Welcome to the Summer 2006 study for the Koinonia Class of Calvary Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado. We’re looking at the issue of Jesus and Salvation, using the book “Is Jesus The Only Savior” [James R. Edwards, Is Jesus The Only Savior? (Grand Rapids/Cambridge: 2005)]. We encourage each person to buy a copy and follow along.
Did Jesus Consider Himself To Be God? (Section B)
In Section A of this topic (posted July 9th) we looked through a small window to see if we could see what was in Jesus’ mind as He went about doing God’s work.
It is real hard, though, to come close to understanding what someone thinks unless they reveal it openly. It is impossible to know all that is in someone else’s mind when they are in the same room, let alone someone who lived 2,000 years go. So, on the question of what Jesus thought about His self-identity, we just have to go on some clues He left for us.
Many of the clues to Jesus’ self-identity are in His authoritative actions. His actions were those that one (especially a Jew of Jesus’ time) would expect of God: forgiving sins; exorcism of demons; vanquishing Satan (see the last paragraph on page 83); His authority over nature with miraculous healings, raising from the dead, walking on water and calming the wind and waves; and more subtly His authority over social conventions such as establishing “the Twelve” (a clear analogy to the twelve tribes of Israel), and his acceptance of “outsiders” into His inner circle.
But perhaps in the Synoptic Gospels there is no better clue to Jesus’ self-identity than the way He spoke of His impending death. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Of this Edwards says, “In presenting himself as a ransom otherwise offered by God, Jesus ascribed to himself the conclusive act in the divine drama of salvation.”
Another clue was Jesus’ re-casting of the Passover meal into a remembrance of the self-sacrifice which He was about to endure. Jesus’ interpretation of the bread and wine as His own body and blood of the new covenant which God was making with those who gave themselves to Jesus. “Jesus consciously assumed the role of the sacrificial Servant of Isaiah, whose ‘life is an offering for sin’ (Isaiah 53:10) and who ‘bore the sin of many and made intercession for transgressors’ (Isaiah 53:12).”
The Gospel of John is, of course, a special case. When reading John’s witness, it is no wonder that skeptics would want to exclude it or diminish its power by claiming it is the result of the church putting words into Jesus’ mouth. “…the Fourth Gospel shouts from the rooftops what elsewhere in the New Testament is whispered in the ear.” That is, to look for clear statements by Jesus about His relationship with God, John is the best place to start.
Consider just these statements of Jesus selected from many similar ones in John’s Gospel:
“Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.” (8:42)
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (17:4.5)
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’" (14:6,7)
This fifth chapter in Edwards’ book is a transition from the first section (the foundation-laying chapters) to the second major section—the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and its relevance today. Edwards summarizes the first section with, “Our reasons for trusting the historical reliability of the New Testament look brighter than our reasons for complacent trust in the assumptions of naturalism.” A solid foundation is laid. Now the framing and finishing of the structure can be completed.
Jesus of Nazareth, who came to be called Savior and Lord by both monotheistic Jews and multicultural Gentiles who accepted the Gospel message, lived 2,000 years ago. His impact on His disciples was so great that the world was changed. We even mark our calendars by (what was later thought to be) the year of his birth.
Now we will see how that Gospel message (which was primarily about Jesus’ life, death on a cross, burial, and resurrection) is relevant in a world of competing ideas and philosophies, moral relativism, scientific and postmodern worldviews, and the explosion of communications and travel which put us all face to face with people of different religions.
“Jesus—the Savior of the world”—what a statement to make as we start the second half of this study. Our hope for this study that each of us can also say, “Jesus—Savior of the world, and my personal Savior.”
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