| CFGC Newsletter November 2006 |
DEALING WITH JESUS (2 of 3)
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There has been a recent spate of attempts to construct an alternative savior. Rejecting the true Jesus, people search for another way. Jonathan Edwards is believed by many historians to be the greatest American philosopher and theologian. He spoke pointedly to our day’s “pick and choose” spirituality when he asked, “Is God obliged, because you do not like this Savior, to provide you another?”
We need some clear headed thinkers like Edwards today. In the current fog of confusion, let’s restate a few facts.
Jesus is the divine, eternal Son of God. To use the old theological nomenclature, He is “fully God and fully man.” His deity was not an “invention” of later disciples. John states with no ambiguity concerning Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). John affirms both the deity of Christ and His eternal nature.
When Philip asked Jesus to “show us the Father,” Jesus responded, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:8, 9).
“You are the Christ,” Peter affirmed, “the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
Thomas bowed in worship before the risen Christ exclaiming, “My lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Paul called Jesus the creator, sustainer and lord of the universe in Colossians 1:15-16. Paul acknowledged His eternal nature when he wrote, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
The writer of Hebrews quotes the heavenly Father Himself addressing Jesus, His Son, as God: “But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever’” (Hebrews 1:8.)
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