Eminent Christian statesman, three-time candidate for
President of the United States
When one considers that for nineteen hundred years
the deity of Christ has been the cornerstone of the
Christian church, it may seem strange to my readers
that they need consider at this time the question: Was
Christ God or just a man? But even a casual perusal
of the pages of the religious press–not to speak
of the secular press–will convince one that the
issue between these two views of the Saviour is a very
vital one.
There are in nearly all of the Bible-believing churches
members, and even ministers–not many, but a few–who
openly reject orthodox teachings in regard to Christ’s
personality. Besides those who boldly dissent, there
is a still larger group of timid doubters who cling
to the orthodox terms but give these terms an interpretation
which destroys their meaning.
Take, for instance, the word divinity as used in describing
the supernatural element of Christ. Until recent years,
one claiming to believe in the divinity of Christ would
be accepted without question as a real worshiper of
the Master. But in recent times some who regard Christ
as merely a good man and a great teacher, but entirely
human, acclaim His divinity, explaining that He was
divine in the sense in which all men have something
of divinity in them.
The interpretation which they give to the word divinity
robs Christ of His Lordship and makes Him differ from
men in general only in the degree to which He approached
the perfection of the Heavenly Father.
This, of course, opens the way to as many different
valuations of Him as there are members of the dissenting
class.
According to the extent of their own apostasy and the
courage with which they announced their views, Christ
has been described as "the perfect man," "the
most perfect man," "a man of rare virtue,"
"an extraordinary man for His time," "a
teacher of repute," and the like.
When once a follower of Christ departs from the highest
conception of the Master, there is no logical stopping
place until he reaches an entire repudiation of Christ
as a supernatural being.
The only knowledge we have of Christ is found in the
Bible, and a rejection of the Bible’s description
of Christ invalidates the authority of every mention
of Christ and of every quotation from His words.
One does not care to be guilty of an absurdity, yet
it is an absurdity to say, as some do, in substance:
"While the Bible writers falsify the record of
Christ’s birth and Sonship, still I am willing
to believe certain quotations from what Christ is reported
to have said; and relying for my information upon these
discredited authorities, I am inclined to think that
Christ said some things which commend themselves to
our judgment and are, therefore, wise."
Of what value is such an endorsement of Christ?
A few have been frank enough to carry their logic to
its ultimate conclusion and classify Christ with ordinary
men–even below many men prominent in history.
For instance, a book was published entitled Confessions
of an Old Priest, in which the author denies that Christ
was born of a virgin, that He spoke words of supernatural
knowledge impossible for other men, healed lepers, restored
palsied limbs, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead,
and He Himself ascended from the tomb. He even goes
so far as to say:
To the great treasure of human knowledge, it cannot
be said that He (Jesus) added anything….In science,
literature, government, economics, He seems to have
been upon the same level as the average uneducated man
of His time….He gave no counsel as to the right
ordering of human affairs. He offers no cure or readjustment.
Proceeding, he asks, "Was He good?" and answers
as follows:
As an example to copy, His manner of life will not
serve….It does not furnish the material….I
was driven to confess to myself that His teaching…not
only could not but ought not to be followed.
This author thinks that the goal to which religion
would seem to be moving is a church "freed from
bondage to history, untrammelled by Scripture."
What a Postmortem Reveals
This author said publicly what many preachers and professing
Christians say privately while accumulating the courage
necessary to enable them to defy criticism and break
with former religious associates.
As a postmortem examination often reveals diseases
that were not suspected during the life of the deceased,
so confessions, after the repudiation of religion, often
disclose an attitude of mind and heart that was concealed
from the public for many years.
It is easy to understand why one would hesitate to
distress religious associates until his doubts became
stronger than his former convictions. It is also easy
to respect the honesty of heart of those who prefer
to endure criticism and the loss of Christian fellowship
rather than profess what they do not believe. But it
is not so easy to excuse those who continue to call
themselves Christians after they have rejected all that
is essential in Christianity and still more difficult
to justify those who attempt to deny to a majority of
the church–a very large majority–the right
to determine the church’s position on matters of
doctrine.
As The Watchman-Examiner said in an editorial: "The
Bible and the Bible only can settle the questions at
issue. Let fundamentalists and liberals come forth to
battle armed with their Bibles."
Scripture Declares Christ’s Deity
The Bible, from beginning to end, teaches the deity
of Christ. In the Old Testament, His coming is foretold,
and His divine character is plainly announced. Seven
hundred years before His incarnation, Isaiah said He
"shall be called…mighty God, The everlasting
Father….Of the increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end." Isaiah describes also the
substitutionary atonement of the promised Messiah.
Matthew announces the virgin birth of Jesus, who was
to "save his people from their sins."
Luke describes in greater detail the conception of
Jesus by the Holy Ghost and says that "of his kingdom
there shall be no end."
The Gospel of John begins: "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God….And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us [men]."
We are also told that "God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"
(John 3:16).
John describes Him as "the only begotten of the
Father" (John 1:14).
Paul describes Christ as "God… manifest in
the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16). Paul also says of
Christ:
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God:
"But made himself of no reputation, and took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men:
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross.
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name:
"That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth;
"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:6-11).
Again the great apostle says, "For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell"
(Colossians 1:19) and "In him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).
Christ laid claim to power that only God could possess.
In John’s Gospel we read:
"Jesus answered….
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day:
and he saw it, and was glad.
"Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:54-58).
Here we have His own declaration as to His existence
with the Father before He took upon Himself the form
of man and offered Himself a sacrifice for the sins
of mankind.
At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, the people
recognized that He spoke "as one having authority,
and not as the scribes."
This assumption of authority was manifest in all His
utterances. From the very beginning He not only spoke
with authority, but He exercised authority, driving
the money changers out of the temple because they had
made His Father’s house a den of thieves; casting
out devils and rebuking the devilishness in man, as
when He brought an indictment against those who "devour
widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer."
Christ and God Identical
He not only declared His pre-existence with the Father,
but He identified Himself even more intimately with
the Father, saying, "I and my Father are one"
(John 10:30). And again: "That ye may know, and
believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him"
(John 10:38). We have His word for it that He revealed
the Heavenly Father to man:
"If ye had known me, ye should have known my
Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have
seen him.
"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father,
and it sufficeth us.
"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Shew us the Father?
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you
I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works.
"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me." (John 14:7-11).
"But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work.
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him,
because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said
also that God was his Father, making himself equal with
God.
"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever
he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
"For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him
all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him
greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth
them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed
all judgment unto the Son:
"That all men would honour the Son, even as they
honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth
not the Father which hath sent him." (John 5:17-23).
That He has power to forgive sin is proven in Luke
5, verses 24 and 25:
"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath
power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the
sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take
up thy couch, and go into thine house.
"And immediately he rose up before them, and
took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God."
The omniscience of Christ is declared by Paul: "In
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"
(Colossians 2:3).
His immutability is asserted: "Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews
13:8).
That Christ is to be the Judge of all, in Heaven as
well as on earth, is the testimony of Paul: "For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ"
(II Corinthians 5:10).
And also: "The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom"
(II Timothy 4:1).
He is to be worshiped as God: "Let all the angels
of God worship him" (Hebrews 1:6).
Christ is to be glorified as God: "To him be glory
both now and for ever" (II Peter 3:18); "With
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" (I Corinthians
1:2).
The dead will rise at His call:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
"…all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice." (John 5:25,28).
Peter, in reply to the question, "Whom say ye
that I am?" answers, "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God"; to which the Saviour
approvingly rejoins, "Flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
His Deity Establishes Our Duty
The church’s commission–incomparably the
greatest commission ever issued to any organization–could
only have been announced by one of the Trinity.
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:18-20).
These words were uttered by our crucified and risen
Lord. He had passed through a sham trial and had been
treated with a contempt seldom, if ever before, so despicably
expressed; He had been mocked and jeered by those who
believed Him to be merely a man–an incumberer of
the earth at last removed forever; He had been crucified
and buried; and then He had risen triumphantly from
the grave and had appeared to His disciples and to others.
This was His final communion with His followers.
His claim to power was without limit; His Gospel was
for every human being; baptism was to be in His name
also; His words were to live–every word–and
be taught to everybody; He promised to be with His people
always, even unto the end of the world; and in His hands
was all the power in Heaven and earth.
True or False?
Christ’s claims to divinity were either true or
false; there is no middle ground. It is not a question
of interpretation, for the language is clear and unmistakable.
Robert E. Speer says:
The question of the deity of Christ is the question
of the truth or falsehood of Christianity. Either Jesus
was divine, God and man in one historic personality,
or He was merely a man.
Was He an impostor? If so, He was the greatest impostor
of all time. Think of it; an unlettered Galilean peasant
perpetrating so stupendous a fraud for nearly twenty
centuries on so large a fraction of the most intelligent
of the world’s population!
Not an Impostor!
It is impossible that He should be thought an impostor.
Even the Jews who rejected Him do not call Him an impostor;
they think Him "deluded."
The book Jesus, the Jew, contains the following passage:
Yet, these things apart, who can compute all that Jesus
has meant to humanity? The love he has inspired, the
solace he has given, the good he has engendered, the
hope and joy he has kindled–all that is unequaled
in human history.
Among the great and good that the human race has produced,
none has even approached Jesus in universality of appeal
and sway. He has become the most fascinating figure
in human history. In him is combined what is best and
most enchanting and most mysterious in Israel–the
eternal people whose child he was.
The Jew cannot help glorying in what Jesus thus has
meant to the world; nor can he help hoping that Jesus
may yet serve as a bond of union between Jew and Christian,
once his teaching is better known and the ban of misunderstanding
is at last removed from his words and his ideal.
But could honest delusion produce a character who,
in "the love he had inspired," "the solace
he has given" and "the hope and joy he has
kindled" is "unequaled in human history"?
No, it is impossible to conceive of such a character
acting under a delusion. If that were possible, then
delusion would be a happier state than reason can create.
King of Kings!
But if not an impostor and if not deluded, how shall
we explain Christ? As "King of Kings, and Lord
of Lords," as "the only begotten Son of God"
who came down to earth and became flesh, suffered in
man’s stead that man might be redeemed from the
Fall, and is now at the right hand of God as man’s
Intercessor.
Does it make any difference to the church whether it
shall preach Christ, the Son of God, or Christ, the
son of Joseph?
Yes, the same difference that there is between an infinite
God and finite man. If Christ were but a man, He was
but one among millions, and that, too, handicapped by
false pretense if He were an impostor or by an inexcusable
mistake if He were deluded. But if Christ was as the
Bible proclaims Him to be, a part of deity, separated
from the Father for a few brief years and now reigning
with God through eternity, He stands alone among the
leaders of men and is the only Saviour as well.
Is it material to the church what its doctrine is to
be on this subject? Yes, it determines whether the church
is to be a stagnant pool or a living spring–a fountain
that pours forth a refreshing and invigorating flood
of "the water of life."
A pool is a pool because it receives from the sloping
sides around it and gives forth nothing. A spring is
a spring because it is connected with a source that
is higher than itself–it is just an outlet for
the waters that flow through it from above.
Can there be any doubt as to the effect upon the church
of an abandonment of the Bible’s view of Christ?
It is not a matter of prophecy; it is a matter of history.
There have always been a few who tried to exalt the
human side of Christ while rejecting the divine side,
but they have made no headway. Such a doctrine has furnished
a refuge for some dissenters who were reluctant to give
up Christ entirely, but there has been no propaganda
in such a doctrine. It does not beat back the boundaries
of heathenism or stir men to the sacrifices that are
necessary to the spread of religion.
The story of Jesus, the Son of God, has been translated
into every tongue and has been read as if it were actually
spoken in the language in which it is read. The story
of a man-child named Jesus, if just a worker of magic
or a self-deceived visionary, would not have survived
the generation in which He lived.
To be a living, vital force, a civilizing influence
and a spiritual power, we must be true to the Christ
of the Bible. Apostasy means death to the church and
despair to civilization, for civilization finds its
only hope in the regenerating power of the blood that
flowed from Calvary and in the illumination that comes
from the Heaven-born wisdom of "the only begotten
Son of God."
(From SEVEN QUESTIONS IN DISPUTE by William Jennings
Bryan. Published by Fleming H. Revell Company.)
