If Jesus Isn’t God….
“If Jesus isn’t God…. are you saying He is just a man?” The Trinitarian view of God insists that Jesus is a divine “person” who has existed from all eternity. We think this idea rules out any chance of Him being truly human like the rest of us. (I haven’t existed from eternity and none of my friends have either). We are saying that “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5-6) Our mortal lives begin at birth and end at death. If Jesus was truly one of us He should have followed the same pattern… and He did! His mortal life began with His birth in Bethlehem and ended when He was crucified on Calvary. Jesus then created a gloriously new pattern of life and death when He rose from the dead. Now He invites us to share in His immortality!
Jesus Christ is Unique Among Men
Skeptics dismiss Christian belief by saying, “The Bible is just a book filled with myths and stories that aren’t really true.” Most Christians believe that although the Bible is indeed a book it is much more than “just a book”. Calling the Bible “just a book” implies that the Bible is simply one book among many and no different than all the rest. We affirm that the Bible is indeed a book, but not just a book! It is a unique book, in a class by itself and distinct in its anointing from all others… and we can say the very same thing about our Savior. Jesus Christ is unique among men. He is in a class by Himself; sinless, perfect and distinct in his anointing from all others… but he is still thoroughly and completely a man. He was most definitely one of us but He is not “just a man”.
Jesus is the Christ of God, the Anointed One
Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. The Father called Him “My Beloved Son” (NOT “My partner in the Godhead”). Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Light of the World. No other man “ever spake like this man!” He raised the dead, walked on water and stilled a tempest with His words! He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We know Him as the Good Shepherd, our High Priest and the Great Physician. Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Kinsman Redeemer, and He is our brother. He is the Christ of God, the Anointed One. Today He is exalted and sits at the right hand of God and yes… He was a man, but fortunately for us He was not “just a man”.
PS: Jesus is no less than the very Christ of God! This is who He claimed to be and this is what God revealed to the Apostle Peter. Jesus declared He would build His church on the rock of this simple truth. He never claimed to be more than Christ and most definitely never claimed to be God Himself. Please don’t be offended by this! If Jesus was content to declare Himself to be the Christ we should be content to believe Him.
Copyright 2022 by Bob Shutes
If God must be reduced to trinity, it would not be Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but rather, Father, His Word and His Holy Spirit. “Jesus” did not exist until he was born of Mary; the Word of God was present at creation. Scripture never says that God became a man, but that His Word became flesh. We must fathom that.
…and therein lays the issue. Who ever said we had to reduce God to any kind of trinity in the first place? We love to question and ponder things that will ultimately be settled and made clear someday. We confess that in the meantime we still see through a glass darkly. One thing we know for sure is that there is one God and only one and that Jesus Christ is His miraculously conceived, virgin born, crucified and resurrected Son. That indeed is something we can fathom.