God the Son
HIS DIETY AFTER THE INCARNATION (1)
God the Son
HIS DIETY AFTER THE INCARNATION (1)
We have seen the Son of God presented as the wisdom and power of God the Father. Our marvelous universe, made up of material elements, provides the setting for the revelation of God’s knowledge and might.
Our habitat in this vast handiwork of God is a small planet called Earth, one of several planets in a solar system in one of the countless galaxies of the unmeasured expanse. The Earth was prepared by God as a suitable place for the only living creature said to be made in God’s image – man.
This divine/human relationship is no doubt the basis for God’s concern for, and His involvement in, human history. However, the manner and extent of His close association with us could scarcely be imagined were it not for the unique record we have in the Bible. From the Scriptures we can deduce that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit were all active in the creation of man. We also find in the Scriptures that man’s failure to remain properly related to God because of disobedience brought about a separation between Divinity and humanity.
The separation between God and us could not be bridged by our efforts, and God, because of His pure nature, could not accept us in our blemished, sinful state. For reconciliation ever to be possible, God had to take the initiative in three specific ways. First, He Himself had to build a bridge across the gulf between humanity and Himself. Second, He had to provide the means by which we could qualify to cross the bridge back to Him. Third, He continually has to supply our strength, insight, qualifications, and guidance to enable us to make the crossing successfully.
God's “personal” involvement on our behalf came in the Person of Jesus Christ, whose blood bridged the gap between us and God (Ephesians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:19-22). To this end, God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Let us consider how Jesus, the incarnate God – both God and man – reflected His deity while He was on the Earth.
Biblical Terms Reflect the Son’s Deity on Earth: At some point after God created mankind, something went terribly wrong. The man and the woman chose a self-serving path and disregarded God’s protective warnings. This sin cost them their fellowship with God and brought on the horror of death. The chasm between God and Adam and Eve was deep and wide. The consequences were far-reaching; they even affect us. As every link in a chain used in oil drilling is smeared with oil, each generation in human history has been linked and smeared with sin. Unless altered, the human race was doomed to death (Romans 5:12). We were separated from God and without hope in the world (Ephesians 2:12). All would have been lost if God had not acted on our behalf.
In an incredible demonstration of love, mercy, and grace, God came to earth in Person! He crossed the gulf. He built the bridge. He acted out of love that cannot be measured by its, height, depth, breadth, or length. What He did was not only unexpected; it was undeserved. What glorious, joyful, invigorating good news! On the other hand, how easy it is to misunderstand! Our specific goal in this lesson is to deepen our understanding and heighten our appreciation of what God has done for us.
Many of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament pertained to the coming of God’s Messiah. The culmination of these is seen in the coming of Jesus. By the time the New Testament was completed with the writings of John, it had been revealed to the church and the world that not only was Jesus the Son of God, but He was also God the Son (John 1:1-14; 20:26- 31).
The “Son of God”: The phrase son of God did not necessarily carry with it the idea of deity in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Moses addressed the Israelites saying, “You are the sons of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 14:1). The Israelites knew that they were not divine beings, even though they were called sons of God. In the New Testament, we find Jesus saying that “peacemakers” will be called “sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). No one assumes from Jesus’ statement that a peacemaker is deity. In many such examples, we see that the phrase “son(s) of God” does not carry with it the meaning of deity in the Old Testament or the New Testament. The only exception – and it is a gigantic one – is when it is applied to Jesus.
Even here we should be aware that many of those applying this description to Jesus during His lifetime may not have had deity in mind at all. The Israelites knew that their history was marked by individuals who were messiahs of God. Messiah means “anointed or selected.” God anointed many leaders and kings to lead and preserve His people. Sometimes they were called sons of God (Psalm 89:20-29; 2 Samuel 7:11b-16). In fact, the nation of Israel, collectively, was called God’s son, according to Exodus 4:22 and Hosea 11:1.
Thus, in the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish mind, the phrase son of God had deep significance. The Israelites were His chosen people. They were members of His family. They were the recipients and beneficiaries of His will. As “God’s son,” Israel had a precious heritage. As “God’s sons,” many of their leaders and kings were considered special appointees of Yahweh.
When John the Baptist began his ministry, he quickly pointed out to the religious authorities that he was not the Messiah. Rather, he was preparing the way for Him. John never called Jesus the Messiah, but he insisted that the One coming after him – who was actually before him – was much greater than he. His statements implied the Messiahship and affirmed the Lordship of Jesus (Matthew 3:1-3; John 1:15, 19-23, 30).
The “King”: Therefore, when Jesus entered into His ministry after His baptism, it is not surprising that He was often referred to in terms of kingship by many of His Jewish contemporaries. Some, believing Him to be a great prophet, wanted to make Him king (John 6:14-15). Others cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38; see also Psalm 118:26).
Some Gentiles were also aware of the aura of kingship that surrounded Jesus’ life and ministry. At His birth, magi from the East, presumably Gentiles from Persia or Arabia, came seeking the one born “King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:1-2). Near the end of Jesus’ life, Pilate, the Roman governor, was particularly concerned about Jesus’ reputation and His acknowledgment that He was the Messiah, the King, and the Son of God (Matthew 26:63-64; John 18:37). At Jesus’ crucifixion, Pilate ordered a sign to be placed on the cross; it read: “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19).
The “Messiah”: In His lifetime, Jesus was looked to by some Gentiles and many Jews as being God’s anointed King and Son – the “Messiah.” Jesus Himself accepted this status and the acknowledgment of others who ascribed these roles to Him (Matthew 16:16; John 1:49). However, just as John the Baptist never called Jesus the Messiah, Jesus seemed reluctant to identify Himself as the Messiah during His ministry. This may have been due to His own “timetable” of ongoing ministry (Matthew 16:20; 26:18; John 2:4; 7:6; 8:20; 17:1), or it may have been to keep the many misconceptions of the Jewish people about their predicted Messiah from being applied to Him. It was most certainly not because He lacked a “messianic consciousness.”
These terms used to describe Jesus did not necessarily mean that those using them thought that Jesus was God. In fact, the forthright confession that Jesus was deity, other than from Jesus Himself, came only after His resurrection, when “doubting” Thomas saw the scarred body of Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). The climax had arrived. The resurrection victory was decisive. The full identity of Jesus was now affirmed. Jesus is God (deity)!
His Self-Awareness Reflects the Son’s Deity on Earth: One area of evidence concerning Jesus’ deity is His divine awareness. Although we have little information about Jesus’ personal life, the insights we are given in the Gospel accounts illustrate that He was aware of His deity. He used His divine omniscience and omnipotence as tools in His ministry. He knew all that would happen as He fulfilled His role as Redeemer – including the thoughts and actions of others, both present and future. His self-awareness is shown in many ways.
His Knowledge of His Relationship with His Father: From early boyhood, approximately the Bar Mitzvah age, Jesus was conscious of His role in His Father’s plans. When Joseph and Mary found Him in the temple, this conversation followed: “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for You. And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?’” (Luke 2:48-50). Jesus was not referring to Joseph, but contrasting Mary’s phrase “Your father” to His words “My Father.” There is no evidence that Jesus was unaware of His divine relationship with His heavenly Father. Quite the contrary!
What does this Father/Son relationship mean in light of Jesus’ deity? He said elsewhere, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27); This is an affirmation of universality (“all things”) and exclusiveness (“except the Father . . . except the Son”). This unique Father/Son relationship means nothing unless it includes intimate, divine relationship. This relation of Father to Son enables the Son to reveal the Father to others as He chooses.
This “Divine initiative” lies behind some of the remarks Jesus made to His disciples. For example, Jesus informed a questioning Thomas that He was (and is) the exclusive way to the Father. Thereupon, Philip asked that they be permitted to see the Father. Jesus’ response gives a marvelous example of His consciousness of His identity: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:9b-11a). He was aware that He was not the Father; He was aware that He was the Father’s Son. The two are so closely related that to see one is to see the other; to hear one is to hear the other.
Another time Jesus went further in saying that whatever the Father does is what the Son does because they are mutually aware of each other. Life and judgment have been entrusted to the Son by the Father; therefore, both the Father and the Son are to be honored: “Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes’” (John 5:19-21).
Jesus’ awareness of His relationship with His Father rested on the foundation that He was (and is), as His Father is, deity.
Did Others See Jesus as Deity?: Jesus knew His own identity. His apostles heard Him confess it to them and others. As Christians, our faith also leads us to confess that Jesus is God. We are able to do so because we have heard the complete story of Jesus. We have read the full revelation of the Scriptures. We know and anticipate the wonderful biblical ending.
Do you ever become so excited in reading a book that you could not resist peeking at the end to see how the story comes out? Aware of the marvelous ending, you begin to perceive hidden meanings in conversations, descriptions, and relationships as you read. Knowing the end beforehand can give us a feeling of satisfaction, but we may forget that the characters in the book do not know the ending. We wonder why individuals do or say certain things. Surely they should know better! No. They do not know how it ends! Therefore, we must be careful not to “misread” what they are saying or doing.
If we read the Gospels through the eyes of those individuals we find in the Gospels, we may realize their perceptions are quite different from ours. It is easy to assume too much. We may push our privileged perspective, gleaned from knowing the entire story, upon the actions and words of those who were actually living or recording the events. Examples abound in Scripture.
Take the episode of the Canaanite woman from the Tyre and Sidon area. She cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22b). He healed her daughter and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish” (Matthew 15:28a).
What was the woman’s belief about Jesus? She addressed Him as kurie. This word is translated “Lord,” which was a common address of respect. It is also translated as “Master” or “Sir” (Matthew 13:27). (Saul of Tarsus used this term to address Jesus even before he knew who He was [Acts 9:5]). The woman also called Jesus the Son of David. However, there is nothing in this exchange between Jesus and this Syrophoenician woman to indicate she saw Jesus as divine, a Deity. Her faith was in Jesus as a healer, not in Jesus as God.
Neither Jesus’ followers nor His opponents were prepared to see in the episodes of His life the evidence of Immanuel – “God with us.” We, as readers of the whole truth about Jesus, should be careful not to anticipate the truth. We must let it unfold before us. We should not deliberately ignore this principle. Jesus spoke of coming to the truth, not anticipating it prematurely (John 8:32). Terms such as King of the Jews, Messiah, and Son of God may have been used at times by uninspired men to describe Jesus without necessarily implying that He was a Divine Being. In Israel’s past, kings, anointed ones (messiahs), and even Israel collectively had been called sons of God as God’s chosen ones.
Where shall we turn for definitive, convincing evidence that Jesus was not only the Son of God but also God the Son? We can go to the other writings of the New Testament; however, we need only the Gospels. The personal life and teachings of Jesus bring to the forefront that He was indeed deity. We can look at the Gospel accounts and see evidences that those of Jesus’ day did not see, not because we are more insightful than they, but because we have had the privilege of “looking forward” to the later revelation of the entire New Testament.
His Awareness of His Divine Knowledge: Another area to consider is the knowledge Jesus had beyond human capability. This occurs so often in the Gospel accounts that it is easily overlooked because of its frequency.
We will note several examples taken from the Gospel of Mark:
(1) When Jesus healed the paralytic brought to Him by four men, Mark 2:8 says that He knew the thinking of some teachers of the Law even before they spoke.
(2) Jesus began to teach His disciples that He was to be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the Law. He would be killed, but after three days He would rise from the dead (8:31; 9:9, 31; 10:33-34).
(3) He predicted that some of His contemporaries would still be alive to see the kingdom of God come with power.
(4) He mentioned the persecution and death of some of His apostles (10:39). (5) He knew ahead of time about details that would affect His ministry (11:2-6).
(6) When Jesus was questioned, His reply was often said to be based on His knowledge of the inner thoughts and attitudes of the questioners (12:13-17).
(7) Jesus graphically described the coming destruction of the temple and the catastrophe to follow (13:1-23).
(8) He knew that Judas would betray Him, that Peter would deny Him three times, and that all the apostles would “fall away” (14:17-21, 27, 30).
