Was Jesus Divine?

I. WHAT challenging question must every man answer? What think you of Christ? Matthew 22:42. 2. How do the Scriptures help us settle this vital problem? These are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John 20:31. NOTE - There are two absolutely essential elements in historic Christianity. One is a personal God. The other is the incarnation of God in Jesus. Our conviction of the deity of Christ rests not alone on the Scriptural passages which assert it, but also on His entire impression on the world. Both lines of evidence are valid; and when twisted together form an unbreakable cord. The impression Jesus has left upon the world bears independent testimony to His deity, and it may well be that to many minds this will seem the most conclusive of all its evidences.-B. B. Warfield, The Fundamentals, volume 1, Page 21. 3. What does the Bible state concerning the nature of Christ? Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16. The Word was God. John 1:1. 4. How did Jesus emphasize His oneness with the Father? I and My Father are one. John 10:30. See also John 17: 11,21,22. 5. What other claims are made by or for Jesus which compel us to recognize Him as God incarnate? a. All power. All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18. b. All wisdom. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! Colossians 2:3. c. Perfect holiness. In Him is no sin. 1 John 33. See also Hebrews 4:15. d. Eternal existence. He is before all things. Colossians 1:17. Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2. e. The sum of divine attributes. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9. 6. Because He revealed in their entirety the attributes of the invisible God how could He well be described? Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. Colossians 1:15. 7. While truly God how truly was He also man? When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Galatians 4:4. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14. NOTE I have a Christ and a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is unquestionably God. He made the heavens and the earth and moon and sun and the stupendous stars by the word of His power. But I rejoice also that I have a Christ and a Savior, who, in the fullest and most real sense, is my Brother, a fellow Man, a real Man, who lived His life here upon earth under the same conditions under which 1 live mine, subject to the same temptations that I am, yet absolutely ,apart from sin, that He obtained victory by the power of the same Holy Spirit that is ready to help me as well, and that He obtained strength to work, to achieve, and to conquer in the same way that is open to me, by prayer. -R. A. Torrey, The Christ of the Bible, page 74. 8. When was the plan made for the Son of God to come to earth in human form? Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. 1 Peter 1:20. 9. Who was given the first indication of this plan? The serpent in Eden. 1 will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15. 10. How did the news come to Mary that God was to come to earth in human flesh? The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35. NOTE The virgin birth of Christ makes it possible for Christ to be the Redeemer, and, it was impossible for a human being to be the Redeemer. The sinless nature of Christ and His vicarious death rest on the truth of the virgin birth. The everlasting Son of God was born of the virgin that He might take on Himself our form and in that form die for us in order that we might live in His divine form for ever and ever. - Mark A. Matthews, Gospel Sword Thrusts, Page 57. 11. By what act did the Wise Men from the East recognize the divinity of Jesus? When they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him. Matthew 2:11. 12. How did God testify to Jesus divinity at the beginning of His ministry?

He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2 Peter 1:17. 13. How was Jesus divinity manifest in His life? a. By His miracles. The power of the Lord was present to heal them. Luke 5:17. b. By His authoritative teachings. His word was with power. Luke 4:32. Never man spoke like this Man. John 7:46. 14. What divine prerogative did He exercise? That you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto your house. Matthew 9:6. 15. What paramount gift did He claim ability to confer? As the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom He will. John 5:21. 16. What testimony did the disciples bear to Christs divinity? Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. John 20:28. Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:16. 17. Who else recognized His true nature? Devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ, the son of God. Luke 4:41. 18. To whom did Jesus say He was returning? 1 came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, 1 leave the world, and go to the Father. John 16:28. 19. What position does He now occupy in heaven? Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. 1 Peter 3:22. 20. When will Christs divinity be manifest to all? In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory. Matthew 19:28. 21. What confession will all men then make? That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:11. 22. How important is it for us to accept the doctrine of the Son of God coming in human flesh? Hereby know you the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1 John 4:2, 3. NOTE The person of Christ is to me the surest as well as the most sacred of all facts; as certain as my own personal existence; yea, even more so: for Christ lives in me, and He is the only valuable part of my existence. I am nothing without my Savior; I am all with Him, and would not exchange Him for the whole world. To give up faith in Christ is to give up faith in humanity; to believe in Him is to believe in the redemption and final glorification of men. And this faith is the best inspiration to a holy and useful life for the good of our race and the glory of God. -Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ, page 3. The transformed hearts of Christians, registering themselves in gentle tempers, in noble motives, in lives visibly lived under the empire of great aspirations -these are the ever-present proofs of the divinity of the Person from whom their inspiration is drawn. To deny that spiritual experience is as real as physical experience is to slander the noblest faculties of our nature. The supreme proof to every Christian of the deity of his Lord is then his own inner experience of the transforming power of his Lord upon the heart and life.-B. B. Warfield, The Fundamentals, Volume I, Pages 27, 28.