CHRISTOLOGY: all theology, all doctrine, all preaching should point to Him
"...the prism through which all light concerning God is reflected is Jesus Christ. This means that Christology is the beginning and the end, better, the starting point and summary, of all Christian thought. Christology is Paul's theme when he writes, "For it is the very God who said. 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." (2 Cor 4:6)... Christology is the subject of theology. More precisely put, Jesus Christ is the subject of theology.
We understand that God in any sense differentiated from Jesus Christ is unknowable. This needs to be affirmed from the start. John writes in the prologue to his Gospel, "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (1:18). John repeats this idea forcefully in his first letter: "No one has ever seen God" (4:12)... Bible religion knows nothing about a God who can be found or made out from our side of things... Theology is unable to start in
those places [first cause, ground of our being] because the picture of God that emerges from such beginnings is speculative...
A theology that is Christology before it is anything else is a theology from the bottom up. It begins with the ministry of Jesus in his own time and space, and it states that it is entirely agnostic concerning anything other than what he has given us to know of the essential attributes of God... we begin, therefore, Christologically, with a concrete historic figure
who appeared on the stage of human history..." -Paul F.M. Zahl (A Short Systematic Theology)
The Shorter Catechism as expounded by John Flavel on the humiliation of Christ
Q. 27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.
Q. 1. What doth Christ’s humbling of’ himself import?
A. His voluntariness in the deepest point of self-denial? Psalm 40:7. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me.
Q. 2. What was the first act of Christ’s humiliation?
A. His taking man’s nature on him, with all its sinless infirmities; Romans 8:3. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
Q. 3. What is the second part of his humiliation?
A. That mean life he lived in this world, which obscured his divine glory; Mark 6:3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?
Q. 4. What was the first thing in Christ’s life that humbled him?
A. The poverty of it; Matthew 7:20. And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Q. 5. What was the second thing in his life that humbled him?
A. The temptations of Satan, to which he was subject; Matthew 4:1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil, and that for our sakes. Hebrews 2:17-18. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Q. 6. What was the third thing in Christ’s life that humbled him?
A. His subjection to the law; Galatians 1:4. But when the fulness of’ the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made tinder the law.
Q. 7. What was the fourth thing in Christ’s life that humbled him?
A. The revilings and contradictions of’ sinners; Hebrews 12:3. For consider him that endureth such contradiction of sinners against himself.
Q. 8. Wherein was Christ humbled in his death?
A. His death was painful and ignominious; Galatians 3:13. Christ bath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: For it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Made a curse for us, and deserted in it; Matthew 27:46. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani; that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Q. 9. What is the first inference from hence?
A. That lowliness and humility becomes Christ’s followers; Matthew 11:29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
Q. 10. What is the second inference?
A. That Christ’s love to sinners is astonishingly great; 2 Corinthians 8:9. For ye know the grace of’ our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might he made rich.
Q. 11. What is the third inference?
A. Christians should be ready to suffer for Christ; 1 Peter 4:1. Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: fi)r he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.
Q. 12. What is the last inference?
A. That humiliation is the true way to exaltation; Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased; and lie that shall humble himself, shall be exalted.
11 comments:
Nice reminder: true humility means a willingness to serve God in whatever lowly situation, without whining and demanding better.
False humility shuffles its feet and looks at the floor, mumbling, "Ah shucks, I ain't nothin' special."
I think under Q2 the answer should read "sinful infirmities" and not "sinless infirmities." Or am I totally on the wrong page?
Gordon
Excellent thought. No task is too lowly or trivial when done for Christ and for His glory.
And I believe "sinless" is correct. Christ took on Himself in nature a human nature - but yet remained in nature and in deed, word, motive and desire - sinless.
Hope that helps clarify a bit more for you.
Quote:"A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time."
Let's go down the list here of DISTINCT sufferings:
1) Being born (taking on flesh), clearly Scriptural.
2) Made under the Law, clearly Scriptural.
3) Undergoing miseries of life, clearly Scriptural.
4) Cursed death on a cross, clearly Scriptural.
5) Buried in a tomb, clearly Scriptural.
6) Undergoing the "wrath of God"...??? Where does Scripture CLEARLY teach such a thing? All the above sufferings are clearly laid out, but I don't believe this one is. What is astonishing is that how critical this DISTINCT suffering was, yet the lack of any clear indication God pouring out his Wrath on His Son. Instead we see a multitude of Reformed saying what this effectively means: Jesus was damned in our place.
RC Sproul in a huge Reformed conference said (in minute 56:10 of the online download) says this - direct quote - about God's wrath poured out on Jesus:
"It is as if Jesus heard the words 'God damn you' because that's what it meant to be cursed, to be damned, to be under the anathema of the Father."
That's Penal Substitution, that's what all Reformed affirm whether they realize it or not, that's what undergoing God's wrath against sin means.
What if I told you Atonement can be made without Penal Substitution? What if I told you the Bible explicitly shows atonement being made without God's wrath having to be poured out on the hero? Would you at the very least read such passages and entertain the thought that if these OT saints didn't need PSub to make atonement then why should Christ? Here are some passages: Numbers 25:1-13 and Deuteronomy 9:16-21. This model is what Phil 2:5ff describes, Jesus' perfect obedience and love to the very end was so pleasing that it made atonement, not God's wrath being dumped on Him.
Nick
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate the care with which you are engaging this important issue.
The wrath of God is symbolized in a few different places. 1. In the cup Jesus wrestled to drink in the Garden. 2. In Isaiah 53 prophetically where it pleased the Father to crush Him for our iniquities. 3. In four NT texts where Christ was our propitiation (Roms. 3:21-26; Heb. 2:17; 1John 2:2, 4:10). Propitiate means to quench wrath; to satisfy. 4. This is also the shadow and type of the peace offering in the OT.
Now with that said, I do agree with you the phrase "God damn you" - in refering to Jesus is disturbing and one I don't embrace. But, the Lord not only fulfilled the demands of the Law and all righteousness in His sinless life, but also the penalty of the Law in His perfect once for all sacrifice for our sins in His death. He made, as Paul said, "peace with God" for us (Roms. 5:1-2) speaking of God's wrath being fully quenched for those He came to save.
I hope this helps a bit more to clarify for you.
Steve
Nick
One other quick note:
The word "cup" is also used throughout Scripture to represent God's wrath:
Isaiah 51:17
Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.
Isaiah 51:22
Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
Jeremiah 25:15
Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it."
Revelation 14:10
he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Revelation 16:19
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
This is the representative of the cup that the Lord was to drink on the cross by taking upon Himself the wrath of God that we deserve in hell - He was our divine Substitute (2 Cor. 5:21) as our propitiation (1 John 4:10; Heb. 2:17). Consider the following:
Mark 10:36 "And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Here the baptism and the cup are synonymous with His death. On the cross Jesus just didn't die; He died as our propitiation. When He cried, "My God, my God - why as Thou forsaken Me?" He was quoting Psalm 22:1. This was profound. To the ears of the Sanhedrin they knew what He was saying: 1. that He was fulfilling that Scripture as the Messiah in their midst; 2. that He was God of very God; 3. that He was the Lamb of God, who was God's suffering Servant according to Isaiah 53; and 4. that He alone could atone for our sins as the One who justified for the sins of the many.
Powerful!
Jesus was not afraid to die. Wicked men had gone the way of Pilot's scourging and the agony of crucifixion before our Lord did. BUT, only Jesus could take upon Himself the guilt, penalty, and sins of the elect - AND the wrath of God that burns against the sin and the sinner (Psalm 7:11; 5:5).
Let me know your thoughts...
Steve
SJC: The wrath of God is symbolized in a few different places. 1. In the cup Jesus wrestled to drink in the Garden. 2. In Isaiah 53 prophetically where it pleased the Father to crush Him for our iniquities. 3. In four NT texts where Christ was our propitiation (Roms. 3:21-26; Heb. 2:17; 1John 2:2, 4:10). Propitiate means to quench wrath; to satisfy. 4. This is also the shadow and type of the peace offering in the OT.
Nick: I think you're reading things into the texts.
(1) In the cup Jesus was going to drink, earlier in Mat 20:22-23 and Mark 10:38-39 He asked if the Apostles could drink of it as well, and they said yes and He said they would. Thus that could not have meant wrath or Penal Substitution, for that contradicts it. It could only mean physical persecutions.
(2) Isaiah 53:10 is to be understood as God Providentially planning the passion, etc Acts 2:23 (but this doesn't mean His wrath is on Christ, cf Gen 50:20 God planned Joseph's abuse but His wrath was not on him). Because Prophecy is to be understood in light of what actually unfolded, the fact we nowhere see a time in the Gospels where God is pouring out His wrath means you cannot interpret that prophecy like that.
(3) Propitiation means to turn away wrath, as in appease it, not turn the wrath onto another person. See explicit examples of Moses and Phinehas I gave above.
(4) No OT offering operates in a Penal Substitution manner, and none come anywhere close to indicating God's wrath is being poured out on the animal.
So if that is all you have, then you're key doctrine lacks some serious Biblical support. Like I said, you object to the use of "damned" because it isn't Scriptural, but I'll turn that around on you and say nowhere in Scripture do we see solid evidence of God pouring out His wrath on Christ.
SJC: This is the representative of the cup that the Lord was to drink on the cross by taking upon Himself the wrath of God that we deserve in hell - He was our divine Substitute (2 Cor. 5:21) as our propitiation (1 John 4:10; Heb. 2:17). Consider the following: Mark 10:38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? ”
Here the baptism and the cup are synonymous with His death.
Nick: But you cut the passage short:
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with
This totally contradicts your thesis.
SJC: On the cross Jesus just didn't die; He died as our propitiation. When He cried, "My God, my God - why as Thou forsaken Me?" He was quoting Psalm 22:1.
Nick: Yes, and if you sit and read Ps 22 entirely, you will see it had nothing to do with God's wrath. Every pain described in that Psalm is physical persecutions by men. In many Reformed articles and books I've looked up, they say God was hiding his face from Christ at this point, but Psalm 22:24 says the OPPOSITE! 24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
SJC: BUT, only Jesus could take upon Himself the guilt, penalty, and sins of the elect - AND the wrath of God that burns against the sin and the sinner (Psalm 7:11; 5:5).
Nick: But you need to realize nowhere is it stated God's wrath was poured out on Christ. This critical component is not found in Scripture, the very source we should be looking and the very source to which key doctrine should be spelled out the clearest.
Nick
Thank you for your continued thoughts on this issue.
A couple of quick things before retiring this evening:
1. You said, "Every pain described in that Psalm is physical persecutions by men."
Not so with 22:1. Jesus uttered those words to His Father, as you know, while on the cross. He was being forsaken by the Father as our divine substitute enduring His wrath upon the cross for the sins of the people.
Propitiation IS to satisfy and assuage wrath, or anger. Etymologically, this is irrefutable. I say this with humility, but your understanding of propitiation (as you have stated above) lacks historical, grammatical and biblical integrity. Wrath WAS appeased by Jesus taking that wrath we deserve upon the cross. He was our divine substitute.
2. On the issue of Matt. 20 and Mark 10 of drinking the cup and baptized... Jesus is referring to their coming persecution; even the demand for their own lives unto death... Similar to "take up your cross daily..." Remember the disciples were arguing who was going to be first in the kingdom. The Lord smashes their foolish whim for power and authority to oblivion by uttering those words to them. They fully didn't understand them...
However, when Jesus is speaking of the cup and baptized He was clearly referring to His own suffering on the cross. He is not only referring to the physical pains of the cross but the spiritual ones as well. He was referring to His entire ministry in bringing us into peace with God through Him by satisfying the justice, holiness and wrath of God upon the cross.
Question for you: if propitiation isn't referring satisfying God's wrath, then what is it referring to? How is the wrath of God appeased on behalf of every believer if not by Christ on the cross? How do you define justification? What does it mean to have peace with God and how?
Grace to you,
Steve
And also consider this and the subsequent verses as well:
On the cross, Christ experienced both aspects of this punishment. He was temporarily abandoned by God the Father (Matthew 27:46; Galatians 3:13) and He experienced the wrath of God the Father against sin (Romans 5:9; John 18:11). Biblical statements on God's wrath are terrifying. Revelation 14:10 says that those who reject God will "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." On the cross, Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for those who would come to believe in Him. "The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?", He said on His way to the cross (John 18:11). The Old Testament background behind this cup is revealing: "For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, `Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it'" (Jeremiah 25:15). By drinking the "cup of God's wrath" Jesus propitiated God's wrath against His elect and thus made it possible for God to show mercy to us.
When this was finished, Jesus died and completed His work of paying the penalty for sins, for "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). He did this all in the place of those who would come to believe in Him (1 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18). If you believe in Christ, Christ experienced the wrath that God had for you so that He could give you mercy instead. Those who do not come to believe in Christ will have to pay the penalty for their own sins by being eternally cut off from the glory of God and eternally punished by the wrath of God in hell (Matthew 25:49; Revelation 14:10-11).
SJC: 1. You said, "Every pain described in that Psalm is physical persecutions by men."
Not so with 22:1. Jesus uttered those words to His Father, as you know, while on the cross. He was being forsaken by the Father as our divine substitute enduring His wrath upon the cross for the sins of the people.
Nick: That's reading into the Psalm. Verse 1 says it all: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"
The "forsaking" was about not providing help from the persecutions Ps 22 explicitly links to Christ.
SJC: Propitiation IS to satisfy and assuage wrath, or anger. Etymologically, this is irrefutable. I say this with humility, but your understanding of propitiation (as you have stated above) lacks historical, grammatical and biblical integrity. Wrath WAS appeased by Jesus taking that wrath we deserve upon the cross. He was our divine substitute.
Nick: Here I think is where the heart of our discussion is. I AGREE that wrath was appeased. But what you are missing is that you can appease wrath without dumping it on someone else. If some children break something in the house, their father's wrath will be on them. What PSub says is that his wrath was appeased by turning around and beating his wife with what the children deserved. What I'm saying is that the wrath was appeased by doing a pleasing act, like making his favorite dinner.
SJC: However, when Jesus is speaking of the cup and baptized He was clearly referring to His own suffering on the cross.
Nick: But the fact He called the Apostles to drink of the cup means it has to be something they also can undergo, and obviously there would not be wrath upon them.
SJC: Question for you: if propitiation isn't referring satisfying God's wrath, then what is it referring to? How is the wrath of God appeased on behalf of every believer if not by Christ on the cross?
Nick: Catholics DO believe God's wrath is satisfied. The problem is you assume He must dump his wrath on another in order to appease.
Deuteronomy 9 says:"18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger. 19 I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me. 20 And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too."
Exodus 32:30 calls this an act of "atonement" yet Moses was never forced to suffer God's wrath.
Once you realize what I'm saying then the other stuff will fall into place.
Nick
I didn't realize you were Romanistic in your views. Now I do understand your dilema. Since Tridentine convictions are still affirmed by Rome, the biblical truths of a forensic justification resulting in the perfect imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith to all who believe (2 Cor.5:21) AND His once for all sufficient propitiatory sacrifice on the cross flies in the face of a semi-Pelagian Roman view of salvation.
I. E. the mass is considered to be propitiatory denying Christ's finished work on the cross. The Treasury of Merit is needed to acquire a further righteousness for the continued purged believer in Purgatory - denying the complete and perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to all genuine believers.
IOW, Rome teaches a false gospel Nick. Please consider the genuine gospel: salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone - plus or minus nothing!
Oh, sorry, I thought you knew I was Catholic. That does help us understand where each side is coming from.
I think the issue comes down to whether Atonement can be made without the use of PSub, and I believe Scriptures like Deut 9 (as shown above) proves this.
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