nothing is yet in its true form

I was recently browsing through my neighborhood bookstore (Amazon.com), when I stumbled upon an interesting title. “The Jefferson Bible” the summary told me, “Gives us a preaching Jesus of distinctly human dimensions, without miracles or resurrection.” At first, I thought that the idea of the book was interesting. My first instinct was that this may be a great tool to reveal to people the wisdom of Jesus, so that they may later seek His divinity. After further consideration, I came to the conclusion that this, “Jefferson Bible,” was more scary than anything else. Removing the divinity of Jesus from the Bible would be like to trying to remove the humanity of Abraham Lincoln from his biography. Let’s look at Lincoln’s life but forget the fact of where he came from or who he really was; simply what he did and what he said.

I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised that the publisher of “The Jefferson Bible” would want to remove the divine aspects from the life of Jesus. People have been trying to do that for very long time. Even right after the time of Christ, there were sects of Christians who claimed that Jesus was merely a human (albeit an extremely good one). The Gospel of Thomas for instance, was merely a collection of the alleged sayings of Jesus. It never refers to Jesus as Lord or even Christ, simply Jesus. Dan Brown mistakenly tries to use such Gospels as pretext to his own conclusions in “The Da Vinci Code.” His character Teabing refers to the Gnostic Gospels in his argument that Christ was merely a man, but there is one major flaw in this argument. The Gnostics widely held no such belief. In fact, most of the Gnostic Gospels argue that Christ was wholly divine and most don’t even go so far as to attribute a fleshly body to Jesus. Obviously, that is historically inaccurate as well, but it only goes to show that people are fighting hard on both sides.

Here is what I think is crucially important. If Christ was merely a man and was not God in any way, then we have a huge problem in taking his teachings as sound moral directions. In the Gospel of John Jesus tells Thomas, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7; NAS) If Jesus was not God, then He would have no reason to utter such a falsity. I feel sorry for Thomas because he has gotten a really bad nickname, but it was not Jesus who gave him the epithet, “Doubting Thomas.” The church gave him that name. Do you know what Jesus gave Thomas? Great answers. Thomas is on the same search as we are. He wants verification for what Christ did and said. And he wants through verification of who Christ really was. A totally legitimate and logical way to go about life.

So let’s examine this claim of Jesus, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus says, “I am the way,” which is a direct answer to Thomas’ question, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” (John 14:5) In almost every aspect of life, we learn how to do things by watching others do things. Therefore, Jesus answer is extremely common (“You see what I am doing, do these things yourself.”). It is Jesus’ wording that is key. He does not say as the Apostle Paul says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:11) Paul tells those he is teaching that he is an example (though a flawed one) of Christ and people should follow what he does because he is following what Jesus did. Jesus simply says, “I am the way”. His statement is such that if He were not himself God, every person who follows Him would be very close to breaking the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3) If Jesus is the way, Jesus must be God.

On to the second part of His self proclamation, “I am the truth” (paraphrased of course). Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” If Jesus was only human and not God, it would be outrageous to claim that He is the truth. Jesus does not merely claim to know the truth or have some truth; His claim is that He himself is what is true. Psalm 111:7 describes God saying, “The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure.” If Jesus is God than He has a mighty high standard to live up to. If Jesus is the truth, Jesus must be God.
The third part of Christ’s statement is easily the most difficult to understand. John 1:4 tells us that in Christ, “was life, and the life was the Light of men.” John 5:21 states, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Christ offers life that no one else can offer. When He meets the Samaritan woman at the well, He tells her of “living water.” Jesus is life in that He is the giver and sustainer of life. He is the center of all things in this world. Colossians 1:17 tell us that, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Christ merely concludes His statement by finishing the equation. If He is the way, the truth and the life, then naturally, “no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Jesus could not have been clearer; His divinity is something that He wants everyone to recognize. I think it is amazing how much we try to just brush over the fact that the Gospels are clear that Jesus regarded Himself as God. This is why this is so important.

The world is searching for something divine. We distrust politicians, we rebel against rules, and we search for something to make our lives worthwhile. If Jesus were simply another man, he would be nothing more than another prophet, another man with “a way.” Muhammad, Buddha, Joseph Smith, and L. Ron Hubbard were all humans who were subject to imperfection. They all had hearts that beat for their passions, but as Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Right now, above all else what we need is someone who can provide outside guidance. We do need not Jesus the regular man from Nazareth. We are need in of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Immanuel (God with us).