Identifying Christ – Part 1

This article is submitted by a guest author, Rev, Dave Rodgers.   It is divided into two parts.  Below is part 1.  Part 2 will post later this week.

Who is Jesus Christ? This question has intrigued humanity since the Angel Gabriel first appeared to Mary. In fact, it is within the birth narrative that we find our first glimpse of who Jesus is. Within the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, we find Jesus is the Son of Mary (Luke 1:31), He is great and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luke1:32). We read about His Kingship is verses 32 and 33 and that he is conceived through the power of the Most High. The Anthanasian Creed clarifies the conception as “The Son was neither made nor created; He was begotten from the Father alone.” In Luke 2:11, the angel again appears and tells the shepherds  Jesus is a Savior, born to them, and He is Christ the Lord. In the first chapter of Matthew, the Prophet Isaiah is quoted; “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means God with us.” However, what does all this mean – who is Jesus the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth?

The study of who Jesus is is called Christology. Simply stated, Christology is the study of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the person Jesus Christ. With God’s Holy Scriptures as the primary source, Christology attempts to uncover the mystery of who Jesus Christ is. Christology, however, does not terminate into an exact statement. While it certainly uncovers much about Jesus Christ and His purpose, one must not overlook the conclusion of the study; that much of the “how” of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection remains a mystery. This mystery is not a limit of an infinite God, rather a limit of finite man.

Christology begins with the study of Jesus’ birth. As stated earlier, Matthew’s Gospel quotes the Prophet Isaiah in chapter one verse 23; “Jesus…will be called – Immanuel – which means God with us.” The first verse of John’s Gospel emphasizes and reinforces this point:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (1:1) The fourteenth verse of John’s Gospel (chapter 1) states: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” What John is stating is referred to as the Incarnation; the belief that Jesus is God incarnate, or God embodied in flesh. This belief, within the limits of the human mind, remains a mystery. In fact, the study of the incarnation of God is both fully God (His divinity) and fully human (His humanity). Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos (the Word), who has assumed and personalized a human nature. The two natures did not join to form a composite person; rather the Son added humanity permanently. The Son is eternally God – yesterday, today, and forever – and remains so. In the Incarnation, He chose to lower himself, adding human nature, in which He was obedient to the Father, while simultaneously, ruling the universe. Jesus himself, throughout His teaching, reaffirmed this fact. In John 14:9, Jesus states, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father as well.” Jesus’ humanity assures us that He understands our hopes and fears.  Jesus’ divinity assures us of all else God has promised. One final thought worth noting is that Jesus is the most accurate representation we have of God the Father, but Jesus is not the complete representation of God. No Christian would say the fullness of God has been revealed. As stated earlier, our finite mind cannot fully comprehend an infinite God. Understanding this, one realizes that what we do know about God, we find in Jesus Christ.