A gracEmail subscriber asks whether Saul of Tarsus (later the Apostle Paul) ever encountered Jesus in Palestine during the years of Jesus' personal ministry. * * * We cannot know whether Paul ever saw Jesus personally on earth or not. Scholars believe that Paul (his Roman name) or Saul (his Hebrew name) was born about the same time as Jesus, although in Tarsus (in modern Turkey) far from Palestine. The New Testament first mentions Paul as an accessory to the murder of Stephen (Acts 7:58) and identifies him as a "young man." This was before Paul's conversion which likely occurred in about … [Read more...]
‘THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST’
Although I cry easily, I wanted to view Mel Gibson's movie The Passion dispassionately. So I braced myself, purposed not to look at my wife beside me and watched without moving a muscle from the opening scene until the end. Despite the English subtitles (all the narrative is in Aramaic and Latin), this is surely the most powerful film ever produced -- both emotionally and spiritually -- portraying the suffering and death of our Savior. Almost everyone in our theater audience sat in silence through the final credits then rose and left with scarcely a sound to be heard. Critics have said much … [Read more...]
WAS JESUS TRULY TEMPTED?
A gracEmail subscriber asks whether Jesus Christ was truly tempted to sin as we are, or whether he only encountered the temptation but without any accompanying enticement. * * * Although Jesus was the divine Word made flesh, in the Incarnation he truly became human and lived as one of us (Heb. 2:14). In so doing, he graciously "emptied" himself of divine prerogatives and advantages (Phil.2:7; 2 Cor. 8:9). Although God cannot be tempted by evil, in his humanity Jesus was fully "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (James 1:13; Heb. 4:15). Because he did experience our … [Read more...]
NOW FOREVER HUMAN
A gracEmail subscriber writes: “It is too simplistic to say that Jesus was mortal since Jesus never forfeited his eternal nature -- he was and always remained the Son of God. When the agony of the cross was over, Jesus resumed the existence he had before he 'stepped down' from his spiritual divinity to undertake our atonement. Of course our finite minds cannot grasp all this.” * * * Indeed, the fullness of deity inhabited the human being we know as Jesus of Nazareth (Col. 2:9). In Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Son of God truly became flesh and blood (Heb. 2:3-4). Jesus was fully human and, … [Read more...]
JESUS — ‘SON OF MAN’ (2)
A gracEmail subscriber from New Hampshire asks the meaning of Jesus' frequent description of himself as the Son of Man. * * * Daniel described God's messianic figure as "Son of Man" 500 years before Jesus was born. As Son of Man, Jesus would eventually receive dominion, power, glory and an eternal kingdom -- for himself and for all God's people. What no one but God knew in advance, whether prophet, king, sage or heavenly angel, is that the Son of Man would first suffer and die, then rise again. The Messiah, this "man of God's own choosing" as the hymn puts it, scandalized even his inner … [Read more...]
JESUS — ‘SON OF MAN’ (1)
A gracEmail subscriber from New Hampshire asks the meaning of Jesus' frequent description of himself as the Son of Man. * * * This expression, which is Jesus' favorite self-designation in Matthew and Luke, sparkles with a variety of possible meanings. Throughout the Bible, "son of man" sometimes means "human being" -- one who descends from mortal flesh (Num. 23:19; Ps. 8:4). God addresses the prophet Ezekiel this way more than 90 times. Indeed Jesus' humanity is an important New Testament theme, especially in Luke and in Hebrews, but long before Jesus the expression "Son of Man" had taken on … [Read more...]
JESUS THE SON OF GOD
A gracEmail subscriber asks if Jesus was God's son even before he was born in Bethlehem to the virgin Mary. * * * John's Gospel tells us that the man Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the incarnation of the divine Word ("Logos") which from the beginning was "with God" and "was God" (John 1:1-14). The Apostle Paul writes that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) who "existed in the form of God" but emptied himself and became a man (Phil. 2:5-7). The unknown author of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls Jesus "the radiance" of God's "glory" and "the exact representation of his … [Read more...]
LOOKING AT JESUS
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the most gospel-packed yet least-studied books of the New Testament. It focuses squarely on Jesus Christ as our high priest and personal representative before the Father. Jesus is indeed "Our Man In Heaven." Our greatest need is to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus. Three times the author of Hebrews urges us to do just that. * * * SEE JESUS. The unknown author of Hebrews first gathers a bouquet of Scriptures from throughout the Old Testament that contrast the exalted position of angels with the far greater position of Jesus the Son of God (ch. 1). Yet … [Read more...]
PREINCARNATE JESUS?
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "If Abraham's three visitors in Genesis 18:1-15 were men, and one of the men was also 'the Lord,' wouldn't that man have been Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, a pre-incarnation? As I said, it's of no particular importance, just something I wondered about." * * * Many people think they see an appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus at various points in the Old Testament – Abraham’s visitor (Gen. 18:1-15), Melchizedek (Gen. 14:17-20), the captain of the Lord’s host who appeared to Joshua (Josh. 5:13-15), the fourth man in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:24-25), and … [Read more...]
WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
The greater miracle, it has been said, is not the virgin birth of Jesus but the fact that in that wondrous conception the eternal God took on human nature and the Creator condescended to join his creation. Mary's son is none other than Immanuel -- "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). Like the Magi, we fall down and worship him. The Christmas carol has it right: "Hail, the incarnate deity!" He who existed in the form of God emptied himself and was made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:6-7). It is part of the mystery of godliness that in Jesus of Nazareth God was "revealed in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). He … [Read more...]
