A number of months ago I posted a short blog on the way Philippians 2:6-11 tells the story of God in the person of Jesus. The first phrase in that holy narrative is “the form of God”. The divinity of Jesus is one of the pillars of orthodoxy regarding the person of Christ. When men confront Jesus they are rightly compelled to love Him, adore Him, and to worship Him. Not only does this affirmation have dynamic implications for the knowledge of God, the whole Christian faith hangs on this point. In fact, the divinity of Christ is actually the cornerstone of His identity. He has not always been a man, but He has always been and will always be Divine. Humanity was an innovation to His identity, whereas divinity is the unchanging constant.
Often this truth is surrounded with a measure of ambiguity, lying in the background of the heart of the believer rather than always standing in the forefront of our consciousness because it has been embraced with burning, lucid vision. Some of the Jews of Jesus’ era recognized Him as a prophet, and they are joined today by liberal denominations and by Islam. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses confess Jesus as the Son of God and the way of salvation. Yet the thing that distinguishes true, apostolic Christianity from other world religions and cults is the belief that the man from Nazareth is the Holy One of Israel, the living God, incarnate. This is not the only thing one must believe to be a Christian, but it is the central and defining issue of our faith. There is no regeneration apart from the clear belief and confession of the unqualified, undiluted divinity of Jesus.
Even among Christians, sincerity of belief can be accompanied by much latent uncertainty about this doctrine. Questions and confusion are often suppressed because of shame or the sense that no one has the answers they are looking for. Over the last 150 years the leadership of the Church has not sufficiently strengthened this conviction in the hearts of the people through the ministry of teaching, and thus in the hearts of most people this belief is one they hold sincerely but one they cannot articulate clearly or synthesize from biblical evidence. Through a series of short posts in the weeks ahead I will explore this theme and try to point to the unrelenting testimony of the divinity of Jesus found in the scriptures.
