifice and act of substitutionary
atonement appeased the wrath of God. Because Jesus lived the life we could not
live and died the death we deserved to die, we consider him to be the perfect
Priest because he has perfectly mediated salvation to those who would believe.
Jesus
did not stay in the grave for long, though. It is recorded that after three
days in the tomb that he was physically resurrected. This resurrection has a lot of significance for the
Christian because Jesus is now alive. As Grudem would put it, “Christ’s
resurrection ensures our regeneration.” This means that everyone who comes to
faith in Jesus has been made alive from his or her spiritual deadness. This is
reassuring that God has given us salvation, that it is a divine act. Another
significance is that Jesus was “raised for our justification.”[8]
This means that Jesus was raised to make us in right standing with, or
acceptable to God. We are declared righteous because Christ was raised. Jesus
also ascended and has taken his seat at the right hand of God according to
Ephesians 1.20 and Hebrews 10.12. Jesus has sat down because he has inaugurated
his Kingdom here on earth, and has sat down as the rightful King to rule His
kingdom. This signifies that Jesus is the perfect King.
We
have seen throughout this paper that Jesus is fully God, fully man, and that he
has lived the life we could not live, died the death we deserved to die, he was
raised, and he ascended into heaven to rule next to God. He fulfilled His
offices perfectly as Prophet, Priest, and King so that he can be recognized as
the only worthy Savior of men.
[1] This is a title given, not because he
was born in Nazareth, but rather because the majority of his early years as a
boy was spent living in Nazareth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
[2] John 1.1-4
[3] Quote from Dr. R.C. Sproul’s “Overview
of Hebrews” on his lecture series entitled “From Dust to Glory.”
[4] Grudem, Wayne. “Systematic Theology.”
Page 236.
[5] Genesis 49.8, 10
[6] 1 John 3.5
[7] These are a few passages on
propitiation: Hebrews 2.17; 1 John 2.2; and 1 John 4.10.
[8] Romans 4.25
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