Christology: Who is Jesus Christ?

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Christology Who is Jesus Christ?

• A Study of the Person and Work of Christ

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• Not only do we not know God except through Jesus
  Christ we do not even know ourselves except
  through Jesus Christ.
• Blaise Pascal.

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THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST

• Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you,
  before Abraham was born, I am. (John 858)
• He is before all things, and in Him all things
  hold together. (Col. 117)

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THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST

• Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows
  when His mother Mary had been betrothed to
  Joseph, before they came together she was found
  to be with child by the Holy Spirit.BEHOLD, THE
  VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON,
  AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL, which
  translated means, GOD WITH US.
• (Mt. 118, 23)

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WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS IMPORTANT

• To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Word of
  God
• To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of
  Christ
• To deny the virgin birth is virtually to declare
  that Jesus inherited a sinful nature
• To deny the virgin birth is to disqualify Jesus
  from being Savior

• To be your Savior He must be a man because only a
  man could die for a man.
• To be your Savior the One who is to die in your
  place must himself be innocent, or else he will
  bear the punishment of his own sin.
• The virgin birth of Christ relates to the
  resurrection of Christ.

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THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST

• He had a true body of flesh and blood
• He had a normal human development
• He had a human soul and spirit
• He had the characteristics of a human being
• He became hungry (Mt. 42), thirsty (Jn. 47) and
  tired (Jn. 46).
• He experienced human emotions
• He had human names

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SCRIPTURES AFFIRMATION OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST

• His names
• His attributes
• His works
• He receives worship

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CHRISTS HYPOSTATIC UNION

• As the God-man, Jesus Christ is neither
  diminished as God or as man.
• He is fully God and fully man at all times. To
  minimize the importance of either part of this
  union is to destroy the significance of God.

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CHRISTS HYPOSTATIC UNION

• Christ had two distinct natures humanity and
  deity.
• There was no mixture or intermingling of the two
  natures
• Although He had two natures, Christ was one Person

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CONSEQUENCES OF THE HYPOSTATIC UNION

• Some actions or attributes are true of the entire
  person.
• Some statements are true only of His human
  nature, but the whole person is the subject.
• Some statements are true only of His deity, but
  the whole person is in view.
• Some statements are true of the God-Man, the
  union of the two natures.

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• One of the most complex aspects of the
  relationship of Christs two natures is that,
  while the attributes of one nature are never
  attributed to the other, the attributes of both
  natures are properly attributed to His one
  person. Thus Christ at the same moment in time
  had what seem to be contradictory qualities. He
  was finite and yet infinite, weak and yet
  omnipotent, increasing in knowledge and yet
  omniscient, limited to being in one place at one
  time and yet omnipresent. In the Incarnation,
  the person of Christ is the partaker of the
  attributes of both natures, so that whatever may
  be affirmed of either nature human or divine
  may be affirmed of the one person.
• Ron Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures.

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THE KENOSIS AND HYPOSTATIC UNION

• Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
  in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the
  form of God, did not regard equality with God a
  thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking
  the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
  likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a
  man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to
  the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil.
  25-8)

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THE KENOSIS AND HYPOSTATIC UNION

• Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
  in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the
  form of God, did not regard equality with God a
  thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking
  the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
  likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a
  man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to
  the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil.
  25-8)

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THE KENOSIS AND HYPOSTATIC UNION

• Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
  in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the
  form of God, did not regard equality with God a
  thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking
  the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
  likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a
  man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to
  the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil.
  25-8)

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IMPECCABILITY AND THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

• Therefore, since we have a great high priest who
  has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of
  God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do
  not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with
  our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in
  all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore
  let us draw near with confidence to the throne of
  grace, so that we may receive mercy and find
  grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 414-16)

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IMPECCABILITY AND THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

• Christs peccability could relate only to His
  human nature His divine nature was impeccable.
• Christ was impeccable because

• The immutability of Christ.
• The omnipotence of Christ.
• The omniscience of Christ.
• The deity of Christ.
• The nature of temptation.
• The will of Christ.
• The authority of Christ.

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THE WORDS AND WORKS OF CHRIST

• The words of Jesus reveal his uniqueness.
• The words of Jesus demonstrate His omniscience.
• The words of Jesus demonstrate His authority.

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST

• Substitution

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST

• He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our
  behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
  of God in Him. (2 Cor. 521)
• and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the
  cross, so that we might die to sin and live to
  righteousness for by His wounds you were healed.
  (1 Pt. 224)

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST

• Substitution
• Redemption
• Propitiation
• Forgiveness
• Justification

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• He came to die as a priest for his enemies.What
  mercy may we not expect from so gracious a
  Mediator (1 Tim. 25) who took our nature upon
  him that he might be gracious? He is a physician
  good at all diseases, especially at the binding
  up of a broken heart. He died that he might heal
  our souls with a plaster of his own blood, and by
  that death save us, which we were the procurers
  of ourselves, by our own sins. And has he not
  the same heart in heaven?
• Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed.

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PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

• The empty tomb.
• The resurrection appearances.
• The transformed disciples.
• Observance of the first day of the week.
• The existence of the church.

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THE CHARACTER OF THE RESURRECTION BODY

• It was the same material body that had lain in
  the tomb.
• It was a glorified body.
• It was not restricted to space.
• It did not require rest.
• It did not have blood.

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THE OFFICES OF CHRIST

• He is the prophet.
• He is the priest.
• He is the king.

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THE PRESENT MINISTRYOF CHRIST

• Formation of the Body
• Direction of the Body
• Cleansing of the Body
• Nurture of the Body
• Giving gifts to the Body
• Praying for the Body
• Christ is preparing heaven for the Body
• Christ Is producing fruit in the Body

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• If you take Christ out of Christianity,
  Christianity is dead.
• If you leave out Christ, you have left the sun
  out of the day, and the moon out of the night,
  you have left the waters out of the sea, and the
  floods out of the river you have left the
  harvest out of the year, the soul out of the
  body you have left joy out of heaven, you robbed
  all of its all. There is no Gospel worth
  thinking of, much less worth proclaiming, if
  Jesus is forgotten. We must have Jesus as Alpha
  and omega
• Charles Spurgeon.