Jesus in the New Testament

Jesus in The New Testament

What do the Followers of Jesus Say About Him?

Introduction

In our last lesson we wanted to learn who Jesus was, mainly from looking at what Jesus had to say about Himself. What we learned is that although Jesus never EXPLICITLY said I AM GOD, there is enough clear-cut evidence, which proves that Jesus was God and is still God.

In this lesson our main goal is to look at what Jesus’ followers had to say about Him. These were the people who were closest to Jesus; many of them were His direct followers, in that they were with Him during His ministry on earth. They heard all He said. They saw all the miracles He did.

There are a few introductory matters we MUST talk about. First off why should we believe any of the writers of the New Testament? Why can we believe what John, Paul or James said? Can we trust any of the New Testament? Can these men actually say anything about Jesus and claim this is the truth about Jesus?

First let’s look at what the criteria is in order for someone to be an author of a book of the New Testament. A person had to be one of two things. They either had to be an apostle directly commissioned by Jesus Himself or they had to be someone who was closely associated with an Apostle, such as Mark who was associated with Peter or James who as far as we know was the brother of Jesus. This was the criterion the early church looked at when the New Testament was developed.

Next the Bible is inspired by God, 2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Paul says God breathed out all scripture; scripture is directly from God. This is what is called Verbal-Plenary Inspiration. This means God inspired all of scripture, every word of scripture is inspired by God. Here is a definition of this from Milliard Erickson; “The verbal theory insists that the Holy Spirit’s influence extends beyond the direction of thoughts to the selection of words to convey the message. The work of the Holy Spirit is so intense that each word is the exact word God wants used at that point to express the message.” We can trust what the Bible said because God inspired every word of scripture. A problem we face here is people will say, “When Paul wrote this he was thinking only of the Old Testament.” And they are right when they say this. Paul would have been talking about the Old Testament. But we find this from 2 Peter, 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 2Pet. 3:16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. Peter says at the time he wrote this letter that the letters that Paul wrote, which we have in our Bible, The New Testament, were scripture even then. Paul says God inspires all scripture, and Peter is saying Paul’s letters were scripture. The writings of Paul and the other New Testament writers can be trusted because God inspired them.

The Writings of Paul

We are going to start with Paul because He wrote most of the New Testament. Some people believe Paul cannot be trusted because he was not a direct Apostle, in that he was not with Jesus during His earthly ministry.

In Acts 9 we find the conversion of Paul, Paul here was commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to be His Apostle. We find shortly after in Acts 9 that Paul is proclaiming in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. This was an astonishing thing to do for a Jew. Remember in our last lesson the Jews repeatedly picked up stones to kill Jesus when He said He was the Son of God.

Let’s take a little while to look at what Paul said about Jesus.

Colossians 1:15-20

Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Col. 1:16 For by* him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Col. 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col. 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Col. 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Col. 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

First in this passage Paul teaches us that Jesus created all things. Jesus was not merely involved in creation, but he created. What do we do with passages like this, which say Jesus does things, which only God can do? Only God and God alone has the power to create. Passages like these only make sense if Jesus is God. If Paul is saying things like this it is the only thing, which will make sense. This passage will only make sense if Jesus is GOD. Remember what we learned in our lesson last week that the New Testament always assumes that Jesus is God, it presupposes the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus only has the power to create if He is God. Paul says Jesus created all things.

I want to give a real life example of how important passages like this passage are. At the house one day we had some Mormons come to the door. I decided I would talk to them. We started talking about Jesus and who Jesus was. They started saying their view of Jesus, which is not a Biblical of Jesus. We went around and around for a while. I posed the question how can Jesus be anything other than God if Paul said He was creator. He created all things. Then I brought this passage up and they did not know what to do. This is where the conversation ended. They did not know what to do when the truth of God’s word was presented to them.

In verse 17 Paul says all things hold together in Christ. What Paul is saying here is that if Christ were to stop holding things together everything would fall apart, and even further if there were no Jesus Christ nothing could hold together. Jesus Christ holds all things together.
In verse 19 Paul says all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ. All the divine Excellencies of the Father dwelled in Christ. What God is Jesus is. Jesus is God.

Jesus is Paul’s LORD

Col 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Now what is the significance of this statement our Lord Jesus Christ? To see the significance of this we must look at the Old Testament.

Lev. 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

Deut. 4:35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Deut. 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Ps 18:31 For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?

Zeph 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

The significance of what Paul says here is astounding. In the Old Testament a name, which was used for God, was Lord. The Lord your God is something we see all over the Old Testament. When you see LORD in the Old Testament it is talking about God. So here where Paul says our Lord Jesus Christ what is He saying? If Paul is here using Lord here of Jesus Christ, then what else could Paul be saying than Jesus was God.

The Greek term, which Paul employs here, is kurios, which means Lord, This Greek word is the usual translation of Jehovah in the Septuagint. This term is used in many different places for God the Father, and for Jesus. One example is Acts 17:24 where it is used of God the Father: Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. For the Jews this term would have suggested that Christ was equal with the Father.

Paul Calls Jesus God

Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

This is a very EXPLICIT statement about who Jesus is. This is one of the clearest affirmations of who Jesus is. Paul, a Jew, says Jesus is God. There is no beating around the bush here Jesus is God according to Paul, who was inspired by God to write this statement. I am not going to say much more here the verse pretty much speaks for itself.

What is Paul Saying?

When dealing with the topic of the Person of Jesus there is one passage in Paul we must look at.

Phil. 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Phil. 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Phil. 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Phil. 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Phil. 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Phil. 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Phil. 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Phil. 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Many different people have misconstrued this passage, but none of their speculations and ideas line up with what Paul says here. To adequately explain this text I am going to turn to someone smarter and wiser than myself. What follows if from Dr. Barry C. Joslin’s class notes from Theology Two where we covered this topic.

The Kenosis Theory (Philippians 2:5-11) – Specifically Phil 2:7
(a) The theory- Christ “emptied Himself” of some of His divine attributes at the Incarnation
(b) Problems with the theory
(1) Exegetically
(i) The text says nothing about Divine attributes, it is put there
(ii) However the text does describe what this self emptying means
(2) Theologically – Presents huge Christological problems in that it denies the full deity of Christ. Christ would not have been fully God when He were on earth were He to divest Himself of any of His divine attributes.
(3) Biblically – There are many NT texts, esp. in the Gospels, in which omnipotence (healings, exorcisms, etc.), omnipresence (John 1:48-50), and omniscience (Luke 9:47; John 1:47-48; 2:24-25; 4:18; etc.) are seen in Jesus.
(c) The Meaning of Phil 2:7
(1) Context – Paul urges them to live for one another and not to live for themselves (2:3) so as to live lives worthy of the Gospel (1:27)
(2) Meaning – The “self-emptying” concerns:
(a) The Incarnation, taking on the form of a man and all of its weaknesses and His willingness to give himself up on the cross
(b) Glory, Jesus temporarily had His glory veiled by His flesh; He did not become less glorious
(3) Conclusion, Christ changed his role and status not His attributes when He took on the form of a man.

The Book of Hebrews

Heb. 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The book of Hebrews has a very high view of who Jesus is. The author opens up the book with a clear picture of who Jesus is. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. Jesus is the EXACT imprint of his nature, of the glory of God. The exact nature, Jesus does not merely have some of the nature of the Father, but Jesus has the exact imprint of the Nature of the Father. Jesus Christ upholds the UNIVERSE by the WORD of HIS power.

The next verse we are going to look at is a rather amazing verse, as we read this verse keep in mind the author of Hebrews is saying that God the Father is saying this about Jesus.

Heb. 1:8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

The Father says to the Son Your throne O God is forever and forever. The Father calls the son God. This is something he never says about the angels. This first chapter shows that the Son is superior to the angels. The Father never said this to the angels, but has said it to the Son. The author here is quoting from Psalm 45:6, this is a direct quotation. This passage once again proves the deity of Christ and that Jesus is God, and the Old Testament looked forward to this as well.

Heb. 1:10 ¶ And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
Heb. 1:11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
Heb. 1:12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.*
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”

This verse again is talking about Jesus. Jesus laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, which may be looking to Genesis 1:1. The heavens are the works of the hands of Jesus. Jesus once again created. Jesus is doing what only God can do he created the world. There will never be a time when Jesus will not be. Jesus always has been and Jesus always will be. Jesus will never die. He will never perish. Jesus is never going to change. He will always be the same. His years will have no end. These are all things, which we see the Bible speak of about God. But here we see them in relation to Jesus. What possible explanation could there be except that Jesus is God? There can be no other explanation, Jesus is God, He has always been God and He will always be God.

Conclusion

There is so much more we could look at. We could literally study the person of Jesus for months, and if there are still questions we can take another week or so to look at them next week. But for this lesson we must conclude. As we concluded in our last lesson we will conclude this lesson. Why must Jesus be God? There must be some reason. The reason we learned in our last lesson is that the New Testament will not make sense if Jesus is not God, the whole New Testament assumes that Jesus is God, this is why there is no lengthy defense of the deity of Christ. For a detailed argument of this we should look at the Church Fathers.

Here are a few reasons why Jesus must be God and what the significance of this truth is.

(a) “One cannot be a Christian without affirming the deity of Jesus Christ
(b) Only someone who is infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of those who would believe in him.
(c) Salvation is from the Lord, and the whole message of the Bible is designed to show that no human being, no creature could ever save man—only God (Jonah 2:9). He does a work God can only do, because he is God the Son.
(d) Only a God-man can function as Mediator between God and man. Only someone who was truly and fully God could be the one mediator between God and man (1Tim. 2:5), both to bring us back to God and also to reveal God fully to us. See also Hebrews and Christ’s role as Melchizedekian high priest.
(e) Why the God-man? Only the God-man could provide a sacrifice that could:
(1) Bear God’s wrath and penalty of sin, i.e. satisfy himself (infinite value)
(2) Represent us in our humanity
(3)This why sacrificial animals could never take away sin Heb 10:4.”

The last reason I want to focus on tonight is NO ONE at anytime can be a Christian without believing that Jesus is God. The reason is if we do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who Jesus said He was, they cannot be saved. Paul says in Rom. 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Jesus is crucial to salvation, in fact HE IS ESSENTIAL. Apart from Jesus there can be no salvation. If Jesus is not God Christianity is just another cult. There is no reason for Christianity to exist. We believe in some merely human person. This is insufficient and with any other view than that Jesus is God their can be no salvation.

_________________________________

i) Milliard Erickson, Christian Theology 2nd Ed., 232
ii) Culver, Raymond Duncan, Systematic Theology, 446
iii) Milliard Erickson, Christian Theology 2nd Ed., 707
iv) ibid, 708
v) Dr. Barry C. Joslin, Theology Two Class Notes Christology, 4-5
ibid, 5

The Church Part 1

I want to begin a series of posts which I will do as often as possible on the church. In this post I want to address a few misconceptions people have about the church. These may come from people who claim to be Christians or people who are not Christians at all.

Have you ever wondered why there is a church? Have you ever wondered why there is even a need for the church? I am sure to those who are Christians this answer should be very simple. It is unfortunate though in the day which we live where the role of the church is downplayed.

One reason the role of the church is downplayed is many people view the church as a building. As Christians we add fuel to this fire many times by saying "we are going to church." We as believers do two things when we say this. First off we make church sound like a place. The church is not a building, rather the church is made up of believers in Jesus Christ. The second thing we do when we say this is we make church sound like something we have to do, or rather something we are being forced to do.

At Grace Community Church where I am a member we have many Korean Students that come to our church, or rather our community of believers. I have noticed something about them, which I think all believers should adopt, and that is they never say they are going to church on Sunday. Rather what they will say is we are going to Worship. I really like this because it does away with many of the notions unbelievers have about the church.

Church also many times is seen as a social club or something to that affect. Believe it or not there are people who just attend church to see other people. Fellowship is a good thing do not get me wrong here. On Sundays I thoroughly enjoy seeing my fellow believers in Christ and love to join them in worship through song and listening to the word of God through preaching. But the main reason I go to church is to worship and glorify God. It is not just merely to see people. In small towns like Berea it is all to common for people to go to church to build their business or to get votes to get an elected position. All of these fall short because if a person is a true believer everything they do, including going to church, is to be done for the SOLE PURPOSE of glorifying God (1Cor. 10:31).

I hope this has been somewhat helpful. I realize there was not much here about what the Bible says about the church. I thought it would be beneficial to look at some common misconceptions about the church before we dive in. Until next time.

Jesus in The Gospels

Jesus in The Gospels

Who does Jesus say He is?

Introduction

Martin Luther had a saying, which he stood by during the reformation, AD FONTES. This is a Latin phrase which means to the source. This week we are going to take a break from our study of First John. I believe that in order to understand the rest of what John says in First John, and more importantly what I am thinking is, we must understand who Jesus is in order to understand the first two verses of chapter two.

In order to understand who Jesus is we are going to go to the source. What did Jesus say about Himself? Did Jesus ever claim to be God? And if He did claim to be God, in what ways did He do it? Now we must understand at the beginning that Jesus never said explicitly I AM GOD. But what we must look at is what He did say. We will look at how people reacted to what He said, and why did they react to him the way they did. We will look at certain things Jesus did, such as Jesus let people worship Him. Why would He do that? So we want to see if John was write when he says in chapter 5:20 of First John that Jesus is the true God and eternal life? Is Jesus God, and more importantly, why must Jesus be God?

An important thing to remember is that Jesus is God, but is distinct from the Father. We will not get to this in this lesson, but I hope to in the next lesson. Jesus is God just as much as the Father is God, although they are distinct persons they are both equally God, but at the same time there is still only one God, which exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So let’s dive in and look at what Jesus said. We will start with the “I am” statements in John. These passages alone should be forceful enough in proving that Jesus is God, so we choose this as our beginning point.

The I AM statements in John

Some may ask why would you start in john, when John is the last Gospel. There are many reasons. One reason is in John we have one of the fullest pictures of Jesus. The other reason I believe will become apparent as we finish these verses.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

John 6:48 I am the bread of life.

John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

John 8:28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

What is the significance of all these verses? Why did we just read these verses? The first reason is the language behind these verses. When Jesus says I am in the Greek it is very emphatic. In the Greek the “I am” reads egw eimi. What is the significance of this? There are two things. First this construction is very emphatic. Jesus could have just said eimi, which means I am. But He used the personal pronoun egw, which means I. Jesus is trying to be emphatic with what He said. Using the personal pronoun before the verb in Greek adds emphasis to what is being said. In Greek the verbs have a subject embedded in the meaning. Such as eimi means I AM, but adding the pronoun I adds more emphasis.

But why exactly would Jesus say this was there something more behind this? There is. Notice in John 8:58 Jesus says before Abraham was I am. Then we come to verse 59 notice the Jews pick up stones to kill Jesus right then. Why in the world would they do this because of what Jesus said?

In Exodus 3:14 Moses record for us the account of the burning bush. In verse 13 Moses ask God who he should say is sending him to the Israelites. In verse 14 God replies say to them “I AM WHO I AM.” The name God gave Himself was I am.

So why would the Jews seek to kill Jesus after He said I am. Here is the reason. The Bible the Jews would have used in this day was called the Septuagint. The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Old Testament. In Exodus 3:14 where God says I AM WHO I AM, the Greek word for “I am” is egw eimi. The Jews would have put two and two together and would have known exactly what Jesus was saying. He was saying things that only God could say. In fact He was saying He was God. Listen to the comment D.A. Carson says about verse 59:

“Stoning was prescribed for blasphemy… though of course such stoning was supposed to be the result of a calm judicial decision, not the fruit of mob violence. Jesus is saying things that only God can say. On the assumption that he has no right whatsoever to speak this way, the Jews are scandalized.”

The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying when He said I am. They knew He was saying things only God could say. He was claiming to be God. The Jews thought Jesus was blaspheming by saying this because Jesus was claiming to be God. He was putting Himself on par with the Father. He was saying He was equal to the Father; in fact Jesus and the Father are one.

The I am statements here in John point to the truth that Jesus is God.

John 20:28, Thomas Calls Jesus His Lord and His God

John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Here is a rather straightforward passage. Here we have Thomas after Jesus has risen from the dead. Thomas at first did not believe Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus appeared to the disciples once already, but Thomas was not with them at this time. But Jesus appeared to the disciples again, and this time Thomas was in the room. When he saw Jesus this was his reply. What I want us to notice here is Jesus’ reaction in vs. 29 this is what Jesus said: John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus did not tell Thomas do not say that I am God. In fact Jesus does not say anything about what Thomas has said. If Jesus were not God it would seem like He would rebuke Thomas here and tell Thomas he has missed who Jesus was, but nothing like this happens.

John 12:37-41

John 12:37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
John 12:38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
John 12:39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
John 12:41 Isaiah said these things because the saw his glory and spoke of him.

This passage in John talks about the prophet Isaiah. Jesus had performed many miracles in front of the people. But yet they have not believed. This was to fulfill what Isaiah had said in Isaiah 53:1. In fact Isaiah said they could not believe because their eyes had been blinded and their hearts have been hardened. Why did Isaiah say these things? Isaiah said this because he saw the Glory of Jesus and was speaking here of Jesus. Isaiah prophesied the people would not believe in Jesus even though He performed amazing works in front of them. John says this in chapter 12 after Jesus in chapter 11 had raised Lazarus from the dead. The Jews had seen Jesus raise people from the dead and yet they still did not believe in Him. Jesus was doing things that only God could do and these people still did not believe. Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus and prophesied that the people would not believe in Jesus despite of the works He had done.

Jesus Has Authority to Forgive Sin

Mark 2:1 ¶ And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
Mark 2:2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.
Mark 2:3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Mark 2:4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
Mark 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 2:6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
Mark 2:7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Mark 2:8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?
Mark 2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
Mark 2:10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
Mark 2:11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Mark 2:12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

This is a most inspiring passage. Jesus returned to Capernaum. Many people were gathered together and there was not any room in the place where they were. Jesus was preaching the word to them. There just so happened there was a man who was paralyzed. This man had some friends though and his friends wanted to get him to Jesus. They took Him to Jesus but there was no way for them to get in to where Jesus was. These friends were determined. They would not let a crowded room keep them from getting their friend to Jesus. So they went to the roof and they created a whole so they could lower their friend right to where Jesus was. They lowered him down and when Jesus saw the friends faith he said the man who was paralyzed son your sins are forgiven.
There were some scribes in the room. These guys really knew the law. They knew the Bible. They knew the Old Testament. This is what they were paid to do. This was their job. They were thinking in their hearts how could this man say such things as these? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Notice Jesus immediately knows what they are thinking. He knows what they are thinking about what He has just said.

Jesus then asks them a question and says what easier to say to this man? Your sins are forgiven or rise take up your bed and walk? Jesus does not let them answer. He goes on to say that so you will know the Son of man has authority to forgive sin on the earth Jesus said to the paralytic take up you bed and walk.

What has just happened here? Jesus was saying He had authority to forgive sins. The scribes, the Jews thought He was blaspheming because of what He had said. They wanted to know how He could forgive sins when God alone could forgive sins. Are you seeing the connection here? Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. Why? He can forgive sin because He is God. He is doing something only God can do. The scribes knew what He was saying because they thought he was blaspheming. They thought Jesus was trying to act in the place of God.


The Trial of Jesus

In Matthew 26 we find the trial of Jesus before the Jews and the High priest before He was put to death. Here is the account we are concerned with:

Matt. 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Matt. 26:64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Matt. 26:65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.
Matt. 26:66 What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

What one will notice from reading the Gospels is Jesus never says I am God. But we do see Jesus saying things that prove His deity, that He is in fact God. Milliard Erickson says of this passage that “This is as clear a declaration of his deity as on can find in the Gospels.” Here we have the high priest asks Jesus to tell them if He is the Christ the Son of God. Jesus’ answer is you have said so. In other words what you have said is right. I am the Christ and from now on you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven. The high priest tore his clothes and said he has uttered blasphemy and he asked the crowd what is you judgment and they said He deserves death. If Jesus wanted to lay to rest any doubt as to who He was this would be the place. The Jews wanted to put Him to death. But Jesus did not say what you have said High priest is wrong. You are right I am the Christ, I am the Son of God, I am God.

The same account occurs in Mark. In chapter 14:61-62, The high priest asks Jesus the same question and Jesus answers the same way. He answers I am the Christ the Son of God.

In Luke we also have an account of Jesus’ trial as well. We see the same thing in chapter 22:67-69. The High priest tells Jesus to tell us are you the Christ? Jesus said if I tell you, you will not believe. Then Jesus responds as He did in the other Gospels. Then in v.70 they all said are you the Son of God and Jesus replied by saying you say that I am. He did not deny.

Jesus Received Worship

Matt. 14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matt. 14:32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
Matt. 14:33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Jesus here calms the storm. The disciples were scared for their lives. Jesus calmed the wind and those who were in the boat WORSHIPED Jesus saying, Truly you are the Son of God. It would be wrong for Jesus to accept worship, and it would have been wrong for the Jews to have worshiped Jesus because their belief in the one true God. The Jews were Monotheistic therefore to worship anyone other than God would be unlawful and a sin. They would be unfaithful to God.

Jesus also demanded worship and honor. In John 5:23 Jesus says: John 5:23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Jesus says all may honor the son just as they honor the Father. Likewise Jesus says whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. There are people who think it is all right to believe in God, but have nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus says in order to actually believe in God the Father one must also believe in the Son who the Father sent.

Conclusion: Why Must Jesus Be God?

Here is the question we must answer before we close this lesson. Why must Jesus be God? In this lesson there is time for one answer.

One reason is the New Testament would not make sense at all. If Jesus is not God then the New Testament is some story. It would be a fairy tale or perhaps some myth. Nothing in the New Testament will make sense if Jesus is not God then all of the authors of the New Testament have missed the point. Every book you read in the New Testament assumes that Jesus is God. The New Testament nowhere seems to have a problem with the TRUTH that Jesus is God. So Jesus must be God because the New Testament does not make sense apart from it.


_________________________________

i) Carson, D.A., The Gospel According to John, PNTCS, 358
ii) Erickson, Milliard, Christian Theology 2nd Ed., 703
iii) Culver, Raymond Duncan, Systematic Theology, 446

First John 1:5-10

Introduction

Lets review what we have learned quickly before we tackle the passage at hand.
• In the Introduction we learned the theme of First John is ASSURANCE. Assurance is being sure that someone is a Christian. John states the theme in 5:13. He writes to believers so they may know they have eternal life. This is significant. John is saying you can know for sure you are an actual believer. This is awesome because there are some religions who do not offer this, and I think it is safe to say ONLY Christianity offers assurance that someone has eternal life. Other religions teach try as hard as you can and you may have eternal life, you may go to heaven, then again you may not, there is no way you can know. These believers John is writing to were in a state of doubt because there were these people, the Gnostics, who were teaching salvation was found in a special knowledge that was given by God. There faith was thrown into confusion.
• In 1:1-4 John taught us that assurance comes only to those who have a correct view of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is fully God and fully man. In order for someone to have assurance that they are Christians they must have a biblical view of Jesus Christ. This is where it all starts because no one can become a Christian unless they have a correct view of Jesus, if someone view of Jesus is off, everything is off, and there is no way they can have assurance, because there is NO WAY they can ever be a Christian.

As we start our next study we are going to cover 1:5-10. These verses are jam packed with the truth. We see John gives three counter claims to the Gnostics and what they taught. This lesson will be a little different than the last one because the passage is different. We will do the application as we learn what John is saying.

My Assurance Comes From the Character of God, v.5

In verse five John shifts his thought from what was said in the opening of the letter. John says this is the message we have heard from Him, Him being the word of life, the eternal life, Jesus Christ, that God is light. One thing that will strike anyone who reads this is there is no account in the gospels of Jesus ever saying this. Jesus never said God is light. But this should not be taken to seriously as if John is making this up. On the contrary John is not.

The word John uses here for light is used six times in this book and twenty three times in the gospel of John. This certain word for light is only used seventy-three times in the whole New Testament. This means much of the uses are with John therefore I believe we must understand how John uses the word light in order to understand what John is saying here.

• John uses light in connection with life: John1:4, In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
• The light enlightens: John 1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
• Jesus is the light of the world, John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Once again here we see the light of life. John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

These are some of the different uses that John has of light. There are a few others but will not be covered here. But the question we must answer is, is John using light in the same sense here as he is in these few uses we have seen. Is there something different perhaps we are missing, from a look at John’s gospel?

The first thing to look at is John wrote God is light in a context where he is addressing the reality of sin and the need for believers to confess their sin. So in light of this it is best to look at God is light as reflecting His holiness, His moral perfection if you will. God is holy and God alone. John is making a clear statement here about the character of God, it cannot be viewed any other way although some just see this as a launching point for John to talk about ethics. John is making an explicit statement about the character of God. Because in order to talk about ethics and the way one should live YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF GOD. You must there is no way around it.

John really wants to drive home his point that God is light so he contrasts it with darkness. You can see this better is the Greek, the Greek literally says darkness in him no is none. John uses two different words to prove his point. It is very emphatic. John is saying there is no darkness in God whatsoever. If light refers to holiness then darkness refers to sin. There is no sin in God whatsoever, if there were then He is not God. He cannot be holy and sinful at the same time. It just can’t happen. But John drives home his point God is holy and there is no sin in him at all.

John uses this statement to point these readers to the Character of God. This is how John assures his readers. There can be no assurance apart from the character of God. We can be assured that we are Christians because God is Holy, because He is righteous, because He is sovereign. Because of who God is we can be sure we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are Christians. There are two ways in which verse five flows with the purpose of assurance. First off John assures his readers that the message that he preaches and the message that they believed in was from Jesus. This was not something that John made up or had some epiphany or dream about, but it was from Jesus. Secondly John wants his community to rest in the Character of God, in verse seven he shows us true believers seek to mimic God’s character and be like him. To assure his readers in this verse John points them back to that character of God. This would have been necessary. Think about how we as Christians act many times when we are faced with hardships in our lives. Everything get so crazy and we fail to remember first off that God is still there in our lives and second how easy is it to forget what the character of God is. If we go through a rough season how easy it is to forget that God is sovereign over that situation. How easy it is to forget that God is working everything out for our good, and that good is to be more like His Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). John’s community was very confused and did not know what to believe so John pointed them to the character of God and was saying hey this is the God we serve. It is not the god of the heretics, but it is the true God.

This is a good place to note one thing about the way John writes. Many times John will use a positive statement and back up what he is saying with a negative statement. Such as God is light which is the positive and back it up with a negative, there is no darkness in him at all. This backs up what John is saying, pay attention to this because it is all over this book.

My Assurance Comes From A Biblical and Correct View of Sin vs. 6-10

John initially in this passage points he readers to the character of God. He assures his readers by telling them look to God and who He is. If you notice what we have learned so far all goes back to looking to God and Jesus Christ it is only through this a person can have true assurance of salvation.

Now John tells these believers that in order to have assurance of salvation a person must have a biblical view of what sin is.

In these three verses we find something unique. If you remember from our last lesson we said that here in chapter one we see John’s direct response to the Gnostics, the false teachers. We say in 1:1-4 that John was an eyewitness to what they denied had happened, the incarnation. In verses 5-10 John is dealing with their view of sin. We find this is verses 6,8,10. John gives three counterclaims to how the false teachers view of sin, was wrong.

Verse six is the first of three counterclaims that John gives. The heretics believed that they had fellowship with God, but one thing was missing from that claim. They did not live like people who were in fellowship with God. One reason this would have been the case is because of the tests we looked at earlier. They believed wrongly about Jesus, which led them to live sinful lives. The heretics made a false claim and the reason John could say it was false was because of how they lived their lives. John says that people who make this claim, but live otherwise, are deceived and they do not practice the truth. The live in sin, they practice sin and do not practice the truth. John assures his readers that those who claim to be in fellowship with God will live a life that will back up that claim. One who believes rightly will live rightly.

Verse eight is the second counterclaim that John gives here. The first one was in verse six, but this one states a different belief that the heretics had. The Gnostics believed that since they had received this higher knowledge from God, knowledge superior to that of the Apostles, they also believed, because of this knowledge, they had reached a state of perfection. This knowledge was their salvation; therefore they did not need Christ or the atoning work of Christ. The Gnostics thought they were now perfect and therefore they did not sin any more. The last three verses of chapter one deal with sin. Verses eight and ten are counterclaims, and verse nine is instruction to believers for what to do when they do sin. Since the heretics believed that they had no sin, John says that people who think and believe that are deceived. The reason they are deceived is that God has declared that all of humanity is sinful. Every person in this world is radically depraved. They are sinners by nature. They sin because they are sinners. The Gnostics deceived themselves and believed something that was in direct opposition to what God has said. Not only were the Gnostics deceived because of this belief, but because they held such a belief, the truth was not in them. The truth could not be in them because the truth is that everyone everywhere sins. The Gnostics had not reached a state of perfection, because there is only one that lived on this earth that was perfect and that was Jesus Christ.

The third and final counterclaim that John gives is in verse ten. Once again the Gnostics believed they had reached a state of perfection. The Gnostics claimed that they no longer sinned. John says that if anyone says he has not sinned they make God out to be a liar and God’s word is not in them. This is a serious indictment from John here. The Gnostics John says here are making God out to be a liar and His word is not in them. They make God out to be a liar because God has declared that all men everywhere are sinful. This is God’s word. The depravity of man is all over the pages of scripture. So to say that you have not sinned is to say God you are wrong. I have never sinned I have reached a state of perfection. God’s word is not in the person who claims that, nor do they know the word of God. The person who claims this is in direct opposition with God, and that is why John can lay out this serious indictment here in verse ten. The church to which this letter was written can be assured that they have fellowship with God and they know Gods word because of what they believe about sin.

A believer realizes the reality of sin in their lives, and in fact they realize it to the point where they confess their sin. Sin is a real and present thing, and there is no one ever who can escape it. David said he was born in sin, while he was in the womb he was a sinner by nature. Everyone in this room is a sinner. We all have a sin nature, it is real, and if we were to deny it we would be like the Gnostics and what John said in verses 6,8,10. A believer will confess their sin to God.

What does it mean to confess sin to God. It means to agree with Him that our sin is wrong and it offends Him. A Christian will confess sin. As believers we will continually need to confess our sin, because even though we have a new nature we still sin, even though we may not want to. Notice what happens though when we confess our sins. John tells us God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us. How can God be faithful and just in forgiving sinners if we know that God is light, holiness, and there is no darkness in him at all, sin? How can this happen?

First off God can be faithful in forgiving sin because he has promised to do so. In the New Covenant passage in Jeremiah 31:34 God said I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sin no more. In order to be faithful to His own word, God must then forgive those who confess their need of a Savior. The minute God ceases to forgive, and to be faithful to His promise of forgiveness, He ceases to be God, because He has lied. God is faithful in forgiving sins because He promised he would do so.

Secondly, how can God be just in forgiving sinners? How can God forgive those who have offended him? The problem we face here is God is Holy and we are not. We are sinful to the core. Everything we do is tainted by sin. We are sinners by nature. So how can God forgive those who are opposite from Him, a people who are not holy? How could this ever be possible? James Montgomery Boice answers the question well, “The answer to the question of the justice of God in forgiving sins is found in Romans 3:20-28, where Paul explains how it is that God is both “just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus” (v. 26 KJV). It is possible he says, through Christ, who, being God and therefore having no sin of his own, was able to and did die for us. God punished our sin in Jesus Christ. Jesus became the “propitiation” for our sins, meaning that by him God’s just wrath against our sins was satisfied.” God can forgive because Jesus on the cross bore our sin so we could be forgiven, and God can be just in forgiving us. The answer really is simple yet so profound, it is because of Jesus.

Notice that John says God will forgive us. There is a certainty here. Is we confess our sins God will forgive us. There is no reason to doubt whether you said the right words or anything like that. God will forgive when we confess. Notice how He forgives. He forgives us of our sins and cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness. He forgives and He makes clean. He cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness. John does not say here God cleanses us from some of our unrighteousness, but from all of our unrighteousness. Is that not an awesome thought or not? God cleanses us from all of our sin. Not just some of it.

A believer then must the have a biblical view of sin. In other words they are to agree with what God has said in His word concerning sin. In order to have assurance we must have a correct view of sin. If our view of sin is off then there are some important things we need to learn from the scriptures and how God feels about sin. He hates it.

The Christian Walk, v.7

There is still yet one more verse to cover. This verse is full of truth and conviction.

John goes on to say that those who walk in the light as He is in the light, they will have fellowship with one another. The person who walks in the light will want to have fellowship with other people that walk in the light. Those who walk in the light will have fellowship with other believers. James Montgomery Boice says about this verse that our vertical relationship with God will show up in our horizontal relationships with other believers. The Gnostics did not claim this rather they broke fellowship with all believers. They claimed fellowship with God, but did not want the fellowship of other believers. This is not the only effect of walking in the light. The second effect of those who walk in the light is that the blood of Jesus cleanses their sins. Look at how John words this though, the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from ALL sin. The word all here is a wonderful and an assuring word. John is not saying here that all people’s sins are cleansed. But he is saying that for those who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, ALL of their sin has been cleansed. The Greek word here that is used for cleanse is, καθαρίζω,(kath-ar-id'-zo) which means cleansed form the defilement of sin , the same word is used one other time in this book in verse nine of this chapter. All of their sin has been cleansed. There is not one sin that the atoning work of Christ on the cross cannot overcome. The reason being that He lived a perfect and sinless life and therefore He was the perfect spotless and sinless sacrifice. His life and death overcomes all sin. Even the sin of unbelief so that we may come to belief in Him, Jesus paid it all. All sin can be overcome. The dirtiest sin that you can think of can be overcome because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Christians will seek to have the character of God. We are to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). In order to do this we must be holy. You know what the good thing is? God has given us an example, Jesus Christ. God has given us four books, the Gospels, where we can learn how Jesus lived, what He did, what He said.

Conclusion

Before we end let’s summarize what we have learned.
• Assurance comes from the Character of God. Because of who God is we can have assurance.
• Assurance comes from a Biblical view of sin. There may be times when we feel doubts and we may be in sin, and we do not know it, because our view of sin is not a biblical view of sin, God’s view of sin.
• As believers we are to walk in the light as He is in the light. We are to be pursuing holiness every second pf every day. This is our goal and aim as believers to be imitators of God.