Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A basic apologetic about the Deity of Christ

Contrary to what skeptics/critics say, the Deity of Jesus is not a concept that hopeful and misguided people made up after his death. Even though there is no record he ever said the exact phrase, "I am God", there can be no doubt people understood that's exactly who he claimed to be. Ultimately, it was that "blasphemy" which led to his crucifixion. By denying their assumptions or explaining that they were simply mistaken, he might have saved his life. His claim to be God is not in and of itself proof that he was God. But make no mistake about it, that is who he believed himself to be, even at the cost of his own life. It cannot be argued that he was merely a good moral teacher or a prophet. C.S Lewis said it best, "Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse." Just consider this...does a sane man give himself up to torture and death to uphold a lie? Doubtful. A madman might, but there is no evidence whatsoever to support the theory that Jesus was crazy. The most likely scenario is that he was telling the truth. Again, probability does not equal irrefutable evidence, but it should at least be worth your consideration.

9 comments:

  1. I think we should also consider this topic in the light of our faith. What kind of ramifications would this have on our faith? If Christ wasn't God, then we are not justified.

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  2. Great post! The Bible is one of the most refuted, yet proven document in history. It makes more sense to believe it.

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  3. @ Dr. Nuclear: Why must Jesus be God for us to be justified? All that is required for atonement is for the sacrifice to be spotless (sinless/blameless). Disclaimer: I am a Trinitarian who believes that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father. But I don't see how the statement "If Christ wasn't (isn't) God, then we are not justified" is necessarily true. I would suggest reading Athenasius of Alexandria. He is best known for refuting Arianism and gives a lot of compelling arguments for why Jesus was/must have been God incarnate. I find Lewis' argument rather intuitive though and a good starting place.

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  4. Why Christ must be God for us to be justified:
    1. To be sinless. No mere man can be sinless. All men are corrupted by the fall.
    2. Only an eternal God can pay an eternal punishment in a finite amount time. If he were only a man, he would still be paying our eternal punishment.
    3. Only an eternal God can cover the sins of all he died for, for all time. If he were a mere man, he could only substitute for the life of one man because one's man's life has the same value as one man. If Christ is the infinite God, he has infinite value and thus can cover all men.

    Saying all that, I repeat my original statement that Christ must be God for us to be justified.

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  5. @Dr. Nuclear & Isaacjn1512: Sometimes the best answer is the most simple. Why must Jesus be God for us to be justified? Because he claimed to be God. He must be who he claimed to be or he was a liar and his sacrifice is worthless.

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  6. The Lewis Trilema is a very powerful argument and one of the main pillars that brought me back to Christ after the Agnosticism/Deism of my teens and 20's.

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  7. missed you this tour Jason... wasn't the same! but family first, good to have priorities intact. be blessed!

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  8. @ Dr. Nuclear: It's easy to imagine God (who can do anything) removing the effects of the Fall from a single man so that he is blameless. I like your other two reasons though.

    @Jason: I surely believe that Christ claimed to be God, but the Arian does not. It's not overly far fetched to read the Gospels and come away with room to argue for or against Christ's divinity. He claimed to be the Son of God, but he didn't explicitly claim to be consubstantial with God the Father. So, how do we refute this heresy? I think that Dr. Nuclear's #3 is pretty solid, although one could fire back that it seems a bit question begging to treat Christ's atoning sacrifice as a fact in order to prove his divinity. Weren't we trying to prove it the other direction?

    Also, I want to say that I don't challenge your thoughts out of arrogance or superiority, but because if we are to defend the faith as God has revealed it to us, we have to be ready to answer questions like this. Good discussion.

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  9. @isaacjn1512 thank you. I'm glad you liked the reasons. I learned them in my Bible Class and they really made sense. It truly is an important doctrine.
    Thought I do have to say that I don't agree with your refutation of the first reason. God cannot do anything. He cannot sin. He cannot be anything other than perfectly holy. He is bound only by his own holiness, that is, he is bound only by his nature. Holiness is the antithesis of sin and thus they cannot coexist. He can't magically make a man free of sin. All men are thoroughly corrupted with sin by the fall and it can't be wiped away unless it has to be paid for. That's why Christ came. God can't magically erase sin, it's there and it has to be dealt with. No way around it. Adam represented all his posterity (you and me) and in his sin, we sinned. Thus we are under the punishment for breaking the covenant. The punishment has to be paid, because of God's nature and the nature of the covenant He made with us. In short, God cannot simply wipe away sin, it must be paid for. Thus, Christ had to be God if he was to live a perfect life. Thanks for listening to my rambling. Thoughts?

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