Jesus In The

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Jesus In The Marketplace of Ideas
Stuart McAllister Vice President, Training
Special Projects Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries
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There are two utterly different forms of
religion. One believes that God will love me if
I change the other believes that God loves me so
that I can change. Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr, Relay World Magazine, Volume II
Number One, First Edition 2007 (Carlisle,
Cumbria Operation Mobilization), p. 19
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• I want to present an insiders view of
• Jesus.
• I want to do this fully aware that there
• are many other truth claims, religious
• beliefs and philosophies, and despite
• that, why I think this (the Biblical view) is
  the truth.

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• I want to consider the issue from a
• limited, but significant perspective,
• some key Bible texts.

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• Who Do The Gospel Writers
• Say He Was?

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John 11-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things came into being
through Him, and apart from Him
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John 11-5
nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light on
men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it.
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• Who Do The Gospel Writers
• Say He Was?

• At the heart of the universe
• is a personal being John 11-2

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the cosmic principle that gives order and
rationality to the world, in a way analogous to
that in which human reason orders human action.
Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of
Philosophy (New York, New York Oxford University
Press,2006), p. 224
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Ultimate Reality
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• Who Do The Gospel Writers
• Say He Was?

• At the heart of the universe
• is a personal being John 11-2

• He is the Creator God John 13

• He is the source and giver of life
• John 15

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Bios The physical, organic and everyday
life we all want, experience and have.
Zoe an enduring life, immortal,
indestructible and everlasting.
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Humanitys Problem
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• The Difference That Jesus Makes

• Everyone finds (and needs)
• some ultimate reference point
• for their life

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• Who and what am I?
• Is there any meaning in life, in my
• life?
• How can we live, define, and defend
• a good life, a moral existence?
• What (if anything) happens after
• death?

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• We are made by Him, for Him, in
• the image of God. We all have
• intrinsic dignity, value and worth.
• We can find our place, meaning
• and purpose in our relation to Him,
• in our giftedness by Him, and
• in our service for Him in the world.

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• As the source of ultimate good, law
• and order, we can find a basis for
• truth, justice and a good life by the
• power of Gods Spirit.
• Death need not be the end.

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Salvation
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• The Difference That Jesus Makes

• Everyone finds (and needs)
• some ultimate reference point
• for their life

• Someone to love me John 316

• His heart and His mission

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Colossians 115-17
He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things
were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers
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Colossians 115-17
or authorities all things have been created
through Him and for Him. He is before all
things, and in Him all things hold together.
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Colossians 119 - 20
For it was the Fathers good pleasure for all the
fullness to dwell in Him, And through Him to
reconcile all things to Himself, having made
peace through the blood of His cross through
Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in
heaven.
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• What did Jesus Say About
• Himself?

John 146
Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth,
and the life no one comes to the Father but
through Me.
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• What did Jesus Say About
• Himself?

• The Way, the Truth, and
• the Life

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To translate these biblical assertions into
historic theological terms Jesus Christ
is the way (path/hodos) God makes into the
world to effect reconciliation with the world,
the truth of revelation about God and the
world,
Sung Wook Chung (Editor), Christ The One and
Only (Grand Rapids, Michigan Baker Academic,
2005), p. 69
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the life of redemption from the death
consequent upon alienation between God and
the world. The resurrection is the validation,
the announcement and the application of these
Christian assertions about the uniqueness of
Jesus Christ.
Sung Wook Chung (Editor), Christ The One and
Only (Grand Rapids, Michigan Baker Academic,
2005), p. 69
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Final State
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• What did Jesus Say About
• Himself?

• The Way, the Truth, and
• the Life

• He said, I am the Truth

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Truth is always ABOUT something, but reality is
that ABOUT WHICH truth is.
Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root, The Quotable
Lewis (Wheaton, Illinois Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc. 1989), p. 588
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• What did Jesus Say About
• Himself?

• The Way, the Truth, and
• the Life

• He said, I am the Truth

• The Life

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I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is
not a man. Everything in Christ astonishes
me. His spirit overawes me, and his will
confounds me. Between him and whoever else in
the world there is no possible term of
comparison.
Calvin Miller (Editor), The Book of Jesus,
Revised Edition (New York, New York Barnes and
Nobles, 1998),pp. 63-64
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He is truly a being by himself. His ideas and
sentiments, the truth which he announces, his
manner of convincing, are not explained either
by human organization or by the nature of things.
Calvin Miller (Editor), The Book of Jesus,
Revised Edition (New York, New York Barnes and
Nobles, 1998),pp. 63-64
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Jesus borrowed nothing from our science. Once
can absolutely find nowhere, but in him alone,
the imitation or the example of life.
Calvin Miller (Editor), The Book of Jesus,
Revised Edition (New York, New York Barnes and
Nobles, 1998), pp. 63-64
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Who is/was Jesus?

• He was a liar?
• He was a lunatic?
• He was a legend?
• He is Lord!

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Who Do YOU Say That I Am?
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Jesus In The Marketplace of Ideas
Stuart McAllister Vice President, Training
Special Projects Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries