Let me tell you something: Word 5: I thirst!

John 19:28 “I thirst!”

Theme: fully God, fully man

This week we are going to explore the theme of the Incarnation, or God becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ. These ideas are complex and deep, both theologically and historically. There are also names and ideas not much thrown around outside the walls of a seminary classroom. But the fact remains that these ideas are central to who the Church is and what we believe. There is a story told about one of our “heretics” today, Arius. It is said that at one point in his debate over church doctrine he had half the city of Alexandria singing a popular tune with the lyrics “there was a time when the Son was not.” This story is interesting because it reveals two facts. First, there was indeed a time when the issue of who Jesus Christ is wasn’t fully settled in the Church. The Church had to wrestle with issues such as its continuity or discontinuity with Judaism, the Trinity, the humanness of Jesus and then his divinity, salvation through Jesus, and many others. Ideas we now mostly take for granted had to be fought over in the Church. Secondly, these ideas used to be discussed and wrestled with by your average Christian. Arius had half the city singing his song and we might assume that the other half opposed him. People in the streets were actually discussing theology. Before Christianity became the established religion in Europe, it must have been mightily important that one understood just what they believed if they might die for it. One early Church leader even advocated 3 full years of training and learning before a person could fully join the Church! So these ideas were in the air, if you will, in this time. So, although this lesson might seem deep, I think we can handle it.

Let us first look at the temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

What are the three temptations?

The first one is the temptation to use his divine power to serve his own needs. Remember Jesus just finished a forty day fast and was hungry. The second temptation is to test God for divine intervention and experience a special miracle to impress others. He is in a very public religious place after all. It might also be a challenge for Jesus to confirm that he is in fact the Messiah and won’t die even when he attempts to. The third temptation is to worship Satan instead of God. This one presents some unique challenges because we must wonder if Satan does indeed possess all the kingdoms to give away or if this is just deceit. Jesus didn’t quote Genesis for example, and argue that the earth is God’s. In fact, Jesus only quoted from Deuteronomy in the temptation narrative.

Were these actual temptations? Could Jesus have actually given in to sin?

The answer of course is yes. If Jesus wasn’t tempted, than this whole passage has no meaning. As much as Jesus had no desire to sin, and lived in perfect unity and obedience with the Father, Jesus had to at least have the ability to sin. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Hebrews also says that “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” So Jesus temptations had to be real just by the testimony of Scripture alone.

Why do the temptations have to be real?

Hebrews just said that it is so that Jesus is able to help and show mercy to us as our great high priest. In fact, the whole of Hebrews is one big argument that salvation comes through Jesus because he came in the flesh. Jesus is able to be our high priest, mediator, and perfect sacrifice solely because he came in the flesh and a man. As Hebrews says again, “For this reason he had to be made like them,fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” (2:17)

We are going to do something a little different today. Rather than continue to study the Bible, we are going to look at one of the great creeds of the Church. Remember, Christian doctrine wasn’t handed down to us as a thesis written by the hand of Jesus. Rather, Christian theology and doctrine grew-out of the Church through the guidance of the holy Spirit.

Chalcedonian definition/creed: A.D. 451

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [coessential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.[1]

Ok, that is a lot to handle, but the main point is that Jesus is truly and fully God and truly Man. He has two natures, human and divine, both present without mixture or change of either. This is the great mystery of the Incarnation which can never be fully understood or explained.

Let us briefly take a look at some of the classic heresies of the Church, and keep in mind that some of these were not just minor movements but actual had the power of Emperors behind them. Yet each was rejected either before or at the council of Chalcedon in favor of what is now orthodox Christianity.

Marcionism: Postulated two Gods, one the God of the Old Testament and the other the Father of Jesus. The God of the Old Testament was too rigid and wrathful, but the Father of Jesus was loving, forgiving, and the real supreme god. Jesus was the Savior, sent by God the Father to reveal the truth and allow humanity to escape the God of the Old Testament. He rejected the Old Testament as Scripture and his New Testament only had parts of Luke and 10 letters of Paul. Marcion founded his sect in A.D. 144

Arianism: Believed that the Son of God was a subordinate being to God the Father; that Jesus was a created being and thus distinct from the Father. Late 3^rd century, Arius died around 336, but had followers into the late 600s.

Nestorius: Emphasized the humanity of Jesus and argued that Jesus had two loosely-united natures. Jesus Christ the person, is not identical with the divine Son, but rather united with him in some way. Denied the historical title for Mary as the “Theotokos” of God-bearer because it seemed to deny Jesus’ humanity. He wanted to hold the two natures together and always held his views were orthodox, but like many of these individuals and their followers, they are all just a few words away from or past heresy. Nestorius died in 451, however there are still churches which follow some of his teachings.

Docetism: from the Greek work dokesis, meaning “appearance.” This teaching is very early in the late 2^nd century. It teaches that Jesus only appeared to be a man, basically he was a phantom without any human characteristics, such as pain, desires, or thirst.

Apollinaris: He denied that Jesus had a human rational soul, rather this was replaced with the divine Logos. Thus Jesus wasn’t fully human. Closely connected with Docetism.

Adoptionism: Christ was born as a man but was later “adopted” as God’s son.

Monophysitism or Eutychianism: Jesus’ human nature is absorbed into his divinity such that Jesus contains one, “mono,” nature. Arose in opposition to Nestorianism, which emphasized the two nature’s of Jesus, which they argued made two Christs.

Sabellianism/Modalism: believes that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God. Jesus is still fully God, but not in the Trinitarian sense.

What are ways, either in the secular culture or even our churches, some of these views are alive and well?

Obvious ones are Mormonism (extremely non-trinitarian) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (similar to Arianism). Many other groups, such as the Unitarian Universalism, believe Jesus was just a good man and an example for us. This is perhaps the prevailing view of secular culture. Islam also would fall under this category of believing that Jesus was a prophet, and righteous man, but not God. An area in our own churches is the use of generic “God” language. There is a lack of Trinitarian language which delineates worship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the roles each one plays. This is more Trinitarian than purely focused on the correct understanding of Jesus, but they are related in terms of showing Jesus is divine, but his role flows out of him being God made flesh.

Concluding thoughts:

This might be complicated, but these issues have great significance for our theology. Every theology the Church has concerning our salvation has at its very center Jesus as both fully God and fully man. There are many theories and pictures of the salvation provided to us in the life, death and resurrection of Christ and they all fall apart if Jesus wasn’t fully man and fully God. Just as we can’t fully understand the Incarnation, we also haven’t been fully able to understand the salvation God provided in Christ. Ideas range from Jesus as the new Adam, Jesus as a mediator of new covenant, our great high priest, our perfect sacrifice, and head of new humanity, among others. Each of these have pros and cons and have biblical precedent. Yet, the point must be made again that the bible is not a theological treatise, but is living Word telling us of God’s interactions in creation. It is up to us to explore more systematically who and what God is in light of God’s revelation in the world.

Deeper Thinking:

This lesson has probably already been complicated enough. But one point, last week we discussed to what extent Jesus possessed his divine powers while he was here on earth before his resurrection. How does the temptation narrative relate to this? At least the first temptation might imply that he at least possessed the power to turn stones into bread to serve his own needs.

Let me tell you something

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Word 5: I thirst!

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