Dear Theophilus, 

We had left off our discussion, last time, at a critical point. What does it mean when we say that Christ is divine, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity?

It is true that in the New Testament, Christ does not make any outright claims to being divine. Nowhere does he proclaim himself in the following words - I am God. But there is scriptural evidence that he does make claims for himself and we will explore them later.

Jesus eludes us in trying to classify him in a given Jewish category. He is a devout Jew and yet we cannot say that he was a Pharisee or Sadducee or a Zealot or an Essene. These are terms that we have so far not used and it may be beneficial for us to review their meanings. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who were very devout in their adherence to the Old Testament; they strictly kept all of the laws and were fastidious and critical of those who failed to do so. The Sadducees were a more "liberal" grouping of Jews who differed from Pharisees in some important areas such as not believing in the resurrection of those who had died (which is something that the Pharisees did accept). In a sense, the Sadducees were a bit more secularized when compared to the Pharisees. The Zealots were a Jewish group who had as their prime aim the liberation of Israel from foreign domination, in the time of Christ, the rule of Rome. They were an ultra-nationalist group for whom the nation and the territory of Israel became an idol. The Essenes were an ultra-ascetic group who saw the world sharply divided into black and white. They were convinced that those who did not share their views were doomed to damnation. Jesus fits into none of these categories and yet, he is Jewish in accepting the God of the Old Testament. He challenges everyone; the Pharisees in their love of God and trying to serve Him; the ascetics, in their claims to deprive themselves of enjoyment of nature's gifts by being at times even more demanding and at others, by being more lax, in dining with harlots and tax collectors.

Jesus goes against the grain of accepted behavior in presenting his teachings. He does not invoke "thus spoke the Lord' of the prophets but simply stated, "but I say". This is a very authoritative way of speaking which was alien to all the great Jewish teachers. When we compare Christ to the leaders of other religions, such as Buddha or Mohammed, we are again struck by the challenging presentation of Christ's way of teaching - he puts himself at the very center of his teachings. For this very reason, Christianity, without Christ would not exist. Buddhism without Buddha could, Islam without Mohammed could because they are conveyors of concepts and teachings and others could take their places. Christ conveys teachings, also, but these, are inextricably linked to his person. God's reconciliation with humanity, man's salvation is directly linked to the person of Christ. He is thus the hub of Christianity as no other leader of any other great world religion.

Christ is also unique in terms of his background when compared to other religious leaders. Moses, for example, grew up in Pharaoh's court; Confucius was a scholar and politician; Buddha was the son of a king; Mohammed was a rich merchant. Compared to all of these, Christ's background was meagre, indeed. The son of a carpenter, he had no formal education, no money, and was even criticized by his family. He left very little, as well, when compared to other leaders. Mohammed organized an expansionist state; Buddha established a monastic community; Confucius founded a school. From all this, we see the uniqueness of Jesus in that he doesn't seem to fit the mould of any other leader.

Jesus bears a unique relationship to Judaism. In some respects he goes contrary to the common beliefs such as the coming of the Messiah will usher in a theocratic state. But there is also, continuity in his teachings with the basic tenets of Judaism. For the Jews, God was transcendent but, He was also immanent. Thus, in the Old Testament you were forbidden to make any representations of God because He is beyond all that but, at the same time, God was present there, in the tent of the meeting. When a claim is made that Christ's incarnation is an invention brought in by Greek philosophical influences on Christianity, it can be said that Christ's incarnation simply extends the already accepted presence of God in the tent of the meeting. What the New Testament does is simply work out the meaning inherent in the idea of an immanent God.

Any consideration of Jesus cannot omit the circumstances of his death. He died on the cross, betrayed and denied by his disciples, ridiculed by the Jewish authorities, and even forsaken by God. All this would seem to say that this was it - this was the end and another member in a long list of Messiahs ends his life in futility. But this was not the end as attested to by the Resurrection (we will consider this very important topic later, more fully) and Christ was vindicated by God. Thus in him, and only in him, was the new life revealed.

What we have looked at, above are some general points which I raise for your consideration as to the uniqueness of Christ. What I would like to do is now consolidate this by going to our primary sources about Jesus and that is the New Testament to what is written there.

As I mentioned above, one of the characteristics which differentiated Christ from other Jewish teachers was the authority with which he taught. Whereas others would defer to Moses or other authorities or pronounce "thus says the Lord", Jesus would use the phrase "but I say" implying supreme authority to his person.

For the Jews the Sabbath was holy and no-one dared to violate it. Jesus challenges this basic teaching by stating that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to himself as "I AM" a term understood by all Jews as referring to God. In the Letter to the Collosians, Paul writes that Jesus is God. When Jesus is questioned by the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin, as to whether he is God, Jesus makes it quite clear to the Jews that he does not argue with their conclusion. The Jews, as well, make it quite clear that they understand his claims by tearing their clothes to show their shock at such a claim. There are many other areas where Jesus divinity is attested to and it may be a good exercise for you to go through the New Testament to locate those particular passages.

The whole area of studying the person of Christ is called Christology and this is such an important area that I am going to devote the whole of my next letter to this topic. Let me, in a way, preface what I am going to say by the following observations.

What we are going to emphasize is that Christianity is not some independent cult of Jesus but the best and most complete revelation of God as Father. Thus, when we speak of Jesus, we are not merely looking at who Jesus was and is, but our whole doctrine, that is teaching, about God is at stake here. The controversy about the divinity of Christ has been conducted on the wrong lines. Are we that assured of God's attributes that we can then use our knowledge to judge Christ? I think not and we therefore use Christ as the supreme revelation of God to speak about God's characteristics.

Yours truly,

Bar-Abbas

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