Jesus as both God and Man - Literature review Example

Jesus as both God and Man The Christian doctrine of the Trinity essentially teaches that there is one God. This makesit a monotheistic religion at face value just like Islam and Judaism. The uniqueness about most of mainline Christianity from the other monotheistic religions is that though it claims to be a monotheistic religion that worships one God; their one God is actually a Godhead that is composed of three distinct persons namely: The father; The Son and; The Holy Spirit. The Christian God has therefore been very hard to comprehend and explain in simple language (Alston 1997). Even very learned Christian scholars define the concept of the trinity as a mystery understandable only by God himself(Kärkkäinen 2007). This position has however not deterred Christians or made them feel like their faith is in contradiction. This is because they have explained that by the very fact that God is a mystery is proof that he is God and as such, he is the only one who can really understand himself. Jesus is also found to have two natures, which are fully united together, which is another mystery that can only be fully understood by God. Jesus is said to posses the full nature of man and its attributes and the full nature of God and its attributes. It is logical for the creator to understand his creation very well and very hard for the created creature to fully, understand his creator due to the disadvantage of being a creature and so being limited(J.P.Moreland and W. L. Craig 2003). This is the explanation of Christianity for the many mysterious and unexplainable concepts within its teachings and most especially so the being of Jesus as fully a man yet still is fully a God. The teaching did not develop overnight but took time because the Christians worldview was shaped slowly over time by theologians as they struggled with contrary teachings both inside and outside Christianity and also as they struggled to find their place as a religion apart and different form Judaism (Kärkkäinen 2007). Person The fact of the matter is that Christianity is not the only religion with godheads. Its distinction from these other religions is its claim to monotheism despite having godhead. The focus of the Christian faith is Jesus who was reportedly born of a virgin through some miraculous form of conception. This claim again this is not a unique claim in eastern religions as the Greek and Roman religions were full of epic stories that were of a legendary nature which told of God’s that came down to indulge in sexual unions with their creatures and had children by them who were half human and half god. The story of Jesus is nothing like that. It claims that the third person of the Trinity who is God the Holy Spirit came upon in some form of a miraculous power and created a baby within her womb without the need for a sexual union( Bible: Mathew 1). This event is supported by another region, which narrates the same event (Quran: Surat Mariam 23.) The supernatural birth of Jesus through divine power is taken as fact by both Islam and Christianity but to different ends. In the Islamic religion this proves his prophet hood and is a demonstration of Gods power to create at will which in no way conflicts with Islamic theology. In Christianity, however it is taken as proof of the divinity of Jesus. Theologian Alston explains the short and the long of it here: “Trinitians hold this revelation of the one God as a great self to have been either supplemented or superseded by later revelation which shows the one God to in some sense be three “persons.” (Greek: hypostaseis or prosopa, Latin: personae) However, if these divine “persons” are selves, then the claim is that there are three divine selves, which is to say, three gods. Some Trinity theories understand the “persons” to be selves, and then try to show that the falsity of monotheism does not follow.”(Alston 1997) The person of Jesus has to be understood from first understanding the Trinity. Jesus is the second person in the Trinity. There is a hierarchy where God the Father is the first person, Jesus the second person and then the Holy Spirit is the third person. The belief in Christianity is that the God existed alone in a state of nothing that is known as “ex-nihilo”(Milne 2009).This God the Father then went ahead and created a universe and in it, a planet called earth in which he created creatures called man. The human race began from two human who were male and female (Bible: Genesis 1-3). They refused to obey God the Father who then punishes them by withdrawing their immortality but provide a way out by promising to save them and to punish the Serpent who misled them into disobeying him. This story is developed and interpreted in the Bible where God the Father sends his Son who is the third person in the Trinity to be reborn. This Son is born as a human being as Jesus and the story continues until the man Jesus is explained as the savior and the second person of the Trinity who is worthy of full worship (Bible: New Testament). Purpose The global perspectives on just who Jesus Christ is and his purpose in the history of humankind has many faces. (J.P.Moreland and W. L. Craig 2003).There is those who see Jesus as a very good man, others see him as prophet while others as a great philosopher. His own people the Jews saw him as then and now as an imposter who made a false claim to being their long awaited Messiah. He is a historical figure and nobody denies his existence. It is the evidence about some of the claims around what happened in his life that brings about differences of opinion. The Jews most assuredly did not believe that he resurrected form the dead although Christians claim that the Jewish leaders bribed the guards who were around the tomb to hide the fact. The Islamic faith is in agreement with Christianity about Jesus ability to perform miracles and other supernatural acts but still deny that he his divinity. They believe he is a great and mighty prophet and only that and, not, the son of God for in their understanding, God was not begotten and neither can he beget children(M.U.Mababaya 2004).The Islamic faith embraces him as a prophet of Allah their God and accuses Christians of perverting his purpose as a prophet by claiming that he was himself a God that they consider as blasphemy. A perversion they believed was because of borrowing from the surrounding religions by Judaist who had lost their way. There are many theories as to how the trinity was a borrowed concept such as those put forth by Islamic scholars. .(M.U.Mababaya 2004). Even though the Christian religion has undergone twenty years of tradition and reform, they are still agreed on the purpose of Jesus in humankind’s (R.Olson 1999). There is general agreement within Christianity on the important role of Jesus in the salvation of humans. There are also different understandings of how he did it when he died for humanities sin on the cross. Some Christians believe that he died instead of the sinner “substitution” while some believe that he paid for the sins of humanity “penalty” while others still believe that he died to pacify the anger of God the Father “satisfaction”(Grudem 1994). The most important issue for the Christian is the purpose for which they believe Jesus died. That purpose was to save humanity but only those who would accept the free offer, which can only be gotten through believing in him. That is the reason for Christianity’s requirement that a person ought first to believe in Jesus as a fully divine being- as God. That, however, is not all there is to it for one must also believe that he is fully a man. Therein lays the paradox. The fact of the matter is that not all Christians believe in the divinity of Jesus.(D.R.Snedeker 1998). The Unitarians believe in the divinity of only God the Father and do not believe in the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).The Jehovah’s Witnesses also do not believe in the divinity of Jesus but of God the Father only(G.Stafford 2007) Significance The significance of who Jesus was understood to be is of great importance as it influenced the understanding of many theologians throughout the centuries. In the middle ages, understanding and defining the person of Jesus was not as important to the church as the doctrines of sin and grace. It was a period, in which the Catholic Church wielded a lot of power even in the political affairs of the worldly empires and kingdoms. The power to forgive sin lay in the hands of the clergy and ultimately with the pope who was the head of the Catholic Church. This condition changed during the Reformation. This was a call for a revolution in terms of the teaching of the church in which the clergy and the hierarchy of the church took second place after the written word, which is in the bible. It was a significant step but it ended up dividing the church into two divisions. The Catholic Church retained its teaching while the breakaways that were known as Protestants developed their own set of teachings in which salvation was in the belief in Jesus by faith alone. Later on in the nineteenth centuries moving forward, the teaching of Protestantism started to focus more on the Son as God more than the Father or the Holy Spirit(Berkhof 2002). Atonement The atonement is the work that was accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross. The second person of the Trinity was on a mission to earth to save the whole of humankind by first becoming one of them through birth. His objective was to provide a way to permanently repair the broken relationship that had occurred between God the Father and Adam the first human and his descendants- the human race. The word atonement is a theological word that is used to describe the work of Jesus on the cross when he died. It includes the need, reason and purpose of his death. The need was to save humans by kind of buying or paying back what they owed to God the Father so that human beings could now have a right relationship with God. The reason was that humankind, as a whole had become sinners on a wholesale basis due to the trespass of the first two human beings when they disobeyed God. The atonement is a very important aspect in understanding Jesus Christian thought. He is believed to have taken the place of humanity as a representative and in complete obedience to God; the father obeyed the full law and then suffered on behalf of all of humanity. The beating and the crucifixion caused Jesus to suffer pain, which was meant for humanity. Since he was divine and sinless he was exposed to the pain of bearing the sins of the all of the human race, which exposed him to the anger of God the Father. God the Father is acting on behalf of the Godhead/Trinity by demanding that humanity should pay for trespassing god’s law. The wrath of god the Father could only be satisfied through the shedding of blood. Therefore Jesus shed his paid for man’s sin by his blood. Conclusion The theologians in modern times have summarized who Jesus is in the Christian faith in a sentence “Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever”(Grudem 1994). The humanity of Jesus is by reason through birth by a mother who was human. The lack of a human father ensured that he did not inherit the sin of Adam the first human being and a representative of the entire human race. Jesus had all the attributes of a human being such as, a body, mind, will and even emotions.(R.Olson 1999). The people who interacted with Jesus only saw him as a man (Bible: New Testament).The people who interacted with Jesus never saw him as a God. In fact, even his own disciples had not yet fully understood the nature of Jesus when he was alive and walking amongst them in person. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity was developed much later after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what made Christianity distinct from other monotheistic religions like just like Islam and Judaism. The uniqueness of most of mainline Christianity form the other monotheistic religions is its claim to being a monotheistic religion, which is that they worship one God while their one God is actually Godhead. Then there is also a preference to one person in the Godhead who has two natures. On the one hand, he is divine and on the other hand he is human and his two natures cannot be separated from each other forever after his reincarnation on earth at the instance of his birth(Kärkkäinen 2007). Therefore, the best way to better understand the person of Jesus is to first understand the Trinity. There is no understanding Jesus the man without first understanding Jesus as the second person in the Trinity. There is also a need in understanding the hierarchy within the Godhead: God the Father is the first person, Jesus the second person and then the Holy Spirit is the third person. This aids the understanding of the need for the Jesus’ actions in the life of humanity and the need for the atonement of sin. Footnotes 1. Alston, W. “Swinburne and Christian Theology” argues that Jesus despite being God choose to confine his divine attributes to his human nature so that he was able for example to be in one place at a particular time as a human. Sometimes though he chose to use his divine knoledge or even his divine power to heal and perform other miracles that were not consistent with his human nature. 2. Berkhof, Louis. The history of christian Doctrines. The christian doctrines did not come to be in one sitting but was worked on and developed over twenty centuries mainly during times when the church was confronted by heresies and false teaching 3. D.R.Snedeker. Our Father Has No Heavenly Equals. Gods sovereignity is explained as by his being as creator. He has all power over all matter in all the universe. 4. G.Stafford. Jehovahs Witnesses Defended. Jehovahs witnesses believe that only god the Father is God. 5. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994. Jesus possesed divine sovereignity like those only possessed by God. 6. J.P.Moreland, and W. L. Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview.The Christian faith is based on revealtion knowledge that was given by God. 7. Kärkkäinen, W.M. The Trinity: Global Perspectives. There is almost global agreement among christian faith on the Trinity both in the catholic and protestant wings of the church. 8. M.U.Mababaya. Oneness of God: The Ultimate Solution to the Trinitarian Controversy. The only trully monotheistic religions of the world are Judaism and Islam 9. Milne, Bruce. Know the Truth: A Hand Book in Christian Belief. Not even angels can claim the right to worship. Only Jesus can 10.R.Olson. The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform.The doctrine of Christ has deveoped from the merely salvific to the grace and love doctrines of the twenty first century Bibliography Alston, W. "“Swinburne and Christian Theology” [Review of Swinburnes The Christian God], ." International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 1997: 41: 35–57. Berkhof, Louis. The history of christian Doctrines. Pennslyvinia: banner of Truth Trust, 2002. D.R.Snedeker. Our Father Has No Heavenly Equals. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1998. G.Stafford. Jehovahs Witnesses Defended. Huntington Beach, California: Elihu Books, 2007. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994. J.P.Moreland, and W. L. Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003. Kärkkäinen, W.M. The Trinity: Global Perspectives. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2007. M.U.Mababaya. Oneness of God: The Ultimate Solution to the Trinitarian Controversy. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: International Islamic Publishing House., 2004. Milne, Bruce. Know the Truth: A Hand Book in Christian Belief. Nottingham,England: Intervarsity-Press, 2009. R.Olson. The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999. Read More