PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST DEITY 1

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PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST ERICKSON DOGM221 PEC	At the conclusion of this chapter, you should be able to achieve the following: Demonstrate a full understanding of the deity of Jesus Christ and the importance it has for the Christian faith. Identify and explain the biblical teaching regarding the deity of Christ. Recognize and describe Ebionism and Arianism, two views about Jesus Christ, and how they deviate from the historical and biblical understanding of his deity. Formulate implications concerning the deity of Christ for the purpose of developing a balanced Christology.
One of the most controversial and yet crucial topics of Christian theology is the deity of Christ. It lies at the heart of our faith; for our faith rests on Jesus’s actually being God in human flesh, and not simply an extraordinary human, even the most unusual person who ever lived.	Islam maintains that Jesus was one of the great prophets, that he did not die on the cross, someone else taking his place there, and was not raised from the dead.
The Biblical Teaching As with other doctrines, our primary source is the witness of Scripture.	Jesus’s Self-Consciousness In looking at the biblical evidence for the deity of Christ, we begin with Jesus’s own self-consciousness. What did Jesus think and believe about himself?
What we do find, however, are claims that would be inappropriate if made by someone who is less than God. For example, Jesus said that he would send “his angels” (Matt. 13: 41); elsewhere they are spoken of as “the angels of God” (Luke 12: 8– 9; 15: 10). That reference is particularly significant, for he spoke not only of the angels but also of the kingdom as his.	More significant yet are the prerogatives Jesus claimed. In particular, his claim to forgive sins resulted in a charge of blasphemy against him.
well. In Matthew 25: 31– 46 he speaks of judging the world. He will sit on his glorious throne and divide the sheep from the goats. Certainly this is a power only God can exercise.	The authority Jesus claimed and exercised is also clearly seen with respect to the Sabbath. God had established the sacredness of the Sabbath (Exod. 20: 8– 11). Only God could abrogate or modify this regulation.
We see Jesus also claiming an unusual relationship with the Father, particularly in the sayings reported in John. For example, he claims to be one with the Father (John 10: 30), and that to see and know him is to see and know the Father (John 14: 7– 9).	There is a claim to preexistence in his statement in John 8: 58, “‘ Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’”
In some respects, the clearest indication of Jesus’s self-understanding is found in connection with his trial and condemnation. The charge, according to John’s account, was that “he claimed to be the Son of God” (John 19: 7). Matthew reports the high priest to have said at the trial, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matt. 26: 63).	Not only did Jesus not dispute the charge that he claimed to be God, but he also accepted his disciples’ attribution of deity to him. The clearest case of this is his response to Thomas’s statement, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20: 28).
time. Time and again he says, “You have heard that it was said, . . . But I tell you . . .” (e.g., Matt. 5: 21– 22, 27– 28). Here Jesus presumes to place his word on the same level as Old Testament Scripture. Jesus is claiming to have the power in himself to lay down teaching as authoritative as that given by the Old Testament prophets.	Jesus also, by implication, direct statement, and deed, claims power over life and death.
Perhaps the most emphatic statement is found in his words to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11: 25).	Jesus specifically applied to himself expressions that conveyed his self-understanding. One of these is “Son of God.” While the title is capable of various different meanings, Jesus “poured into it a new content to describe His own unique person and relationship to God.”[
The Gospel of John When we examine the whole of the New Testament, we find that what its writers say about Jesus is thoroughly consistent with his own self-understanding and claims about himself. The Gospel of John is, of course, noted for its references to Jesus’s deity.	John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He has both identified the Word as divine and distinguished the Word from God.
Hebrews The book of Hebrews is also very emphatic regarding Jesus’s divinity. In the opening chapter the author speaks of the Son as the radiance of the glory of God and the exact representation of his nature (Heb. 1: 3).	The argument here is that the Son is superior to angels (1: 4– 2: 9), Moses (3: 1– 6), and the high priests (4: 14– 5: 10). He is superior for he is not merely a human or an angel but something higher— namely, God.
Paul Paul frequently witnesses to Jesus’s deity. In Colossians 1: 15– 20 Paul writes that the Son is the image of the invisible God (v. 15); he is the one in whom and through whom and for whom all things hold together (v. 17).	Paul also confirms some of the claims Jesus had made earlier.
Jesus, being God, emptied himself, became human, and then was again exalted to the status of deity or of equality with the Father.[	The Term “Lord” There is a more general type of argument for the deity of Christ. The New Testament writers ascribe the term kyrios (“ Lord”) to Jesus, particularly in his risen and ascended state.
First, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) kyrios is the usual translation of the name Jehovah and of the reverential ’adonai which was ordinarily substituted for it.	For the Jews particularly, the term kyrios suggested that Christ was equal with the Father.
The Evidence of the Resurrection	Historical Departures from Belief in the Full Deity of Christ As the church struggled to understand who and what Jesus is, and particularly how he is related to the Father, some deviant interpretations arose.
Ebionism The Ebionites, a sect of heretical Jewish Christians, denied the real or ontological deity of Jesus. Jesus was, according to the Ebionites, an ordinary human possessing unusual but not superhuman or supernatural gifts of righteousness and wisdom.	Thus Jesus was primarily a human, albeit a human in whom, at least for a time, the power of God was present and active to an unusual degree.
Ebionism had to ignore or deny a large body of scriptural material: all of the references to the preexistence, the virgin birth, and the qualitatively unique status and function of Jesus. In the view of the church, this was far too great a concession.	Arianism The teaching of an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius became the first major threat to the views implicitly held by the church regarding Jesus’s deity. Although condemned by the church at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and at subsequent councils, Arianism lingers on to our day in various forms, most notably in the movement known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Father alone is uncreated and eternal. The Word is therefore a created being, although the first and highest of the beings. While the Word is a perfect creature, not really in the same class with the other creatures, he is not self-existent.	Somewhat less extreme were the semi-Arians, who stressed the similarity rather than the dissimilarity between the Word and the Father. They were willing to say that the Word is similar in nature (or essence) to the Father (homoiousios), but not that he is of the same essence as the Father (homoousios).
Functional Christology Not all modifications of the doctrine of the full deity of Jesus are found in the first centuries of the history of the church. One of the interesting christological developments of the late twentieth century was the rise of “functional Christology.”	By this is meant an emphasis on what Jesus did rather than on what he is. Basically, functional Christology claims to work on the basis of purely New Testament grounds rather than the more metaphysical or speculative categories of a later period of reflection, which are viewed as rooted in Greek thought.[ 17] However, because functional Christology overlooks some features of the biblical witness and distorts others, it is not an adequate Christology for today.
Implications of the Deity of Christ	1. We can have real knowledge of God. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14: 9). Whereas the prophets came bearing a message from God, Jesus was God. If we would know what the love of God, the holiness of God, the power of God are like, we need only look at Christ.
2. Redemption is available to us. The death of Christ is sufficient for all sinners who have ever lived, for it was not merely a finite human, but an infinite God who died. He— the Life, the Giver and Sustainer of life, who did not have to die— died.	die— died. 3. God and humanity have been reunited. It was not an angel or a human who came from God to the human race, but God himself crossed the chasm created by sin.
4. Worship of Christ is appropriate. He is not merely the highest of the creatures, but he is God in the same sense and to the same degree as the Father. He is as deserving of our praise, adoration, and obedience as is the Father.	Questions for Review and Reflection Why is the deity of Christ so important to the Christian faith? Use biblical references to support your answer. What did Jesus say that would support his divinity? What views have developed that diminish the deity of Christ, and are they still being taught today? What implications may be drawn concerning the deity of Christ? In what ways are these implications important to your Christian faith?

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