Jesus: The Son of God

By Pastor William R. Cunningham
May 21, 2006

Introduction

Matthew 16:15-16 (NKJV) -- {15} He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” {16} Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

John 8:54 (NKJV) -- {54} Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.

Who is Jesus Christ?  Many believe that Jesus was a good man that taught people about God’s Kingdom.  Others believe that he was a great prophet.  There are still others that believe that Jesus was not a real historical person, but a type of representation of a particular ideal.  I ask you today, who do you say Jesus Christ is?

What do you know about Jesus Christ apart for what you were told at various times?  Let me say it this way.  In school we learn about a lot of historical figures such as Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Ben Franklin, and many others.  Historians have pieced together information that was recorded about these men and their activities and have developed certain profiles.  We know about historical figures of the past because of written records of their lives and activities.

One would be foolish to believe that George Washington, for example, was the first man on the moon or that Genghis Khan led the settlers to the West in early American history.  However, I am confident that there will be people that would probably believe such statements especially when presented in an authoritative appearance.  One need only go to the library, bookstore, or Internet to confirm such claims about these men.

The bottom line here is that people allow themselves to be moved in their ignorance.  People do not care to seek the truth.  Fiction is accepted as fact as long as the presentation gives an appearance of authority or is at least sensational.  People tend to believe what is packaged in sensationalism.  Just look at all of the false doctrines in the church that people only need read the Bible in order to uncover the lie.  They don’t and so they believe those lies.

Likewise, there are many false beliefs about Jesus Christ and all we need do to uncover those fables is to read the Bible and examine history.  We don’t have to look for a special Christian history because God is involved in human history.  We see this significantly with the birth of Jesus Christ on the earth.  We only need look at historical information regarding Jesus Christ to uncover the truths about Him.  We don’t have to merely believe what we hear as a matter of fact. 

There have been several movies about Jesus Christ and other biblical characters and there was always some element introduced that was not part of the biblical account.  We could say that those elements were added to make the movie more interesting.  There is no excuse in the information age for anyone to at least not have the data pertaining to a particular historical event or historical character.  There is no reason why anyone, for example would not know who Jesus Christ is.  We only need to look at the Bible, which is a reliable source of historical information and extra-biblical historical documents to know the truth about Jesus Christ.

Most Christians do not study the Bible so why in the world should we expect them to take the time to know the historical truth about anything.  The Bible tells us that God’s people are destroyed because of their ignorance (Hosea 4:6).  We are overrun and disrespected because we allow ourselves to remain in ignorance.

So again do you know who Jesus Christ is?  This sermon will deal with the claims of Jesus Christ on himself and why these claims are valid and truthful even from a historical viewpoint.  The claims of Jesus Christ can be confirmed by not only the Bible, but other reliable historical sources.

Who is Jesus Christ?  Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God.

The Claims of Jesus Christ

Read John 8:42-58.

Here we see a confrontation between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees.  Jesus pointed out that the reason they could not understand what He was saying to them was because they were of the devil and that those who were of God would be able to understand.  This is consistent with what Jesus said earlier to Nicodemus.

John 3:3 (NKJV) -- {3} Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The conversation continued and Jesus went on to claim to be the son of God.

John 8:54 (NKJV) -- {54} Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.

Jesus made other similar statements equating Him with God the Father.

• John 10:30 (NKJV) -- {30} I and My Father are one.”
• John 5:17 (NKJV) -- {17} But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
• John 5:23 (NKJV) -- {23} that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
• John 14:9 (NKJV) -- {9} Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
• John 14:23 (NKJV) -- {23} Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

We also have others who claim the deity and unity of Jesus Christ and God.

• 1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV) -- {16} And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
• Titus 2:13 (NKJV) -- {13} looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
• 1 John 5:7 (NKJV) -- {7} For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
• 1 John 5:20 (NKJV) -- {20} And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
• John 1:1-2 (NKJV) -- {1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was in the beginning with God.

Jesus claimed to be equal with God, which would make Him deity.  Some would say, “Jesus is God.”  I don’t like to say that not because of any doubts in the statement, but because of clarification purpose.  The Bible reveals the concept of the Trinity.  The doctrine of the Trinity basically states that God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, i.e., three persons.  There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  So for all practical purposes and simplicity some would simply say that Jesus is God.  However, I think a more qualitative statement would be that Jesus is deity.  He is one with God.  He is the second person of the Holy Trinity and yet completely God.  The doctrine of the Trinity however is a subject for another discussion and is beyond the scope of this lesson.

Why Believe the Claims

Should we believe what the Bible says?  Is it enough to say that the Bible says it so it is true?  Well that depends on who you are talking to.  If you told me that and I confirmed that what you said is really in the Bible then I could believe you because I believe what the Bible says.  However, someone else who does not know the validity and reliability of the Bible may not believe you necessarily.  Why should they if they do not consider the Bible to be a reliable source of historical and truthful information.

Again one only needs to examine the historicity of the Bible and the Christian faith to see that the Bible is indeed a reliable source of historical information about Jesus Christ and many other things pertaining to the Christian faith and even Jewish history.  The great thing about the Bible and how it relates to history is that we can compare it against other extra-biblical historical documents.  As a matter of fact, this is one of the tests per se that show that the Bible is indeed reliable.

Consider the following information, which can readily be verified by historical research.

The disciples of Jesus Christ who became His apostles believed that Jesus was the son of God.  We see this from their writings and the hardships that they endured.  It is very unlikely that they would have perpetuated a like and die for the lie that they themselves created.  It is more probable that the evidence and experiences before them convinced them of the truth of Jesus identity and message and they proclaimed that message and identity at the risk of their own lives.  We still see this same thing today.  There are many who die for what they believe.  Though some die because they are deceived, there are still others who die for the truth that they know.  Let me digress just a bit to provide some basic information regarding the reliability of the biblical record as well as verification of the true existence of Jesus Christ.

Reliability of the Claims of Jesus’ Existence

Did Jesus Christ really exist as a man on the earth or is he indeed a myth?  We will find that the evidence of Jesus’ existence on earth is indisputable.  The evidence is overwhelming for the existence of the historical Jesus.

The Biblical Reliability

There is a plethora of textual, historical, grammatical, and archeological evidence to confirm the validity of the Bible’s claims.  The New Testament Bible is a reliable record composed by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the events.  Some of this evidence is given below.

1. There are more manuscripts, earlier manuscripts, better copied manuscripts, and manuscripts written by more people who were closer to the events than for any other piece of ancient history.  There is no other event in ancient history that was written about where the authors were closer to the actual events for which they were writing than the authors of the New Testament scriptures.
2. Archaeology continues to confirm the biblical text.
3. The Bible is consistent in its content (See the study, “Developing a Personal Bible Study” for more information about biblical criticisms).

Some hold that the New Testament writers were bias in their writings and therefore cannot be trusted to give accurate and truthful information about the events and people that they wrote about.  This however is not true.  First of all they had no reason to lie about what they preached and wrote.  If anything, they would have written something completely different to appease those that would oppress them.  We cannot assume that just because someone is close to an event that they would not be objective enough to write about that event.  That would undermine the justice system in America for example because we would have to assume that eyewitnesses that were close to the event or the people involved could not give reliable testimony.

Therefore, we would have to discredit all other ancient writing if we conclude that the New Testament is not a reliable source of information for the events recorded in it.  We cannot be partial to the New Testament merely because it is a religious document.  If we use the same analysis that we would use on any other ancient document then we would find that the Bible is indeed a reliable source of information.

There is indeed other evidence for the historical Jesus Christ.  This evidence is not as compelling as the New Testament primarily because they are further away from the actual events.  We would tend to rely on the testimony of a multitude of witnesses that were close to an event than we would of a few that were not eyewitnesses to the event and yet told their stories.  However, the non-biblical evidence of the historical Jesus is also useful in this task to show that Jesus actually existed as a man on earth.

Non-Biblical Evidence

Tacitus – Tacitus, the first-century Roman historian mentions Jesus in his account of the great fir of Rome that was blamed on Emperor Nero.  He wrote,

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures of a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.  Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.”

Here Tacitus mentions the following.

1. Christians
2. Christus (the Latin form of Christ)
3. Suffered the extreme penalty (crucifixion) by Pontius Pilate
4. The superstition, which was probably a reference to the resurrection

Suetonius – Suetonius was chief secretary to Emperor Hadrean (reign, 117 – 138).  He wrote:

“Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city”

“After the great fire at Rome…Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief.”

These references establish the following.

1. There was a man named Chrestus (Christ) who lived in the first century
2. Certain Jews caused disturbances relating to Chrestus

Suetonius did not know whether the disturbances was instigated by Chrestus or by those who were against his followers since he wrote this many years after the events took place.  Emperor Claudius was so annoyed by these disturbances that he had all the Jews thrown out of Rome in 49 AD.  This included two of Paul’s associates, Priscilla and Aquilla.

We also note that the Christians were indeed persecuted after the great fire at Rome and that they certainly professed a new religion.  Note that they were persecuted because Nero wanted to take the focus off of himself in regards to the fire (he was suspected of starting it) so he blamed the Christians.

Josephus – Flavius Josephus was a Roman historian.  He defected to the Romans during the Jewish revolt in order to save his life.  Because of this many do not trust the reliability of his writings.  In any case, Josephus makes two references to Jesus, one direct and one indirect.  He mentions James who was the brother of Jesus, which supports the biblical claims that Jesus had a brother named James (20:9).  Josephus also wrote about Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus as a wise man who performed many great feats.  There was even an elusion to his deity (Antiquities 18:3).  It is quoted below for reference.

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man.  For he was one who wrought surprising feats…He was [the] Christ…he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him”

There are many that question that Josephus actual wrote this.  However, there is more evidence than not that he did.  However, an Arabic version of Josephus’ reference to Jesus as Messiah is cited in Hebermas, 186).  This does not include any possible Christian interpretation.  It is quoted below for reference.

“At this time there was a wise man named Jesus.  His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous.  And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples.  Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.  But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship.  They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

The description of Jesus given here matches the description that we have from the Bible.

Thallus – Thallus wrote about AD 52.  His works survive only as citations in other writings.  One such citation is Julius Africanus in about 221 AD.

“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.  This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun”

Luke 23:44-45 records darkness that came during Jesus’ crucifixion.  Africanus identifies this darkness as a solar eclipse.

Pliny the Younger was a Roman author and administrator.  He wrote of the Christian’s worship practice in a letter to Emperor Trajan in about 112 AD.  He mentions how the Christians worshiped Jesus as a God.

The Jewish Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a)

“On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged.  For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, ‘He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy.  Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.’  But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! [Babylonian Talmud]

This text confirms the crucifixion of Jesus and when it occurred, which are consistent with the biblical text.  It also refers to the herald that went out before Jesus was crucified (See John 8:58-59; 10:31-33, 39)

Toledoth Jesu was a later anti-Christian document compiled in the early fifth century.  It explains that the body of Jesus was secretly moved to a second location after his death because his followers had intended on stealing the body.  The disciples therefore concluded that Jesus had risen from the dead when the came back to the tomb and found it empty.

Lucian of Samosata was a second century Greek writer.  He wrote the following in reference to the Christians.

“The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account…You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them;  and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.  All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.”

We find several bits of information from this text.

1. The Christians worship a man
2. Jesus introduced the things they were practicing (his teachings)
3. He was crucified for his teachings
4. They believed that they would live forever
5. They believed they were all brothers
6. They worshiped Jesus (the crucified sage, i.e., wise man)
7. They had a contempt for death because of their belief in the eternal life
8. They renounced material goods as being of value.

We have hear evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ and much evidence of the truthfulness of what he claimed to be and what others claimed him to be.  All evidence point to Jesus being the son of God who died for the sins of the world.  This same Jesus taught his disciples to teach what he taught them.  Jesus was real and so much so that these and others were willing to die for that belief.  It’s not merely that they were willing to die that Jesus’ message and claims are validated since there are many who are convinced that something is true enough to die for.  It is because the Bible is reliable and it claims who Jesus is.  We cannot know the true identity of Jesus apart from the Bible.  We can only know that He really existed on earth through historical documents.

Conclusion

Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the son of the living God.  Jesus Christ was sent to us so that we would be saved from our sins.  Jesus Christ is God in the sense that He is the same essence of God.  He comes from God, the Holy Trinity. 

The Bible claims that Jesus Christ is the son of God.  The Bible claims that Jesus Christ is deity.  The Bible claims that there really was a man named Jesus that walked the earth 2000 or so years ago.  The Bible records many of Jesus’ deeds and teachings.  Eyewitnesses proclaimed what they saw and heard of this Jesus of Nazareth.  People died for their faith in Jesus Christ.

The interesting thing here is that those who died in early Christianity were close to the actual events that convinced them to believe.  There was no time for legends and false characterizations to occur.  Legends take hundreds of years to develop.  The early Christians began their persecution within 100 year so of Jesus’ death.  So they died for what they heard and saw for themselves.  They believed what they heard and saw for themselves.  Their faith was grounded upon fact.  Their faith was not a mystic journey to spirituality.  Their faith was grounded in the same way that we have faith that water would make us wet.  We’ve seen and experienced the affects of water and therefore we believe.  The early Christians especially saw and experienced this Jesus Christ and so they believed.

We can know about Jesus Christ from the historical and biblical evidence.  The primary source of evidence for the truthfulness of the claims about Jesus is indeed the Bible since the Bible has proven to be a reliable source of information. 

Jesus therefore is the son of the living God who died so that we would be reconciled to God.  If you know Jesus then you know God.  Amen.