If thou wert in doubt as to what We have
revealed unto thee, then ask those who have been reading the Book from before
thee.... (Surah, 10, Yunus, verse 94)
JESUS - GOD! AN EXPLANATION
FOR MUSLIMS
Rev. Andrew Abraham
***************************************************************
1. INTRODUCTION
2. MISUNDERSTANDINGS
3. BELIEF THAT GOD APPEARED IN THE FLESH NOT ILLOGICAL
A. Evidence taken from verses speaking about God and Jesus
B. Evidence taken from the sayings of Christ
C. Evidence from Jesus' Divine acts
D. Evidence from the testimonies of Jesus' followers
4. CONCLUSION
****************************************************************
1. INTRODUCTION
The question 'Is Jesus
God?' makes it clear that various people have different opinions on the
subject. As will be evident, the Bible presents a clear answer. Muslim
misunderstanding concerning it have mainly arisen
because the Christians at the time of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) have departed from
the truth themselves. They took each other's words and opinions as being more
important than God's word and even up until today many Christians nullify with
their lives what they profess to believe. A number of liberal, so called
Christian scholars, who do not believe in fundamental Christian teachings,
confuse thousands if not millions of people today. Many are misled by the great
sounding titles those learned men have before and after their names and become
blind to the fact that those scholars base their teaching on mere theories
rather than on the Bible. It fills me with great sadness to see how much
confusion these false teachers have caused. I would like, on their behalf, to
ask your forgiveness for not communicating and living out the gospel as we
should have. May the Lord show mercy on us!
2. MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Before we want to have a
look at what the Bible has to say on the subject, let us examine the Islamic
understanding of it.
Indeed, they are
disbelievers who say, 'Surely, Allah is none but the Messiah, son of Mary,....' (Surah 5, Al-Ma'Ida, verse 73a)
'Messiah' is one of the
titles of Jesus. The Quran is right to speak out against this false teaching
which Christians also condemn. The view described in that verse was held by a
heretical group called the 'Patripassionists' during the early days of
Christianity. They identified God with Jesus to the extent that they spoke of
the sufferings of the Father at the cross. Whereas Christians say the
Messiah is God they do not say that God is the Messiah. It may be asked,
'What difference does it make?' This will become clear through the following
illustration: It is all right for some to say that all Ahmadiyyas are
Muslims but you would encounter great opposition if you were to say that all
Muslims are Ahmadiyyas. The words 'God' and 'Muslims' are more
comprehensive, including more than the words 'Jesus' and 'Ahmadiyyas'. The
teachings of Muslims in general and of Ahmadiyyas are essentially the same.
Both believe in the five pillars of Islam. However, some aspects of their
doctrines are different. Ahmadiyyas would also say that their role within Islam
is different from the rest. They understand themselves to be a renewal movement
that is very missions minded. In a similar way God and Jesus are essentially
the same. However their roles are different as is explained in the doctrine of
the Trinity. (See article: 'Trinity explained to Muslims') Therefore, the
question raised, 'How is it possible for God to die on the cross like Jesus
did?' is answered accordingly: The essence of God resides in all three aspects
of the Trinity. When Jesus died on the cross, the essence of God did not cease
to exist or operate during the time between his death and his resurrection.
'Furthermore, the spiritual nature of God is such that it does not become less
by assuming a human nature in Jesus. In their doctrine of unity, the Muslims
tend to conceive of unity as a mathematical unity. According to such thinking
one orange plus one orange equals two oranges, etc.
That is the order of mathematical and material unity. However, the order of
spiritual unity is different. God's love does not become less because it is
given to people. His essence is not reduced or divided when it abides in the
Son and in the Holy Spirit along with the Father. The question, therefore, of
what happened to the Godhead while Jesus was in the grave is based on a wrong
conception of the Trinity and the nature of God.' ('The Ahmadiyya Doctrine of
God' by Henry J. Otten, Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic Studies,
And when Allah will say,
'O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, 'Take me and my mother for two
gods beside Allah, and he will answer, 'Holy art Thou. I could never say that
to which I had nor right...' (Surah 5, Al Ma'ida, verse 117)
Again, the Christians would
wholeheartedly support the Quranic outcry against this heresy that was falsely
promoted by some Christians during the first few centuries of Christianity.
There is not one single verses in the Bible that would
support the view that Mary is God! When reading Quranic verses as quoted
before, one easily gets the false impression that a mere man has been made into
God. However, the Biblical teaching as we now shall see speaks about the very
opposite.
3. BELIEF THAT GOD
APPEARED IN FLESH NOT ILLOGICAL
To prove the point let us
think about an illustration. Nobody has ever seen a square circle. Since both
belong to the same world of shapes it is logical that they are mutually
exclusive. One can only have either a circle or a square but not a combination
of both. However, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that a green circle
exists since the combination is made up of a part belonging to the world of
colours and of a part belonging to a completely different world of shapes.
Similarly God and man come from different worlds and therefore it is not
against logic to say that Jesus is both God and man. The Creator can become
part of his creation and yet still be above it since nothing is impossible to
him. Therefore, according to Philippians 2:6-8 it is true
to say that Christ was 100% God and 100% man at the same time. You ask,
'how can this be? Is that not a contradiction?' The following illustration may
help: I am the father of a very lively young boy. He loves to wrestle with me.
It is quite a fun game. In order not to hurt him I deliberately do not use the
100% strength I have as an adult. I put myself on his level by taking on the
100% strength of a little boy his age. In other words, I am still fully me but
I choose not to use my capacities for my little boys
sake. After all, I love him and that is the only way I can show it to him in
these circumstances. Similarly God too has become a man in Jesus because he
loves us. Article VIII of the 'Formula of Concord' takes up the same subject.
Henry Otten summarizes it as follows: 'The essence of this Article is that
Christ has both a human nature and a divine nature with each nature having the
special attributes or characteristics of that nature. The two natures are
combined in one person, the person of Jesus, in such a way that the attributes
of each nature are not the property of that nature alone, but belong to the
entire person. Whenever Jesus performed any action, it was not just one of the
natures which acted, but the whole person. Thus it can be said that the person
of Jesus was hungry, became weary, and slept, while it can also be said that
the person of Jesus knew what was in man and stilled the storm on the lake (Joh
2:25; Mat 8:26) Some of the other questions of Muslims can be met by
distinguishing between the state of humiliation and the state of exaltation. In
his state of humiliation Jesus was a man like other men and was dependent upon
the same resource as other people. That was why He was ignorant of the Day of
Judgement, could endure suffering, and die, even though He was the Lord of life
and the Word and Wisdom of God. He refused to use God's power to save Himself.'
(Ibid, page 100-101)
Some may object by saying
it is impossible for God to enter into humanity. But what about the belief that
God made himself known through the Quran, his allegedly eternal, uncreated
word? Or think about the Prophets of old. To some of them God spoke directly in
an audible voice. Surah 20, Ta Ha, verses 11-13 confirm that Moses heard God
speak to him, from within the fire. This conversation took most probably
place in his own Hebrew language because God wanted his message to be
understood. Truly, nothing is impossible to the Creator. If he has limited
himself inside a voice in the past he surely can embody a human being in order
to communicate more directly and fully with his creation. That is exactly
what he has done in Jesus. Others may say that God becoming a man in Jesus
would somehow be degrading to God. Athanasius, one of the early church fathers
answered: 'Does not the mind of man pervade his entire being, and yet find
expression through one part only, namely, the tongue? Does any say on that
account that the mind has degraded itself?' ('The Incarnation of the Word of
God', Mac
A. Evidence taken from
verses speaking about God and Jesus
In the following list the
corresponding extracts from the Bible will be listed one after the other. Those
verses mentioning God, which are taken from the Old Testament, the Torah, are
even more astonishing since several hundred years had passed until they were
referred to Jesus Christ!
'For
who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?' (2
Samuel 22:3)
'They all ate the same
spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the
spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.' (1
Corinthians 10:3-4)
In the year that King
Uzziah died, I (Isaiah) saw the LORD seated on a throne...And they were
calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole
earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:1,3)
'Isaiah said this
because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.' (John 12:41)
For this is what the
LORD says...'Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.'(Isaiah
45:18,23)
'...That in the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, ...and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,..' (Philippians 2:10,11)
'They will look on me
(God), the one they have pierced...' (Zech. 12:10)
'...But when they came
to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing
a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and
his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so
that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be
fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken,' and, as another scripture
says, 'They will look on the one they have
pierced.' (John 19:33-37, see also Revelation 1:7)
This is what the LORD
says-Israels
king and redeemer, the LORD Almighty: 'I am the first and I am the last...'(Isaiah
44:6)
'Do not be afraid. I
(Jesus) am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold
I am alive for ever and ever!...' (Rev 1:17f)
'They will make war
against the Lamb (Jesus, see John1:29), but the Lamb will overcome them
because he is Lord of lords and King of kings...' (Revelation 17:14)
'...God, the
blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords...' (1 Timothy 6:15)
B. Evidence taken from
the sayings of Christ
'I tell you the truth,'
Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!' (John 8:58)
By saying 'I am' and
not 'I was', Jesus is using the personal name by which God revealed
Himself to Moses! (Exodus 3:14) In this way he expresses his oneness with
God and the eternity of his being.
The latter is also alluded
to in the next two verses.
'And now, Father,
glorify me (Jesus) in your presence with the glory I had with you before the
world began.' (John 17:5)
Jesus: 'If you really
knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and
have seen him.' Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be
enough for us.' Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have
been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the
Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just
my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.' (John
14:7-10)
Then Jesus said, 'How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David
himself declares in the Book of Psalms: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my
right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' David calls
him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?' (Luke 20:41-44)
Jesus is here quoting from
Psalm 110, which was viewed to be a prophecy about the coming Messiah (Christ,
the anointed one) by the Jews before the Christian era. Verses from this Psalm
are frequently applied to Jesus in the New Testament. (Acts 2:34-36; Hebrews
1:13, 5:6-10,
'I and the Father are
one.' Again
the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, 'I have shown
you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?'
'We are not stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for
blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.' Jesus answered
them, 'Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods?' If he called
them 'gods', to whom the word of God came - and the Scripture cannot be broken
- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into
the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am
God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do
it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you
may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.' Again
they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. (John 10:30-33)
The Jews understood
correctly that Jesus was not just speaking about being one with the Father in
purpose but in essence or nature. Neither is Jesus saying that he and the
Father would be identical persons for the Greek construction is neuter, meaning
'one thing' not 'one person'. The context, verses 34-39, shows clearly that
Jesus spoke about himself differently than others who were called 'gods' in the
law, for his audience still wanted to seize him. Firstly, Jesus answered their
charge of blasphemy by turning their argument against themselves. Secondly, he
sets himself apart as unique from others who were called 'gods.' Unlike them,
he does the works which are only done by his Father. The context of John 17:21 shows that the oneness there has to be understood
relationally.
'You are from below; I
am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.' (John
8:23) 'For where two or three come together in my name, there
am I with them.' (Matthew 18:20, see
also 28:19-20)
Jesus is omnipresent,
everywhere, like God.
Then Jesus came to them
and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.' (Matthew
28:18, see also John 10:18)
Jesus is omnipotent,
all-powerful, like God.
C. Evidence from Jesus'
Divine acts
Jesus is described as doing
things, which are exclusively the works of God:
'Through him (Jesus)
all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.' (John 1:3)
'He (Jesus) is before
all things, and in him all things hold together.' (Colossians 1:17)
'All the nations will
be gathered before him (Jesus), and he will separate the people one from another...Then they
will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.' (Matthew
25:32,46)
When Jesus saw their
faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'...Who can
forgive sins but God alone?' (Mark 2:5,7)
'I (Jesus) give them
eternal life,
and they shall never perish.'(Joh 10:28)
D. Evidence from the
testimonies of Jesus' followers
Thomas said to him
(Jesus): 'My Lord and my God!' Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have
seen me you have believed...' (John 20:28-29)
If Thomas had used the
words 'My Lord and my God' only as a way to express his surprise, Jesus surely
would have rebuked him for going against the Ten Commandments by misusing God's
name. (Exodus 20:7)
'Then those who where in
the boat worshiped him, (Jesus)..'.(Mat
Jesus received worship,
which is only due to God on many more occasions. (e.g. Joh 9:38; Mat 2:11, 8:2,
9:18, 14:33, 15:25, 28:9)
'Simon Peter, a servant
and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our
God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours...'
(2 Pet 1:1, see also Joh 1:1,14, Rom 9:5)
'But grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.' (2 Peter 3:18)
In the verses above and
other ones (2 Peter 2:20, Titus 2:13) the following rule of Greek grammar
followed throughout the old Roman Empire has to be applied and confirms clearly
that Jesus is God: 'When two nouns in the same case are connected by the Greek
word 'and' and the first noun is preceded by the article 'the,' and the second
noun is not preceded by the article, the second noun refers to the same
person or thing to which the first noun refers, and is a farther description of
it.' ('Word Studies in the Greek New Testament', Volume III, Book II, by
K.S Wuest,
Jesus said: 'You call me
'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am.' (John
13:13)
A further conformation of
the Deity of Jesus is found in the fact that the Greek word, 'Kyrios,'
translated 'Lord' in 2 Peter 3:18, 'was an accepted title of Deity in
the terminology of Israel, the Roman empire, and Christianity.' ('Word
Studies in the Greek New Testament', Volume III, Book II, by K.S Wuest,
While they were stoning
him, Stephen prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he fell on
his knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' When he
had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts
Jesus is addressed in
prayer, like God!
'For in Christ all
the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...' (Colossians 2:9)
In the light of all these
strong evidences one must ask the question, 'How is it possible that God can
condescend to take on human form? After all, God has no flesh and bones, does
not need to eat, He never gets weary, he does not pray, he does not die like
Jesus did, who would have ruled the universe while he was dead?'
The answer is found in
Philippians 2:6-7:
'(Jesus) who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made
himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death - even death on a cross!'
God revealed Himself in
Jesus as perfect man. As such he was given birth by
his earthly mother Mary, he had a normal human body, and therefore, he
naturally felt hungry and weary. In his humanity he could also make statements
like:
'By myself I can do
nothing...' (John 5:30)
'...the Father is
greater than
In other words, Jesus
has two natures; He is fully man and fully God! While walking on earth,
God voluntarily limited himself to his fully human nature without giving up his
deity. He made himself nothing by laying aside his glory (see John 17:5)
and by humbling himself to become a human being. As a perfect man he
prayed to his Father. What a marvelous, mysterious account! In
1 Timothy
'Beyond all question,
the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by
the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on
in the world, was taken up in glory.'
Among all the founders of
the main religions in this world Jesus is the only one that claimed to be God
in human flesh! In other religions the teachings, not the teacher
are most important. However, when it comes to Christianity we find Jesus
Christ, the teacher, at its very center!
Whereas others teach about
the way that leads to truth and life, Jesus does more and makes this incredible
statement:
Jesus answered, 'I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you
do know him and have seen him.' (John 14:6 -7)
Why is Christianity so
unique? Because Jesus Christ is the only teacher that
demonstrated all his teachings in a perfect way. Naturally, if Jesus is
God in human flesh it follows that he is sinless. Both the Bible (1 Peter
Furthermore Christianity is
unique among all religions because it teaches, based on the Jewish Old
Testament scriptures, that all men are sinners by nature. He does not just
become a sinner if and when he commits a sinful act.
'The LORD saw how great
man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.' (Gen 6:5, also 8:21, Psalm
51:5, 58:3, Jeremiah 17:9, Eph. 2:3-5)
The doctrine of original
sin does not mean that human beings are incapable of doing anything good
(Romans
Someone may say, 'Well, the
Bible has been changed, these verses must have been corrupted.' There are
numerous reasons why this can not be the case as explained in the articles,
'The History of the Quran and the Injil', and, 'Quran confirms: Bible has not
been changed'. For now it shall be sufficient to ask the question why anyone
should be interested in changing the above-mentioned verses for the worse? Would it not be much better to stress that human
beings are not that bad after all? To change the already desperate fact that
basically good people commit sins into saying that men's nature is already
corrupted by sin at his birth renders him completely helpless. For someone who
is basically good and occasionally does wrong there is hope that his good deeds
will cover the bad ones. However, to be born as a sinner leaves no hope at all
unless God himself intervenes.
Someone else may object,
'the Christians have changed theses verses in order to justify that Jesus is
God who became a man and died for our sins on the cross.' The problem with this
view is that it ignores the fact that the teaching of original sin is firmly
rooted in the Scriptures of the Jews, which are part of the Christian Bible. So
far not many of them believe in Jesus as their saviour. Why and how would they
have changed these verses? Let us look at the doctrine of original sin, that man is born with a sinful nature from a practical
point of view. Those among us who have children shall consider this question:
'Do we need to teach our children how to do good or
how to do bad?' Being a father of three children myself I can emphatically say,
'of course, I need to teach my children to do good things, because the bad
things they do automatically, they come to them very naturally, inevitably,
unavoidably!' I am absolutely sure that all other parents share my experience.
Furthermore, I have been a
Christian for about twenty years and the more I follow God the more I recognize
my own sinfulness. Not that God wouldn't have changed my
lifestyle drastically. To his glory and his honour I can say that he has
changed me for the better. But in the light of his holiness and of his justice
the contents of Isaiah 64: 6 have become very vivid in my life. There we read,
'All of us have become
like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.'
He who follows God faithfully
realises that many of his good acts are like filthy rags before the Almighty
one. Where does the doctrine of original sin come from? In Genesis 2:15-17 we
read:
The LORD God took the
man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the
LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil; when you eat of it you will surely
die.'
As we read on in the
account it becomes clear that when Adam and Eve sinned they did not immediately
die. God obviously was referring to their spiritual state. Their nature, their
essence became evil and as such they died in the sense that God who is Holy and
Just could not have a relationship with them anymore. And so it is up until
today. Muslims object to the fact that man has inherited sin from Adam even
though modern, non-Christian thinkers, like Sigmund Freud support this view.
What do different religions
offer in order to get forgiveness of this terrible disease called sin? They
basically command us to believe in God and to do good works? Christianity again
is unique in that it says we have to believe in what God has done in Jesus and
out of thankfulness do good works. Can you see the subtle difference that has
an incredible impact? Even the devil believes that God exists (James) but that
does not save him! In no other religion God has done something himself in order
to restore his honour and to save men from their sins. In that incredible truth
lies the reason why God became a man in Jesus. The Old
Testament, known as the Torah by Muslims, tells the wonderful story of how God
created Adam and Eve and later the Israelites to be his people. We learn how he
loved them like a father loves his children. Time and time again, however, we
read with great sadness how his chosen ones break his commandments, how they
become guilty of lawlessness. Even more disturbing is the fact that their
rebellion is only a fruit of a conscious rejection of the Almighty God. His own
people spit in his face and bring shame upon him before the very nations
they were supposed to be witnessing of his honour and glory. To make
matters even worse, they were not ashamed of themselves:
'Therefore the showers
have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen
look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame. Have you not just
called to me (God): 'My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue for ever?' This is how
you talk, but you do all the evil you can.' (Jeremiah 3:3-5)
The people of old did as
they pleased because they had lost a sense of shame. While their
mechanical, outward ritual acts may still have been in place they were not
concerned about God's honour at all. Repentance, the turning round from
one's evil ways, was later expressed in terms of recognition of shame and
disgrace. (Jer. 31:19) Likewise, our disloyalty to God, our resistance
against his work among us is known and is exceedingly shameful. We
too deserve to be punished ever so severely. Since God is pure, completely
removed from all evil, man's sin has cut off, effectively killed, the
relationship between the two. The warning given to Adam and Eve became a
frightening reality:
And the LORD God commanded
the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you
will surely die.' (Gen 2:16-17)
'For the wages of sin
is death,...'(Rom
Only through death God's
honour will be restored. Consequently God introduced an elaborate sacrificial system to the
Israelites through Moses. Shame could be removed by getting forgiveness for
sins, but only if an animal would die in their place.
'...without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.' (Heb 9:22)
This all important truth is
also reflected in 'Qisas' the Islamic law of retaliation. (Surah 2, Al Baqarah,
verses 178-179) It consists in doing to the person who has committed a crime
the very same thing they have done. The life of someone who is wilfully killed
demands the murderer's life in retaliation. However, the next of kin can accept
a financial compensation instead. According to Surah 5, Al Maida, verse 45, retaliation
for inflicted wounds is also necessary. A nose for a nose and
so on. If a member of the body which is to be cut off in revenge is
defective, a compensation will be accepted.
From God's perfect
perspective animal and all other sacrifices are defective. They can not take
away sins but were only serving as a cover and a shadow of Jesus, the
Messiah, the perfect sacrifice to come (Heb 10:1-18). He, being without
sin, by taking our shame upon himself through his death on the cross, restored
the honour of God in a most profound and just way:
'Moreover, the Father
judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son, that all may
honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour
the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him. I (Jesus) tell you the
truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life
and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.' (John
5:22-24)
'Your attitude should be
the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him
to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.' (Phil 2:5-11)
God raised Jesus from the
dead confirming his authority, loyalty blessedness and blamelessness. Those
who deny the cross refuse to accept God's generosity, his blessing. They
dishonour the giver.
The destiny for us who are
living in the time of the New Testament is dependent on our relationship to
Jesus. The New Testament makes it clear that salvation is by faith through
Christ alone:
'That in the time to
come he might make clear the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us in
Christ Jesus: Because by grace you have salvation through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is given by God: Not by works, so that no man may take glory
to himself. For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do
those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them.'
(Ephesians 2:7-10)
'Being conscious that a
man does not get righteousness by the works of the law, but through faith in
Jesus Christ, we had faith in Christ Jesus, so that we might get
righteousness (right standing
before God) by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law:
because by the works of the law will no flesh get righteousness.' (Galatians
2:16)
Salvation by faith in
Jesus is believing with the intellect
that the Bible is right about our sinful condition, about who Jesus is and
about what he did on the cross for us. Passages that speak about judgement
according to works have to be read in the light of what true faith means. This
is confirmed when their immediate context is considered. (e.g.
Joh 5:28-29, compare with verses 23-24, Mat
1.
Out of thankfulness followers of Jesus do what he
tells them: To love God and man. This is the essence and test of true
obedience. They desire to follow the moral law set out in the Old Testament
and summarized in what is known as ‘the 10 commandments.’ (Exo 20:1-17)
2.
Genuine faith in Jesus produces a desire to become
more like him, to do what is right and just.
3.
Saving faith creates the awareness that this
new obedience can only come through faith in Christ. It does not come
from focusing on the law, the desperate attempt to meet its demands. Instead it
comes from continually fixing one’s eyes on Jesus and his work, by
remaining connected to him through being in his presence with one’s
thoughts.
4.
Lastly, Biblical faith generates a constant
abiding in and reliance on Jesus by faith. In this way only the Holy
Spirit of God supplies the power for a changed life and lasting fruit. (Rom
4. CONCLUSION
The objections to the fact
that Jesus is indeed God who became a human being are based on
misunderstandings. It has been shown that this important Christian doctrine is
not outside the realm of logic. Moreover, the Bible clearly teaches the
profound truth that God entered humanity. Jesus said:
'Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30)
Will you accept his
invitation and come to him in prayer? Will you confess your sins to him and ask
him for forgiveness? Your eternal life in heaven depends on it!
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Copyright © 2001, 2003 by Rev. Andrew Abraham. This publication may be reproduced in part or in full in any form or by any means under the condition that credit is given to the author and that he is notified via contact form.