In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog called "Only God can save us." In it I gave the historical (and I think still relevant) defence for why Jesus was God. It was long, probably too long, but the reality is they didn't come to the conclusion that Jesus was God on a whim, but after careful searching of the Scriptures, their own reason, ministry experience, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
However in 2500+ words I left a rather important question unanswered... So what?
So what if Jesus is God? Does it really make that big of a difference to the every day walking out of faith? And what do we mean by faith any ways? Is the belief that Jesus was God a core issue to Christianity, or can we take it or leave it.
Upfront I will say I don't know what "the list" of all the things a person has to believe to be a Christian or if even such a list exists, but I do however think there are some repercussions to beliefs held by both sides.
The starting point in all of this for me was a young man I met at Church who did not believe that Jesus was God. He was raised in the Church, knew the bible stories, and wasn't under any sort of angst toward Church or God. He had just taken the phrase "Son of God" to mean that he wasn't God just as if I had said the "Son of the President" wasn't the president. It makes good logical sense but then what was Jesus to be to us? I asked that same young man the same question. His answer? Jesus wasn't God, he was the Son of God, just as we are to be Children of God, but where we fall short he succeeded and became the ultimate example of how we should live and even die.
Now in some sense he's right. There is an aspect of practical Christianity in which Christ stands as our example for daily life through his actions and through his teaching. In fact, in some ways we often miss this aspect of His life in evangelical Christianity. He is an example. He did tell us to do things. But was that all he was?
If Jesus was just an example for us to follow, then what was his death on a cross about? Perhaps the fulfilment of Jesus' own words "do not resist an evil person" but then where does salvation come from. Not from His death but rather from our adherence to a certain set of ideals. If this is true, then how are we judged at the end of life here on earth? By our adherence to these rules and principles? By our intentions? By the amount of our improvement? And then aren't we in a sense saving ourselves? What about Ephesians 2:8-9- "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast."
The reality is that if Jesus wasn't God, then we are still under the law because he was only able to "fulfill" the law for himself
If Jesus wasn't God, then he couldn't have died for all our sins, because he was unable to know them.
If Jesus wasn't God, then we are left with a religion based on our works and not the work of God, and leaves our salvation in question on a minute by minute basis
If Jesus wasn't God, then as Paul says we are to be most pitied
Though I'm not sure what else is on "the list" I talked about earlier, it seems to me that the Gospel must include the idea that Jesus was God, that the Word of God, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us. That is where grace begins, that almighty immutable, all knowing, Lord and Creator of all, took on the fullness on man, to restore us to a right communion with Him. It is his vigorous pursuit of us that has accomplished this.
