"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was nothing that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men" (John 1-4) Again in verse 14, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." These words indicate that Christ was God to us, but not all are convinced. We know that the Apostles made the Resurrection of Christ the center of their teaching but it was but the most spectacular of His many recorded miracles. Even if these do not in themselves prove that Christ was God, they at a minimum prove that God was working through Him and therefore the message He preached is true. Since, therefore, Christ claimed to be God, we can place our trust in His testimony. This is as shocking today to those unfamiliar with the Bible, the writings and testimony of the Early Church Fathers and the history of the Early Church in its first three hundred years of history (which centered around fighting heresies which misunderstood who Christ was from the Arians to the Docetists) as it was to in Jesus’ day to the pharisees, scribes, zealots, sadducees, and his other enemies or even to his disciples until the end of his life. But it is the most important question for mankind and for your life!
The Incarnation is the central fact of history. "It is the hinge of history. It changes everything." If Christ is God than His coming opened up the gates of Heaven for mankind for the first time since Adam and Eve and is the single most important event of human history bar none. If Christ is God He is all powerful and all knowing and can transform your life right now if you come to know Him and follow Him. All of history is Christocentric because all history leads up to the coming of Christ and after that coming, all history reflects that coming and longs for the Second Coming that He promised. Let’s explore the Christ of the Gospels to see if His claims are true.
Our Lord’s Reticence about Himself needs to be acknowledged. He clearly avoided making frank pronouncements of who He was, even with His own apostles after three years, it is clear that He has not told them who He is. For we see in Matthew 16: 15-17, "Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."
He refrained from a clear statement because the Jews thought of the Messiah as a political and military ruler to physically defeat their enemies [not a Savior who would die from their sins for love of them] and from revealing His divinity because of the poverty of their imagination about God, the fact that the sinner would have been overwhelmed to realize His presence and their reticence to even mention His true name let alone be in His presence, which would certainly mean to them they could no longer live! Jesus closed the mouths of the possessed man when he called Jesus "the Holy One of God" (Mk 1:24) and of his apostles when he raised a child from the dead (Mk 8:30) and after His Transfiguration (Mk 9:8). He does not manifest His Divine Sonship before Satan (Mt 4: 3, 6) or before the Jews who are deriding Him (Mt 27: 40).
But His claim to be God emerged nonetheless. Yet Christ time and again did and said things that were totally inexplicable if he were only a man. He amazed those who heard Him that he spoke not like the scribes but as one with authority (Mt. 7:28). There is no text in Messianic literature that shows the Messiah pardoning sins, yet Christ does so in His own name. His claims thus become explicit. Here are some examples:
"And entering into a boat, he passed over the water and came into his own city. And behold they brought to him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold some of the scribes said within themselves: He blasphemeth." (Mt. 9: 1-3).
In John 8:58, when quizzed about how he has special knowledge of Abraham, Jesus replies, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM"--invoking and applying to himself the personal name of God--"I AM" or "Yahweh." His audience understood exactly what he was claiming about himself. "So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple" (John 8:59).
Another example, when the Jews therefore came round about him, and said to him: How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not: the works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one. [one divine nature, two distinct persons] The Jews than took up stones to throw at him" (John 10: 24-30).
Jesus revealed His true identity in this statement and again when Philip said they would be satisfied if He only showed them the Father. Jesus responded, ". . . he that seeth me seeth the Father also."
Before the Sanhedrin and the Chief priests, we read, "But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest said to him: I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ the Son of God. Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priests rent his garments, saying: He hath blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy." Mt 19: 63-65).
Christ reinforced his words with actions, showing the Godhead in action:
1) Christ taught with authority and expanded the moral law as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Since God created moral law, He alone can add to it
2) Christ exerted power over physical nature with His miracles, but God alone has power over physical nature and every true miracle is worked by God and in His name. Christ worked miracles in His own name and cast out devils.
3) As we have noted, Christ forgave sins, but only God can forgive sins (Mk 2:10). Moreover, these great powers He gave to His disciples to exercise in His name (Jn 20: 22-23); Mk 16:17; Mt. 28: 19-20).
Let’s examine Christ’s place in relationship to Judaism, to mankind and to His eternal Father. First with regard to Judaism, He certainly claimed to be the Messiah (John 4:26). He fulfilled the Messianic descriptions of the Old Testament, the prophets, and was called "King of Israel" (e.g., Luke 19: 38), "Son of David (e.g., Mt 9:27), "Son of man" (passim) and "he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (e.g., Mt 11: 9). Jesus claimed to be greater than Abraham (Jn 8: 53, 56); than Moses (Mt 9: 8-9); than Solomon and Jonas (Mt 11: 41-42); than the Temple itself (Mt 12: 6). He also said that He was "the Lord of the Sabbath" (Mt 12:8). Israel had been God’s Church, God’s Kingdom, but Christ identifies Himself with God in his past dealings with it as when He told the scribes and pharisees: "Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city . . . Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings . . ." (Mt 23: 34, 37).
As a King, Christ speaks of His spiritual Kingdom, the spiritual Israel that is to be when He tells Peter, ". . . upon this rock I will build my church and gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever thou shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatever thou shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 16: 18-19). In the parable of the vineyards, the prophets are servants and He is the Son and heir (Mk 12: 1-12).
In His relation to mankind, we see Christ describing Himself in parables as the householder. He can read the thoughts of the pharisees, of the disciples, of Zaccheus, etc. He foretells the future destruction of Jerusalem (which occurred just as He said it would in 70 A.D.), the betrayal of Judas, His own death on the Cross and His return in glory to judge the world (Mt 16: 27). He claims each man’s complete allegiance and the power to fulfill their deepest needs in a way that would be blasphemous if He were less than man’s owner. For example:
"Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls" (Mt. 11: 28-29).
He warns the pharisees that "He that is not with me, is against me . . ." (Mt 12:30) and told His disciples ". . . and He that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Mt 16: 25-26). Or again, when He says, "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." (Mt 10: 37-38). Then we see in the parable that our debt to God is a debt to Him and that love of Him wins forgiveness (Lk 7: 41-49). He says, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world . . ." (Jn 6: 51-52).
Finally, we can see it in His relationship to His eternal Father. Even before Jesus was born the Angel Gabriel declared that the Child to be born will be "the Son of the Most High" and the "Son of God" (Lk 1:32, 35). Moreover Scripture assures us that Jesus is not merely an adopted child because the Angel informs St. Joseph that "That which is conceived in her [Mary], is of the Holy Ghost" (Mt 1: 20). This implies natural not adoptive sonship. Jesus himself tells us that He pre-existed with the Father "before Abraham" and saw Satan falling as lightning from Heaven" and when asked who He was responded, "The beginning, who also speaks to you" (Jn 8: 25). This was a word used only of Almighty God. He speaks of Himself as the only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world (Jn 3: 16-18). The Jews sought to kill Him because He said God was His Father, making Himself equal to God (Jn 5: 18). He said "He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 10: 38) and claimed equality with the Father (Jn 10: 36). He taught the disciples to pray the "Our Father" but never did so Himself. From the beginning of His ministry he allows Nathaniel to call Him "Son of God" (Jn 1: 49); the Apostles (Mt 14: 33) and Martha (Jn 11: 27) give Him the same title. Twice He approves of Peter who calls Him "the Christ, the Son of God" (Jn 6: 70), "Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16: 16). Four distinct times does He proclaim Himself the Son of God; to the man born blind (Jn 10: 30, 36); before the two assemblies of the Jewish Sanhedrin on the night before His death (Mt 26: 63-64; Mk 14: 61-62; Lk 17: 70). Finally He knows God’s mind and God alone knows His (Mt 11: 27; Lk 10:22).
Much time could be written upon how Christ perfectly fulfilled the prophecies about the coming Messiah. Christians are especially found of the prophecies of Isaiah, which so beautifully portray the Savior to come. The most famous example is Isaiah’s Suffering Servant found in
Isaiah 53: 3-12:
"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and
we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him
was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for
the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there
was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him;
he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall
see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be
accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will
divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with
the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors."
The arguments presented above are primarily Biblical but many others could be offered to prove that Christ is the Son of the living God, as Peter so aptly put it. If this was a lie concocted by the Apostles, as is pointed out by Professor Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, in Handbook on Christian Apologetics, then all they got for it was martyrdom, hardly motive enough for men to surrender their lives. Yet surrender of life is what made the Church grow, as Tertullian so aptly put it, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Was it mere delusion that sent Christians to the martyr’s death in the arena and into the mouths of wild beasts singing hymns or the numerous stories of miracles that accompany all of Christian history. Sanctity is a powerful weapon but it cannot effectively be faked for long. Actions to often belie false sanctity. Holiness is as real as evil in this world, if somewhat more rare! St. Thomas Aquinas argued that if the Incarnation did not occur (God becoming man) than an even more unlikely thing did. Namely, the conversion of much of the world by "the biggest lie in history" which was accompanied by the moral transformation of countless men and women into courageous and selfless persons, detached from the world and in pursuit of holiness, which many attained. Christianity survived 300 years of underground life with periodic spasms of persecution until its liberation day in 313 AD., when Constantine, the Roman Emperor, issued an Edict of Toleration. It is alive and vibrant today despite the prevalence of materialism and sin in this world. It is the hope of mankind. Jesus Christ is the hope of mankind. He is God, our Savior and Lord. Believe it. Count on it!
