Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The Humanity and Divinity of Christ
The person and work of Jesus Christ
Christology doctrine
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The Humanity and Divinity of Christ
Of all the debates that concern the Christian faith, the most important lies in the understanding of the very one whom the faith professes to follow: Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ, and what did He do here on this earth? In noting the importance of these issues the apostle Paul goes so far as to make the startling claim that the Christian faith is useless if predicated on a false assumption of Christ’s saving work (1 Cor. 15:14). Indeed, there are no truths more central to our faith than the personhood and work of Jesus Christ, and yet serious disagreements exist regarding the nature of these tenets. Jesus lived here on earth as fully divine and yet fully human in one and the same person, and His death on the cross served as a perfect sacrifice and substitute for the necessary punishment of death that all sinners deserve.
In understanding Jesus Christ, one must first deal with the issue of the incarnation. What does it mean that “the Word became flesh” (Jn. 1:14)? Was Jesus human or was He God? In order to hold to a Jesus Christ that brings salvation, one must acknowledge that He is the God-Man, that is, that He came to earth and lived as a fully divine and yet fully human person. Just how did He do this? Though it may be difficult for us to wrap our minds around this fact, Jesus paradoxically exercised His full humanity and His full divinity simultaneously. For example, while retaining His omniscience, He faced the limits of knowledge. This can be seen in His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 where He evidenced His supernatural knowledge in knowing completely the woman’s undisclosed past. Yet in Matthew 24:36 Jesus shows limited knowledge in admitting to not knowing the hour of His second ...
... middle of paper ...
...o deserve death, but He died for us, that is, in our place, bearing our punishment due us because of our sin. He took our place and satisfied our punishment, and in turn we receive His healing. Through His gracious and perfect sacrifice we may accept His righteousness that is now imputed to us (Rom. 5:19).
In the end, we may indeed recognize that in some areas God’s given revelation leaves us with questions, such as how we are to explain the paradoxical hypostasis of Christ’s full divinity and humanity. However, we must also remain grateful for the revelation which remains unambiguous, such as that which explains how Christ took our place of death in order to satisfy God’s wrath, that we might receive righteousness and live with Him forever. Praise be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the salvation brought to us through the person and work of Christ!
When a person is saved from hell to heaven by the grace of God and the death of Jesus Christ he becomes a new creature. The things he used to be must be left behind and he must strive to become Christ-like (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus Christ was the only blameless, sinless, perfect human being to ever walk the face of the earth. There is no possible way for anybody to achieve such perfection. The only way one is able to ever come close is to put away all things of this world, and live only for Christ. You must walk for Christ, talk about Christ, live for Christ. In doing so you will come up against persecution and hardship from outside forces, however one must endure. You must suffer as Christ has suffered. You are after all the reason for Christ’s suffering. Had he not willingly gone to the cross, there would be no salvation. There would be no eternal life. God cannot look upon us unless we are covered in the blood of Christ.
Jesus Christ became human and walked with men and women. The Creator of heaven and earth became a creature and entered the creation that he made into existence. God made himself known so humanity could have the most basic understanding of who he was and Christ there would be no Christianity. Jesus taught mankind a high view of Scripture and inspired his followers and others to uphold it as God’s Word. (A Starting Point for Wisdom by Jason Hiles and Anna Faith
We know that Christ is someone unique and distinct in many ways from every other man, especially in his incarnation. This word Incarnation basically means `made flesh'. This passage shows the unique and miraculous events which were involved in Christ's incarnation.
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
One of the most talked about myths in Christianity is the story of how Jesus Christ was crucified but came back to life. When he was crucified for human sins and when he resurrected he took mankind sins away with him. There are many functions and theories that try to explain this myth. Whether individuals believe in the myth is up to them. That being said, this myth is one that is followed by numerous people around the world.
That we are all descendants of the first human being, which God created, Adam. And that we all live through Adam’s sin; therefore, we all live with his guilt (Enns, P., 2012). Thus, we as humans were born into sin and slavery, but Got sent his only son, Jesus Christ who saved us and set us free from that misery. So we are now set free from God 's condemnation of his law and no longer have to fear death anymore (Scott, J., 2001). I perceive that since Jesus died on the cross for us in a sense, we died with him too, and were risen as brand new from death just as he was. So now we are to live our life to resemble the kind of person Jesus was that is the ultimate fight we have in this world as human beings (Mills, A. M., 2010). "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless the death [principle] reined from Ada until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam 's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come" (Rom. 5:13,
"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."
3:16). Strauss claims that it is “outside the range of human natural comprehension and apprehension” and perceivable only through Divine revelation and illumination by the Holy Spirit. It is true that a complete understanding is humanly impossible and the Christian believer must not lose sight that Jesus expressly come to save the entire world (John 12:47). However, if this is the case then those who do not possess the Holy Spirit are eternally doomed. They would never understand the same simple truth that the Apostle John clearly lays out that the Logos put on human flesh and dwelt with His creation (John 1:1-18). Fully appreciating the Incarnation is impossible, but to understand that the Bible teaches Jesus is God or that God took on human form would negate the intellect of many who read the Scripture for the first time. Understanding the basic principle is possible. Comprehending the complexity of God in human form is
Jesus Christ lived a life and suffered death as a sacrifice for sin. Christ conquered death and offers “a share in His triumph to all who will accept it.” This is indeed good news as it comes as a free gift from God. It is “not something that must be earned by penance or by self-improvement,” it is simply a free gift. Romans 1:17a (NCV) states, “The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself – that it all begins and ends with faith.” As we trust in God’s grace to save us thought Jesus Christ, the good news is that our sins are forgiven. We have a purpose for our life and for living. We also have a promised future in Heaven for
In Christianity, there are three positions with regard to the work of Christ, which are the prophet, priest, and king. The use of these three offices is very common we hear in the discussion of Christology. However, this does not mean that the work of Christ is limited to these three offices. These three offices with regard to the work of Christ is a very important part. This discussion is also a fairly complicated discussion and possibly a lot of misconceptions that will emerge, so we need a deep enough understanding of theology to criticize all the parts in this discussion.
The Doctrine of Salvation (Soteriology). God provides us with everything we need; we see this in Genesis where he provided Adam with everything he needed. Jesus became a man by reincarnation; a verse to support this is John 1:14 “
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,”
Four movements, now heresies, of the past each adopted one of these four views mentioned previously. They are: Nestorianism, Eutychianism, Apollinarianism, and Arianism. Nestorianism and Eutychianism fall under the controversy of the relationship between the two natures. The controversy of Nestorianism arose over the propriety of the term theotokos (“God-bearing”) as a description of Mary. At the Council of Chalcedon in 428 Nestorius gave his view of theotokos to which he held and overly dividing view of the two natures of Christ. Nestorius felt that the term was of doubtful propriety unless the term anthropotokos (“human-bearing”) was also used. Nestorius was later condemned when Cyril of Alexandria; who held the belief in Christ having one nature got involved. Nestorius’ pronouncement towards the birth of Christ caused Cyril to oppose him. Nestorius said that God cannot have a mother; no woman can give birth to God. Cyril of Alexandria suggested that Nestorius was proposing that Jesus has two natures joined in a purely moral union. After Nestorianism came Eutychianism. Eutyches who was repeatedly summoned to the standing Synod of Constantinople in 448, finally appeared and stated his position whereas Christ has two natures before the incarnation, that was but one afterwards. The result of the Synod was the Eutyches was deposed and excommunicated and the one- nature doctrine rejected.
The human race needed salvation because of one sin that affected the rest of humanity. God reached out through Jesus to guide us, “He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men” (Athanasius 2). It was through Jesus that salvation was brought to us because, “God has not only made them of nothing, but had also graciously bestowed on them His own life by the grace of the Word” (Athanasius 5). Another name for Jesus is the Word, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw His glory, The glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Schroeder 20). Through this we understand that the Word has been with God since the dawn of time and it was through Him in which creation came to be (Pohle February Seventh).
Is it possible to understand the gospel message, serve as an officer in a church, be sure of your salvation, and yet still not get into heaven when you die? Matthew, one of the original twelve disciples, answered this question clearly. Yes, on “that day”, many will stand before God and hear Him say, “I know you not; depart from me.” (Matthew 7:23 KJV)