REASONS TO STUDY CHRISTOLOGY

The health of our lives and churches depends on how we understand and follow Christ. Christianity stands or falls with its Christology. Here are four reasons for a deeper knowledge of Jesus.

 

First, there are depths to the doctrine that we have not discovered. A full account about Jesus is inexhaustible (John 21:25).

 

Second, our spiritual well-being depends on being reshaped by biblical teaching. The corrective for unhealthy habits that misshape our lives is the wisdom found in Christ.

 

Third, while biblical truth never changes (Ephesians 4:14; Hebrew 13:9; Jude 3), the circumstances of our lives do. We must  come afresh to God’s Word for the wisdom of Christ that meets our daily needs.

 

Finally, the study of Christ is for God’s glory and our good. The Father is pleased when much is made of His Son. It is amazing, but through the proper knowledge of Christ, we can come to participate, not only in salvation, but in God’s very life (2 Peter 1:3-4).

 

CHRIST, THE MESSIAH

In Jesus’ day the messianic puzzle lay in pieces. God promised that Eve’s
descendent would crush Satan’s head (Gen ‪3:15). This seed was through Abraham
(Gen 17:19) and associated with David (Psalm 2:7). Added were promises about various
anointed figures (priests, prophets, and kings). Messiah would be a human servant (Isaiah 42:1). Other texts pointed to a heavenly being (Daniel 7:13). How would this come together?

 

Some sought a king to free them from Rome. Some focused on a ruling priestly messiah. Turning from politics, others looked for a righteous teacher. Each justified their picture from the Old Testament.

 

Peter’s confession was a breakthrough: “You are the Messiah, Son of the living God” (Matt ‪16:16). Jesus became a magnet, drawing the pieces together. Messiah would be king and priest (Psalm 110:1, 4; Hebrews 7). Messiah would be suffering servant (Isa 53; Phil 2:4-8) and glorious Son of God (Phil 2:9-11; John 1:4, 18). He would be a human being and the divine Savior.

 

The puzzle is now complete and perfectly meets our need.

 

CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD
How is Jesus God’s “only Son”? The Apostle’s Creed says, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in his only Son Jesus, our Lord.”

 

In the Bible, Adam is God’s son (Luke 3:38), Israel is God’s son (Exodus 4:23), Solomon is God’s son (Psalm 72:1), and peacemakers are sons of God (Matt 5:9).
Jesus must be God’s Son in a special way to be called His “only” son.

 

The creedal designations that follow (“Jesus, our Lord”) help explain. Christ is both God’s Son in his humanity, for his name is “Jesus” – the perfect Adam, the new Israel, the promised Davidic King, and the true peacemaker. But Christ is also the Son of God in his deity. He is “our Lord.” As applied to Jesus, “Lord” often comes from the Old Testament name Yahweh (e.g., Hebrews 1:10). This means that Jesus as “God’s only Son” is fully man and fully God.

 

Let’s confess our faith in such a Savior, “God’s only Son.”