Christology ST302 LESSON 14 of 24 C. Fred Dickason, Th.D. Experience: Chairman of the Theology Department, Moody Bible Institute. We come now to lesson 14 in Christology. And as we come to lesson 14 we want to just wind up the section on His temptations. Christ s temptations were treated under the area of the fact of His temptations and the nature of His temptations and the purpose and the genuineness. Perhaps we ought to say a word about the significance of His temptations. What does this mean basically concerning Christ and for us? Well, the fact that Christ passed His temptations and did it successfully indicates that He is morally qualified to be Messiah, the king priest. And of course, the Jews who were looking for Him must have a king who was morally able. They had kings who were not morally able, but the king who was to rule over them must be able, from all realms, to rule properly. You see, the Lord Jesus succeeded in the face of opposition. He suffered being tempted, but He was faithful to Him that appointed Him, according to Hebrews 3:2. He succeeded in the face of opposition. Another significance of His temptations is that they show Him to be experientially qualified as a high priest. According to Hebrews 5:8-9, Though He were a Son, yet He learned obedience, or what obedience involved, by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, or complete, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. Hear the references to the suffering which culminates in the cross. And it says that He was made perfect or complete. I take it that this means that Christ was perfectly qualified by His sufferings to become the author of eternal salvation to all those that obey Him by calling upon Him for salvation. Basically, He was fit to be a high priest by His sufferings. He suffered in the will of God. You see, He not only succeeded in the face of opposition but He suffered in the will of God. A third thing concerning the significance of His temptations is that as a result, He was sympathetically qualified to be a high 1 of 9
priest. He sympathizes with us in our weaknesses. Hebrews 5:2 says the high priest must be one who can have compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way; for He Himself is also compassed with infirmity, or limitation. And Christ knew the weakness of human nature though He didn t know the sinfulness, yet He knew the weakness. And He feels with us who are going through temptations. It says in Hebrews 4:15, We don t have a high priest who can t be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, or weaknesses, we have one who feels with us. He knows what we re going through and sympathizes with us. But even more than that, the significance of His temptations is that He is beneficially qualified for high priest. That is, He is able to benefit us. He succors, or helps, us in our temptations. According to Hebrews 2:17-18, Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That s a reference to His cross. For in that He, Himself, has suffered being tempted, He is able to succor, or help, them that are tempted. The ability of Christ to help us in our temptation does not depend upon His ability to sin but rather on His ability to suffer temptation and to withstand it, and that He did. And since He knows what temptation is about and since He has suffered temptation and passed the test successfully, He is able to successfully help us who are tempted. You see, Hebrews 4:16 says since we have such a high priest who knows our infirmities, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The savior stands ready to help since He s qualified to be the Messiah king priest, to be our high priest who suffered in the will of God, who sympathizes with us in our weakness and who succors us in our temptations. We need to turn to Him, don t we? Now we come to another subject in the treatment of the ministry of Christ. We ve looked at His baptism and His temptations and now we want to come to His teachings. This is number three under His ministry. I d like to say a word first of all about the system of His teaching and I want to just cover this briefly at this point since this generally belongs to pedagogy and the philosophy of education rather than Scripture, though I think the two are in agreement here. Let s look at the assumptions of Christ s system first of all. He assumed, it is quite evident, that all truth is God s truth whether 2 of 9
it be in the world or whether it be in the Word of God. He also held some truth was known by man s observation, but that ultimate truth was known only by God s revelation. He asked men to observe certain things and then taught on the basis of the observation. But some things had to be made known by revelation only. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus said on one occasion, I thank thee, Father that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, but revealed them unto babes. There are some things that man cannot know because they are sinful and because they are creatures, but God has to reveal in His holiness, in His wisdom, the truth to man. He also on another occasion in Matthew 16:17 commended Peter. But He commended him in such a way that the commendation really belonged to God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. In other words, Peter s confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, was not something that He could claim on his own to have found but was rather a working of God in his heart, the recognition of the Lord Jesus as he was revealed before his eyes. This is the revelation of God. Ultimate truth is known only by revelation. You see, man is separated from God by creatureliness and that gives him limitation, and by sinfulness and that of course accounts for his blindness. And man needs truth revealed by God. Jesus said, If any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Jesus said, If you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Men need to know truth through the Word of God. Jesus said, Sanctify them through thy Word: thy Word is truth, John 17. Man needs to be born again to understand the things of God, said the Lord Jesus. He said to Nicodemus, Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. This means that no one can understand or enter into the things of the kingdom of God without a spiritual new birth, by trusting Jesus Christ as our savior. He held that man not only needs to be born again but he needs to be taught by the Spirit. According to John 16, the Holy Spirit is the teacher par excellence who tells us the things of Christ, for He takes the things of Christ and reveals them unto us through the Scriptures. Man is responsible for the truth that s revealed, said the Lord Jesus. Unto whom much is given, much is required. And in His teaching, Christ assumed authority unreservedly. His attitude, His approach, the reaction of others was such that He possessed authority and did not depend upon human 3 of 9
substantiation. The principles of His system basically can be summed up like this. Truth is best taught by personal involvement with the truth. You see, the Lord Jesus lived the truth as an individual. He taught the truth to individuals, whether in a crowd or alone. He never missed the individual. He demanded individual response. Who so has an ear, let him hear. He spoke to the individual and He involved the person as He taught. His method as far as teaching goes was practical and effective. He took advantage of every opportunity whether it was in the garden or in the field, whether it was the upper room with foot washing, whether it was sickness or death or whether it was a question posed to Him by somebody else, whether it was a question that He posed Himself, whether it was a peaceful discourse or an argumentation, Jesus took advantage of every opportunity to teach concerning the truth. He met men on their level to raise them to Himself. Remember the woman at the well? He met her at the level of thirst and He brought her up to the level of spiritual thirst. He used a variety of techniques. He used object lessons like the vine and the branch, the shepherd and the sheep, and He used sicknesses as occasions, the needs of people. He used feast occasions to teach of Himself and of the truth of God. He used His supernatural understanding on occasion to teach too. In John 1, He knew Nathaniel s thoughts before Nathaniel saw Him. And He taught Nathaniel not only what he needed to know but who he needed to know. In one case where He was healing the sick of the palsy, when the opponents reasoned in their hearts who is this? Who can forgive sin but God? Jesus said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? And so, He used His supernatural understanding to figure out the thoughts of the individuals and to face them with the truth. This basically then is His system, His assumptions, His principles, and His methods. Let s come to what we might call the sphere of His teaching. The sphere of His teaching or you might call it the subject matter, to some extent. But basically the context, perhaps that s a better word to describe it. The Lord Jesus lived in the law period. You see, the law was in effect for Sinai to Calvary, and He had three spheres of activity and teaching. He lived under law, but He taught of three different spheres of life or we might call them dispensations. He taught of the sphere of law. He taught about life under the law, 4 of 9
after all, He lived His life under the law. He was born of a woman, born under the law, according to Galatians 4:4. And as such, in Romans 15:8, He was called a minister of the circumcision. That is, a minister to the Jews. You see, Christ lived under the law, He kept the law, He taught the law, and He died under its curse. The Lord Jesus taught the law in Matthew 5:17-19. And there He emphasized that the law was demanding inward righteousness, not just outward obedience. He said except your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. He said, I am not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. He said, Heaven and earth shall pass, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. And so, He taught men to keep and to teach the law of Moses in the period that He lived because it was indeed in force at that time before Christ died. But in Galatians 3:13 we read that Christ delivered us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. And in Romans 10:4 we read that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for all those who believe. Now it s the end of the law for righteousness not to gain it, but to live by it. Righteousness was never gained by living the law. Jesus taught that. The whole Scripture teaches that, Old and New Testament. What righteousness is He talking about? Romans 10:4, Christ is the end of righteousness as far as the government of life is concerned. The law no longer governs our life. Well Christ lived under the law, He taught it, He kept it, He died under its curse to deliver us from it. Christ ended the law system as a rule of life. According to Galatians 3:23-25, He delivered us from the pedagogue of the law. In Galatians 4:4-5 He makes us sons instead of children of non-age, inheritors rather than those a non-age under the restriction of the law. And He did this by His death. The Lord Jesus not only taught in the sphere of the law but He taught in the sphere of the kingdom; life in the kingdom. You see, the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah king and in order to be king, He had to teach of the laws of the kingdom and of the matters of the kingdom age. Christ was predicted as a coming king of Israel. Matthew 1:1 says He s the son of David. Christ offered Himself as the promised king. In Matthew 21, the Lord Jesus marched into Jerusalem riding upon the colt, the foal of an ass, even as it was predicted in Zechariah 9:9, Behold thy king comes to the lowly just having salvation riding upon the colt the foal of an ass. And so, the Lord Jesus presented Himself as king, just as the Old Testament said He would. 5 of 9
Christ taught of the coming kingdom as well. The Scripture shows that he held it was future on earth. Matthew 23:39 and Luke 19:11-13 and 21:31 speak about the fact that Christ is going away and He will come back again to receive a kingdom. The kingdom is in the future. Jesus spoke a parable in one case to show that the kingdom was not at hand but it should take place when He returns again. Suggest you look those references up that I ve just mentioned. Now He taught in another sphere besides the sphere of the kingdom. He taught in the sphere of the church, life in the church. After all, Christ is the head of the church. He s not only a minister of the circumcision teaching law, the promised Messiah king teaching of the kingdom, but He is also head of the church teaching of life in the church age. I suggest we look at Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 1:22-23. This speaks of Christ as the head of the church. As the head of the church He predicted its establishment. In Matthew 16:18 He said, I will build my church. He taught in anticipation of it in the Upper Room Discourse in John 13-17. A discourse that emphasizes the period in which Christ would be absent from the earth and the Holy Spirit would be present as His personal representative. Later, the Lord Jesus established the church at Pentecost by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 1:5 and 1Corinthians 12:13. The Lord Jesus provides gifts for the church, the gift of the Spirit and the gifts, or enablements, of the Spirit. He commissioned the church just before He left the earth with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and in Acts 1:8. And so, we see the Lord Jesus taught in three spheres. Though He lived under the law, He taught under law, and He taught of the kingdom, and He taught of the church. All of these were logically necessary for Him to cover while He was here on earth. Now I think that this poses to us just a little problem of interpretation. When we come to the Scriptures we have to realize that Christ taught in three contexts. It would be unwise then to confuse the contexts. We must discern the contexts of the age at which He speaks. We shouldn t confuse the present age with a coming kingdom age. We shouldn t confuse the present age with the age of the law. We shouldn t confuse the context, but we should relate them. And then understand Christ s teaching as they harmonize when we recognize the distinctions. Christ s teaching then covered three spheres. Christ s teaching also covered a wide range of subjects. Actually, the subjects He talked about were quite extensive. If we were going to go through 6 of 9
the realm of theology we could say He touched almost every realm of theology, every realm of doctrine and practice. He touched the area of bibliology, the study of the Bible. For instance, He said the Scripture cannot be broken, Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. He relied upon the Word of God in temptation and in His teaching. In the area of theology proper, the study of God, He said God is a Spirit. He referred to Him as a holy and righteous Father. He presented Him as a loving God, good and gracious. Concerning Himself, He held that He was the eternal son, the son of David and yet David s Lord. He had a peculiar relationship to the Father such that He and His Father were one, and he who had seen Him had seen the Father. Concerning the Holy Spirit, He taught primarily in the Upper Room Discourse that He was deity, another comforter, the convictor of the world, the indwelling empowerer of the Christian. Concerning angelology, He taught that there was indeed the reality of good and evil angels who were active for God or against God. He taught the reality of Satan. His personal conversation with Satan was personally reported to His apostles. In anthropology, He held to man s original bliss, his fall, his present state of limitation and sinfulness, and he knew what was in man. He s the one who said, For from within out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, blasphemy and so forth. In soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, he held that salvation was on the basis of the cross through faith in Christ. Remember the story in John 3, He was to be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. In John 6, He made it quite clear that those who would come to do God s work must first do the work of believing in Him. In ecclesiology, He said He would establish the church, and He gave it the universal commission to be a universal witness to all nations. In eschatology, He said basically that He would come again, that He would catch up the church, according to John 14. He would come again to the earth to deliver Israel, according to Matthew 24 and 25. He would rule over the earth in glory, according to Matthew 24, 25, and 26. And so you see, He covered a great deal of the areas of theology. In the believer s life He taught about the 7 of 9
calling of the believer, the regeneration or the new birth of the believer and attendant blessings, the following provisions in the Christian life. In the realm of discipleship, He laid down demands and He set forth rewards that would encourage us. He taught about responsibility and society. He taught about responsibility in the home and in the assembly and to government. You see, the Lord Jesus really was a very extensive doctrinal teacher and a very forceful, practical teacher. Perhaps we ought to close this section on His teaching with a reference to His major sermons. If we would look at His major sermons, we would want to at this point just mention their title and location and the subject in general. The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5-7. This extensive discourse of the Lord Jesus was given as an occasion to teach His disciples who were waiting for the kingdom how to live under law. Basically He was teaching disciples what the general intent of the law was. The Pharisees and the scribes had externalized it. He was internalizing it. He wanted them to know that it was not just required that thou shalt not kill, but rather, thou shalt not be angry. In other words, He s getting to the root of the matter. He said that the law was given not just to prevent adultery in outward form, but to even remove it from our minds. He talked about the law of love. He talked about the law of divorce. And in all of these, He said that these laws must penetrate to the heart and govern the attitudes and the purposes of life rather than just the externals of life. This is the Sermon on the Mount and it deals primarily with the matter of law as He, under law, taught law. There s another situation in which the Lord Jesus taught of the kingdom. The parables of the kingdom are found in Matthew 13. In Matthew 12, He was rejected by the nation. He was one who was accused of casting out demons by the prince of demons. And then in Matthew 13, the dye having been cast, He began to teach in parables as He hadn t taught before, to hide the truth from the unresponsive and to reveal the truth to the responsive. And He taught about an age in which the Word of God would be sown in all the world and there would be believers of Satan and believers of God. They would grow together until the end of the age. So this period of the parables of the kingdom introduces what Jesus Himself called the mysteries of the kingdom, the unrevealed truths. A mystery is a fresh revelation not revealed in the Old Testament but revealed in the New and now He introduces the mysteries of the kingdom which introduced new truths that pertain between His rejection and His coming again to rule and 8 of 9
reign on the earth. The Olivet Discourse is found in Matthew 24 and 25. There the Lord Jesus speaks of a great tribulation and unprecedented, unparalleled time of tribulation upon the earth that would be followed by Christ s coming and His setting up His kingdom on earth in power and in great glory. This is yet future after the age of the church. In the Upper Room Discourse in John 13-17, the Lord Jesus introduced new truths of the church age, a new relationship to the Son, to the Father, to the Holy Spirit, a new relationship to one another, a new ground in prayer. Hitherto you ve asked nothing in my name: now ask, and receive, that your joy may be full. And so, with all these new introductions He introduced a new age, the age of the church. And so you see, these various sermons outline what Jesus taught concerning the various dispensations. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 9 of 9