Who is 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 have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14; ESV)

There seems to be a lot of discussion of Jesus in the news these days since the advent of the motion picture, The DaVinci Code.  Most of the discussion is surrounding the nature of Jesus—who he was and what he has done.  Now I haven’t seen the movie, nor have I read the book; and unless something drastic changes, I have no intention of doing either.  My intention here isn’t to critique the movie or the book—people far wiser and far more educated than I have done so already.  I want to discuss what the Bible says regarding the nature of Jesus.  As it relates to Jesus, The DaVinci Code depicts a Jesus who was an upstanding moral teacher and prophet, but just a human being not divine.  This is not a new concept, but has been around for centuries.  Many have denied the historical claims of Christianity that Jesus Christ was divine and that he had both a divine nature and a human nature.

What does the Bible say about that?  Setting aside for the moment the question as to whether or not the Bible is true, does the Bible support the claims of orthodox, historical Christianity regarding the nature of Jesus?  I believe it does, and this passage is one of many key texts that support the historical teaching of the divinity and humanity of Jesus.  The very first verse of John’s gospel sets out to declare the divinity of Jesus.  It tells us three things about Jesus:  1) His eternality (“In the beginning was the Word”); 2) His relationship to God (“and the Word was with God”); and 3) His identity with God (“and the Word was God”).  This verse not only supports the divinity of Jesus Christ, it also supports the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.  The basic truth of the Trinity is that God is one in essence and three in person (i.e., one “what” and three “who’s”).  Here we see the distinction in personhood between the Word (Jesus) and God and also the unity in essence with the Word being God.

As to the humanity of Jesus Christ, we see in John 1:14 the beauty and the mystery of the incarnation—and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  The Second Person of the Trinity stepped out of eternity and entered time and space in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Paul states it this way, “[Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6 – 8).  God took on human form and both natures—human and divine—fully resided in one individual.  One may ask the question, “why was the incarnation necessary?”  Put simply, in order to atone for the sins of mankind, God had to assume human flesh for two reasons:  1) only a divine being could offer the universal atonement needed to pay for the sins of mankind; and 2) only a human being could be substituted in the place of other human beings (“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” Hebrews 2:17).

I think it is safe to say that the Bible agrees with orthodox Christian teaching regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ.  I’ve barely scratched the surface with this exposition.  One could refer to the entire gospel of John, which was written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).  There is also Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15 – 19; 2:9, and Hebrews 1.  All of these passages point to the divinity of Jesus Christ.  You may say, “OK, that’s what the Bible says, but how do we know the Bible is true?”  That is a good question, and time and space do not allow for an exhaustive look into that question.  I will refer the reader to the book The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.  This excellent book sets for the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament documents as well as the Jesus they portray.

Bottom Line:  It was C.S. Lewis who said either Jesus Christ is a liar, a lunatic or the very Son of God—there is no other option.  The notion that Jesus was a good moral teacher is not a viable option.  Jesus made too many outrageous claims that, if not true, would disqualify him as a good moral teacher.  Again the most important decision we will ever make is what we will do with Jesus.  Those who believe and receive Jesus will be called the children of God (John 1:12), and in order to receive we must believe the truth about Jesus Christ—that he is very Son of God in human flesh.