I believe in Jesus Christ

Raoul Dederen continues the series "This We Believe" with an examination of the central belief of the Christian faith—Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of lords.

Raoul Dederen, Ph.D., is professor of historical theology, Andrews University Theological Seminary, Berrien Springs, Michigan, and a contributing editor of MINISTRY.

We believe in ... one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, and ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and dead. —The Creed of Nicaea.

At the center of the Christian religion is Jesus Christ. Our religion is not, in the first place, the acceptance of a creed or of a certain number of clearly defined fundamental beliefs. In its innermost essence it is a commitment to a Person. Being a Christian means to say Yes to Christ, and to do so unreservedly.

The same is true of the Christian message. The gospel is about a Person. It is about an event at the center of which is Jesus Christ. In Him God has acted and spoken. In Jesus Christ He has come. The New Testament Scriptures ascribe ultimate significance to Jesus of Nazareth, "born of woman" (Gal. 4:4), * yet who was before Abraham (see John 8:58). Christianity does not go back simply to an early community of believers; it is rooted in Jesus of Nazareth.

But who is Jesus? Just a first-century Jew? It is difficult to allow that a man of the first century, however great, has said the last word on all that matters. The demand that we surrender ourselves to Him as a person has even more alarming implications. Who is He?

He was certainly a man. His earliest disciples were in no doubt regarding the genuine humanity of the man of Nazareth. They spoke of Him as "a man approved of God" (Acts 2:22, K.J.V.), a man " 'anointed . . . with the Holy Spirit'" and who " 'went about doing good'" (chap. 10:38). At the same time they maintained that they saw God in every aspect of His work—past, present, and future. He was, they declared, nothing less than divine. Looking back to His earthly life, they saw the miracles He performed as "signs" from God, i.e., acts of God attending Jesus and investing Him with revelational significance (see chaps. 2:22; 10:38). They also saw Him as the object of Old Testament prophecy, both in general terms (see chaps. 7:52; 10:43) and also with reference to such particular events as the crucifixion (see chap. 3:18) or the resurrection (see chap. 2:25-31). While some set Jesus at naught and rejected Him, God, they maintained, had glorified Him (see chap. 3:13), had exalted Him to His own right hand (see chap. 2:33) and, as the first recorded Christian sermon states, had "made him both Lord and Christ" (verse 36). God had chosen Him to be the judge of all, living and dead alike (see chaps. 10:42; 17:31).

Theirs may not have been, from the start, a highly developed Christology. We may well have to wait until we come to some of the more theological writings of the New Testament for such formal and systematic statements, but these early affirmations contain all the raw materials for a thoroughgoing Christian doctrine of the person and work of Christ.

The New Testament writers also liked to think of Jesus as standing in a specially close relationship to the Father. Paul, for instance, is so much in the habit of thinking of the Father and the Son as intimately related that he ascribes many gifts and graces indifferently to either. Thus, the gospel is the gospel of God as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ just a few verses later (see Rom. 1:1, 16). The two are so close that it hardly matters which name is used. Forgiveness-is from God or from Christ (see Col. 2:13; 3:13), or from God for Christ's sake (see Eph. 4:32). One day we shall stand before the judgment seat of God, which is also referred to as the judgment seat of Christ (see Rom. 14:10- 12; 2 Cor. 5:10). And if it is true that in the Old Testament the great day at the end of the world, when judgment will be effected, is the "day of the Lord," it is also described as "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:8, cf. Rom. 2:16). How could anything more strikingly demonstrate the place accorded Christ in the minds of the first Christians than the spectacle of convinced Jewish monotheists so freely ascribing divine functions and attributes to Jesus of Nazareth?

John's gospel opens with the baffling statement, "In the beginning was the Word." The imagery is foreign to us, and we hardly know what to make of it. But the term logos (word) was common in the first century. It is precisely against this back ground (which, as John knew, Jews and Greeks would understand and appreciate) that the apostle claimed that Jesus of Nazareth was responsible for all creation, as well as for giving men and women the true light (see John 1:3, 4, 9). For John, the logos with which his contemporaries were so familiar was a person and no less than God (see verse 1).

Having asserted Christ's essential deity, John goes on to state that an incarnation took place: "the Word became flesh" (verse 14). Years earlier Paul had made a similar statement: the One who was in the form of God took the form of a servant and was "born in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7). God the Son became a man; a union took place between God and a created human nature so close that a man, one of our own race, could say, "I am God." At a particular moment in history God the Son entered this world in a unique, unprecedented fashion and began to exist as man! The Incarnation cannot be explained by what went before; it must be joined by a vertical line directly with God.

While it would be altogether arrogant to boast that we can know Christ's mind, we are not without evidence of Jesus' view of Himself. Among other things, He knew Himself to be God's Son in a unique sense (see Luke 2:41-52; John 20:17; 5:17, 18), as well as the Son of man, who has authority to forgive sins and who is lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:10, 27). Christ's self-understanding comes out most vividly in the great "I am" statements recorded in the fourth Gospel. '"I am the bread of life'" (John 6:35) and '"I am the light of the world'" (chap. 8:12) are unique claims. The same may be said of" 'I am the resurrection and the life'" (chap. 11:25) or of His claim to be " 'the way, and the truth, and the life'" (chap. 14:6). These assertions could hardly be more comprehensive and universal. It seems difficult to escape the conclusion that in the mind of Jesus there was a definite connection between Himself and the great I am as the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament (see Ex. 3:13, 14). We see this even more clearly in another of Christ's statements: "'Before Abraham was, I am'" (John 8:58). Those who heard Him were so very much aware of the implications of such a statement that "they took up stones to throw at him" (verse 59).

Though fully God, Jesus was also fully man, as attested by the New Testament writers who tell us that he "grew and became strong" (Luke 2:40) and "increased in wisdom and in stature" (verse 52), and that He "learned obedience through what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). They describe Him to us as knowing hunger (see Matt. 4:2) and thirst (see John 19:28), and the need for sleep and rest (see Matt. 8:24; John 4:6). He could express love and compassion (see Mark 10:21; Matt. 9:36), and needed prayer to sustain Him (see Matt. 14:23; Luke 16:12).

Yet in the most natural fashion Christ claimed sinlessness (see John 8:46), a claim His enemies apparently never challenged. The New Testament writers freely repeated it (see Luke 1:35; Mark 1:24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 1:9; 1 John 3:5). I would not wish to assert here that Christ's sinlessness arose from some automatic necessity of His nature that, for instance, placed Him above temptation. While He was sinless and free from tendencies or propensities toward evil, He was indeed tempted, sorely tempted. "In every respect . . . tempted as we are, yet without sinning," specifies the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (4:15). The reality of Christ's temptations forms a considerable part of the evidence of His manhood. This reality is highlighted by the record of Christ's encounter with Satan in the wilderness (see Matt. 4:1-11) and the agony He underwent in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Luke 22:39- 46), to mention only these. Clearly, Jesus' sinlessness did not result from some automatic necessity of His nature as much as from His moment-by-moment committal of Himself to the Father.

He probably described His role best when He stated that the Son of man " 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many'" (Mark 10:45). Likewise, the gospel that Paul both received and delivered began by declaring that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of Jesus' death in the New Testament, whose authors are concerned, to show historically how that death occurred and what it means theologically. This is indeed the very heart of the gospel message. To Paul it was essentially an act of God, the act of God, and absolutely central. He made it the center of his message (see Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor. 2:2).

It was basic to Paul that Christ died "for" sin, that He was crucified "for" men. Christ, he explains, "was put to death for our trespasses" (Rom. 4:25), he "died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3), and "gave himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4). Christ Himself portrayed His death in this very light when He commented, " 'This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me'" (Luke 22:19). This is why we speak of Christ's death as "vicarious," i.e., a death He died for others, or with their benefit in view. There have been great differences of opinion concerning this phrase "for you," and the distinction has frequently been made between "in your behalf" (hyper) and "in your stead" (anti). I believe that Scripture does not warrant such a radical distinction. "In the stead of" and "in behalf of" neither contradict nor exclude each other. The cross is bigger than any definition, deeper and more profound than any rationale. Christ's death was fully "in behalf of" because it took place "in the stead of." His was a vicarious and substitutionary death, a demonstration of God's love. Truly, as John declares, "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Still, a theology of redemption that would pay exclusive attention to Christ's death would inevitably be unbalanced and impoverished from a scriptural perspective. Indeed, the gospel both received and proclaimed by Paul, referred to above, did not merely reveal that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures," but immediately adds "that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). Jesus' death and resurrection Paul pro claimed as belonging together at the very heart of the gospel. His reluctance to speak of one without the other is reflected in Romans 8:34, "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead." There is an indissoluble bond joining the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the one mystery of salvation.

Christ's resurrection is central to the Christian faith. On the basis of their experience of the resurrection, the early disciples saw the life and death of Jesus in a whole new light. The ambiguity and the feeling of defeat that surrounded them disappeared. Most likely, its faith in the resurrection was the primary factor that caused the early church to acknowledge the divinity of Jesus. And once the early believers had accepted His divinity, they began under the guidance of the Spirit to lay the foundations for the doctrine of the Incarnation, proclaiming Jesus as the Word made flesh (see John 1:14). From the doctrine of the Incarnation they were led ineluctably to the preexistence of Jesus (see verse 1; Phil. 2:5-9) and to the issue of His relationship to the whole of creation and to the history of salvation (see Col. 1:15-20; Rom. 8:19-22; Eph. 1:9, 10, 22, 23). The message of the New Testament became, and still is, the message of the resurrected Lord, for the resurrection of Christ is the beginning and not the end of the story.

Nor did the New Testament writers separate the resurrection from the ascension of Christ. In their eyes, the resurrection, the ascension, and the present status of Christ at "God's right hand" are all results of a single action of God in vindicating Christ after His humiliation on the cross (see Rom. 8:34; Phil. 2:8, 9; Eph. 1:20, 21).' The two, however, remain clearly distinct. It is one thing to affirm that Jesus has been raised from death; it is another, however closely related, to assert that He now shares in the sovereignty of God over heaven and earth. For this is indeed what Christ's ascension proclaims. It affirms that Christ, risen from the dead, is both king and priest. As king, He shares the throne of God, and all authority belongs to Him in heaven and earth (see Matt. 28:18; Acts 2:33; 1 Cor. 15:25; Heb. 1:3; 1 Peter 3:22). He sits in a unique position of dignity and honor at the right hand of God. But He is also priest. At God's right hand He makes intercession for us (see Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1, 2). Christ's priesthood is most fully expounded in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the apostle depicts the resurrected Christ as our "high priest" (see chaps. 2:17; 7:27) who "offered himself without blemish to God" (chap. 9:14). He is at once high priest and sacrifice, taking us not into a "sanctuary made with hands" but into the true sanctuary, the heavenly sanctuary, appearing in the presence of God "on our behalf (see verses 11-15, 24; chap. 10:19, 20). His work is for us; it is also in us (see chap. 10:16). In him only are we made "perfect" or "complete" (see chaps. 2:10-18; 10:14).

He is our mediator (see chaps 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). But He is that in a richer sense than is indicated by the usual translation. He is not between God and man. 2 He is not just a third party between God and man; He is infinitely more than that. In Him, who is both human and divine, God and man meet directly. He is not a middleman. As true God, He brings God to man; and as true man, He brings man to God. He is a "merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God" (chap 2:17).

His mediatorial priesthood, however, will come to an end; for, as the same Epistle concludes, "Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (chap. 9:28). Jesus expected that there would be a time on earth when His disciples would have to go about their work without His visible presence (see John 7:34-36; 13:33; 14:1, 2). He also visualized an end to history, a day when He would return to His people (see John 14:3, 18, 19; 16:16, 22), when there would be a resurrection of the dead (see Mark 12:25- 27; Luke 14:14; John 5:25-29) and a final separation between the saved and the lost (see Matt. 8:11, 12; 13:24-30, 36-43; 25:31-46).

So our Lord will appear a second time in glory. He will return to earth and fulfill His promise to " 'take you to myself, that where I am you may be also'" (John 14:3). God's redemptive purpose, centered on Christ, will reach its fulfillment.

One of the most surprising things about Christ's return, though, is that we Christians are supposed to want it, to look forward to it. It is, remember, the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). The early Christians longed for it and were impatient at its delay. This seems strange to our present mentality. They desired the end of the world, and we dread it. Could it be that our notion of the end no longer corresponds to theirs?

We are used to associating the end with some cosmic disaster and have come to dispense with the cosmic significance of Christ's work, which the early believers kept ever in sight. For them, the end of the world, though cataclysmic, meant the triumph of Christ. Christ's death and resurrection already marked the beginning of the end of the world, introducing into this world and into human history the final order of things. The new creation had begun, and we already have eternal life. We live in the last days and already enjoy the life of the world to come. The final order of things exists, now—fully in Christ Himself, but in an incomplete way in the rest of creation. So, when all is ready, Christ will come again "to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (Heb. 9:28).

No wonder the first Christians were impatient for everything to be settled quickly. No wonder that at the end of the Apocalypse John should cry out: "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

 

 

Notes:

1 In several passages the resurrection is not treated as an event separate from the ascension. See, for instance, Acts 2:32, 33; Eph. 4:9, 10; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Peter 3:21, 22.

2 As translated in the only other passage referring to Christ as mediator, namely, 1 Timothy 2:5. Interestingly enough, the Greek text has no word for between.

Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this article are from the Revised Standard Version.

 

Raoul Dederen, Ph.D., is professor of historical theology, Andrews University Theological Seminary, Berrien Springs, Michigan, and a contributing editor of MINISTRY.

July 1981

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