The Doctrine of Christ
COPYRIGHT ©2011 - James M. Frye
All scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized
King James Bible. Any deviations are not intentional. All underlines, bold and
words within brackets are the author's.
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Introduction
2 John 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth,
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
According to the above verse, we
must have the correct doctrine about Jesus Christ or we do not have God (are
not saved). The Bible tells us that there are some people who are preaching
another (false) Jesus.
2 Cor. 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached,
or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel,
which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Believing in Jesus as the
scriptures describe Him to be is essential for salvation. We may not change the
Biblical teaching about Jesus Christ or we are believing
in "another Jesus" and do not have God (the true God). In my article
on the deity of Christ, I wrote the following:
"This passage warns us that
not every "Jesus" that people believe in is necessarily the Jesus of
the Bible. Let me give you an example to make my point. Let's suppose that I
come to you and tell you about Jesus. I tell you that Jesus was a fruit farmer
from Florida who taught that if you could pick 100 oranges in an hour, you
would then be saved. Could you be saved by believing in such a Jesus? Of course
not! But why not? After all, you would be professing
to believe in "Jesus".
This rather extreme illustration
serves to make a point. Believing in someone called "Jesus" is not
enough. It must be the right Jesus. It must be the Jesus of the Bible, for only
he can save us from our sins."
So, we must believe what the Bible teaches
(doctrine) about Jesus Christ, or we are worshiping a false Jesus who doesn’t
exist and can’t save anyone. In this article, we will be looking at some of the
main Biblical teachings about Jesus Christ.
His Full Humanity
In the early years of Christianity,
there was a false doctrine known as "Docetism".
Docetism taught that Jesus did not really have a human body but
was only an apparition who just appeared to have a human body. It is really
hard to understand how anyone could believe such a thing, especially since the
scriptures are so clear on the matter.
Matt. 26:10, 12 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them ... For in
that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Luke 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and
begged the body of Jesus.
One of the chief proponents of
Docetism, the Gnostics, believed that everything physical or fleshly was sinful
and only things that were immaterial or spiritual could be holy. So they
allowed that false belief to cloud what they believed about Jesus. We must be
careful not to impose our misconceptions upon scripture but rather draw
all of our beliefs from scripture alone.
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world.
Jesus' sacrifice for sins had to do
with the sacrifice of His flesh (body).
1 Pet. 2:24 Who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Scripture couldn't be more clear. Jesus had a physical body. He was born
physically, and He died physically.
Heb. 10:4-5 For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he
[Christ] cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me:
If Jesus did not have a physical
body, then the scriptures would be false, and Jesus would not have atoned for
anyone's sins. God forbid!
Being fully human, Jesus, not only
had a physical body, but He also had a human mind and spirit as well. Another
heresy from the 4th century was Appolinarianism.
Appolinarianism taught that Jesus did not have a
human mind and spirit, but that the mind and spirit of Christ were from His
divine nature and not His human nature. Such an idea is not Biblical.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore
in all things it behoved him to be made like unto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
The above verses tell us that in being made
“flesh and blood” (human), Jesus was made “like unto his brethren” and that He
“likewise (in the same way) took part in the same”. In other words, Christ’s
became fully human in the same way we are. We have both a human mind and
spirit, and so does Christ.
Think about it for a moment. Was it just our
bodies that needed to be redeemed, or was it our spirits as well? Scripture
tells us that we have not only sinned outwardly in our bodies, but also
inwardly in our hearts (minds & spirits) - Matt. 15:19. It is the whole of
man that needs redemption. If Jesus wouldn’t have been fully human (body, mind,
and spirit), He couldn’t have fully redeemed us (body, mind, and spirit). Such
a proposal strikes at the very heart of the gospel.
His Deity and Eternality
One of the clearest teachings of
scripture is the teaching that Jesus Christ is not only a man but that He is also
divine (God) as well.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory.
John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And 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.
Colossians 2:8-9 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Heb. 1:8 But unto the Son he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre
of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
In the beginning, before Jesus came
to earth, He was "in the form of God" and "equal with God"
(He was God). But then, in coming to earth, He took upon himself the "form
of a servant" and was made in the "likeness of men" (He became a
man also). For more information on this subject, see my article "Is Jesus
Christ God?".
Because Jesus is God, He is also
eternal.
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting.
According to Matt. 2:6, this
passage refers to Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Physically, Jesus was made flesh
and born as a man, but in Spirit He is God and is, therefore, eternal.
Jesus Christ is one person (the second
person of the trinity), but has two natures - one human and the other divine.
We shall look at this in more detail later.
His Virgin Birth
Matt. 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us.
Apart from fulfilling prophecy,
what was the purpose of the virgin birth? The virgin birth was necessary
because mankind is a sinful, fallen race. Men are not only sinners because they
sin, they are also sinners by nature. It is beyond the
scope of this article to explore this issue in detail, but scripture teaches
that all men are born in sin and with a sinful nature.
Psa. 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Eph. 2:3 Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others.
The above verse is talking about
Christians before they were saved. It says that they "were by nature the
children of wrath". By their very nature, and in their very being, men are
sinful and justly under the wrath and condemnation of a holy God (John 3:36).
In their first birth, men are born "in Adam" (1 Cor. 15:22) and are
born with a sinful nature. This is why scripture tells us that men must be
"born again" (John 3:3, 5). We must be reborn "in Christ"
thus becoming a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17).
Since this sinful nature is passed
on by parents to their offspring (Gen. 5:13), it was necessary that Jesus be
conceived in a supernatural way outside of the normal order of things.
Luke 1:
26-27 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from
God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was
Mary.
30-31 And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name JESUS.
34-35 Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and
said unto her, 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.
Matthew's gospel puts it this way:
Matt. 1:20 But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
In other words, Jesus was not
conceived by natural generation but was placed in the womb of Mary by the Holy
Spirit. It this way, He was born without a sinful nature, and there was no sin
in Him.
1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins;
and in him is no sin.
His Sinless Life
In order to be an acceptable
sacrifice for our sins, Jesus not only had to be virgin born and thus free of
the sinful nature of man, He also had to live a perfect and sinless life.
1 Pet. 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Under the Old Covenant, worshippers
were required by the law to offer a sacrifice for their sins. That sacrifice was to be "without blemish and without
spot" (Exod. 12:5). This "spotless" sacrificial lamb was
a type and shadow of the sinlessness of Christ (John
1:29). Jesus was the only man who ever kept God's holy law perfectly and
resisted all temptation to sin (Matt. 4). Jesus never sinned.
2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When we place our faith and trust
in Jesus Christ's one-time sacrifice upon the cross for our sins, we not only
partake of His death for our sins, but we also partake of the perfectly
righteous (sin free) life that He lived. His righteousness (the righteousness
of God) is credited to our account and we are made the righteousness of God in
Him.
1 Pet. 2:21-22 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Many in our day believe in a Jesus
who was little different than any other man. They believe that He did sin, some
of them even making blasphemous movies about Him. No one can be saved by
believing in such a Jesus! This is not the Jesus of the Bible, and such
a "Jesus" could never save anyone from their sins. If Jesus had
sinned, He couldn’t have died as a substitute for anyone else's sins, but would
have had to die for His own sins. He most certainly couldn't have qualified to
be the "lamb without blemish and without spot".
His Substitutionary Death (Atonement)
As stated in the previous section,
Jesus never sinned. So when He died, He was dying for the sins of all those who
will put their faith and trust in Him for salvation (John 3:16).
Rom. 5:8 But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Cor. 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a
new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1
Thes. 5:9-10 For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
Tit 2:13-14 ... our Saviour Jesus
Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.
When we say that Christ's death was
"substitutionary" we are saying just that - that
He died for (in the place of) others. The Bible teaches us that men were
separated from God because of their sins.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear.
This separation between God and man
is spoken of in the Bible as spiritual "death". There are 3 types of
death in the Bible.
1. Physical death - separation of
the spirit from the body (Jam. 2:26).
2. Eternal death (the second death)
- separation from God for all eternity in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14; 21:8).
3. Spiritual death - separation
from God because of sin (Isa. 59:2).
It is this third kind of death that
God had in mind when He told Adam that he would "die" in the day that
he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He did not die
physically that day, but he died spiritually. That is why both he and Eve were
put out of the Garden of Eden and "separated" from the presence of
God.
Since the fall, all men in their
natural state are separated from God because of sin. That is why in scripture,
salvation is spoken of as being "reconciled" to God.
Col. 1:21-22 And you, that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to
present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
2 Cor. 5:18 And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to
us the ministry of reconciliation;
This reconciliation is referred to
as the atonement.
Rom. 5:11 And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
To understand this word
"atonement" let's think of it as "at-one-ment."
We were separated from God through our sins, but now through Christ's death we
are reunited unto Him (at-one-ment).
So, Christ's death was
substitutionary and it made atonement for mens sins
and brought about a reconciliation with God for all
who believe. Believers are, therefore, no longer under the wrath of God but are
at peace with Him.
Rom. 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
His Bodily Resurrection and Ascension
Some cults in our day, the
Jehovah's Witnesses for example, deny that Jesus rose from the dead in a
physical body. They instead say that his "spirit" was raised from the
dead. Such a teaching presupposes the following three false doctrines:
1. The mortality of the
soul/spirit.
2. That Jesus' spirit somehow died.
3. That Jesus' spirit was then
resurrected to life again.
There is more wrong with that
teaching than we could ever cover in an article this size. As a matter of fact,
those false doctrines are so bad it was painful to even type them. Rather than
taking the time to refute all three from scripture, let's simply look at what
the Bible teaches.
We have already seen in our
previous sections how Jesus died physically and that His sacrifice for sin
involved the death of His body. But how did He rise from the dead? Was His
resurrection a physical one? Did He have a physical body, or did He rise as
some sort of spirit?
Luke 24:
36 And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto
them, Peace be unto you.
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed
that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are
ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands
and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered,
he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
The Bible is so clear on these
things it is hard to see how anyone could miss it. When the disciples saw
Jesus, they mistakenly thought He was just a spirit and didn’t have a physical
body since He suddenly appeared in the room with them. But Jesus said that He did
have a physical body and showed them the scars from His crucifixion to prove
it. He also had them touch Him to prove it. And not only that, He also ate food
to prove it.
Scripture couldn't be more clear. Jesus rose in a physical body! Jesus provided
the disciples with three evidences that He had risen in a physical body.
Although His body had been changed and was now in a glorified immortal state
due to His resurrection, it was still the same body that had died (been
crucified) which had been raised. After all, His body still bore the scars from
the nails in His hands and in His feet.
Jesus not only rose in a physical
body, but He also ascended to heaven in that same physical body. Just a few
verses after the ones we just looked at above, we read:
Luke 24:50-51 And he led them out as far as
to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass,
while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
The context is very clear. After
showing them His physical body, Jesus then ascended into heaven in that same
physical body.
His Literal, Visible, Bodily Second Coming
Jesus not only rose and ascended in
a physical body, but He will also come again bodily.
Acts 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of
their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven.
This passage tells us that Jesus
will come again in like manner (in the same way) that they saw Him go. How did
they see Him go? His ascension was visible, and it was bodily (He ascended in a
literal body). How then will He come again? His second coming will be a
literal, bodily, visible coming.
Scripture is very clear that the
second coming of Christ will be a visible coming.
Mark 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in
the clouds with great power and glory.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds;
and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
The Bible even warns us not to be
deceived by those who would claim that Jesus has returned secretly in this
place or that.
Matt. 24:26-27 Wherefore if they shall say
unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the
secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be.
In other words, His coming will be
visible, and no one will miss seeing it. As the scriptures say, every eye shall
see Him.
Other Errors Regarding Christ
Earlier in this article, we saw that
Jesus is one person with two natures - one human and the other
divine. Both of these facts must be kept clear lest we pervert the Biblical
doctrine of Christ. In this section, I would like to briefly address two other
doctrinal errors regarding this matter.
Nestorianism
Nestorianism was a false teaching
that developed in the 5th century which taught that Jesus was two
persons (one human and the other divine), thus denying that Christ is one
person. But Jesus is not two persons. He is one person with two
natures. They taught that it was the human person who died upon the
cross.
For starters, scripture never
speaks of Christ as being more than one person. Jesus speaks of Himself as “I”,
not “We”. Plus, if the death of Jesus was only the act of a human person
and not of God as well, then that death would not be sufficient to atone for
the sins of all believers. It would only at best atone for a single person.
Scripture teaches that (in the person of Christ) both His divine and human
natures were involved in the atonement.
Acts 20:28 Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Now, we know that God is a spirit
and does not have blood, so this verse must be talking about the physical death
of Christ in shedding His human blood. But it is spoken of as the blood of God
because the two natures are inseparable in the one person of Christ. So, when a
person sheds Christ’s human blood, they are shedding the blood of God (the
God-man).
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for
him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In the above passage, God is
speaking through the prophet Zechariah and saying "They shall look upon me
(God) whom they have pierced." God is the one who is spoken of as being
“pierced” in the passage. In the New Testament, this passage is said to be
fulfilled when they pierced Jesus (John 19:34-37). God is a spirit (John 4:24)
and does not have a physical body. So, one can’t actually pierce “God”. But the
human and divine natures are inseparable in the one person of Christ. So, when
a person pierced Christ’s human flesh (who is the God-man) they were piercing
God.
Eutychianism
Eutychianism was a false teaching also in the 5th century
which taught that Christ only had one nature and not two natures. Eutychius taught that both natures of Christ (the human and
the divine) were combined into a single new third nature.
But if Christ had a single nature
that was neither fully man, nor fully God, He could not have redeemed believers
as the “God man” as scripture portrays. Here is a passage we looked at earlier.
Phil. 2:5-8
5 Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross.
According to the above passage,
before Jesus came to Earth, He was "in the form of God" and
"equal with God". In nature He was divine. But then, in coming to
Earth, He took upon himself an additional human nature in the
"form of a servant" and was made in the "likeness of men".
Before coming to earth, Jesus was one person with one nature, but in His
incarnation, He took upon Himself an additional nature and became one person
with two natures.
Jesus:
Before
the incarnation – One person with one nature.
After
the incarnation – One person with two natures.
So, we must be careful to maintain
both truths (one person and two natures) lest we believe or teach
heretical doctrines concerning Christ. He is as the scriptures declare Him to be,
not as we may choose to try and remake Him.
Errors:
Nestorianism denied the one person of Christ.
Eutychianism denied the two
natures of Christ.
Any teaching in our day that denies
that Christ is one person with two natures (one human and the
other divine) is heretical as well.
Summary
At the beginning of this article,
we saw that we must believe in the Biblical doctrine about Jesus Christ or they
do not have God (are not saved). While we have not examined all that the
Bible teaches us about Jesus, we have learned the following:
1. Jesus is fully human
and has both a human/physical body and a human spirit.
2. Jesus is also God (divine) and
is, therefore, eternal.
3. Jesus was virgin born without a
sinful nature.
4. Jesus kept God's law perfectly
and lived a sin free life.
5. Jesus' death was
substitutionary. He died for the sins of all those who would believe in
Him.
6. Jesus rose from the dead in the
same body that had died. He then ascended to heaven in that same body.
7. Jesus' second coming will be a
literal, visible, bodily coming. Every eye will see Him at His coming.
8. Jesus is one person with two
natures