Who is Jesus? Part 1 of 4

When I go somewhere and want to use my credit card, I am asked to show my I.D. Let them know I really am who I say I am. In this age of identity theft you have to be careful. We find Jesus’ I.D. in the Bible. But the true identity of Jesus is often obscured (or hijacked or stolen) by those who are deceived & misunderstand of what the Bible actually says about Him. Some have a problem with the atonement, how could the death of one man on a Roman cross really pay the penalty for sin? The resurrection is a stumbling block to some. Or the virgin birth, denied by many Protestants over the past 100 years. Or the gospel miracles, up for grabs amongst those who find them hard to believe. But the biggest mystery the Gospel reveals is the incarnation. How Christ could take humanity without loss of deity.

The main truth God wants you to grasp regarding Jesus is that He is that He is completely God & completely man in one person & always will be. He is preeminent, superior, and sovereign over all creation. The biblical support for this statement is huge. As we seek to develop Biblical understanding of who Jesus is, I want to look at the question theologically set a foundation & experientially see what difference it makes in our lives.

Theologically: What does the Bible say? Col. 1:15-20 is 1 of the most important passages in the Bible when it comes to the question who is Jesus? Often 1 of the more abused passages by those who deny Christ’s true identity. Background: Gnosticism (from the Greek gnosis, meaning knowledge) was an enemy of the early church. It taught salvation was a matter of gaining certain secret knowledge. It was marked by dualism, belief that material matter, flesh, world, was evil, & the spiritual realm was good. It either totally mattered what you did or it didn’t matter at all, led to 1 of 2 extremes: asceticism, denial of every pleasure or hedonism, free indulgence of appetites. An error that sprang up was Docetism, which denied that Jesus had a real physical body. Led John to write 1 John 4:2-3 "by this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." Paul was refuting Gnosticism when he wrote Colossians. Col. 1:15-17 "Image of the invisible God", image is eikon, bodily representation, likeness. "The firstborn of creation." Some say this means He was created; had a beginning in time, the first thing created by God; & therefore inferior to the Father. An understanding of the Greek word prototokos (firstborn) corrects this error. [The word is used 130 times in the Greek translation of the Old testament, called the Septuagint, which was commonly used in the time of Christ.] Used in the context of blessing. The firstborn received a double portion of the inheritance, a better blessing & special treatment. It was a title referring to status & position rather than birth order. Ps. 89:27 says "I shall make Him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." Spoken of David, it is a Messianic psalm, pointing to Christ. Centers on the relationship between God & David, not the fact David was born. He had a preeminent position in God’s plan; given leadership & authority over God’s people. The coming Messiah would have preeminence but in a much greater way. Rom. 8:29 Christ is called the "firstborn among many brethren." Superior & sovereign over Christians. Heb. 1:6 says "when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, and let all the angels of God worship Him." Preeminence. Col. 1:18 (Rev. 1:5) Jesus is called "the firstborn from the dead." Refers to the leadership of Christ in bringing about the resurrection of the dead and new life. Back to Col. 1:15, "firstborn" doesn’t mean first created, it refers to Christ’s position of power, primacy & preeminence. It is a title for Christ used with relation to Christ’s superiority & priority not origin or birth. It fits the context of the passage. He is called the firstborn, because all things came into being by Him. He is the Creator. Those who deny Christ’s divinity, saying this passage diminishes who he is, are greatly mistaken – this exalts Christ’s high position! Gives Him the title of God over all creation. Like naming a world champion, the Los Angeles Lakers, over the entire NBA. In the biggest way possible Jesus is Sovereign over everything. Everything is under Him. All things we created by, through & for Him. Paul uses every word available to say: there is no one higher than Jesus; everything that exists in the created order is under Him. They exist because He made them; they exist for Him. We grasp this as believers – we exist for God’s glory, His pleasure, His purpose. Col. 1:17 says "all things hold together" or exist, in Christ. Christ maintains & upholds the universe – it continues, endures, because He keeps it going.

Jesus is God Almighty. The One true God. The God whose identity is revealed in the Bible. Who is God? The Trinity: One God who eternally exists as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who are each fully and equally God. 1, 2 or all 3 aspects of that statement are often denied by those who do not believe God is triune. There is 1 God only. 3 distinct persons. The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are all God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal. William G.T. Shedd wrote, "the doctrine of the Trinity is the most immense of all the doctrines…the foundation of theology. Christianity...is Trinitarian. Take out of the NT…the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit, and there is no God left." Col. 1:19 says, "In Him all the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell." and Col. 2:9 says "in Him all the fullness dwells in bodily form." He is Emmanuel, God with us Matt. 1:23.

Jesus is God incarnate. From the Latin meaning becoming flesh. Augustine said He remained what He was (God) and became what He was not (man). Jesus was fully God and fully man. An aspect of Christ’s identity often misunderstood or twisted. In A.D. 451 the Council of Chalcedon wrestled with the confusion surrounding the divinity and humanity of Jesus, stating clearly that Jesus Christ is 1 person, 2 natures (human and divine) who is both fully God and fully man. The union of the 2 natures is called the Hypostatic union, from the Greek hypostais (person). 3 facts emerge: Christ has 2 distinct natures; there is no mixture of the 2; & He is still 1 person. This is the commonly held view in all of Christendom.

Heb. 1:1-3 says He bears the very stamp (exact duplicate, Greek charakter) of God’s nature, upholding the universe by the word of His power. Jesus is the exact duplicate of the nature of God, equal with God in every attribute. A common error: saying Jesus gave up some of His attributes & nature as God. Phil. 2:7 He gave up none of His Divine attributes while laying aside His privileges as God. The emptying was not of attributes as God, but of His rights as God. He took the form of a servant, by coming to live as a man, & being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. He made Himself nothing. The emptying was a change in role and status, not essential attributes or nature. Paul’s purpose in context was to persuade them to do nothing from selfishness or conceit, humbly consider others better than yourself like Jesus did. God doesn’t want us to give up being who we are; He wants is to put the interests of others before our own. Jesus willingly gave up some of His privilege and status as God while fully retaining His attributes and nature as God. 2 Cor. 8:9 though He was rich, He made Himself poor for your sakes./ John 1:1-4, 14. 1:1 In the beginning was the Word. Eternal. No beginning, when everything else began – He was. The Word was with God. Personal being. Was God. Deity. Personally distinct from the Father, but not a creature. Divine. 1:14 & the Word became flesh. 1:3 All things made by Him. Creator, the Father’s agent in every act of making. 1:4 In Him was life. It originated with Him; He gave life to all. No life in the physical realm without Him. The life was the light of men. He gives light, reveals. We are alive due to the work of the living Word of God. To have a Biblically accurate view of Jesus we must affirm that He was and is fully Divine and fully human. We must not downplay Christ being fully man. With regard to Christ’s humanity, the virgin birth, His human body, mind, soul and emotions, the fact people knew Him as a man and most saw Him only as a man, give ample reason for believing its truthfulness. His full humanity was necessary: for Him to do what He came to earth to do, namely save sinners. It was necessary for Him to be our representative in the realm of obedience, to be our Substitute sacrifice, to be the one Mediator between God and man 1 Tim. 2:5; to fulfill God’s original purpose for man to rule over His creation; to sympathize with us as our great high Priest, who did not need to daily offer sacrifice first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because He was sinless, He offered once for all the sacrifice for sin.

Tomorrow, we'll address how we know Jesus is God and why He has to be God.