Christology

Christology is the study of who Christ is and what He continues to do in the hearts and lives of people. “The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central fact of Christianity.”[1] Christology should begin in the Old Testament with the first gospel proclamation (protoevangelium) in Genesis 3:15. [2] It is in Genesis 12:1-3 that God calls Abraham to be the father of a nation. This nation would provide the seed in which the Messiah would come. 2 Samuel 7:16 speaks of the throne that would one day be established, turning the focus of messianic hope to the future descendent of David to bring salvation to the world. The Son of Man will rule the nations (Psalm 2:6). Therefore, the Christophany references in the Old Testament establish that Christ always has been (Gen. 16:7-14; 22:11-18; Jdg. 5:23; 2 Kg. 19:35). Furthermore, the use of theophany in the Old Testament is similar to the Christophany (Exo. 24:16-18; 33:9; 34:5; Num. 11:25; 12:5).

Perhaps Isaiah 52:13-53:12 “may without any exaggeration be called the most important text of the Old Testament.”[3] The incarnation of Christ is fundamental, as it attempts to align His deity and humanity. As He was 100% God and 100% man, John’s prologue (1:1-18) teaches that Jesus, the Word of God, is confirmed in 1:1 as the coequal, coeternal, and coexistent Son of God. The Greek word, “dokeo,” meaning “to seem or to appear,” helps with the formulation of this understanding in reflection of Christ’s deity.[4][5]

At the incarnation, Jesus did not become just a man, but He became a “God-man.”[6] Christ appeared to people and showed His humility (Phil 2:5-11). In referring to Himself as the “Son of Man,” Jesus references Daniel 7:14 in which He claims dominion over all things. Jesus clearly establishes Himself in the Gospels as God incarnate.

The virgin birth of Christ is fundamental in establishing the correct understanding of Christology as it relates to the united humanity and deity of Jesus Christ.[7] This act proves that God can take on human nature and do this. If one denies the virgin birth of Christ, they deny the act of incarnation altogether. Denying this is to accept that Scripture, as a whole, is unreliable. The Gospels accounts of Mary and Joseph’s life detail their purity and holiness before God, as Joseph is not responsible for Mary’s pregnancy (Matt. 1:25). The virgin birth was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 in order to confirm that God is still moving within His people. Christ’s preexistence does relate to His divinity (Gen. 1:1; Jn. 1:1, 14). Jesus came to earth on a mission for His Father: to seek save the lost (Lk. 4:18-19). He came to serve others because He cared for people with a deep emotion (Matt. 20:28; Jn. 11:35). Erickson notes that there is “no reason why the preexistence [of God’s Son] and the virgin birth should be in conflict if one believes that there was a genuine incarnation at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life.”[8] The clear fact of the virgin birth is essential to understanding the fundamentals of the Christian faith. He “is a gift that comes ultimately from God, but comes through Mary in a way that allows one to say that Jesus’ origins are both human and divine.”[9]

The baptism of Jesus is important because it served as beginning of His public ministry. It was during the time preceding this that He had received His training and was ready to begin His Father’s work. Second, His baptism identifies Him with sinful humanity, as He came as a ransom for all humanity. He came in this way to say that He would “seek and save the lost” (Lk. 19:10). Third, He did it as a way to submit to the will of the Father. Next, He signified what was to be followed in the Great Commission and for the Father to give assurance on His Son’s mission that was to begin. “At the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, His Father presented him, in a veiled way, as at once Davidic Messiah, very Son of God, representative of the people, and the Suffering Servant.”[10]

Following His wilderness testing, the miraculous works of Jesus, noting John’s seven signs: turning water to wine (2:1–11), healing of a royal official’s son (4:46–54), curing a paralyzed man (5:1–16), feeds 5,000 men (6:1–15), walking on the water (6:16–21), healing the blind man (9:1–42), and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1–57).

D.A. Carson writes concerning the transfiguration, “this glorious sight would one day prompt Jesus’ disciples to marvel at the self-humiliation that brought him to the cross and to glimpse a little of the height to which he had been raised by his vindicating resurrection and ascension.”[11] Jesus came down in incarnation, lived a perfect life, gave His life, raised back to life, and returned to heaven in exaltation.[12] He did not give up His humanity following His resurrection (Lk. 24:41-43; Jn. 20:25-27), as He was human during Stephen’s stoning and Saul’s Damascus Road conversion (Acts 7:56; 9:5). On the glorious day when He returns, He will be in the form of a man (Phil 3:12; 1 Jn. 3:2). But until that time, He intercedes and is the mediator (Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25).

[1] John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord (Elam, 2010), 69.

[2] Harvey Hartman, Professor, “BIBL 480 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[3] I. Engnell, "The ‘Ebed Yahweh Songs and the Suffering Messiah in ‘Deutero-Isaiah'," Bulletin of John Rylands Library 31 (January 1948), accessed November 11, 2018.

[4] Subordinationism, a subunit of Arianism, believes that Christ was eternal but not equal to the Father in being or attributes.

[5] Gaylen Leverette, Professor, “THEO 350 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[6] Allen, “BIBL 425 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[7] Ibid.

[8] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 753.

[9] Ben Witherington, "Birth of Jesus," ed. Joel Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall, DJG, 1992, accessed November 11, 2018.

[10] D.A. Carson, Matthew, EBC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 107.

[11] Ibid., 384-385.

[12] For further information regarding this, see Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; Acts 1:9-10; Acts 2:18-36; Rom. 3:24-25; 8:34; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph 1:7; Phil 2:5-8; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1:3-5; 1 John 2:1-2.