The whole concept of a human being that is divine seems preposterous. Yet this is what a Christian is asked to believe. Christian theology says that God sent his son to earth to ultimately die for the sins of mankind. Christian theology also says that Jesus always has been and always will be. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus is the creator! This is so profound that we are asked to believe that the one individual that has an eternal presence of past, present, and future came into a human body.
Some people would say that sometime after Jesus was born, he became divine. Others would say that Jesus had a dual personhood. The entire Christian concept is that the eternal Jesus put on human flesh.
We must be careful in considering the identity of Jesus and not become philosophical. However, it is a requirement for salvation that the person accepts Jesus as God who put on human flesh. This is almost a contradiction of terms. How could the divine person slip into the limits of a human body? Does the Christian theology say that on the cross God died? If he did die, what happened next? Only the body of Jesus died, not the person that he was.
This brings into question the doctrine of the Trinity. All other religions refute this orthodox Christianity doctrine. Some non-Christians accuse us of having three gods. Others say that it is as if God was wearing a mask depending on the circumstances. On the contrary the Christian believer replies that God is three persons but one individual. One comparison that can be made is of an apple. It has a seed. It has a flesh. And it has the skin. They are all Apple. God is one in a similar way as the Father, Son and Spirit. They are all divine and they are all equal.
(By the way, the King James version was written at the time of Shakespeare in which they believed in ghosts. When King James instructed the translation to be made, the translators felt it best to use the word ghost instead of spirit. The third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit.)
Now let us talk about the paradox of people’s thinking. In the time of the Roman empire (and even in some circles today) people believed in multiple gods some of which took on human form or were half Gods. In contrast, some people are willing to believe in the paranormal or the presence of aliens from outer space. My point is that many people are willing to believe the absurd, but not willing to consider the obvious.
There are many proofs for who Jesus is some of which are in the Scripture, some of which he claimed himself, and some of which are in secular literature. Only the actions that Jesus took could have been done by God such as healing or raising people from the dead. It is not that absurd for the Orthodox Christian to believe that the second person of the Trinity indwelled a human form and walked among humans until it was murdered on the cross.
Finally, it comes to a matter of faith. What are we willing to believe on spiritual matters? What are we willing to accept for eternal redemption? What are we willing to implants in our thinking about the identity of the person named Jesus? No other religious founder and no other religious prophet has the same identity of Jesus. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that his tomb is empty. Only God could do that!
Christian Writer 