Five
Proofs Of The Divinity Of Christ
Bishop Moussa
Ever since our Lord
descended to us and took our human nature, Satan has tried hard to cast doubt
on the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation.
Although a
thousand heresies have attempted to deny the divinity of the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to Him be all glory was "declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1: 4).
A short article such as this one is not adequate for this important
subject, but is only a simple introduction we pre ffb
sent to our blessed youth, after which we direct them to the writings of the
church and of the fathers which are full of explanations of this important
mystery.
Introduction:
We do not elevate a man
called Jesus to the level of a god, but, on the contrary, we believe in the
Person of the Word Who condescended to take our flesh and to appear to us in
the person of Jesus Christ. The Lord is not a man we are trying to deify
and worship, but He is God Who condescended and appeared to us in the flesh.
Therefore, all the
efforts of the opponents of Christianity to prove the humanity of Christ do not
harm us in any way. On the contrary, we believe that our Christ is the
Word made flesh, perfect Divinity and perfect humanity united in one nature.
When Eutychus tried to dissolve
the humble human nature in the glorious divinity saying that the body of Christ
was merely ephemeral, the Church excommunicated him.
We differ from
them in our belief that the humanity of our Lord was without sin, whereas they
expend their energy in a desperate attempt to distort this image that is purer
than the sun with imaginings prompted by their impure thoughts. Christ is holy
and without sin; His enemies witness to that.
The real human
nature that is tired, hungry, and sleeps is a basic
purpose of the Incarnation. How can Christ represent humanity if He does
not take its
nature and how can salvation be accomplished
unless the Lord conceals His divinity
in the humility of humanity. Otherwise, man would not have
crucified Him and we would have lost our salvation!
The problem is not
that Christ is perfect humanity; we believe this. The problem resides in
the question: Is this perfect human the true God at one and the same time?
The answer is:
Definitely, He is Incarnate God. And these are some of the proofs.
The First Proof: ‘His
Infinite Holiness’:
1. Our glorious Lord lived among us without sin, for He is
"holy, harmless, undefiled, separate form sinners, and has become higher
than the heavens" (Heb. 7: 26), "Who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:
21), and He once defied the Jews saying: "Which of you convicts Me of sin?"(Jn. 8: 46). Their mouths were then
closed and their tongues tied.
2. All the prophets and apostles "have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God" (Rom. 3: 23), for "There is none righteous, no not
one" (Rom. 3: 10). Even righteous David, of
whose heart the scriptures say that it was after God’s own heart,
says: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother
conceived me" (Ps. 51: 5).
Therefore,
although Christ is perfect humanity, he is without sin since the Holy Spirit
had purified the matter that the Person of the Word took from the body of the
pure Virgin Mary to be His flesh.
Long ago, Pascal
said: "If we find a perfect human, he must be God."
The Second Proof: ‘His
Infinite Authority’:
He was not only a man,
but He had infinite authority:
1. Authority over matter: this appears in the miracle of the feeding
of the multitudes (Mk. 6: 35-44).
2. Authority over water: this appears when He walks on water and
makes Peter walk on it too (Mk. 6: 48-51).
3. Authority over plants: this appears when He curses the barren fig tree (Mt.21:18-23).
4. Authority over animals: this is evident in His allowing the evil
spirits to enter the pigs (Mt. 8: 28-34).
5. Authority over humans:
a. In sickness: He healed by touch (Mt. 9:
20-23), by word (Jn. 5: 1-9), and from a distance (Jn. 4: 43-54).
b. In death: He raised the daughter of Jarius who had just died (Lk. 6:
49-56), the son of the widow of Nain when he was on his way to be buried (Lk. 7: 11-15), and Lazarus, after he had been in the grave
and already stank (Jn. 11: 38-44).
6. Authority over nature: we see this in His calming of the sea and
wind (Mk. 4: 37-39).
7. Authority over thoughts: He revealed the thoughts of Simon, the
Pharisee (Lk. 7: 39, 40), and of the crowds when He
forgave the sins of the paralytic (Mt. 9: 4).
8. Authority over the future: He prophesied about the destruction of
Jerusalem (Mk.13:14-23), about Peter’s denial of Him (Lk.22:34), and about His
death on the cross (Jn.21:18,19).
9. Authority over the spirits: they used to be afraid when they
saw Him (Mk. 1: 22), and left people at a word from Him (Mk. 1: 34).
Authority over sin:He forgave sin and only God
has the authority to do so(Mk.2:7-10)
The Third Proof: ‘His
Witnessing to Himself’:
As long as the Lord is
holy and without sin, His witnessing to Himself is acceptable and true:
"Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true: (Jn. 8: 14).
He told the man who was born blind after He healed him: "Do you
believe in the Son of God?" The man asked: "Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Jesus answered:
"It is He who is talking to you." Then he said: "‘Lord, I
believe.’ And he worshipped Him." (Jn. 9: 35-37).
The Jews
understood from Jesus’ calling Himself the Son of God that He was equal with
God for He "said that God was His
Father, making Himself equal with God." (Jn.
5:18). They had a great conflict with Him
when He told them:
"before
Abraham was, I AM." (Jn. 8: 58). They tried to stone Him saying:
"For a good work we do not stone You, but for
blasphemy, and because You, being a man, make Yourself God." (Jn. 10: 33).
The basic problem in our understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ lies in
His uniting two natures in the one nature of the Incarnate Word of God.
The Lord of Glory
used the expression : "I AM" a number of
times and this is the same expression God used to Moses about Himself in
the Old Testament. Look at John 6: 20, 35, 41, 51; 8: 12, 18; 11: 25; 14:
6; 18: 5.
The sonship of the Son to the Father does not have the same
meaning as human sonship, neither is there a time
difference, or is there more than one God,
as some people imagine. It means the unity of nature and substance.
"I am in the Father, and the Father eb1 in Me: (Jn
14: 10), and "he who has seen Me, has seen
the Father" (Jn. 14: 9), and "I and the Father are one"
(Jn. 10: 30).
Our great God is of Himself, uttering the Living Word through His Spirit.
The Father is inner Love; the Son is manifest Love; and the Spirit is Love
working in our hearts.
As light is born
of light without any time difference or separation, so is the Son Light from
Light, true God from true God.
The Fourth Proof: ‘the
Witnessing of Others of Him’:
The Lord, during
His life on earth, heard many people witnesses to His Divinity and accepted
them all, such as:
+ John the Baptist said: "And I have seen and testified that this is
the Son of God." (Jn. 1: 34).
+ Peter said: "You are the Christ, the Son
of the Living God." (Mt. 16: 16).
+ Martha said: "I believe that You are the
Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." (Jn. 11: 27).
The Fifth Proof: ‘His
Work in hearts’:
In fact, this is
the strongest proof we can offer others. The Lord of glory has been able
to make celibates out of adulterers, lions who faced
hungry lions with
amazing courage out of weak women and small children. In a few minutes
with the Samaritan woman, he made of her a saint who witnessed to him. A
simple visit to the house of Zachias who loved money
changed him into a giving individual who loved the poor.
O what millions
followed You, O Lord! O how many hearts loved You.,
and You enslaved them with Your sweet love!
How many spirits
refused to live among men in order to
be filled
with Your love in the deserts and caves!
What sword did you use, Lord? What war did You
wage to win all these supporters and followers?
It is the sword of sacrificial Love, even to the cross!
It is the war of Light which conquers the bonds of darkness in hearts!
O Anointed of God, of Whom all those anointed of
God, whether kings, priests, or prophets were only symbols!
O You Who were the desire of the men of the Old Testament, You have
become the only hope of man in the New Testament! "For
there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be
saved." (Acts 4: 12). Accept our
faith in You, our Lord and God, for
ever! Establish Your children in You, O
Eternal Rock of Ages! Open eyes blinded by the god of this age lest You shine on them with your radiant Face!
Come, let us bow to our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and give Him all our
life, to the last drop of blood!!
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