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TruthNotes
Who Is Jesus?
Chris Sherrod
"...if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die for your sins."
-- John 8:24

"Who do you say that I am?" (Mt. 16:15)

If Jesus is divine, then the Incarnation (God becoming man) is the most important event in history. If true, it would mean that He alone could transform and fulfill us, and He has a right to our entire lives. Our absolute obligation would be to believe everything He said and obey everything He commanded. Therefore, the identity of Jesus Christ is central to Christianity and the ultimate question is "Who is He?" Some say He was a magician or even a miracle worker. Most say He was just a good moral teacher. This sounds nice and non-offensive, but what Jesus claimed about Himself and what the evidence shows is what really matters..


Direct Claims to Deity

1. He claimed to be the Son of God (equal in nature with God) - Mk 14:61-64; Jn 11:4; 17:1
2. He claimed to be one with the Father - Jn 5:17, 18, 23; 10:30, 31
3. He claimed that to see Him was to see God - Jn 8:19; 14:9
4. He claimed to be "I Am" - Jn 8:58

Indirect Claims to Deity

1. Forgiver of sins - Mk 2:5-7 (the only One who has the right to forgive all sins is the One who is offended by all sins)
2. Without sin - Jn 8:46
3. Judge of all - Jn 5:22, 27
4. Giver of eternal life - Jn 5:24; Mt 25:31-46
5. The seven "I Am"s
a. ...the light of the World
b. ...the Bread of Life
c. ...the Vine
d. ...the Resurrection and the Life
e. ...the God Shepherd
f. ...the Door
g. ...the Way, the Truth, and the Life

6. Jesus accepted worship and the acknowledgment that He was divine - Mt 28:17: Jn 20:28

His message was clear

There was no doubt in the minds of the Jews that Jesus was claiming to be God, which was considered blasphemy (see Mk 14:64; Jn 5:18, 8:59, 10:31-33).

Did He have the credentials?

1. In the Old Testament there are sixty major prophecies concerning the Messiah (and two hundred seventy ramifications) that were fulfilled in Jesus.
2. He performed supernatural acts...
a. miracles of physical healing (blind, deaf, paralytic, deformed hand, etc.)
a. miracles in the natural realm (water to wine, calming the storm, etc.)
a. miracles of resurrection (three times he raised people from the dead)
3. He was unique from any other man.
a. His words were the greatest ever spoken
a. He had a lasting and universal influence throughout the centuries
a. He satisfies man's spiritual hunger
4. He somehow convinced thousands of people to worship Him as God!


TRILEMMA

Was He A Liar?

I. If Jesus was a liar then...
a. He knew his claims were false and yet made a deliberate misrepresentation to others of who He was.
b. He was a hypocrite because He told others to tell the truth.
c. He was unspeakable evil because He told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny.
d. He was a fool because He died for His false claims.
e. He wasn't a "great moral teacher" because at the most crucial point of his teaching - His identity - He was a deliberate liar (i.e. if we cannot trust Him even to know who He is then he certainly is not trustworthy, wise, and good.)

2. He most likely wasn't lying because... a. liars lie to get something for themselves
b. what did Jesus get out of His lie? Hated, misunderstood, rejected, betrayed, persecuted, spit on, whipped, tried, tortured, and then crucified!


Was He A Lunatic?

3. If He was a lunatic then...
a. He was sincerely wrong (He really thought He was God and could save people from eternal damnation).
b. Again, he couldn't be a "great moral teacher" because his mental illness would discredit his teaching and good deeds.
4. He most likely wasn't a lunatic because...
a. there is no evidence of the abnormality and imbalance found in a deranged person. Rather, He demonstrates the greatest composure under pressure (i.e. calm and in control during his trial).
b. Jesus was too smart, too wise, and too benevolent to be labled crazy. If He is what a lunatic looks like, we should envy them, not pity them or try to cure them!


The real issue: why won't people accept Jesus as Lord?

1. Emotional Excuses
a. fear of being labeled "weird" or "out of it"
b. fear of being labled "intolerant" (today's "religion" is Equality
c. fear of the church and its authority

2. Intellectual Excuses
a. they aren't rejecting/hating Christ, but rather Christians
b. they haven't heard the facts or haven't confronted the arguments in favor of Christianity
3. Moral Excuses
a. many people won't acknowledge the facts because to admit that Jesus is divine is to admit his absolute authority over your entire life
b. simply put, they don't want to give up their lifestyle

3. Spiritual Excuses
a. at the root of our human nature is pride, which makes us the boss ("lord")
b. therefore our sinful nature refuses to loose control of the reins of our lives nad submit to God (Romans 6:6-8)


None of these four "causes of unbelief" is a real reason, only an excuse (i.e. they aren't based on objective observation, but subjective motives).
The crucial ingredient anyone needs to be converted (in addition to God's grace) is honesty in each of the above four areas.

Important Questions About the Deity of Christ

I. How could God become a man?
a. if God is omnipotent (able to do anything), He is certainly able to make the Incarnation possible
b. analogy: an author can insert himself into his own story as one of his characters. In a sense, this character would have a "double nature", since he would be both the author and a human character who interacted with the other characters in the story.

2. How could Jesus be all-God and all-man at the same time?
a. first of all, it is not as if Christ changed from deity into humanity (as if God suddenly stopped being God and became a man). God added to Himself a human nature, thus uniting two natures in one person.
b. This is called the "Hypostatic Union", and it means that Jesus Christ was one Person with two natures, not two persons in one body (i.e. He was not God and a man living together in one body). He was the unique Person, the God-man.
c. The Council of Chalcedon (451 B.C.) confessed its belief about Jesus by stating that He is verus homus, verus Deus - truly man, truly God. [Note: This is important because getting the two natures mixed up and thinking that Jesus had either a deified human nature or a humanized divine nature is what leads to heresy.]
d. The Hypostatic Union means that Christ's two natures are in perfect unity, without mixture, division, confusion, or separation (i.e. both the divine and human natures of Christ are present at all times).
e. The union of these two natures is eternal. When Christ took on human flesh in the Incarnation, He did not give it up when he ascended back into Heaven (see 1 Timothy 2:5).
f. It must be emphasized that sin is not an essential element in human nature - it became a parasite attached to human nature at Adam's fall. The Bible calls Jesus the "second Adam" (1 Cor 15:45), meaning that He was born with the same nature that Adam had before the Fall. The virgin birth was therefore necessary for Christ to keep His divine nature (remain all God) and become all human.

Why is Jesus the only way to heaven?

First of all, the Bible clearly says that Jesus is the only way to heaven:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mean by which we must be saved."
- Acts 4:12

But why is it that Jesus is the only way?

"What about other people with sincere beliefs who try to be good?" you might ask. While the Bible's claim may seem too exclusive, we need to realize that we all have a "sicknes", a spiritual disease called SIN. One's sincerity or goodness is not the issue. Keep in mind the acrostic S.I.N. as we explain why Jesus is the only way to heaven...

Standard of perfection
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
"God's standard is righteousness because He is hole and sin cannot exist in His presence.

Inability to save ourselves
"...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Isaiah 64:6)
We therefore have a serious problem because we are sinners who can't save themselves. Furthermore, God, because He is holy, must punish our sin! So what is the solution to our problem? If sin separates us, who can connect us? What is the cure for our disease? The cure is Jesus! Why? Because...

No one else solved our problem
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21)

This means that Jesus (who is perfect) took upon Himself all of our sin and punishment and credited His righteousness to us. So saying that Jesus is the only way to heaven is not just a matter of believing the right thing - it's a matter of necessity.