WHO IS JESUS?

What is your definition of Christianity? It has to do with Jesus Christ: who he was and is and has done for the salvation of the world. What is a Christian? Someone who believes in and follows Jesus as his disciple.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

“Jesus said to the disciples: “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matt.16:15-17)

It is not possible to believe in Jesus as uniquely divine, the Way, the Truth, the Life, by reason alone. It is only when God reveals it to us by the gift of faith. Many people knew Jesus first-hand in his day and yet did not believe. They had the same evidence as the disciples and yet they crucified him. The highly educated religious leaders rejected Jesus. They were blind guides who could not see who he was. It took a dramatic encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus to convert Saul of Tarsus from being an opponent to becoming St.Paul. St. Augustine said, “I believe in order to understand.”

We live in a pluralistic world in which Jesus is seen as only one way to God among many. Nonbelievers think it is absurd to believe that it is only in Jesus that God was personally present. He is present everywhere, they say, in music and rituals. They think it preposterous that there should be only one incarnation and one gospel. They think it wrong to speak of God in Christ as a person and event in history.

Lesslie Newbigin, a missionary in India for many years, recounts spending one evening each week in the Ramakrishna Mission monastery in the town where he lived studying with the monks the Upanishads and the Gospels. In the great hall of the monastery there is a gallery of portraits of the great religious teachers of the world. Among them was a portrait of Jesus. Each Christmas Day worship was offered before this picture. Jesus was honored, worshipped, as one of the many manifestations of deity in the course of human history. It was the co-option of Jesus into the Hindu worldview. He had been domesticated into their religion. Many in the West have domesticated the gospel into their pluralistic worldview. How do we reconcile this view with the words of the New Testament?

John Stott believed and taught that Christ was the center of Christianity. His best-selling book, Basic Christianity is an exposition of who Christ is, what Christ has done and how a seeker should respond to him. He begins with the claims of Christ.

“The crucial issue is this: was the carpenter of Nazareth the Son of God? The great question in Christianity remains: what do you think of Christ?…..Essentially Christianity is Christ. The person and work of Christ are the foundation rock upon which the Christian religion is built. If he is not who he said he was, and if he did not do what he said he had come to do, the whole superstructure of Christianity crumbles to the ground. Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it; there is practically nothing left. Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference. We are not concerned primarily to discuss the nature of his philosophy, the value of his system, or the quality of his ethics. Our concern is fundamentally with the character of his person.”

There are three claims of Jesus which he repeated constantly.

First, that he was the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy.

Secondly, that he enjoyed in his relationship with the Father an intimacy which was shared by nobody else.

Thirdly, Jesus claimed to have authority over all people to teach them about God, to call them to himself, to forgive their sins and to judge them on the last day.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What is your definition of Christianity, a Christian?
2. How would you describe Jesus to a nonbeliever?
3. What claims of Christ do you find most compelling?
4. How do you assess the moral character of Christ?
5. What makes Christ so unique?
6. How is Jesus relevant to today?
7. What is the most popular view of Jesus today?
8. How central to your daily life is your relationship with Christ?
9. What does it mean to practice the presence of Christ?

(For a full discussion of this subject see Chapter 2 of my book, JOHN STOTT: A Summary of his teaching.)