Christology ST302 LESSON 02 of 24 C. Fred Dickason, Th.D. Experience: Chairman of the Theology Department, Moody Bible Institute. We want to start today with the matter of Christ s eternal and preincarnate state. Remember, we re studying the life and work of Christ chronologically. We ll begin with His eternal and preincarnate state, His earthly life and ministry after that, His sufferings and death, His resurrection, His ascension and present session, and then Christ s future work in His coming again to rule and to reign. Now in this lesson, we want to emphasize Christ s eternal and preincarnate state. His deity and eternality is the first thing we want to study here, and we have to do a little defining. Deity and eternality: Deity, of course, has to do with the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed God, God in His fullness, and the way we will use the word deity is a clue here as to what we think of Christ for we hold a deity, in the biblical sense, refers to the one God who truly is the eternal one, the Creator; He is the one presented in the Bible as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is equal with Him as far as His person is concerned. Now the word eternal needs a little definition. The word eternal has to be understood as one of the attributes of God. We actually speak of several attributes of God that are on a par with this when we speak of omniscience. When we speak about God being omniscient, we mean that God is infinite with respect to knowledge. He knows everything immediately without research. Without qualification, His knowledge is absolute. When we speak about omnipotence, we mean infinite with respect to power. God is infinite with respect to power in that there is nothing that He cannot do that is consistent with His character. When we speak of omnipresence, we mean He is infinite with respect to the manifestation of His presence. He is in all parts of His being totally present in all parts of the universe and even beyond the universe as far as that s concerned since He is its Creator. 1 of 9
Now these are qualities of infinity with respect to knowledge and power and space. Now infinity with respect to time is called eternal or eternality, and when we speak about eternality as affecting or relating to Christ, we immediately think of deity for there is an interrelationship of deity in eternality. If we accept the biblical presentation of who God is, we know that He is the God above all so-called gods. He is the only God who is infinite and eternal, the Creator of all things, who alone is to be worshipped and honored as a sovereign of the universe. So when we speak of God and eternality, we re talking about the same thing because God alone possesses eternality, and a proof for deity is immediately a proof for eternality, and a proof for eternality is immediately a proof for deity. They are inseparable mutual proofs. We use the word proof here. Perhaps we should explain that the word proof means evidence toward, support for, so if we could support from Scripture the fact that Christ is eternal we immediately have support for the fact that He is deity and vice versa. There is also an interrelationship between eternality and preexistence. Having defined eternality as infinite with respect to time; we must also define preexistence as Christ s existence before He became flesh, that is, before He entered into this world as a human. That means that He existed as a person, a self-conscious self-determining individual before His birth of the Virgin Mary. Eternality assumes preexistence. He eternally preexisted. If we can show something from the Scripture that says He s eternal, we immediately prove His preexistence. However, it s not quite so easy the other way around. To show that He s preexistent doesn t necessarily prove that He s eternal for preexistence can stop short of eternal preexistence. After all, we know that the other beings existed before Christ became incarnate. People on earth existed, but there are also angels that exist even from before material Creation so that to prove preexistence doesn t necessarily prove eternality, but a proof for Christ s preexistence is an evidence toward and leaning toward eternality. If we can show that He is preexistent, then we have a supportive proof for His eternality. Well, having these introductory remarks out of the way, let s turn to the direct supports for Christ s deity and eternality. Suppose we just look at the type of thing we re talking about. These supports 2 of 9
are drawn from the Scripture; some of them are theological and some of them are biblical. We don t want to differentiate between the two but really some of them are direct statements of Scripture which we will look at and exegete together and others are theological arguments. For instance, the first argument is the argument from the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a theological argument which we would study under theology proper. It would go like this: All members of the Trinity are deity in themselves. The second proposition would be that Christ is, in the Scriptures, presented as a member of the Trinity. The conclusion would be: Therefore Christ is deity and eternal. Now that s a theological argument, and we haven t adduced the direct proofs for that, but you can see how that s a valid argument accepting the Scriptures and accepting the doctrine of the Trinity and Christ being posited as a member of the Trinity. So immediately we have a proof here. However, our other proofs are going to be more direct and more, shall we say, firsthand information from the Scripture. And here s the type of thing we re going to look into: the direct statements of Scripture, and we re going to take maybe four or five statements of Scripture, or passages, and then we re going to look at His heavenly derivation, His appearances before He was incarnate (theophanies), and we ll look into His titles and His characteristics or traits (sometimes called attributes) and His works. All of these will be such things that show that He is indeed deity and eternal. Let s begin with the direct statements of Scripture, and I d like to begin with what I would call a central passage, and you ll probably hear me use this term several times, and I d like to define it for you at this point. A central passage is a passage that speaks directly to the subject. It speaks very clearly, sometimes extensively, but always pointedly to the subject. A central passage is something that we can hook our theological thinking on. A central passage is something that makes us aware that we have grounds for what we believe and provides us a very handy handle to refer to in the Scriptures so that we know where we are and other people know where we are so that we re not floating around in ambiguities or generalities but we can come right to the Scripture, and I would encourage you to learn what we call central passages; to put the central passage down by book and chapter and then to put the doctrine opposite that that it supports, and it will do a lot for you and for those to whom you minister. 3 of 9
Let s look at a direct statement of Scripture and the central passage for deity and eternality, John 1:1-2. John 1:1-2 makes four statements concerning Christ the Word. Listen to these words here, and if you open your Bible and follow along you ll be much helped. In John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; John 1:2, The same was in the beginning with God. Now to identify the fact or to identify Christ as the Word is not too difficult because down in John 1:14 it says, The Word was made flesh (or literally became flesh or human) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and a little while later on it says, The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, that s in verse 17. So it s obvious that the Word is Jesus Christ. Now what four statements are made concerning Christ the Word in these first two verses of John 1, our central passage? Look at the first statement. Now a statement is composed of a subject and a predicate, that is, something that acts or is stated as the subject under consideration and then as a statement that either presents a truth about or action, or truth, of being about the subject; so a subject and a predicate. Here s the first: In the beginning was the Word. Now at first glance that doesn t seem to be much of a statement, but we ll have to remember that the Bible was not written originally in English, it was written in the New Testament in Greek. In the Old Testament there was Hebrew and parts of Daniel were in Aramaic, but the New Testament was written in Greek and believing in the inspiration of the Scriptures, we believe that God directed the human authors through their own personalities to choose from their own vocabulary expressions which would accurately in the original language, the Greek language, express exactly what God wanted recorded. Understanding that, we understand then that the Greek words are of importance and that these words express exactly what God wanted to express about His Son as we read Him here in John 1. The first statement is this: In the beginning was the Word. Now we say that doesn t sound like too much in English, but suppose we paraphrase that. In the beginning, the Word was always in existence. Now I suppose to a Hebrew, if he picked up the Bible 4 of 9
and read John 1:1, In the beginning, he would immediately think of In the beginning of his Bible. That is right back at Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God and here we have, In the beginning was the Word. Perhaps this statement is saying, In the beginning, that is, at the beginning of all things the Creation, the Word was Now to understand the Word was, here, we have to understand the Greek tense involved. This is what we call the imperfect tense, and it means continual action or existence in time passed, so that we could translate this, In the beginning, that is, at the creation, the Word was already continually in existence. He existed before creation. To summarize then, this first statement means that He had continual existence in time passed and is indeed an argument for His eternality. The second statement, The Word was with God, is a statement that is important because it shows a separate or distinct existence of the Word from God the Father. If I were walking down the street with someone there would be myself and someone else, the two together but separate and distinct. This is the force of this statement: The Word was with God. This Word who is a person, who existed from the beginning and even before creation was with God. So he s distinct from God the Father. The third statement: and the Word was God. This is a very important statement because it emphasizes His equality to God. The Word was God. He s not saying He was God the Father because He s already distinguished from God the Father in the second statement. He was with God but He was God. What s the emphasis here? It can only mean that He was, as to His nature, God. In fact, this is the very emphasis of the Greek word here. You know there are some who call themselves the Jehovah s Witnesses who tell us that this should be translated, And the Word was a god. They say the Greek language leaves out the article here and so should be indefinite. The Word was a god so that Jesus Christ is not Jehovah God, the one of the Old Testament who was truly God whom they serve, but He is a god. In fact, they go on to define Him as Michael the archangel, so they allow Him preexistence but not eternality. However, they re following the concepts that are equated with English but not with Greek. For one, the Greek leaves out the article as it indeed does in this case. The Word was God. The article before God is not there in the Greek. When the Greek leaves out the article, they emphasize quality, or character, which means in this case that Jesus Christ the Word was as to His quality 5 of 9
or character very God. In fact the word order of the sentence it says, and as to His nature, He was God, this Word and it s a very emphatic statement that ascribes to Jesus Christ full deity and equality with God as a person. He s equal in nature to God the Father though separate from Him. Immediately we have room for the doctrine of the Trinity, don t we? The fourth statement that is made here is: The same was in the beginning with God. This is difficult to interpret, but I believe the force of this leads to us concluding that this Word speaks of the eternal fellowship with God the Father. The Word was in eternal fellowship with God the Father. The same was in the beginning with God. When God did all His work, Christ was right there with Him in His preexistent eternal state. Here is a central passage which has four direct statements concerning Christ the Word and these are such that, properly and fairly interpreted, can leave us with no other conclusion that Christ is indeed God Himself as to His nature and eternal in His being. It s a very forceful statement. Now I d like to look at another direct statement of Scripture with you and that s John 8:58. The same gospel, in this case the Lord Jesus is speaking in John 8:58. He s talking with His opponents and He s arguing the fact that He is indeed someone greater than Abraham. They asked him, Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom makest thou thyself? Jesus said, If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing (that s verse 54). It is My Father that honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God but you don t know Him. But I know Him, and if I should say I do not know Him, I should be a liar like unto you; but I know Him and keep His saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day. He saw it and was glad. And then the Jews said unto Him, Thou art not yet 50 years old and Thou hast seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am. This is a very significant and pointed statement. It says basically, Before Abraham came into being, I Am. Note the contrast in the verbs concerning the existence of Abraham and Christ. Abraham came into being at a point in time. He was born. He did not exist before that time. But before Abraham came into being, I Am is a word of continual existence. Jesus Christ is claiming to preexist before Abraham and the very statement, I Am has no boundaries to it. In fact, it was the name of God in the Old Testament. I Am that I Am, the name that God Jehovah revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. So here we have a direct revelation or a 6 of 9
direct statement of Jesus Christ concerning His own preexistence and eternality. Before Abraham came into being (and remember Abraham lived about 2,000 years before Christ), before Abraham came into being, I Am. A third statement of Scripture is very forceful and that s the one that s found in Micah 5:2. Remember when Herod asked his teachers, the teachers of the Scripture concerning the birthplace of Messiah. When the Magi came from the east to inquire concerning His birth, they immediately turned to Micah 5:2 for it was well known that Messiah should be born in Bethlehem Judea. Micah 5:2 speaks about Jesus Christ being born in Bethlehem Ephratah, though it be small among the many cities of Judah, yet from these shall come forth He Whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. This is a very direct statement concerning His eternality. His goings forth are literally, His activities have been from old even from everlasting. There is no more forceful way in the Hebrew to express the concept of eternality from old, even from everlasting. We find that in one of the Psalms also. Remember Moses Psalm? I believe it was Psalm 90 where he says, Thou art from ever, from everlasting. Let me read it to you. Psalm 90:1, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Verse 2, Before the mountains were brought forth or ever Thou hast formed the earth or the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. This same expression is used here. From everlasting, His goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. If we accept everlasting as an attribute of God, eternality as an attribute of God, we must certainly ascribe it to Christ, who was born in Bethlehem. Which part of Him was born? It certainly was not His deity. It was His humanity. So we re talking about preexistence as deity; eternal existence of deity before He was born in Bethlehem. A statement that goes right along with that is Isaiah 9:6-7, a statement that we often hear at Christmastime, and you ll hear the rustling of the pages in your listening here, and I hope that you re rustling your pages as you re following me along, turning to the Scripture to see that we re treating it fairly. It says in Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Notice it says here, He is called the Mighty God. He is called the Father of the Ages, not 7 of 9
the everlasting Father but literally the Author of the Ages, and He s the one who is referred to as Christ, a Child born, a Son given. This is another direct statement for His eternality and deity. A beautiful statement I d like to point out to you is in Hebrews 1, Hebrews 1:8-10. This book which sets Christ forth as the answer to, and the fulfillment of, all the Old Testament in its pictures and prophesies presents Christ as preeminent over all things. He s better than the angels. He s better than Moses. He s better than Aaron. He s better than the sacrifices. In Hebrews 1, He s better than angels. He s made much better than the angels because He has a better name than they, and one of the names He has is Son. And in verse 8, Unto the Son, He says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. The address here is to the Son as God. Note the relationship then in verse 9. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, Thy God, the One who is addressed as God has One who is related to Him and is His God. Again, we inescapably come to the doctrine of the Trinity. There are two persons here at least who are called God. God, Thy God, O God, and then in verse 9, it also says, God has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. This speaks about the fact that He s Messiahed Him, anointed Him above His fellow humans, so He is immediately the God-man by this verse, is mentioned as God and is mentioned as man. Support this: Notice His activity in verse 10. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. This is a parallel to John when he says, All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. He created all things. He s addressed as God, He s related to God and to man as being their equal, and He is the Creator of all things. Here s a passage which speaks about the deity and eternality of Christ in a very definite and direct way. Another proof of eternal existence would be Christ s heavenly derivation. We ve talked about the argument from the fact that He s a member of the Trinity. We ve looked at four or five direct statements of the Scripture which showed that He s both deity and eternal. Now here s another line of argument, another line of support. He has a heavenly derivation and the following passages argue to preexistence. They all speak about a Son sent who came from heaven. He existed so that He could be sent before He was born 8 of 9
and He came from heaven before He arrived on earth. Jesus Himself said that He came not to judge the world but the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17). Jesus said in John 6:38, I came down from heaven. (I came down from heaven). He speaks about the fact that He s the Bread who comes from heaven, and He came down from heaven to do the Father s will in John 6. You may check that out in your Scriptures. In John 10 there s a very forceful passage there. In verse 35 Jesus said, If you called them gods and to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), why do you say of Him whom the Father has sanctified or set apart and sent into the world, Thou blasphemous because I said I am the Son of God. Jesus is making a claim to being the Son of God in a very unique sense, in a preexistent sense, and He said, God sanctified Me and sent Me into the world. This argues for His preexistence. When He was alone and praying for His disciples, He spoke to God the Father first and He says, No, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory that I had with Thee before the world was. Jesus knew of His own preexistence. He is one who is the Son sent, who came from heaven. You noticed in that passage, Isaiah 9, that we quoted a while ago, Unto us a Child is born, a Son is given. It s never reversed, A Child given, a Son born. It s a Child born, a Son sent, for the eternal Son existed in eternity as full deity before He was sent into the world. Now we ll continue our study on the eternality and deity of Christ in the next lesson together. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 9 of 9