HAS GOD REVEALED HIMSELF IN PERSON?
In the foregoing chapters, we have touched on the subjects of how God has revealed himself in nature, in our conscience, and in the Bible.
Has God further revealed himself in person? In the Christian faith, the answer is yes, he has revealed himself as recorded in the Old Testament, and then, in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. In one place, this is how the Bible describes it:
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”
Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV
The theology of Christianity has been studied by learned people for centuries, providing an almost limitless resource.
It would be presumptuous of me, with a background in engineering and law, to endeavour to deal with this topic in the face of such learning.
I will therefore confine this brief chapter mainly to referencing what some learned authors and commentators have said on a few aspects of the teaching of the Bible.
Incidentally, what does “theology” mean? It is the study of God and religious belief.
Is Jesus God?
The author Lee Strobel recalls reading the opening scene in the book of John in the New Testament that uses majestic and unambiguous language to boldly assert the deity of Jesus:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1-3 and 14
Strobel continues: “I recall asking myself, I wonder how Jesus would respond if he were to read John’s words about him?” {49}
In light of the supreme authority of the Bible, the answer is sell-evident.
In the commentary of one of the great commentators of a past era, Matthew Henry, the following is said about the passage quoted above:
“And thus Christ is the Word, for by him, God has in these last days spoken to us. He has made known God’s mind to us, as a man’s word or speech makes known his thoughts.
John here says he was God, but he was made flesh. He subjected himself to the miseries and calamities of the human nature.
He was full of grace and truth, the two great things that man stands in need of. He was full of grace, and therefore qualified to intercede for us; and full of truth and therefore fit to instruct us. He had a fullness of knowledge and a fullness of compassion.” {50}
One God?
A foundational feature of Christian theology is that God exists as three persons, known as the doctrine of the Trinity.
The well-known theologian, Wayne Grudem, emphasises the importance of this doctrine:
“The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. To study the Bible’s teaching on the Trinity gives us great insight into the question that is at the center of all our seeking after God: What is God like in himself? Here we learn that in himself, in his very being, God exists in the person of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet he is one God.” {51}
Grudem defines the doctrine as follows:
“We may define the doctrine of the Trinity as follows: God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.” {52}
He refers to the Old Testament:
“Sometimes people think the doctrine of the Trinity is found only in the New Testament, not in the Old. If God has eternally existed as three persons, it would be surprising to find no indication of that in the Old Testament. Although the doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly found in the Old Testament, several passages suggest or even imply that God exists as more than one person.”
For instance, according to Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” What do the plural verb and the plural noun mean? Some have suggested they are plurals of majesty, a form of speech a king would use - - -. However, in Old Testament Hebrew there are no other examples of a monarch using plural pronouns of himself in such a “plural of majesty,” so this suggestion has no evidence to support it. Another suggestion is that God is here speaking to angels. But angels did not participate in the creation of man, nor was man created in the image or likeness of angels, so this suggestion is nor convincing. The best explanation is that already in the first chapter of Genesis we have an indication of a plurality of persons in God himself.” {53}
And to the New Testament:
“When the New Testament opens, we enter into the history of the coming of the Son of God to earth. It is to be expected that this great event would be accompanied by more explicit teaching about the Trinitarian nature of God, and that is in fact what we find.
When Jesus was baptized, “heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) Here at one moment we have three members of the Trinity performing three distinct activities. God the Father is speaking from heaven; God the Son is being baptized - - - and God the Holy Spirit is descending from heaven to rest upon and empower Jesus for his ministry.” {54}
What Was the Mission of Jesus?
Did Jesus have a mission? From the Bible we learn that his was a multi-faceted mission. Here is the heart of one of the most fundamental aspects of it:
“… the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:28 NIV
This is what the authors of the New Bible Commentary say about this passage:
“Jesus is himself the supreme example. His status as Son of Man gave him the right to be served, but he came to serve. In this unselfishness he is our model, even though his specific service took a form which could never be repeated, to give his life as a ransom for many. In these words, - - - is one of the simplest summaries in the New Testament of the redemptive purpose of Jesus’ death.” {55}
And again:
“For the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Luke 19:10 NIV
The same authors comment as follows:
“Here the purpose of the coming of Jesus is fully and finally summed up: as a shepherd goes to look for lost sheep to rescue from danger … so Jesus as the Son of man seeks and saves lost people.” {56}
The question, then, what is the problem that requires people to be saved?
This is an extract from the tract “The Only Solution to the Greatest Problem” by the acclaimed preacher and author, John MacArthur:
“In the Bible, the beginning chapters of the book of Genesis report that the curse of sin after the Fall of Adam and Eve disrupted three basic relationships. First, men and women were separated from God when they became subject to spiritual death (Genesis 3:6–13). Second, they became at odds with nature. From then on it would resist their efforts to cultivate and control it (Genesis 3:17–19). Third, people were separated from each other as sin brought envy and conflict into the world.
The definition of sin is simple: “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Practicing sin is living as if there were no God and no law. It is arrogantly living on one’s own terms, not being bound by God’s standards. Sin is not only open disregard of God’s Law, but also a defiling or polluting of the divine standard. Sin makes a person’s soul stained with guilt and unrighteousness.
Sin is rebellion against God. Scripture describes those who rebel as people who walk contrary to God and defy Him (Leviticus 26:27).
The book of Romans clearly states that sin’s extent is universal: “‘No one is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one’” (Romans 3:10–12).
When we enter this world, we are already sinners. Sin is in our natures, woven into the fabric of our lives. That’s because we are all descendants of Adam, and as such, we all bear his corruption.
As if it weren’t bad enough humanity’s fall into sin subjected the whole creation to many miseries and hardships (Genesis 3:8–24; Romans 8:18–22), the most devastating result of sin is that it has the power to condemn the soul to eternal punishment and separation from God in hell.
With sin, humanity has a horrible, pervasive, incurable spiritual disease that cannot be defeated by human means (Jeremiah 13:23).
There is simply no human remedy for the problem of sin. It will not be cured by any acts of human will, any programs of moral reformation or educational renewal, no pieces of legislation, no efforts of man-made counselling and consultation, nor any deeds of self-righteousness.
The gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ—offers the only solution to the stark reality of sin. Because of God’s immeasurable love for his creation, he provided a way for all humanity to experience the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” Not one person will be rid of their sin except through believing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
Jesus was not just an ordinary person, prophet, or Jewish scholar. He was the perfect, sinless Son of God—God incarnate. Jesus was the only one who could take our place on the cross, and he died the death that we deserve for our rebellion against God. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, those who repent of their sin and trust in Him alone for salvation receive the good news: Their sins are forever washed away, and they are adopted into God’s family as beloved children.” {57}
The authors of The Portable Seminary say the following of the nature of humanity:
“As a result of the fall humanity has become profoundly fallen, a fallenness extending to every part of the person. The term total depravity need not mean that one is as evil as he or she might be, but rather that the effects of sin affect one’s whole being. At the same time, God’s image in human beings continues in some way after the fall, providing the divine rationale for salvation. It is essentially because of God’s estimation of the intrinsic worth of humanity that the divine justification of salvation may be maintained.” {58}
Another author says the following:
“The position that views people as generally good and entitled to heaven tends to make the error of viewing human nature as basically good. Biblical evidence as well as experiential evidence show this view to be false. As the Bible explains, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV). Psalm 51:5 comes across even stronger: ‘Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.’
Biblically speaking, most people are not “good.” In fact, when compared to God’s standards of holiness, no one is “good.” To one degree or another, we all “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This does not mean that we are always actively engaged in doing evil or participating in depraved acts all the time. But it does mean that in our very nature we are ‘fallen,’ in rebellion against God and incapable of saving ourselves.” {59}
Let us conclude the study.