Saturday, August 14, 2010

Jesus

Jesus
Statement of Belief:
Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutional sacrifice; and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures. He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. He will come again to establish His Kingdom of righteousness and peace.

What I understand by "true God and true man" as applied to Jesus?
I understand that Jesus was and is the physical representation of God in the form of a human man. His existence came as a miracle. The world of the spirit came into the physical realm of time and history. He came with a purpose and a plan to redeem mankind from the relational separation from God, which occurred in Genesis 3 with Adam. The biblical writers represent this many times in Scripture. Each instance was placed in the Bible in order to represent His deity and humanity. His God qualities, which focus His claims to God equality, are found in several places but I will list only a few. His claim of power over angels. In Mt 13:41 he says, "The son of man will send out his angels..." Jesus also said that he had the power to forgive sins. In Mark 2:5 Jesus heals a paralyzed man but before he does this he says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." He claimed that he had the power to forgive sins. This is something that only God can do. Jesus also spoke of his purpose of judging the world. (Mt. 25: 31-46) Jesus also spoke about his power over death and life in John 5:21. He equates himself with the Father, "who raises the dead and gives them life." My final understanding would be Jesus case for equality with God and his "true God-ness." In John 5:18 the religious leaders were committed to kill him because he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God. Jesus was not the only one who pointed to his deity. The biblical authors wrote about it as well. The apostle John wrote in John1:1-5 that the "word" was God. The word that he was writing of was Jesus. The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus was the exact representation of God’s glory. Finally Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15-20 that Jesus was the image of the invisible God. He also wrote in Colossians 2:9 that Christ Jesus was the fullness of deity in bodily form.

In addressing my understanding of Jesus being fully man I would like to represent places recorded in scripture, which point to this truth. First of all he was born of a woman and grew in wisdom and stature. Luke 2:52 We also find that Peter declaring to his audience that Jesus was from Nazareth demonstrating his humanness and his geographical location where he lived and worked. Acts 2:22 Jesus was demonstrated humanness in his being physically tired, hungry and tested. Luke 4:1-13 Jesus also expressed emotions that we all are familiar with. Some of them were joy (John 15:11) and anger (Mark 3:5). Jesus also suffered and died. (John 19:34) All of these scriptural references for Christ deity and humanity prove to me that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Because of these truths I can place my faith in him to understand my weakness and to deliver me from the consequences of sin.

My understanding of Christ's atonement for sin indicating my understanding of His "substitutional sacrifice."
Beginning in Genesis 3 humankind sinned and fell from his/her place with God. As a result of this event many things came to pass which brought us to a place of substitutional sacrifice regarding the atonement for sins committed against God. The blood of animals was shed upon an alter and was presented as an atonement for personal and cooperate sin. This system of atonement was not complete and another sacrifice had to be made in order to completely cover the sins of each member of mankind. The concept of substitutional sacrifice is mentioned in the Old Testament scripture. Isaiah 53 speaks of the substitutional sacrifice that was to be made by Christ for humankind. The mention of we were like sheep and have gone astray as well as how God has laid our sin upon Christ's shoulders for him to bear on our behalf strongly suggest that a substitutionary sacrifice needed to take place. In the New Testament it is recorded that John the Baptist said, when seeing Jesus said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:9) Later Paul writes that, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 Finally in Hebrews 9:28 the author writes, "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." These passages should adequately present the case that we as sinful humans could never sacrifice enough animals to cover the sins of humankind. Christ was the only proper substitutional sacrifice, which would meet the demands of a just God to clear us from the eternal effects of sin.

What is the significance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?
The resurrection of Christ is most certainly one of the most, if not the most, monumental events in the history of time. It is the basis for hope and relationship with our Creator. It is also the completion of Christ suffering and death on the cross for our sins. I often wonder how, first the women and then the men, felt as they peered into an empty tomb and then when they saw Jesus in his resurrected body. John 20:1-31 When Jesus gained victory over death he gave way to flood which burst from a dam which will carry all Christians to eternal life in the presence of God. Paul says that, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." Paul goes on to share the extreme significance of the resurrection. It is the source of our faith and without it we are basically helpless and hopeless. But he concludes in 1 Corinthians 14:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep." I believe that the resurrection is crucial to my faith and the inspiration to my attempt to live the life that God has called me to lead. Without the resurrection Christianity would become yet another false religion with no power or purpose for its followers.

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