We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
Kind reader, thanks so much for following our series on the Chalcedonian Creed. It may seem obscure to some of you, but I hope to talk about an important idea in this creed. My topic is “Jesus in the Godhead”, but I will discuss this by talking about the “God-ness of Jesus”. In the creed it’s put this way:
…the same perfect in Godhead
…truly God
…consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead
…begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead,
Tag Tuck and our intern Tom Breeden will both tackle other important topics in this discussion of the deity of Jesus, but I want to hit right at the heart of it. My phrase is the “God-ness” of Jesus. Is Jesus a godly man, or a god-like man, or a man used by God, or is He in very essence, nature, and power, God? For many of us we know the right answer - Jesus is God. As obvious as that seems to many, it has been a hotly contested question in Christian theology since about the mid 1850s. With the advent of Darwinism and its implications of the commonly accepted view that nature came from nothing, even Christian seminaries began to reinterpret Jesus in light of modern thinking.
Thus, the Jesus of the New Testament, and the Jesus of the magnificent early creeds of the church, needed to be demythologized and humanized. This mythical Jesus needed to be weeded out of the church’s teaching and practice, and replaced by a more believable Jesus who was fully human, and was but a mere example of the best humanity could be.
There is a lot packed in that previous paragraph that is wrong. First, if they are correct, I’m out of here! And they can’t be fully correct, because if the Jesus of the scriptures isn’t really God, He’s not that nice of a guy. If He wasn’t God, He lied about being God, or just as likely, He was delusional and saw Himself as a central figure of history, when He really wasn’t.
Is Jesus God? Is He equal to the Father and the Spirit? Is that Christian teaching? Let me try to answer that question as briefly as I can.
If one reads John’s gospel, it is an undeniable fact that this gospel teaches the “God-ness” of Jesus (the deity of Jesus) from beginning to end. The first 18 verses are an undeniable and clear claim that the entire universe was made by Jesus. It goes on and on from there. John’s gospel has been under attack from the same forces that attack the deity of Christ to begin with. I believe in the accuracy and inspiration of John’s gospel, but won’t take time to defend it. Instead I’ll mention some things in the first three gospels and elsewhere that point to an early Christian belief that Jesus is God.
Lord of the Sabbath: In Luke 6:5 (paralleled in Mark and Matthew) Jesus claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath. You cannot read the gospels without noticing the Sabbath controversies. Jesus opposed the strict and merciless practice of Sabbath keeping in His day. He frequently healed on the Sabbath and it won him few friends among the leaders of the day. In one such instance He claimed to be the “Lord of the Sabbath.” It’s likely if I made such a claim on a Sunday that my wife, with the full support of the elders, would seek my hospitalization. How could a human being claim to be in full rule over one of God’s commandments? Jesus was claiming to be God. Lord of the Sabbath. Of course, when you read His teaching on marriage, you realize He is claiming to be the Lord of that as well.
Miracles: The Bible teaches the universe was created “ex nihilo”- out of nothing. Jesus does miracles that restore things that weren’t there, or fix things that can’t be fixed. He creates bread and fish as He goes along- on two occasions. He repairs blind eyes, restores the diseased flesh of lepers, and interrupts a funeral to resurrect a man with only His words. These events declare Jesus is God. Of course, we expect atheists to deny these miracles. We didn’t expect Christian theology to do so as well.
Authority to Forgive sins.
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-- he then said to the paralytic-- "Rise, pick up your bed and go home." (Matthew 9:6 ESV)
This event is also repeated in the other two gospels (apart from John). It is a remarkable claim. Jesus is claiming to have power to forgive sins committed against God. See my previous comment about my church’s reaction if I made such a claim! I do claim authority to remit sins…IN JESUS’ NAME. I have no sin remitting power on my own. I and all followers of Jesus can pronounce absolution over anyone who believes in Jesus’ death for sins and resurrection from the dead. This is again a stunning claim of divine authority on Jesus’ part. He proves this authority in this case by performing another remarkable miracle.
Worship of Revelation
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev 5:11-14 ESV)
Being God is all about being deserving of worship - having all your creation adore you and declare your beauty, power, justice and wonder. In many, many places in the New Testament such worship is offered to the name of Jesus. None is more clear and stunning than Revelation 5, where mighty heavenly beings, and then all of creation, offer pure worship to the “lamb who was slain”, a clear and unmistakable reference to Jesus.
So the Creed only restates what the scripture clearly states as well - Jesus is God. He is equal to the Father in His deity. He isn’t second in command, or underneath Him, but equal in power and glory. This key truth has been in controversy. This controversy has destroyed most of the mainline denominations in America. They are a dim reflection of their former size and influence. As Revelation 2:5 puts it, the Lord Jesus has removed the lampstand. Church is still going on, but Jesus is not showing up in the churches where He is no longer worshipped as God. And, as Romans 1 teaches, the denial of God has horrible consequences in the human community. The recent abandonment of historic Judeo-Christian teaching about marriage in several denominations is just the latest denial of biblical truth. It isn’t even the worst of diseases afflicting these churches. It is just a symptom of a wider disease of unbelief. It makes me sad because I first heard the true gospel of Christ in such a place.
So the “God-ness” of Jesus might seem obscure doctrine when we hear it in the creed. It is core and central to our faith.
Thanks for hanging in there,
Don