Introduction This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development. II. Did Jesus ever claim to be God? a) Theological Definition The greatest support of the deity of Jesus is in what he did, not what he said. It is very easy to make claims about being divine, but the proof is in the actions. It is important because it suggests about our nature and God’s ability and willingness to relate to us, as sinful human beings. b) Biblical Foundation Many question if Jesus ever claimed to be God. First, Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, resulting in the Jewish leaders stoning Him ‘because you,’ the leaders said, ‘a mere man, claim to be God’ (John 10:33). On another occasion, a High Priest asked him: ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ to which Jesus replied ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’ (Mark 14:61-62). Jesus also claimed to possess the same attributes of God. In the Bible, Jesus has never been recorded saying the exact words, “I am God.” However, Jesus’ original spectators seemed to think He said “I am the Father.” They were even ready to kill Him right there. The controversy is: Jesus didn’t have to say the specific words “I am God,” to claim this. Jesus did, however,... ... middle of paper ... ...between the ways of God and the ways of Satan. We cannot trust society, or others to tell us differently. Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5). A Christians, we must dedicate our lives to obeying God and our way of life, our Christian ethical code. We must live our lives with great dignity and moral character. IV. Conclusion In the first half of Theology 104, we went over many different topics. All these topics gave me a wonderful and better understanding of Theology and Christianity. I got a better understanding of Jesus claiming to be God, as well as our character development and how it plays a very vital part of our lives as Christians. By asking Jesus into our lives, we will be highly rewarded. For this I am
Genesis 22 opens with God calling out to Abraham. Abraham responds, “Here I am!” (Gen 22:1). According to Levenson’s analysis, Abraham is not simply telling God his location but he is conveying “readiness, attentiveness, and responsiveness” (Levenson 67). Similarly, in the Gospel of John, when Jesus responds, “I AM” to the men looking for him, he conveys readiness, attentiveness, and responsiveness (John 18:5). But in addition, Jesus’ reply also expresses his divinity. These words are seen before in God’s call and commission of Moses in Exodus. “I am who I am… This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (Ex 3:14). This is only the beginning of the many parallels these narratives seem to share. Fundamentally, however, Jesus’s passion clearly supersedes the near sacrifice of Isaac.
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
Brown demonstrated the deity of Christ by focusing on Him as the Son of God and Word of God, who shares in the divine nature, and who revealed Himself to His people in the Old Testament (15-37). I enjoyed Brown’s treatment of the apparent conflict between the passages which declare that no one has seen God with the other passages which clearly state that God was seen by Abraham, Moses, and Jacob (27-34). As he put it, “it is Jesus the Messiah—the divine Son, the image of the invisible God, the Word made flesh, the exact representation of the Father’s being—who solves the riddle and explains how someone could really see God, even though God cannot be seen.
Brown, David, D, D. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. John. Crosswalk Inc. 1996.Byzantine Greek Translation of the Book of John.Harris, Hall. Commentary on the Gospel of John. Biblical Studies Press. 1996. Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry Complete Commentary. www.biblestudytools.net1996.Johnson, Barton W. People's New Testament Commentary. Crosswalk Inc. 1999. www.biblestudytools.net.1999.Bryant, Beauford. Krause, Mark. The College Press NIV Commentary John. College Press. 1998.
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
... of the Christian faith front and center by uniting two camps of believers in one reading; a starting point. As illustrated by the authors, “Though we have not, of course, reached agreement, we are satisfied that we have eliminated misunderstandings, that is, that neither of us has misrepresented the other. We offer the result to the reader as a celebration of shared friendship, faith, and scholarship” (xi).
The Bible holds first God’s identity and who he is, labeled as the creator. By understanding
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Of all the debates that concern the Christian faith, the most important lies in the understanding of the very one whom the faith professes to follow: Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ, and what did He do here on this earth? In noting the importance of these issues the apostle Paul goes so far as to make the startling claim that the Christian faith is useless if predicated on a false assumption of Christ’s saving work (1 Cor. 15:14). Indeed, there are no truths more central to our faith than the personhood and work of Jesus Christ, and yet serious disagreements exist regarding the nature of these tenets. Jesus lived here on earth as fully divine and yet fully human in one and the same person, and His death on the cross served as a perfect sacrifice and substitute for the necessary punishment of death that all sinners deserve.
The Bible is the holy, inspired, infallible Word of God. Within the Bible, there are different stories and principles that the Lord gave us through special revelation. In the New Testament there were Jewish or religious groups that began teaching unbiblical doctrines. Two of those sects were the Pharisees and the Essenes. The importance of learning about these groups is so that we can see how they were wrong and to make sure we don’t mirror their actions. In this paper I will be comparing the Pharisees’ views on God and Jesus with that of the Essenes’.
If the factions of Christianity are joined by belief in Jesus, they have been divided since the beginning in understanding who this man is. One of the very first questions the early church had to answer as the fledgling religion distinguished itself centered around the identity of their savior. Was he human or divine or some odd combination? Thinkers such as Arius argued that he was fully human, “pre-eminent in rank within the created order, yet someone who was created rather than being divine” (McGrath 56). However, several immediate problems with this theory arose, pointed out by critics such as Ath...
" Christianity & Literature 58.1 (2008): 81-92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Fienberg, Lorne. "
It has been said that Jesus was one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God. This is a concept that is hard to understand if you do not have the scriptural evidence to back up this fact. The first reason that Jesus’s humanity is so important is that it was necessary to fulfil the covenant with Israel. In the Old Testament the prophet’s, priest and Kings all spoke of someone who could bring redemption to the world that they could not. In Acts 10:38 it shows how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Even though Christ lived in the world he remained sinless and never once forgot his deity. When he received his anointing which was needed in order to fulfill the messianic purpose, he then was called Christ and Son of David.
Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity." Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. (Theopedia) (Theopedia)
The third and final part of this objection against the divinity of Jesus says that Jesus cannot be God if the last two parts of the objection are true. The first two parts of this objection and be proven false through sc...