The Earnest Contender

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The Fundamentals of the Faith (Part 5)

Jesus Christ is God. (Jn.1:1, 14)

He is the second Person of the Triune Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt.3:16-17).

He is none other than the One and only true living God (Col.2:9).

He was always God the Son, and will always be God the Son (Is. 9:6; Matt.3:17).

He had no beginning and will have no end (Jn. 1:1-3).

He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last (Rev. 22:13).

Jesus Christ is the Theanthropos (Greek; Theos, meaning God; Anthropos, meaning man). This literally means the God-man (cf. 1Tim. 2:4-6). He is fully God, and when He was born upon this earth about 2,000 years ago, He became, at the same time, perfect man (Is. 7:14; Gal.3:20). These two natures were united in one person without forming a third nature (Heb. 1:3). This is what theologians call the hypostatic-union.

He was born of a virgin. His birth was basically the same as any other birth. However, His conception was not by any means ordinary (see Is.7:17 cf. Matt. 1:23). Mary, His mother, was a virgin (Latin -“Virgo intacta,” not just a young maiden as those who deny miracles claim). Mary remained a virgin until after the birth of her first son, Jesus (Matt.1:24-25).

The deity of Jesus Christ is a fundamental of the faith and is essential to salvation, if Christ is not God He is powerless to save. To deny this is to deny the Lord of His divine person, His divine purpose, His divine passion, and His divine glory (Matt.10:32-34). Because Jesus is God, we can have confidence in Him alone to save our retched souls from hell. Do you know the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ?

21 Comments:

Amen! I love this post.
I am amazed at this wonderful Person.

By Rose~, at 30/5/06 8:48 AM
Hi John

I love this .. Yes this is the way to start a day . There is so much power in the name of Jesus, to get you though the Day.

Thank you Brother, Great Job

Doug

By forgiven, at 30/5/06 9:10 AM
Great stuff.

"The deity of Jesus Christ is a fundamental of the faith and is essential to salvation, if Christ is not God He is powerless to save. To deny this is to deny the Lord of His divine person, His divine purpose, His divine passion, and His divine glory (Matt.10:32-34)."

Denying the Lord's person is not a sin that can cause us to be denied salvation. We are not saved through upholding Christ's divine person.

It is absolutely true that if Jesus is not God He cannot save. However, our salvation is not in our understanding of theology, but in our child-like faith in what Christ has promised.

"Because Jesus is God, we can have confidence in Him alone to save our retched souls from hell."

Amen. We can have confidence in Christ because He is God.

However, if a person has been deceived by wicked men into thinking that Christ is not truly divine, she can still have confidence in what Jesus has said. She can take His words as Gospel truth and believe that if she believes on the Son, she will have everlasting life. The Lord would never cast her away because of her lack of understanding of His person.

Nicodemus had only two of the verses you have quoted, and yet the Lord promised him that if he had faith on the Son, he would have everlasting life.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

By Matthew Celestine, at 30/5/06 11:10 AM
Amen John!

I am too Rose!

"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the *exact imprint* of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of Majesty on High." Hebrews 1:3

By Bhedr, at 30/5/06 5:49 PM
John,
Thanks for defending this truth!

Te quote by Matthew should be rebuked however.

He said:

"Denying the Lord's person is not a sin that can cause us to be denied salvation. We are not saved through upholding Christ's divine person."

John the Apostle said very clearly:

"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father." 1 John 2:23

It is the spirit of anti-christ that denies Christ's person. Matthew has again attempted to spread the heresy of "another gospel" to "another" blog site.

This should be recognized and spoken to for what it is.

He continues:

"However, if a person has been deceived by wicked men into thinking that Christ is not truly divine, she can still have confidence in what Jesus has said. She can take His words as Gospel truth and believe that if she believes on the Son, she will have everlasting life."

This thinking is not of the Holy Spirit. What "confidence" would be possible in a man, or an angel?

What "confidence" would be valid without the death and resurrection of the promised Messiah, who is both God and Man? This MUST be believed in for salvation. Does anyone notice the "otherness" of Matthew's gospel?

This "imaginary" woman that Matthew writes of, is a decieved victim of a demonic spirit, speaking through men who are of the spirit of anti-christ. "Her" salvation is yet to be, as her "Savior" does not "exist" but in the imagination of her deceptive teacher. Belief in the Person of Christ is not an optional sub-point of soteriology.
It is the beginning and the end of it!

By Anonymous, at 31/5/06 5:26 AM
John,
the name ulqin is really "Blaurock."
I signed in on "other" by mistake.
Your's in Christ Jesus,
Our Prophet, Priest and King!
Joseph

By POWER PRO, at 31/5/06 5:29 AM
It is such fun being a false teacher.

By Matthew Celestine, at 31/5/06 1:47 PM
To those who are reading this thread,

Thank you for your comments I appreciate them, every one of them. My position is that there are many who have claimed to be the Christ, and many who say they are Jesus the Christ. In California alone there are hundreds of such claims. Simon bar Kokhba made a similar claim. Each made claims and promises… Only the LORD Jesus Christ has substantiated such claims by not only stating clearly in His Word who He is, but also proving it by His resurrection. If He is not raised, then He is Not God. If He is not God, then He can not save. Even Zane Hodges went to great lengths to say one must believe in the LORD Jesus Christ to be saved not just Jesus of Nazareth the carpenters son (see Chapter 13 pg. 169-170) Absolutely Free).

He is the LORD, God, Omnipotent! This is who John preached not just any Jesus will do. I must have the Anthropos! God… in the flesh, the only begotten of the Father (re-compare Jn. 3:16-18).

Matthew, please don’t confuse this issue through hypothetical stories, I am coming from a liberal background where they are staunch in the view that Jesus is God’s little boy just like everyone else who He created (albeit through a process of evolution). I can not just let it pass. One can not have a proper Soteriology with a faulty Christology.

By J. Wendell, at 31/5/06 2:34 PM
Dyspraxic Fundamentalist said...

"It is such fun being a false teacher."

31/5/06 1:47 PM

Should this type of statement be considered funny?

By Anonymous, at 1/6/06 3:12 AM
John, with respect you are taking Zane Hodges out of context. He is not talking about whether it is essential to affirm Christ's deity to be saved. He is discussing what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether that necessarilly entails commitment.

"One can not have a proper Soteriology with a faulty Christology."

Normally, people who have a wrong christology have a wrong soteriology. However, people who are converted are often confused about many things.

How correct does one's soterioogy have to be to be saved? There is no list in the Bible of necessary doctrines to believe to receive eternal life. It is simple trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life.

"Only the LORD Jesus Christ has substantiated such claims by not only stating clearly in His Word who He is, but also proving it by His resurrection. If He is not raised, then He is Not God. If He is not God, then He can not save."

Absolutely true. However, you are confusing one's trust in a thing with one's understanding of a thing.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

By Matthew Celestine, at 1/6/06 11:34 AM
Jesus Christ is a divine Person not a thing.

Brother, you are correct in one sense salvation involves complete trust and confidence in the Person Jesus Christ our Lord, not commitment, and one must have the proper view of whom one is trusting. I have said it before and I maintain Saving faith involves

Knowledge

Mental Accent

and

Trust.

John, with respect you are taking Zane Hodges out of context.

Contrarily, you perhaps have been confused my friend, it is the authority behind His Name. Re-read those two pages again, did Hodges not use the illustration of the president of the USA?

Please don’t make it more complicated than it really is, even my children understand this.

By J. Wendell, at 1/6/06 4:42 PM
Amen as commitment implys pick yourself up by your boot straps and trust involves a giving away of fear born out of the anxiety of you sin. A transfer of trust onto Christ as your sin bearer. Intresting enough Jesus said not to fear man but God. So he points to himself as fear is the inhibiter of trust and he calls us to transfer that trust to him for our sin. I really believe it is all housed in this anxiety when Jesus says "Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom"

He calls us to simply ask and we will receive. It is to be known by the one who trusts that it is only God and God alone who can calm this fear of Hell as we entrust our souls to Him at the cross.

When Jesus would forgive sin they would ask, "Who can forgive sin but God." It is God and God alone who can forgive sin. You must place your fear of this onto him believing that in that trust He will indeed forgive and save you. He must be God for that trust to be genuine. It is impossible otherwise. Once again...great post John.

By Bhedr, at 1/6/06 10:40 PM
John, I would suggest that you have made thigns mroe complicated by subdividing savign faith into knowledge, assent and trust.

If one knows that Christ provides eternal life, then one has given mental assent to it. And if one assents to the truth of Christ being the Resurrection and the Life, then one is trusting in Him. Ther three things you mention are essentially the same thing.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

By Matthew Celestine, at 2/6/06 3:47 AM
Bhedr~ Good perception and explanation about fear, it never really occurred to me (out loud) before thanks for that.

When Jesus would forgive sin they would ask, "Who can forgive sin but God." It is God and God alone who can forgive sin. You must place your fear of this onto him believing that in that trust He will indeed forgive and save you. He must be God for that trust to be genuine. It is impossible otherwise.

This is also a good point.

By J. Wendell, at 2/6/06 5:19 AM
DF~ I appreciate your challenging thoughts here, you have caused me to think, and thinking is good, I think.

I do not wish to argue over a hypothetical situation. My desire for those I have an opportunity to witness to, to understand who Jesus is. If you go back into my archives you would see this from my very first few posts. See especially the What is Saving Faith post.

There are subtle differences in the three aspects of saving faith.

By J. Wendell, at 2/6/06 5:32 AM
I read that John. It was great! I remember when you first started, but I never remember reading that one. Its too bad.

I am beginnig to realize more and more that as a child my parents taught me this truth and I accepted it, but as I grew as an adult so many people cast doubts onto this truth causing me to question whether it was true and then when I would go to others troubled about these doubts, the would say that since I was questioning this then I wasn't trusting...ah ha ha. I am thankful today that I rest in His care and saving power and nowhere else.I rest in the Person of Christ. Perhaps this is why God put me through all of this and now I know for sure that I don't just have a mental assent, but a trust.It has been good to pass through all of this. I do think it important that we do indeed note the differance between mental assent and trust.

Intresting you used the Titanic. I pass out Gospel's of John on the street or out on the road. I wish I could find me some buddies to witness, but none seem to be willing anymore. Pray for me...I'd like to have a buddy that is burdened about this and is willing to go as well.

Anyway, when I pass the Gospel of John out I tell them I am giving them a lifeboat. I ask them why didn't the people on the Titanic take more lifeboats with them as they left half of them behind. Well as many understand the story they reply "They didn't even think God could sink the ship!"

"Thats right" I tell them."We are like the people on that Ship, we are so caught up in the love and pleasure of this world, that we don't stop to think that this world is going to be Judged and none of us can escape death. It is because of our sin that we don't think we need the lifeboat I am offering you."

I then tell them that in our hearts we are telling God the same thing. You can't sink this ship and thus we feel we don't need to trust in Him as our life boat and our only hope of salvation.

I leave the Gospel of John with them and call them to read it or ask them to call out to God and trust in Him confessing their sin that put Christ on the cross and to trust in Him as their sin bearer and source of life.

I think it helps them think. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I believe that trust is born out of the fear of the Lord, but we must be careful not to lead men into becoming self-flaggelators. It must be quick. In the same sentence that Jesus called men to Fear the one who casts into Hell, he turned around and said "Fear Not!"

By Bhedr, at 2/6/06 5:02 PM
John,

I posted this over at Antonios Blog. I felt I ought to post it here too:

I can remember watching Tony Campolo years ago on the old Politically Incorrect show that used to come on after Nightline.

Bill Maher said something like,"Why do evangelicals always come on here and tell us that you must believe in Jesus or your going to Hell.I mean why can't Hindu's, Buddhists or Muslims or Jews be going to Heaven. They are just as sincere."

Tony Campolo answered by saying something like, "Interesting that you should say that. My friend was ministering in a Buddhist community and He talked to a monk about Jesus. The monk began crying and said, "I believe in this Jesus."

Bill Maher said something like,"So you don't have to be in the Christian religion and Jesus can be found in other religions."

Tony Campolo shook his head.

Bill Maher began to tell him that he liked him a lot and wished that other evangelical preachers were more like him because they don't dogmatically come on the show condemning everybody with their exclusivity. Everybody seated around him was agreeing.

In the book of Proverbs there is a verse that says,"When the righteous give way to the wicked, the water becomes muddy."

Elaine Pagels was brought up in the Evangelical faith. She had a Jewish friend who asked her if she was going to hell if she didn't believe in Christ. Elaine was upset that God would cast her friend into hell and she has been on the forefront bringing out the Gnostic Gospels and the Gnostic Epistles. Why? Because she struggles with God's justice found only in His Son. We must make the Son known or we lose everything that we believe in.

By Bhedr, at 2/6/06 5:27 PM
Bhedr~
Stand firm my brother if you don't He will hold you anyway, I am not saying live nilly willy and test this, I am saying Stand firm in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God.

Don't get me going on Campolo...

Thanks for the encouragement that you are.

By J. Wendell, at 3/6/06 7:10 AM
Thanks too for your encouragement.
We have a steadfast hope. I have really been pooring over Hebrews lately and am discovering more and more the context and purpose of those tough passages that were intended to stir this body of discouraged believers away from nilly willy thinking, but at the same time anchor them in the truth that they are kept by the power of God and rest in the palm of his hand. Sometimes God brings us into these storms and we have great big glorious anxietys only to discover these fits are occuring in the Palm of His hand and are intended to move us out of presumptous thinking. I do also think the intentions of these hard passages are indeed also to parse mental assent from trust so that one is made to trust.

My father once told me that the Bible will confirm the non-believer as well as the believer and He said his mentoror(Bill Tate) once told him that the word of God at times can be as sweet as honey or as bitter as castor oil.

By Bhedr, at 3/6/06 3:16 PM
AMEN!!!

By J. Wendell, at 3/6/06 4:21 PM
Yes Praise the Lord!

Also, in regards to the whole armor-we are to put on the helmet of Salvation! With certain teaching today you would think that we are to put on everything but that. WE HAVE A WARRANT FOR PEACE. We don't need to go around robbing men of it as some of the Lordship teaching does. Especially that stuff coming out of Minnesota.

By Bhedr, at 3/6/06 7:22 PM