Conversations on Christ: Who Do Men Say that I AM?

The question on the table is: "Who do you say that I am?"

My answer is simply: "I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, The only-begotten Son of God...Who...was made man..." (Nicene Creed)

This confession, which arose from the grassroots of early Christendom and was formalized into these exact words at Nicene council in 325, are my own confession also.

Flesh and blood does not reveal this but the Father of Jesus. And while formal confessions over time can become formulaic and thoughtless,     ...the fault for this problem lies not in the formula itself but in its mis-use. For this reason, and in a conscious bid to re-assert the usefulness of this creed, I will spend the bulk of my time here today unpacking these words and demonstrating their usefulness in the everyday thought of each and every Christian.

And this presentation, will simply follow the outline provided by the Creed itself. Namely: Jesus is One; Jesus is God and Jesus is Man.

Jesus is One

When Jesus asks the question, "Who do you say that I am," the first part of the answer already lies embedded in the question itself.

For He asks "who I am" not "who we are," "who I was," or "who I will be." And these words cry out for an answer which is both singular and ever-present.

"I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ," one person--inseparable, forever The union of Jesus' two natures is not a temporary arrangement but permanent. And this permanent union means that anything Jesus is, says, or does must be in complete concert with Him as a single person.

It is not permissable to ascribe an action, quality or ability to one nature to the exclusion of the other.  That would make of Him two persons, not one. When Jesus is born, God is born. (Lk 2:11) When Jesus sleeps, God sleeps (Mt. 8:24), when Jesus is crucified, God is crucified (1 Co 2:8) and when Jesus dies, God dies. (Mt 27:54)

Of course, it is offensive to think of a God who does such things. And this is precisely the scandal of the incarnation.  This is why people like Arius and Nestorius, Euthyches and Marcion said what they said.

We must not kid ourselves into thinking that these people took their positions out of sheer unthinking malice and hostility toward God. Rather, they sought to defend God against such "scandalous" notions that He could be subject to crucifixion, suffering and death.

But in the process of defending God, they denied the heart of what God did in Christ. In trying to explain away the scandal of the incarnation and the paradox of Jesus, they denuded Jesus and stripped Him precisely of His saving identity.

The theology condemned at Nicea took either of three different directions in trying to resolve the paradox of the incarnation and smooth over the scandal. Either they denied that Jesus is true God, or they denied that Jesus was tuly human, or they separated Him into two persons, one God, one human.

But ours is not to explain the paradox or defend God against scandal. Ours is to confess Jesus for everything He is; and to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. It was at this point that the teachers of the early Church introduced a very useful analogy into the discussion of the person of Jesus.

The branding iron was used to picture the interplay of Jesus' two natures. When a branding iron is used, it is actually fire that does the work. Iron alone cannot burn anything. When you add fire to the iron, now the iron burns. And yet, for a branding iron to be useful--that is to produce different and recognizable brands--the fire must only burn where the iron touches. Unless the fire is actually located in the iron, it is a useless tool.

So also with Jesus, while it will always remain true that people are forgiven, raised from the dead and reconciled to God only by the power of God Himself ...it is also true that God does this in and through the very human Jesus. And so, the two natures of Jesus are brought together into One God-man person without changing either nature into the other. Iron is still iron. Fire is still fire. Just as God remains God and man remains man.

From this basis, let's now think about what we can learn both about God and about man by observing that Jesus brings these two natures together in Himself. In doing so, we put aside our preconceived notions about who God can be and what or what not he can do and simply fix our attention on the Person of Jesus... And Jesus Himself reveals to us what God can truly do and who He truly is. And Jesus Himself reveals what it is to be truly human and made man. And as we look to Jesus to define these matters for us, we begin with His unity and conclude at least this much...

Since Jesus' actions, qualities and abilities cannot cannot be incompatible with either nature, we can at least learn from Jesus what is possible for God and man without negating each respective nature.

Simply put, if Jesus can die, then God Himself has found a way to die in Christ without becoming less than God. And if Jesus can give life and forgiveness and salvation, then humanity is, in fact, capable of conveying life and forgiveness and salvation without becoming more than human.

Thus, to confess "one Lord Jesus Christ" is to let Jesus be for us both the perfect image of God, and also the perfect image of man.  With that said, we can now look to Jesus to learn of God.

Jesus is God We confess Jesus to be "the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made;"

Jesus is God

That Jesus is God is simple to say. But what does it mean? Who is God in the first place? What is His essence? What is in His heart? How does He want to be known?

By asking these questions, we turn away from the sterile world of metaphysics and philosophy and into the personal world of theology and revelation. For there are any number of sound and reasonable conclusions that we can make about God by observing the glory and wonder of the heavens and the earth. But when God reveals Himself in the person of His Son, we see someone completely different than we expected!

This leads many to conclude that Jesus is only a partial revelation of God. ...that we learn about God partly from nature and partly from Jesus. Thus, most theological textbooks begin with a section on God in general and only after this topic is thoroughly explored do they turn to a discussion of Jesus.

I believe this to be a mistake. Not because we are incapable of seeing God in His creation ...but because we are bypassing the very revelation of God in Christ. "[God] hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, who is the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person." (Hebrews 1:2-3)

What more could we need to know about God than this? Especially, if that additional "knowledge" causes us to ignore, minimize or even contradict what God expressly reveals of Himself in Jesus?!?

And what is it that we see of God in Christ?

Simon's confession, identifying Jesus as God, led Jesus immediately to speak of:  First, of forgiving sins in the Church;  Second, the necessity of His suffering, death and resurrection We see, here, that His majesty, power, might and judgement are hidden and quieted ...while is mercy and love and self-giving are magnified.

This is not to say that God is not majestic, powerful, just and holy. Just hear again at the account of Jesus' Transfiguration."...his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him...and behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud... And when the disciples heard [it], they fell on their face, and were sore afraid."

The majesty is unmistakable. And if Peter wasn't yet frightened by Jesus' appearance, the booming voice from heaven knocked them all to the ground "like dead men." That's why I did not say that these majestic qualities were lacking in Christ.

 I did say that they are quieted--literally--by Jesus Himself! "Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." This charge of silence was not given tongue in cheek, but in all seriousness. God wishes His majesty and power to be known only in the proper context: Calvary.

And it is exactly this economy and way of presenting Himself that is the incarnation.

God deliberately hides His flashing glory "for us men and for our salvation." God wishes to be known wholly and exclusively in Christ precisely because God wishes to be known as savior from judgement and terror, sin and death.

Notice that after the frightening voice demanded that we listen to Jesus ....Jesus' first words are, "do not be afraid." "When they looked up they saw no one but Jesus only." This is not because God's self-revelation was partly removed!  It is because God's self-revelation is complete in Jesus.

Jesus is Man

With that said, we now turn to the human nature of Christ in order to learn about who we are.

Jesus is man: What are the minimum basic requirements without which a person can  no longer be said to be human?  Do you need a body? a free-will? the ability to feed yourself? or breathe for yourself? viability outside the womb? Self-determination?

Many today use such standards to label some human beings as unworthy of life. Just think of Terry Schaivo or the plight of the unborn and you see what I mean. On the other side of the coin, what are the maximum limits beyond which a person is no longer human but divine. Can a human being forgive sins? or raise the dead?

Here, again, you can perceive that these are precisely the things that Jesus did which caused believers to marvel and unbelievers to accuse Him of blasphemy. To deny that a human can do such things is to deny Jesus' true humanity ...either that or to divide Him into two persons.

But, on the other hand, there is a very real danger in elevating humanity to the status of Godhood--assigning to man that which is proper to God alone.

To return to our earlier analogy, it would be like turning the iron into fire itself. This, in fact, is the essence of sin--to desire to be like God. (Genesis 3) And so, to know both the true nature of humanity and also what God can do through a human being, we again look to Jesus alone.  For He alone is a true man!

We believe, teach and confess that Jesus Christ is true man...
 ...Even while His face is shining like the sun, and His robes are white like lightning.
 ...Even while He is forgiving the sins of the paralytic (Mt 9)
 ...Even while He is transmitting divine healing power through the hem of His robe.
In all these things, the flesh and blood of Christ are not doing human things but divine things and yet they do not cease to be human.

So, human being is not defined well either by setting up some "minimum basic requirements" or by denying that God can do certain things with it. Rather, human being is defined by Jesus alone.  He is "the new Adam." (Romans 5) Or, as Pontius Pilate once put it: "Behold, the Man."

So, what IS true humanity as revealed in Christ? I believe this can be summarized in two parts. First, to be truly human is to be and remain a creature. Jesus, as creature means that He depends completely and fully upon His creator.  To be a true man is to be constantly in a relationship of receiving from God.

This is why many people are puzzled by His prayer in the garden. Why does He need to pray such things if He is God? they ask.  !!He doesn't pray because He is God. He prays because He is truly a man!  Precisely at the moment when He is going to give His own life for the salvation of mankind, He must ask God for what it is He will give!

And so Jesus teaches that creaturliness is not something to be overcome. But something to embrace. To be dependant on God is not a liability but an asset To become "a perfect man, unto the measure of the  stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:13) is not to become independant from God but to finally be dependant.

I believe far too many people (Christians included) are of the opinion that the goal of human existence is to reach independance. And thus, when we see regression in this regard, we count it as failure and death.

I do not.

Especially in the twilight years, as our independance is stripped from us, I see God's gracious and loving hand bringing us to be precisely more like those little children who alone inherit the kingdom of God (Mk 10) But in addition to being a creature, there is a second thing that makes us human.

For, after all, everything that is not God Himself is a creation of God and thus, dependant on Him. But to be human is to be distinguished from every other creature by this: You are a creature in the Image of God. This alone--not language, rationality, genetics or anything else--this makes you human.

And what is this Image of God? Is it power?  Is it ruling force? Is it majesty? Is it sovereignty? No. None of these taken in isolation is a complete and balanced description of the Image of God. Rather, the Image of God is simply what Jesus shows us of God in His own person. The image is God is precisely what God reveals of Himself in Jesus.

We already discussed this in Part II of this presentation.  God is Love. God is merciful. God saves. And so, again in the direct context of Peter's confession that Jesus is God...

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

To follow Jesus in His perfect humanity is to follow Him in His self-sacrificial suffering. And this is the "Glory of the Father" and the coming of the Christ's Kingdom. Thus what charactorizes the true human existence is the image of God. Which is none other than Jesus Christ, the express image of the Father.