Who do people say that I am?

This is a part of the series of posts “Moving toward a holistic theology.” ; Christology

Mat 16:13-16  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  (14)  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  (15)  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  (16)  Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Who is Jesus of Nazareth? This becomes a very important aspect of any Christian systematic theology. It is a question that must be answered in detail. As I have stated in the past and as the blog posts show, I have a very high Christology. What has informed my opinion and belief when it comes to Christ Jesus? I will say first and foremost that it is a solely redemptive, Jesus of Nazareth centric, lens in scripture interpretation. One of the key passages of the Old Testament Prophets that is descriptive of Jesus and his role is Isaiah 9:6-7.  “(6)For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  (7)  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

In the above description one can see the fullness of the God Head. The Wonderful Counselor is the Holy Spirit, Everlasting Father is God the Father, and the Prince of Peace is the Incarnation. Mighty God describes the fullness of the God Head in one. While Jesus had an earthly ministry, one can clearly see the Trinitarian aspect of God in operation. At his baptism  Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on him, and the Father announced from heaven this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Paul then goes on to say in Colossians the following; Chapter 2, verse 9.  “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” Paul states that in the risen Jesus, the fullness of the deity dwells bodily. That is counselor, father, and prince of peace. That makes up the mighty God. There you have it, in my Christology, Jesus is God.

Now while I do not think that one has to be baptized in Jesus name only (I will explain this in future posts), I do think that the Oneness Pentecostals are on to something when viewing the trinity. The entire 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians is interesting to me. At the time of the writing Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father awaiting his enemies to be made his foot stool. Think for a minute. Who were really Jesus enemies? Yes, that it is correct. His enemies were the unbelieving Jews. They are the ones that were set on killing him and were the ones that got him killed. In other words, He was awaiting the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. That would be the time when his enemies were put under his feet. The last enemy death, the Old Covenant, was put under his feet and now He is the all in all.

Yes, there is a lot more to cover but enough for today :)!