I had a friend ask me a question about my very first post, and I thought it was difficult to answer, but a wonderful issue to explore.
He wrote, "In your first post you touched on Jesus being baptized. I just read that the other day and it talks about the "Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him" do you read this that until then he did not have the spirit of god with him, on him? obviously this is when he started his ministry, and had lived the life of a carpenter prior, but was he really just a human who happened to be God's some conceived by the virgin mary before this point? just thoughts..."
This is one of those questions that can't be truly answered, so all I am doing is giving it my own shot, so here is my (condensed) response:
"It's true that this is the point at which Jesus begins his adult ministry. He did have some kind of ministry as a child, but we don't know a lot about it, or about the time in between.
I personally think that the point of the Spirit descending upon Jesus is the Lord being proud of his son for getting ready to do his duty. The voice of God speaks, and I think it's the only time in the New Testament that God speaks other than the visions in Revelation (I might be wrong on that), and God says, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." That's a statement you say when you are a proud father. How could there be any Father who was ever more proud of His son? So I think God was always with him, but at this point, His son was taking on the job that he had been created for. And the Lord saw that it was good."
I am of the opinion that Jesus was human. I could get into an argument over the trinity, but what does that ultimately accomplish. That's the problem we have faced in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam for centuries. We argue over the minutiae and ignore the big picture...that we are to worship the Lord God Almighty in all that we do, and that everything comes from Him.
I have a son, and although he is still only a toddler, he does things that make me so proud. But if he told me, as an adult, "Dad, it's time for me to do what the Lord has called me to do," I think I would fall down in praise and say, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
I know...pride can be a sin...but it doesn't have to be. Pride can also be a wellspring of joy.
Special thanks to my friend who asked me this wonderful question.
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2 comments:
You handled this very well.
I agree that we have handled the deity-humanity question very poorly over the centuries, but it is an extremely challenging one, one with which the church wrestled.
I believe that Jesus is God. Not a god, but the God. I believe that for two reasons:
1) Jesus did for Israel, and the world, what the Hebrew prophets - most notably Isaiah - prophesied that God Himself would do.
2) In several key places, the apostle Paul, a devout monotheist and Pharisee of Pharisees, interposes Jesus directly in the middle of a Deuteronomy 6:5 allusion. There are others, but the most notable one is 1 Cor 8:5-6.
If you have time to read ONE book on the subject, order 'The Challenge of Jesus' by NT Wright.
If you have time to read two, order that along with 'What St. Paul REALLY Said', same author.
If you have time to read THREE... skip the other two and order
'Jesus and the Victory of God', same author. It is magisterial and scholarly in size and scope, it covers more clearly most of the relevant territory of the first two titles, and he starts where I believe our understanding of Jesus must start - 1st century Jewish thought.
in HIS love,
Nick
PS - Don't forget the Transfiguration, and possibly Jn 12:28.
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