Part One. Christ's Person
Chapter 2. The Claims of Christ
We have seen that it is necessary to seek if we are ever to find. But where shall we begin our search? The Christian answers that the only place at which to begin is the historic person of Jesus of Nazareth; for if God has spoken and acted, it is fully and finally in Jesus Christ that he has done so. The crucial issue is this: was the carpenter of Nazareth the Son of God?
There are two principal reasons why our inquiry into Christianity should begin with the person of Christ. The first is that essentially Christianity is Christ. The person and work of Christ are the rock upon which the Christian religion is built. If he is not who he said he was, and if he did not do what he said he had come to do, the foundation is undermined and the whole superstructure will collapse. Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it; there is practically nothing left. Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference. We are not concerned primarily to discuss the nature of his philosophy, the value of his system or the quality of his ethic. Our concern is fundamentally with the character of his person. Who was he?
Second, if Jesus Christ can be shown to have been a uniquely divine person, many other problems begin naturally to be solved. The existence of God is proved and the character of God revealed if Jesus was divine. Again, questions about man's duty and destiny, life after death, the purpose and authority of the Old Testament and the meaning of the cross begin to be answered because Jesus taught about these things, and his teaching must be true if his person is divine.
Our investigation must therefore begin with Jesus Christ, and to study him we must turn to the Gospels. It is not necessary at this point to accept them as part of the inspired Scriptures; it will be enough to treat them as the historical documents they undoubtedly are. We cannot here consider the question of their literary origin.[1] For a discussion of the authenticity of the New Testament see F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents, InterVarsity Press, 5th edition, 1960. It is enough to emphasize that their authors were all Christian men, that Christian men are honest men, and that their contents appear to be both objective and the impressions of eyewitnesses. However, for the time being we shall regard them simply as a substantially accurate record of the life and teaching of Jesus. In doing so, we shall not base our case on a few obscure and isolated proof texts. We shall concentrate on what is general and plain.
Our purpose is to marshal the evidence to prove that Jesus was the Son of God. We shall not be satisfied with a verdict declaring his vague divinity; it is his deity which we mean to establish. We believe him to possess an eternal and essential relation to God possessed by no other person. We regard him neither as God in human disguise, nor as a man with divine qualities, but as the God-man. We are persuaded that Jesus was a historic person possessing two distinct and perfect natures, Godhead and manhood, and in this to be absolutely and forever unique. Only so could he be worthy not just of our admiration but of our worship.
The evidence is at least threefold. It concerns the claims he made, the character he displayed and his resurrection from the dead. No one argument is conclusive. But the three converging lines point unfalteringly to the same conclusion.
The first witness, then, is that of Christ's own claims. In the words of Archbishop William Temple, "It is now recognized that the one Christ for whose existence there is any evidence at all is a miraculous Figure making stupendous claims." It is true that claims do not in themselves constitute evidence, but here is a phenomenon which demands an explanation. For the sake of clarity we shall distinguish between four different kinds of claim.
His Self-Centered Teaching
The most striking feature of the teaching of Jesus is that he was constantly talking about himself. It is true that he spoke much about the fatherhood of God and the kingdom of God. But then he added that he was the Father's "Son," and that he had come to inaugurate the kingdom. Entry into the kingdom depended on men's response to him. He even did not hesitate to call the kingdom of God "my kingdom."
This self-centeredness of the teaching of Jesus immediately sets him apart from the other great religious teachers of the world. They were self-effacing. He was self-advancing. They pointed men away from themselves, saying, "That is the truth, so far as I perceive it; follow that." Jesus said, "I am the truth; follow me." The founder of none of the ethnic religions ever dared to say such a thing. The personal pronoun forces itself repeatedly on our attention as we read his words. For example:
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."
"I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me."[2] John 6:35; 8:12; 11:25-26; 14:6; Matthew 11:28-29. The great question to which the first part of his teaching led was, "Who do you say that 1 am?" He affirmed that Abraham had rejoiced to see his day, that Moses had written of him, that the Scriptures bore witness to him, and that indeed in the three great divisions of the Old Testament—the law, the prophets and the writings—there were "things concerning himself."[3] Mark 8:29; John 8:56; 5:46; 5:39; Luke 24:27, 44. Luke describes in some detail the dramatic visit which Jesus paid to the synagogue of his home village, Nazareth. He was given a scroll of the Old Testament Scriptures and he stood up to read. The passage was Isaiah 61:1-2:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
He closed the book, returned it to the synagogue attendant and sat down, while the eyes of all the congregation were fastened on him. He then broke the silence with the amazing words, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." In other words, "Isaiah was writing about me." With such an opinion of himself, it is not surprising that he called people to himself. Indeed, he did more than issue an invitation; he uttered a command. "Come to me," he said, and "Follow me." If men would only come to him, he promised to lift the burdens of the weary, to satisfy the hungry, and to quench the thirst of the parched soul.[4] Matthew 11:28-30; John 6:35; 7:37. Further, his followers were to obey him and to confess him before men. His disciples came to recognize the right of Jesus to make these totalitarian claims, and in their letters Paul, Peter,
James and Jude delight to call themselves his "slaves."
More than that, he offered himself to his contemporaries as the proper object of their faith and love. It is for man to believe in God; yet Jesus appealed to men to believe in himself. "This is the work of God," he declared, "that you believe in him whom he has sent." "He who believes in the Son has eternal life." If to believe in him was man's first duty, not to believe in him was his chief sin.[5] John 6:29; 3:36; 8:24; 16:8-9.
Again, the first and great commandment is to love God with all the heart and soul and mind. Yet Jesus audaciously claimed a man's supreme love. Anyone who loved father, mother, son or daughter more than him was not worthy of him, he said. Indeed, resorting to the vivid Hebrew use of contrast to convey comparison, he added: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."[6] Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26.
So convinced was he of his central place in the purpose of God that he undertook to send One who would take his place after he had returned to heaven. This was the Holy Spirit. Christ's favorite name for him was the Comforter, the "Paraclete." It is a legal term, denoting a barrister, an advocate, a counsel for the defense. It would be the Holy Spirit's task to plead the cause of Jesus before the world. "He will bear witness to me," said Jesus. Again, "He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."[7] John 15:26; 16:14. So the Holy Spirit's witness to the world and revelation to the church would both concern Jesus Christ.
In one more flash of breathtaking egocentricity, Jesus predicted: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He knew that the cross would exert a moral magnetism on men and women. But in drawing them, they would be brought primarily neither to God nor to the church, neither to truth nor to righteousness, but to himself. They would in fact be brought to these only by being brought to him. The most remarkable feature of all this self-centered teaching is that it was uttered by one who insisted on humility in others. He rebuked his disciples for their self-seeking and was wearied by their desire to be great. Did he not practice what he preached?
He took a little child and set him in the midst as their model. Had he a different standard for himself?
His Direct Claims
Jesus clearly believed himself to be the Messiah the Old Testament predicted. He had come to establish the kingdom of God foretold by generations of prophets.
It is significant that the first recorded word of his public ministry was the word "fulfilled," and his first sentence, "The time has been fulfilled; the kingdom of God has drawn near." He assumed the title "Son of man," which was an accepted Messianic title derived originally from one of Daniel's visions. He accepted the description "Son of God" when challenged by the high priest, which was another Messianic title taken particularly from Psalm 2:7. He also interpreted his mission in the light of the portrayal of the suffering servant of Jehovah in the latter part of the book of Isaiah. The first stage in his instruction of the Twelve culminated in the incident at Caesarea Philippi when Simon Peter confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ. Others might suppose him to be one of the prophets; but Simon had come to recognize him as the One to whom the prophets pointed. He was not just another signpost, but the destination to which the signposts had led.[8] Mark 1:15, literally; 14:61-62; 8:27-29. The whole ministry of Jesus is colored by this sense of fulfillment. "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!" he once said privately to his disciples. "For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."[9] Luke 10:23-24; cf. Matthew 13:16-17. But the direct claims with which we are now concerned refer not just to his Messiahship but to
his deity. His claim to be the Son of God was more than Messianic; it described the unique and eternal relationship with God which he possessed. Three examples of this greater claim may be given.
First, there is the close association with God as his "Father" of which he constantly spoke. Even as a boy of twelve he astonished his human parents by his uncompromising zeal for his heavenly Father's business. And then he made such statements as the following:
"My Father is working still, and I am working." "I and the Father are one."
"I am in the Father and the Father in me."[10] John 5:17; 10:30; 14:10, 11.
It is true that he taught his disciples to address God as "Father" too, but so different is Christ's sonship from ours that he was obliged to distinguish between them. To him God is "my Father." He therefore said to Mary Magdalene, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father." It would not have been possible for him to say, "I ascend to our Father." These verses are all taken from John's Gospel, but the same unique relationship with God is claimed by Jesus in Matthew 11:27 where he says,
"All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
That Jesus did in fact claim this intimate relation to God is further confirmed by the indignation which he aroused in the Jews. He "made himself the Son of God," they said.[11] John 19:7. So close was his identification with God that it was natural for him to equate a man's attitude to himself with his attitude to God. Thus,
to know him was to know God;
to see him was to see God;
to believe in him was to believe in God;
to receive him was to receive God;
to hate him was to hate God;
to honor him was to honor God.[12] John 8:19; 14:7; 12:45; 14:9; 12:44; 14:1; Mark 9:37; John 15:23; 5:23.
These are some of the general claims which Jesus made to a unique relationship to God. He also made two more direct claims. The first is recorded at the end of the eighth chapter of John's Gospel. In controversy with the Jews, he said: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death." This was too much for his critics. "Abraham died," they expostulated, "as did the prophets;... are you greater than our father Abraham... ? Who do you claim to be?"
"Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day," Jesus replied. The Jews were yet more perplexed. "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"
And Jesus responded with one of the most far-reaching claims he ever made: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Then they took up stones to throw at him. Now the law of Moses made stoning the penalty of blasphemy, and at first sight one may wonder what they saw to be blasphemous in Christ's words. Of course there was the claim to have lived before Abraham. This he frequently made. He had "come down" from heaven and "been sent" by the Father. But that claim was tolerably innocent. We must look further. We notice that
he had not said "Before Abraham was I was," but "I am." It was therefore a claim to have been existing eternally before Abraham. But even that is not all. There is more in this "I am" than a claim to eternity; there is a claim to deity. "I am" is the divine name by which Jehovah had revealed himself to Moses, at the burning bush. "I am who I am.... say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'" This divine title Jesus quietly took to himself. It was because of this that the Jews reached out for stones to avenge the blasphemy.
The second example of a direct claim to deity took place after the resurrection (if for the moment we may assume that the resurrection took place). John reports (20:26-29) that on the Sunday following Easter day, incredulous Thomas was with the other disciples in the upper room when Jesus appeared. He invited Thomas to feel his wounds, and Thomas, overwhelmed with wonder, cried out, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus accepted the designation. He rebuked Thomas for his unbelief, not for his worship.
His Indirect Claims
Christ's claim to deity was advanced as forcefully by indirect as by direct means. The implications of his ministry were as eloquent a testimony to his person as his plain statements. On many occasions he exercised functions which belong properly to God. Of these four may be mentioned.
The first is the claim to forgive sins. On two separate occasions[13] Mark 2:1-12; Luke 7:36-50. Jesus forgave sinners. The first time a paralytic was brought to him by his friends and let down on his pallet bed through the roof. Jesus saw that his need was basically spiritual and surprised the crowd by saying to him, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
The second declaration of forgiveness was made to a woman known to be immoral. Jesus was taking a meal in a Pharisee's house when she came behind him as he reclined at table, washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with ointment. And Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." On both occasions the bystanders raised their eyebrows and asked, "Who is this? What blasphemy is this? Who can forgive sins but God only?" Their questions were correctly worded. We may forgive the injuries which others do to us; but the sins we commit against God only God himself can forgive.
Christ's second indirect claim was to bestow life. He described himself as "the bread of life," "the life" and "the resurrection and the life." He likened his followers' dependence on him to the sustenance derived from the vine by its branches. He offered a Samaritan woman "living water" and promised eternal life to the rich young ruler if he would come and follow him. He called himself the Good Shepherd who would not only give his life for the sheep but give life to them. He stated that God had given him authority over all flesh, that he should give life to as many as God gave him, and declared, "the Son gives life to whom he will."[14] John 6:35; 14:6; 11:25; 15:4-5; 4:10-15; Mark 10:17, 21; John 10:28; 17:2; 5:21. So definite was this claim that his disciples clearly recognized its truth. It made leaving him impossible. "To whom shall we go?" asked Peter. "You have the words of eternal life." Life is an enigma. Whether it be physical life or spiritual, its nature is as baffling as its origin. We can neither define what it is nor state where it comes from. We can only call it a divine gift. It is this gift which Jesus claimed to bestow.
Christ's third indirect claim was to teach the truth. It is not so much the truths which he taught as the direct and dogmatic manner in which he taught them which calls for notice. His contemporaries were deeply impressed by his wisdom.
"Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him?... Is not this the carpenter?"
"How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?"
But they were even more impressed by his authority. "No man ever spoke like this man." "His word was with authority." "When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes."[15] Mark 6:3; John 7:15, 46; Luke 4:32; Matthew 7:28-29. If his authority was not that of the scribes, it was not that of the prophets either. The scribes never taught without quoting their authorities. The prophets spoke with the authority of Jehovah. But Jesus claimed an authority of his own. His formula was not "Thus says the Lord," but "Truly, truly, I say to you." It is true that he described his doctrine as being not his but the Father's who had sent him. Nevertheless, he knew himself to be such an immediate means of divine revelation as to be able to speak with great personal assurance. He never hesitated or apologized. He had no need to contradict, withdraw or modify anything he said. He spoke the unequivocal words of God: "he whom God has sent utters the words of God." He predicted the future with complete conviction. He issued absolute moral commands like "Love your enemies," "Do not be anxious about tomorrow," "Judge not, that you be not judged." He made promises of whose fulfillment he had no doubt: "Ask, and it will be given you." He asserted that his words were as eternal as the law, and would never pass away. He warned his hearers that their destiny depended on their response to his teaching, as the destiny of Israel had depended on their response to Jehovah's word.
Christ's fourth indirect claim was to judge the world. This is perhaps the most fantastic of all his statements. Several of his parables imply that he will come back at the end of the world, and that the final day of reckoning will be postponed until his return. He will himself arouse the dead, and all the nations will be gathered before him. He will sit on the throne of his glory, and the judgment will be committed to him by the Father. He will then separate men from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats. Some will be invited to come and inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Others will hear the dreadful words, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."[16] John 5:22, 28-29; Matthew 25:31-46. Not only will Jesus be the judge, but the criterion of judgment will be men's attitude to him as shown in their treatment of his "brethren" or their response to his word. Those who have acknowledged him before men he will acknowledge before his Father: those who have denied him, he will deny. Indeed, for a man to be excluded from heaven on the last day, it will be enough for Jesus to say, "I never knew you."[17] John 12:47-48; Matthew 10:32-33; 7:23. It is hard to exaggerate the magnitude of this claim. Imagine a minister addressing his congregation in these terms today: "Listen attentively to my words. Your eternal destiny depends on it. I shall return at the end of the world to judge you, and your fate will be settled according to your obedience to me." Such a preacher would not long escape the attentions of the police or the psychiatrists.
His Dramatized Claims
It remains for us to consider the recorded miracles of Jesus, which may be described as his dramatized claims. This is no place for a thorough discussion of the possibility and purpose of miracles. It is sufficient to indicate that the value of Christ's miracles lies less in their supernatural character than in their spiritual significance. They were "signs" as well as "wonders." They were never performed selfishly or senselessly. Their purpose was not to show off or to compel submission. They were not so much demonstrations of physical power as illustrations of moral authority. They are in fact the acted parables of Jesus. They exhibit his claims visually. His works dramatize
his words.
John saw this clearly. He constructs his Gospel around six or seven selected "signs" (see 20:30-31), and associates them with the great "I am" declarations which Jesus made. The first sign was the changing of water into wine at a wedding reception in Cana of Galilee. It is not in itself a particularly edifying miracle. Its significance lies beneath the surface. John tells us that the waterpots of stone stood ready "for the Jewish rites for purification." This is the clue we are seeking. The water stood for the old religion, like Jacob's well in chapter 4, rich in Old Testament associations. The wine stood for the religion of Jesus. As he changed the water into wine, so the gospel would supersede the law. The sign advanced the claim that he was competent to inaugurate the new order. He was the Messiah. As he was soon to say to the Samaritan woman,
"I... am he."
Similarly, his feeding of the five thousand illustrated his claim to satisfy the hunger of the human heart. "I am the bread of life," he said. A little later, he opened the eyes of a man born blind, having previously said, "I am the light of the world." If he could restore sight to the blind, he could open men's eyes to see and to know God. Finally, he brought back to life a man called Lazarus who had been dead four days, and claimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." He had resuscitated a dead man. It was a sign. The life of the body symbolized the life of the soul. Christ could be the life of the believer before death and would be the resurrection of the believer after death. All these miracles are parables, for men are spiritually hungry, blind and dead, and only Christ can satisfy their hunger, restore their sight and raise them to a new life.[18] John 6:35; 8:12; 11:25.
Conclusion
It is not possible to eliminate these claims from the teaching of the carpenter of Nazareth. It cannot be said that they were invented by the Evangelists, nor even that they were unconsciously exaggerated. They are widely and evenly distributed in the different Gospels and sources of the Gospels, and the portrait is too consistent and too balanced to have been imagined.
The claims are there. They do not in themselves constitute evidence of deity. The claims may have been false. But some explanation of them must be found. We cannot any longer regard Jesus as simply a great teacher if he was completely mistaken in one of the chief subjects of his teaching—himself. There is a certain disturbing "megalomania" about Jesus which many scholars have recognized.
"These claims in a mere man would be egoism carried even to imperial megalomania."[19] P. T. Forsyth, This Life and the Next, Independent Press, 1947.
"The discrepancy between the depth and sanity, and (let me add) shrewdness, of his moral teaching and the rampant megalomania which must lie behind his theological teaching unless he is indeed God, has never been satisfactorily got over."[20] C. S. Lewis, Miracles, Bles, 1947. Was he then a deliberate impostor? Did he attempt to gain the adherence of men to his views by assuming a divine authority he did not possess? This is very difficult to believe. There is something guileless about Jesus. He hated hypocrisy in others and was transparently sincere himself.
Was he sincerely mistaken then? Had he a fixed delusion about himself? This possibility has its protagonists, but one suspects that their delusion is greater than his. Jesus does not give the impression of that abnormality, which one expects to find in the deluded. His character appears to support his claims, and it is in this sphere that we must now pursue our investigation.