CHRISTOLOGY

(The Doctrine of Christ)

(The Person of Christ)
 
 Introduction
•What does the world say about the person of Jesus?
•What do you say about Jesus?
The Person of Christ
•Matthew 16
•Two responses to the question:
◦ Culture’s answer: A good moral teacher, a prophet
◦ Peter’s answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living
God
 The Person of Christ

•Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man in

person, and will be so forever
•The heart of the Christian faith is in the
person of Jesus Christ
The Person of Christ
•Christology
◦ Christos - Christ
◦ Logy – Study of.
•When we study the Bible, we are ultimately
studying Christ! From Genesis to Revelation, the
whole Bible is about Jesus.
Christ from beginning to end
OT- He’s coming
NT- He’s here
Acts/Letters- Proclaim him
Revelation- He’s coming again
Christ in the Gospels
•How do the four gospels portray Jesus?
•The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John) are not contradictory accounts, but
cohesive accounts of Jesus’ life.
Christ in the gospels
• Matthew, Mark and Luke are called “Synoptic gospels”
◦ “Syn”- together or with
◦ “Optic”- seen
◦ Some of the same material (parables, stories) are in the
Synoptic Gospels
◦ John is not considered a part of the Synoptic Gospels, because
his gospels is on a different focus.
Christ in the gospels
•Focus of each of the 4 Gospels
◦ Matthew- Jewish perspective, Fulfillment of OT prophecies,
Jesus is the promised Messiah
◦ Mark- Brief and abrupt, Focus on Jesus’ miracles
◦ Luke- Gentile emphasis. Salvation is not only for the Jew but for
the Gentile as well
◦ John- two-thirds is dedicated to the last few weeks of Jesus’ life.
Very high Christology in John
People’s Responses to Jesus
• Shepherds- the good shepherd
• Simeon- the promised Messiah is now here
• John the Baptist- the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world
• Nicodemus – a good teacher
• Woman at the Well- the Savior
• Pharisees- a blasphemer
Jesus own testimony about his identity
• Jesus testifies to his own identity in the gospel of
John.
• He gives seven “I AM” statements in John
• Ego Emi- “I AM”
◦ When Jesus uses this phrase, he clearly identifies
himself as God
Jesus “I AM” statements
• John 12:49
◦Jesus says he is sent in the Fathers authority and
says and does what the Father has commandment
◦To the Jewish community and the religious
leaders, this is would be considered blasphemous
for a man equating himself as God.
Jesus “I AM” statements
•I AM
◦The Bread of Life (John 6:35)
◦Context: After the feeding of the five thousand
◦Purpose: Jesus is the satisfaction of his people
Jesus “I AM” statements
• I AM
◦The light of the world (John 8:12)
◦ Purpose: Jesus’ life and ministry glorifies the Father and
shines a light on our sin and our need for salvation
◦The Door (John 10:7,9)
◦ Purpose: Eternal life is only found in Jesus
◦The Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
Jesus “I AM” statements
• The Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)
◦ Purpose: No one comes to the Father except through Jesus
• The True Vine (John 15:1)
◦ Purpose: Our life is connected to being connected to Jesus
• The Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
◦ Purpose: Only Jesus brings life to dead souls.
Paul’s Testimony about Jesus
• Jesus as Savior (Acts 9; Eph. 2:8)
• Accomplished Redemption (Eph. 2:1-10; 1
Corinthians 15)
Jesus in the Old Testament
 
• The book of Hebrews illustrates how Jesus is better type
in the Old Testament
• Better Moses
• Better Adam
• The true Tabernacle
• The fulfilment of the sacrificial system
• The fulfilment of the priesthood
 JESUS HUMANITY
(Why was it necessary for
Jesus to be human?)
The humanity of Jesus
• What does it mean for Jesus to be
human?
• Why do you think it is necessary for
Jesus to become a man?
• Why was it necessary to Jesus to become
a man?
Jesus needed to become a man
• For Representative Obedience- Jesus obeyed where
Adam utterly failed and disobeyed. Just as through the
disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so
through the obedience of one man many are made
righteous. (Rom. 5:18-19; 1 Cor. 15:45,47)
• To be a Substitute Sacrifice- Jesus had to be made like us
in every way to be an acceptable sacrifice for man, since it
was man who rebelled against his Creator. (Heb. 2:14-17)
 Jesus needed to become a man
• To be the One Mediator Between God and Man- We needed Christ to represent us to God and
to represent God to us. (1 Tim 2:5) “Only someone both fully divine and truly human can
effectually mediate between God and men.” C.J. Mahaney
• To fulfill God’s Original Purpose for Man to Rule the Creation (Heb. 2:8-9; Luke 19:17, 19; 1 Cor.
6:3)
• To be Our Example and Pattern in Life – Christ showed and taught us how we are to live. We
have no better example to follow than in Christ. (1 John 2:6, 3:2-3; 2 Cor. 3:18, 1 Pet. 2:21)
• To Be the Pattern for Our Redeemed Bodies – Jesus’ resurrection body was the first fruits of
those who will follow and be resurrected with Him on that last day. (1 Cor. 15:42-49)
• To sympathized as High Priest – Jesus has experienced our struggles and so he can understand
what we go through. (Heb. 2:18, 4:15-16)
Fully Man: The Virgin Birth
• Scriptural evidence for
◦ Isaiah 7 – allusion to Jesus’ virgin birth
◦ Galatians 4:4 “when the time had fully come, God sent
his Son, born of a woman”
◦ Luke
◦ The virgin birth made possible the uniting of fully deity
and full humanity in one person” – Wayne Grudem
Fully Man: Jesus has a Body
• Luke says Jesus as a baby was placed in a
manger
• Luke 2:40,52.
• Jesus’ human body was just like ours: he
hungered, he thirsted, he grew tired, he
needed sleep, he bled, he died
Fully Man: Jesus has a Body
• Jesus “grew in wisdom”
◦ This means Jesus had a human mind that developed, he
had to learn how to eat, walk, talk, read and write
◦ Jesus while in his body, had a limited knowledge. (Mark
13:32)
• Jesus had a human soul with human emotions
◦ Matthew 8:10 – Jesus is “astonished “at the centurion’s
faith.
Fully Man: Jesus was sinless
• Jesus was like us in every way, but did not acquire
our sin nature nor did he sin.
• Biblical support: 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22;
Hebrews 4:15
• So, there are two positions taken when it comes to
the sinlessness of Christ
 The Sinlessness of Christ

• Impeccability of Christ – Christ was not able to sin

• Peccability of Christ – Christ was able to sin
• Were the temptations of Christ real?
 The Sinlessness of Christ
• Scriptures affirms:
◦Christ never actually sinned
◦It is clearly affirmed that Jesus was really tempted,
and that those temptations were real (Heb. 4:16)
◦Also affirms that God cannot be tempted (James
1:13)
The Sinlessness of Christ
• Christ had the ability to sin and not sin
• He was tempted in every way we are, but was
without sin.
• Because he was fully man, he was able to be
tempted, but because of his divine nature, he
would never fall to temptation
 The GOD-MAN forever
• Is Jesus still fully God and fully man? Yes
• Jesus did not temporarily become a man and then lose
his humanity once he ascended
• Acts 1:9 – 11
• His humanity and deity have been united as one and
will be so forever.