Foundations of the Christian Life Chapter 2 - Christ the Word.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 2: Christ The Word.

We are looking at the concept of laying spiritual foundations. In the introductory study we looked at the concept of spiritual growth and the need for us to develop and grow spiritually from the new birth that we experience when we come to Christ.

We saw how there are stages of spiritual growth from babyhood through the warrior years of young manhood to the mature years of spiritual fatherhood where we reproduce others “after our own kind”.
We saw how growth begins with drinking milk but we need to move on to eating meat.
We saw how the spiritual milk or the spiritual foundation of our lives up is detailed in Scripture. And there are three parts to a spiritual foundation:

1. The objective foundation of the person and work of Christ in history.
It is as if we are building a high rise building and we need to get down to the rock – that is the basic level of foundation. This gives a solid base on which to build. Christ and his work are like the solid rock foundation on which we can build.

1 Corinthians 2, 2. 3:2,11.

2. The Bible.
On top of the rock a builder will pour a layer of concrete to give the building site a level surface from which to start building – that is like the Word of God – it makes everything level.

In one sense both Christ and the Bible are an objective foundation – they are given to us and are the same for every Christian. But the building we are each building for God in our lives is different for each of us. Therefore the rest of the foundation is in some way unique to each of us. It has the same ingredients – just as every building has concrete and steel in the foundation – but like different buildings they are put together in a unique way for the building being built. So we also need a third part to our foundation.

3. A foundation laid in our experience and understanding.

Hebrews 6:1--3.

The way we lay the foundation of Christ into our lives is through these six things – repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement. When these are laid the building itself can then be built. But all of this foundational work only brings us up to ground level. We saw that before the superstructure goes up the foundations have to be inspected and passed. God is our building inspector and will not allow us to go on to maturity if our foundation is not properly laid. One could be 50 years a Christian and remain a spiritual baby because the foundation is not properly laid – and many do.


THE WORD OF GOD.

The idea of "Word" in scripture has in it the idea of the revelation, or the self- manifestation, of God. God showing himself to us.

The common view of mankind from all generations, of all faiths and philosophies, is that God dwells in mystery. If we are to know him then he must reveal himself to us because, left to our own devices, we are incapable of getting to where God is and finding out what he is like.
The Christian claim is that God has revealed himself to mankind in specific actions and words in history and these are recorded for us in the Bible. God is no longer shrouded in mystery because all we need to know about him he has chosen to reveal to us. There is a “Word” that gives us understanding.

THREE IDEAS OF THE WORD OF GOD:

The three levels of the spiritual foundation parallel three different ideas of God’s word we find in scripture.

1. Christ is the Word of God to man – Christ is the “Word become flesh.”

John 1:1-4,14.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.“

Christianity claims that, in the person of Jesus Christ, God has revealed himself in a way that means we can know God. We can know what he is like and know him in relationship. Christ is the full and final revelation of God to man. We are going to “unpack” this idea in this chapter.

But Jesus is not here now. How do we get to see Jesus so that we can become like him?

2. The Bible is the Word of God to man.

2 Timothy 3:16.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, …”

The record of this revelation of God in Christ and the authoritative interpretation of the revelation of Christ are found in the Bible. God has given us the word of God – the Bible so that we can access Christ and his power for our lives. The Bible is the written Word of God – the record and interpretation of the revelation of God made in Christ. We will unpack this idea in the next chapter.

3. God in the lives of Christians is the word of God to man.

2 Corinthians 3:2.
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.”

The aim for us is to be like Christ: to build a strong Christian life and character and to do the things Christ did. Then we will reveal God through our lives. In being conformed to Christ we will become “a letter written by God to be read by all men.” We will unpack the process of how this happens in later chapters.


CHRIST IS THE WORD OF GOD.


The Bible presents us with the truth that Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the full and final self-revelation of God.

John 1:1-2,14 (above).

“The Word”:
* Was “in the beginning”, i.e. before creation. Thus the Word is not created or made but is an eternal reality. Because he is eternal he is God, as only God is eternal.
* “Was with God”, i.e. living in relationship with God for all eternity. This implies that there is a distinction between God and the “Word”. Something cannot be “With” something else if it is the same thing. The Word is somehow different from God.
* “Was God”, i.e. in some way there is an identity between “the Word” and God so that they are the same. The Word is not different from God somehow. How we will define later.
* Is a “He”, i.e. the Word is a person.
* “Became flesh” i.e. became a man. But “became” implies he existed before he “became” a man.
* “And dwelt amongst us”, i.e. this miracle of God becoming man was observed by other people who lived alongside Jesus in his earthly life, including John himself. These people are witnesses to the fact that it is true.

John is saying here that the Word of God is the way God reveals himself, or makes himself known. This "Word" is itself actually God, but in some way is different from God and lived with God in eternity but at a particular point in time became a man in Jesus Christ. The “Word” is a Person in his own right; He is a “He”. Thus Jesus Christ is essentially “in himself” God and so is a perfect revelation of the person and nature of God.

This Word, or revelation, of God in Christ is Total and Final.

Hebrews 1:1-2.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. “

* Before Jesus, God “Spoke… at many times and in various ways through the prophets.”
Prophets, seers or visionaries had an experience of "the divine” and reflected this to other people in their messages. All previous revelations were revelations through people who were not God. Because of this, the knowledge they imparted to others was necessarily touched by two features:
a. It was second hand knowledge and
b. It was knowledge "about" God - not a revelation of God himself.
This sort of revelation about God by necessity has to be inferior, incomplete, imperfect.

* “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Jesus Christ was not just another prophet in a long series; rather Jesus was in actual fact God's son. In the culture of the Bible world the idea of "son" is that the son is like the father. Thus Jesus is like God, he is actually God himself, in person, living on earth as a human being. Because of this, this revelation is on a totally different plane to any other revelation. This revelation of God in Christ is complete, perfect, total.

The emphasis here is that although God spoke before in different ways, NOW he has spoken once and for all time. This is the final speaking of God, and it came in Christ. Jesus is not just another word of God, i.e. another revelation in a series, he is THE Word of God - the final, definitive word that cannot be altered or added to. This finality of revelation in Christ is because he, himself, is God. Because Christ is a person and fully God in himself then he perfectly reveals who and what God is like. If God is thus fully revealed in the person of Christ then there can be no further revelation. Christ is God actually revealing himself! It is a revelation in another class altogether from the prophets or other religious leaders.


The whole Christian claim rests on the belief that, although Jesus was a man in history, he was also fully God in his essential nature and so was able to perfectly reveal the person and nature of God and to do the works of God necessary for man’s salvation.


CHRIST IS THE POSSESSOR OF TWO NATURES - DIVINE AND HUMAN.


John 1:1-2,14 told us that Jesus “was God” and he “became flesh”, i.e. a man. From this we understand that Jesus had two natures – he was fully God and he was fully man. He was not “less than God” because he was a man, nor was he “less of a man” because he was God. Rather both natures were preserved intact in his person.

Philippians 2:6-8.
“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!”

A. Christ is God.

(Note: The New Testament was originally written in Greek)
"being" – Greek: hyparchon: A stronger form of the verb "to be'.
It means, "Being originally".
It speaks of what was and is unchangeably his – he is God.
"in very nature" – Greek: morphe: Means "Permanent form, essential nature". His essential nature was that of God. This is a plain assertion of Christ's divinity. It implies that when he became man he did not stop being fully God, divine.

This is how Jesus is the same as God – he is God in his essential nature.

B. Christ became a Man.

“taking” – implies he existed before he took on human form and that this act of “taking” was a conscious act of free will on his part.
"form/nature of a servant" – Greek: morphe: essential nature - this was not a piece of play acting, but reality - Jesus became truly man in his essential nature. From then on he never ceased to be man. Jesus is still a man today. The incarnation of Christ resulted in a permanent change in the nature and structure of the Godhead (the Trinity).
"Made" - part of Greek verb gignesthai: The idea here is that of "becoming", it describes a changing phase that is completely real but is not part of the original essence of the person. It suggests that humanity was not part of Christ's essence originally, but he assumed it. It does not imply the state is impermanent once it has occurred.
"likeness" - The Greek means "It is exactly the same stuff". It does not mean the English sense of "like but not really the same". Jesus was, and is, a real man in every way.
"appearance" – Greek: skema: The word applies to the outward appearance that can change. Paul is saying here: though Christ's outward appearance changed he remained essentially what he always was - God.

The clear meaning is that:
God, in Christ, became man without ceasing to be God. Christ is now permanently and essentially both God and man.

This understanding that Christ is both God and man was based firmly on the experience of Salvation that the NT writers and early Church Fathers had. Their logic went something like this:

1. Jesus was and is clearly a man. (This is a simple fact of history.)
2. Only God can save us, i.e. forgive sin (This is an axiom that is beyond debate).
3. But in our experience Jesus saves us from our sins (This was the undisputed fact of Christian experience).
4. Therefore Jesus is God (The Logical conclusion).
5. Hence Jesus has two natures – he is both God and man.

T.F.Torrance, The Incarnation.
“If, in fact, Jesus is not God then Jesus was acting merely on his own like any other creature. Then there is no salvation in Christ. But Jesus is presented in the Bible as acting out of an unbroken oneness with God, which is the very ground of his significance. He and the Father are one. That is why Jesus’ acts are saving acts: they are divine acts…
“If Christ is not God then he is a mere man on the cross, and God is wholly alone in his deity. We could not believe in such a God who, with the finest man of the human race, did not lift a finger to help. To leave Jesus as only a man on the cross would leave us in darkness and despair with a horrible God. But make Jesus God himself and the whole picture is transformed - then Jesus is the Word and Hand of God stretched out to save us...
“If there was no unity of God and Christ it would mean for mankind there is no real bridge in being or nature between man and God. It would mean that Jesus and all he stands for is irrelevant for the ultimate destiny of man and that the ultimate issues belong to God alone - whose love fell short of identifying himself with us. God may well turn out to be different to what we thought. There would be a dark God behind Jesus we cannot see - a god of fear…
“But Jesus insists that he and the Father are one - the work of Jesus is the work of God, there is no dark hidden God behind Jesus, but Jesus is the open heart of God.”

Christ must be God – otherwise:
1. He does not reveal God. He is just another prophet like the OT prophets. He thus reveals things about God but God himself is not revealed. But the Bible claims that God is revealed in Christ.
2. He cannot save – for only God can save. Only God can forgive sin. If Christ was not God then he could not save us from our sins. But the Bible tells us that he saves us from our sins.

WHAT DOES CHRIST REVEAL TO US?

1. The nature of God.

Two words theologians use: Economy and Essence. These are important in understanding how Christ reveals God.

The Economy: Is the events of the life of Christ while he was here on earth: His incarnation, life, ministry, death and resurrection.

The Essence: Is the eternal nature of God as he is in himself.

The early Fathers of the Church came to a guiding principle in their understanding of how God was revealed in Christ, and it is still the understanding of the Church today. It is summarised in this phrase:
“The economy reveals the essence.”

By this they meant that the relationships we see between God and Christ in Christ’s earthly life reveal to us the relationships they had, and have, for all eternity.

The Fathers argued thus: “If the eternal nature of God and the eternal relationships between the members of the Godhead are not exactly as seen in the economy then Christ did not reveal God in his earthly life. The relationships revealed in the economy must be the same as the relationships in the essence – otherwise Christ is not a revelation of God at all."

Thus: Christ in his life on earth was the revelation of the eternal nature of God.

Christ stands in his earthly life in relation to God as a Son to a Father. The new thing revealed about God in Christ is that God is Father. This is not just an accident of Christ's coming to earth but is a fact true for all eternity. God always was, is, and will be, Father. Jesus was for all eternity past, is now and always will be the Son of God.

The word “Son” in the Greek has the idea of a continuance and identity of nature between the Father and the Son. The true son has the character and nature of the father. Hence we say, “Like Father, like Son.” This saying derives from the Greek understanding.

Hence when we say Jesus is the “Son of God” what we are affirming is that he is of exactly the same nature as God the Father. To be “Son” is in no way to be inferior to the Father in terms of inner nature and person.

Hence Jesus as “the Son of God” is the revelation of the nature of God in a unique way. This was not just another revelation about God but rather the very nature of God is revealed as Father in Christ because Christ is, himself, “Son”. But he also revealed that in “God” there is a plurality. God is not only the “Father” but in God there is also the “Son”. Thus the mystery of the Trinity was revealed to us through Christ. This is beyond the scope of this course.

That Jesus is the “Son of God” was not just something dreamed up by the apostles but it was the claim of Jesus himself.

Matthew 11:27
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

John 1:18
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”

John 8:19
“Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

John 14:8
“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. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

The claim that Jesus is the Son of God is an essential part of the teaching of Jesus and cannot be removed from it. As C.S.Lewis put it, the claim by Jesus that he is the “Son of God” can mean only one of three possible conclusions:
1. Either Jesus was mad to claim he was God’s son – but he doesn’t show signs of madness elsewhere.
2. Either Jesus was bad (wrong) to claim he was God’s son – in which case we can completely dismiss his claim. But he doesn’t show signs of someone trying to deceive people. After all he died because of this claim and who would die for something they knew was just an invention.
3. Or Jesus was who he said he was – the Son of God. This is the only conclusion that makes sense.
Lewis insists that we are really left with only two options: Either Jesus was the son of God, or he was a liar, i.e. bad.

2. The purposes of God, i.e. his salvation.

Jesus not only reveals the nature of God but he reveals the purposes of God.

John 3:16, 17.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

2 Corinthians 5:19
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Thus on the scale of revelatory acts Jesus Christ is the tops - there can be no greater revelation, thus he is the full and final revelation of God – both God’s nature and his purposes. There is nothing more to reveal about God after Christ. Christ is the end of revelation.

Hence the revelation in Christ is basic, it is foundational – it becomes the basis of all future belief and practice.

CHRIST IS THE SUM OF EVERYTHING WE WILL NEED FOR THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT.

Romans 8:32
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

2 Corinthians 1:20
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."

Ephesians 1:3
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

2 Peter 1:3
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."


In and through Christ, God has provided everything we will ever need to live this life and to enter into heaven in the next life. All of the promises of God become true through Christ.

HOMEWORK:

1. Go over the study a couple of times this week. Remember to look up and read all the Bible verses.
2. Do the Transformer verses and prayer. Read them and the prayer out loud.
3. Take a few minutes this week to read the following passages:
Mark 1-13.
Matthew 5-7.
John 13-17.

As you read them ask yourself these questions:
* Does this sound like someone who is mad?
* Does this sound like the words or actions of someone who is trying to deceive people.
* Or does it sound like someone telling the truth – that he is the Son of God?


TRANSFORMER VERSES.

John 1:1-2,14
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning…
…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

Hebrews 1:1-2.
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…"

Philippians 2:5-6.
"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!"

PRAYER.

I thank you Father that you sent to us your Son, Jesus. I thank you that in Jesus we see fully what you are like – you are THE loving Father who wants to save us from our sins and also provide us with everything we will need for this life and for the next. Reveal yourself to me through Jesus Christ I pray.

Help me, O Father, to have the same attitude Jesus had – not to seek glory for myself, but to learn to be your servant, obedient to your will Help me to walk the way of the Cross.

In Jesus name I ask it, Amen.