There have been many attempts throughout the church's history to understand the nature of our Savior. Who can fathom a God become man, after all? Nevertheless, definitions based on Scripture have surfaced and stayed with us, and we are duty bound to defend them inasmuch as they line up with revealed truth.
The early variances from the explanations of Scripture, strangely enough, were not of the Arian sort, that denied the Deity of Jesus Christ, survived in our day by such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. No, the early heresies had to do with the denial of Jesus' humanity.
Once a person has decided and believed from the heart that Jesus is God, it is next to impossible, except through faith given by the Holy Ghost, to see Him also as fully man, with all that that involves, except actual sin.
Belief systems denying the full humanity of Jesus rose up in the very century that the apostles still lived and taught! The apostle John had to address this error in his first epistle:
(4:3, in Textus Receptus) "Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." (NKJV)
or 2 John v. 7: "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh." (NASB)
It was another Jesus. There would be many other depictions of Jesus to be excluded from orthodoxy, but this was among the first.
Broadly speaking, this heresy was known as docetism. That's from the Greek dokeo which means to "seem", or "appear." That is, Jesus seemd to be a physical body, but that was just an appearance, an illusion. Therefore, Jesus was not really a man as we know men, but, as some will mistakenly quote Paul, Jesus came in the "likeness" of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) and was made in the "likeness" of men (Philippians 2:7). Not really a man, but something else, which they cannot define.
The Greek here for likeness is a word that does mean "similar" in appearance. But notice how the apostle uses the word in reference to death and resurrection in Romans 6:5,
"We are united with Christ in the likeness of His death (in baptism) and shall be so united in the likeness of His resurrection." Our being raised with Christ is a true resurrection. Our being buried with Him in baptism is a true burial. The fact that the deaths and resurrections take a different form does not cancel out their reality.
Jesus was made in the likeness of men. He is the God-man and we are merely the men. But both of us share that manhood, and it is a real manhood. He was made like me, as far as humanity is concerned. He is a man.
What brings people to start questioning the humanity of Jesus? Next time, we will deal with this...
PLease go to http s://e zinea rticl es.co m/exp ert/B ob_Fa ulkne r/155 118 and check out my 13 years worth of articles 867 of them to be exact... ... and more on the way... Thanks!
Silence still reigns over my last question. Oh well. Let me try another. And i realize up front that this can be considered a surface matter, not a matter of the heart. Not a matter of one's salvation. Not a huge doctrinal issue. I get it. But...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
I put a question out to my facebook friends the other day. It was about semi-nakedness at the public beach. Not about the world's practices, but about ours. I normally get some kind of response to the things I bring up over there. All my friends...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
40. Conclusion. The book of Hebrews says it best. Though the writer of that New Testament masterpiece does not compare Jesus to Muhammad, he compares him to beings greater than Muhammad. The Arabian leader would certainly agree that angels are at...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
38. Following. Muhammad. 1.5 Billion souls. Jesus Christ. 2.1 billion souls. In both cases there are many divisions, brand names. There are lukewarm and cold and fiery hot. There are ignorant and dead. There are intelligent and alive. Those who...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
36. Death and burial. In 632 A.D., Muhammad died and was buried. He was 63 years old at the time of his death. In 33 A.D., Jesus died and was buried. He was 33 years old at the time of His death. 37. Resurrection. Appearances. Ascension....[ abbreviated | read entire ]
35. End-time events. Muhammad claims that a Mahdi, an Islamic Caliph-like Messiah, will one day come to earth. He will reign seven years. Antichrist will pick up where he leaves off. Then Jesus will descend to lead us all in an Islamic prayer....[ abbreviated | read entire ]
32. One true religion The Koran is at times confusing because of the law of abrogation that Muhammad introduced mid-stream. That law states that Allah is permitted to change certain teachings as time goes by and as necessity demands. It is...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
