Who Do You Say I Am?
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· 15 viewsWho you say Jesus is will determine your destiny. Unless Jesus is, and always has been, God, He could not save you.
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Mark 8:27-30
Mark 8:27-30
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Who do people say I am?
Who do people say I am?
Why does Jesus ask this question? Who do people say that I am?
Jesus’ questions (Mark 8:27, 29) prepare for his teaching.
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
Jesus, Himself, must clarify that the Messiah of God is to be humbled (v. 31; 10:45) and exalted (8:38) for the sake of his people.
The response of Peter goes against popular explanations in that day.
Some said John the Baptist
What happened to John the Baptist. His head was cut off; how could Jesus be him?
Mark 6:14 shows what people believed.
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
Luke 9:7
Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,
Others said Elijah
The speculation around Jesus’ identity suggests that some considered Him a prophet—that is, an agent of God’s power—but not the Messiah.
Mark 6:14-15
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
Mark 9:11
And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
Still, some said one of the prophets, what people were saying, Jesus is someone other than the promised Messiah.
But Who Do You Say I Am?
But Who Do You Say I Am?
But who do you say that I am?
Jesus dismisses what people say (v. 27) but acknowledges and retains as divinely revealed truth the confession of the Twelve.
What makes Christ different? The answer is clear enough; He is different because he is God incarnate.
This question must be asked by each person today, Who is the Christ to you? Is He a moral example or a divine person or is He God incarnate, the exact expression of the Father?
He is the Christ
He is the Christ
This statement is far more full of meaning than we capture in our day and language.
Peter utters that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies and all the promises in the Old Testament affirming the coming Messiah.
The Meaning of Christos
The Meaning of Christos
The Hebrew word meaning the same thing is Mashiach, or as we know it—Messiah.
Christ/Messiah means “anointed one” or “chosen one.”
The Old Testament predicted that God would send a chosen one—the Messiah—to save the world from sin.
It started in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15) and the promise of the Seed.
It continues with Noah (Gen. 6-8) where God preserves the seed in the ark, we later see that the Seed will come from Shem’s line.
In the Abrahamic covenant we see that from Abraham will come One through whom all the nations of the Earth would be blessed. Gal. 3:16 identifies that this Seed is Christ.
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
Finally we have the fact that the Seed will come from David’s line, that king who would sit on the throne forever.
Israel knew the Christ was coming but they believed it to be an Earthly kingdom versus His own words that His kingdom was not of this world.
His death set the captives free and all who are in Christ are freed from sin as we see in Romans 6 and elsewhere.
The Eternality of the Son
The Eternality of the Son
This topic is a battle ground: Jehovah’s Witnesses and others would say that Jesus was created by the Father; therefore, He has not always existed nor is He equal.
The New Testament approaches Christology by calling significance to the incarnation: the incarnation was not the beginning of Jesus but it was where He took upon Himself human flesh.
Within New Testament Christology is the clear understanding that He existed prior - John’s Gospel has the clearest statements to this affect.
The pre-existence of the Son: John 1:1-2; 17:5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
The use of ‘in the beginning’ by John is intentional, he wanted your mind to go back to Genesis 1:1; this passage tells us how the Son of God was sent into the world to become the Jesus of history, so that the glory and grace of God might be uniquely and perfectly disclosed.
From statements of the Angel of the Lord (Genesis 16:7-14), to Psalm 110:1-4
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
To Exodus 3:14 where Jesus says that He is I Am.
Realize that the Jews fully understood what Jesus was saying and they thought Him blasphemous. Today are those who discount who Jesus is and they are the blasphemous.
John 1:18; 8:58 testify to these things!
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Calvin says about John 8:58,
By these words he excludes himself from the ordinary rank of human beings and claims for himself a power more than human, a power heavenly and divine, the perception of which reached from the beginning of the world through all ages.
The Equality & Deity of the Son
The Equality & Deity of the Son
In Jehovah’s Witnesses own writings they do not believe the Father and Son to be equal:
However, we take Jesus at his word when he said: “The Father is greater than I am.” (John 14:28) So we do not worship Jesus, as we do not believe that he is Almighty God.
The Context & Understanding of John 14:28
The Context & Understanding of John 14:28
This passage is used by those who follow in the error of Arius
In D.A Carson’s commentary on John he makes the following statement:
The problem is how to put together that strand of Johannine (and New Testament) witness that places Jesus on a level with God (1:1, 18; 5:16–18; 10:30; 20:28),
with that strand that emphatically insists upon Jesus’ obedience to his Father and on his dependence upon his Father (4:34; 5:19–30; 8:29; 12:48–49),
not to mention John’s description of the origin and purpose of the Son’s mediation in creation, revelation and redemption as being in the Father’s will (1:3–4, 14, 18; 3:17; 5:21–27).
It cannot be right to depreciate the truth of one strand by appeal to the other. Arians deploy the latter strand to deny the former: Jesus is less than fully God.
Gnostics deploy the former to depreciate the latter: Jesus may in some sense be divine, but he is not fully human. In each passage the immediate context resolves most of the difficulties
What is Carson saying, we cannot exchange the simplicity of error for the complexity of truth.
My own mother has succumbed to this tragedy but believing that Jesus came into existence at the incarnation; one primary reason is she cannot understand how He who was eternally existing was able to be born.
Is that a challenging concept? Yes! But to deny His eternality or His incarnation, and/or to deny His true deity and His true humanity puts us into theological error and against Scripture.
Do not trade your soul for simplicity!
You may ask, why would I say that? We will come to this a bit later.
Carson goes on to explain this passage:
In the clause before us, the Father is greater than I cannot be taken to mean that Jesus is not God, or that he is a lesser God: the historical context of Jewish monotheism forbids the latter, and the immediate literary context renders the former irrelevant.
The context of this passage is Jesus is going to return to the Father by means of death and the cross. Connecting the statement, for the Father is greater than I with this thought says:
If Jesus’ disciples truly loved him, they would be glad that he is returning to his Father, for he is returning to the sphere where he belongs, to the glory he had with the Father before the world began (17:5), to the place where the Father is undiminished in glory, unquestionably greater than the Son in his incarnate state.
John Calvin says,
When Jesus says that the Father is greater, he “does not here make a comparison between the Divinity of the Father and of his own, nor between his own human nature and the Divine essence of the Father, but rather between his present state and the heavenly glory, to which he would soon afterwards be received.”
The view of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unitarians rejects the equally clear truth of John 10:30
I and the Father are one.”
This passage is a clear testament to His equality with the Father.
The context of John 14:28 is that the Disciples hearts are uneasy because of Jesus’ impending departure; Jesus is speaking of the superior place of being in Heaven, where He is heading.
Paul says, To be absent from the body is greater than life here.
Passages Stating Jesus’ Equality With the Father
Passages Stating Jesus’ Equality With the Father
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
The Gospel of John has, perhaps, the most complete of these statements
The Gospel of John has, perhaps, the most complete of these statements
It speaks of the eternality of the Son prior to the incarnation in John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
It speaks of the Incarnation in John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We looked at John 8:58 earlier
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Robertson correctly notes that using the words, I am, Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God.
Overall, we have seen multiple verses in the Gospel of John testifying to the truth of Christ’s divinity and eternality.
The Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed
It was often called the Athanasian Creed because for centuries people attributed its authorship to Athanasius, the great champion of Trinitarian orthodoxy during the crisis of the heresy of Arianism that erupted in the fourth century (that’s the 300’s AD for non-historians).
That theological crisis focused on the nature of Christ and culminated in the Nicene Creed in 325.
Within these two creeds the church declared that the second person of the Trinity has the same substance or essence as the Father, thereby affirming that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal in being and eternality.
Though Athanasius did not write the Nicene Creed, he was its chief champion against the heretics who followed after Arius, who argued that Christ was an exalted creature but that He was less than God.
The Athanasian Creed begins with the words “whoever wishes” or “whosoever wishes,” inasmuch as this phrase introduces the first assertion of the Athanasian Creed. That assertion is this: “Whosoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the catholic faith.”
The Athanasian Creed seeks to set forth in summary version those essential doctrines for salvation affirmed by the church with specific reference to the Trinity.
The content of the Athanasian Creed stresses the affirmation of the Trinity in which all members of the Godhead are considered uncreated and co-eternal and of the same substance.
Why Does This Matter?
Why Does This Matter?
These truths are of significant and salvific important. I have questions for you today.
Can a person be saved who does not recognize the equal deity and eternality of Christ?
Can a person be saved who does not recognize the equal deity and eternality of Christ?
We must be careful here; what is the content of saving faith?
Do you believe Christ died for your sins?
Do you believe Jesus has the power to save you from your sins?
Do you publicly identify with Christ as your Redeemer?
We cannot demand that people are full in their content of theology to be saved!
What about a person who denies the equal deity and eternality of Christ?
What about a person who denies the equal deity and eternality of Christ?
Here I have less charity, for this is a conscious thought.
Though my heart is heavy to say these words, I cannot affirm to any they are truly a believer if they deny the equality of Christ to the Father
This is one of my fears around the Economic Trinity but it does not cause me to affirm that not all Persons of the Trinity are the same.
To deny the equality of Christ is what Jesus condemns in John 8:21-27
This was the sin of the Pharisees who denied Jesus’ divinity and His equality with the Father.
Jesus says in v. 21, you will die in your sin and in v. 24
john 8.24
John 8:24 (ESV)
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
The word “He” is added by most translations for clarity but I believe it alters the best understanding of the Greek text. The words are ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, that I AM.
The ἐγώ εἰμι of the Greek text is a present active indicative, this is an ongoing action with no beginning or ending.
The word εἰμι speaks to existence.
Put this together, unless you believe that I have eternally existed you will die in your sins.
Jesus will use this same phrase to describe Himself in John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
A Solemn Call To Christ
A Solemn Call To Christ
There are four types of people who have heard this message:
The person who affirms these truths and confesses Jesus is fully God and fully man to the glory of the Godhead. This person shows the witness of the Spirit as they have been lead into truth by Him.
The person who has never considered this topic before and now they are convinced of the importance. This person shows the witness of the Spirit as they are being led into truth by Him.
The person who has been mislead by either false teachers or lack of teaching; but now they see the error and repent of that error. This person shows the witness of the Spirit as they are being led into truth by Him.
The last is the person, who in spite of the clear testimony of Scripture, and Jesus own words, will continue to deny His true Person and Equality with the Father and Spirit; this person will die in their sins unless they repent and believe in the true Jesus.
May God add His own blessing to the preaching of His Word.