Title: THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST
Focus: The uniqueness of Christ is essential to our salvation and leads to comfort and power in the midst of life and death.
Function: To move the people to acknowledge Christ in-the-flesh and thus experience comfort and power throughout life.
Text: I John 4:1-21
About once a year, Calvary Church receives an anonymous phone call of a gentleman who wishes to speak to the pastor. Since he inquires about the Bible and its teachings, I welcome his call. But as our conversation unfolds, a funny thing happens. The man begins to argue and tries to correct me as I explain to him the Bible’s teaching about the uniqueness of Jesus. Soon it becomes clear to me that this man is out to convert me to his point of view.
He maintains, in accordance with Jehovah Witness teachings, that Jesus is NOT both truly human and truly divine. And that ends the conversation. For I maintain that the uniqueness of Jesus is essential to our salvation and leads to comfort and power in the midst of life and death.
A good two weeks ago, I attended the memorial service of Bob Webber—the founder of the Institute for Worship Studies. A few months before his death, Bob had prepared his own memorial service; and he introduced it with a note expressing his desire that God would be praised and worshiped in the memorial service. Bob also said this in his farewell note: “I am not afraid of death, but I do fear the process of dying.”
I really appreciated Bob’s final note to us, for in it Bob declared his deep faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. For you see, Bob affirmed the Bible’s teaching that the uniqueness of Christ is essential to our salvation and leads to comfort and power in the midst of life and death.
A careful study of I John 4 will show that the apostle John continues to reflect upon authentic Christian living by holding before us two tests: a doctrinal test which centers on faith or belief in the Lord Jesus, and a social test which centers on love for God and for one another. (cf. John Stott)
Thus we notice in I John 4:1-6 an emphasis on doctrine, where we must learn to “discern the spirits to see whether they are from God.” That segment is followed by a further elaboration of the call to love one another (vs. 7-12). The rest of the chapter combines faith in Christ and love of God and one another (vs. 13-21).
In my message I wish to focus on John’s emphasis on biblical teaching—the emphasis that calls for renouncing false teachers and adopting a framework of discerning the spirits reflected by teachers in the church. I wish to do so, because John writes his letter to the churches in light of false teachings creeping into the church. John is concerned that false teachers are leading the members of the church away from the good news in Jesus Christ.
Note, for example, John’s references to these teachers. We must watch out for them for they are not from God but from the world. Listen: (vs. 3) “…every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God…(vs.5) “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.”
Also, says John, these false teachers reflect the spirit of the antichrist or falsehood. Listen again: (vs. 3) “…every spirit that does not acknowledges Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world…. (vs.6) “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” Clearly, false teachers violate the gospel and are a threat to the church.
Why? John tells us that these false teachers question the uniqueness of Christ. They question that Jesus is the Son of God in-the-flesh. They do not acknowledge that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. They question Jesus’ divine origin before he took on our flesh, and they laugh at the notion that Jesus is now bodily seated on the throne of God as our Lord and Savior.
For them, the notion that material stuff such as flesh or dust is important to God or can be in the presence of God is unthinkable. For them, spirit is superior and really matters; flesh is insignificant and inferior to spirituality. John, however, emphasizes that the uniqueness of Christ is essential to our salvation and leads to comfort and power in the midst of life and death.
Let’s together explore the uniqueness of Christ. For example, the uniqueness of Christ centers on his being or essence. You and I have only one nature—we are the offspring of Adam and Eve; we have a human nature. Jesus, however, has two natures. As the uncreated, eternal Son of God Jesus is fully divine. He is part of the Godhead called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the divinely conceived son of Mary, Jesus is also fully human.
Here’s how we express this mystery of Jesus’ being in the Belgic Confession, Art. 19. “We believe that by being thus (that is, divinely) conceived the person of the Son has been inseparably united and joined together with human nature, in such a way that there are not two Sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in a single person, with each nature retaining its own distinct properties.” The uniqueness of Jesus, then, centers on his being or essence.
The uniqueness of Jesus also expresses itself in his incarnation or in his taking on our flesh or humanity. John stresses this truth when he writes (vs.2) “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God….” The birth of Jesus, the eternal Son of God, then is extremely important in that Jesus has become fully human, one of us, except for sin.
Here’s how we express this mystery of Jesus’ humanity or incarnation in the Belgic Confession, Art. 19. “His human nature has not lost its properties but continues to have those of a creature—it has a beginning of days; it is of a finite nature and retains all that belongs to a real body. And even though he, by his resurrection gave it (that is, his human nature) immortality, that nonetheless did not change the reality of his human nature; for our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of his body.” The uniqueness of Jesus, then, expresses itself in his birth or incarnation.
But there is more: the uniqueness of Christ reveals itself also in Jesus’ death and resurrection, including his ascension to the throne of God.
You see, Jesus took on our flesh or human nature, so that he could take our place. God—by virtue of his divinity as the source of all life—cannot die. But God in the flesh (called Jesus) can die in his human nature. And since Jesus is also fully divine, he has the power to raise our human nature from the dead; He has resurrection power. And that’s why Jesus can take our place.
The apostle John reminds us of these things when he says (vs. 9, .10) “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Clearly, Jesus’ uniqueness reveals itself in his death and resurrection; he has taken our place to die and to redeem (raise to immortality) our flesh or human nature. Any teacher, any Christian who denies Jesus’ incarnation violates the good news. Such violation makes the good news bad news.
So, then, it matters what we say and teach about Jesus’ being or essence. The Belgic Confession, Art. 19 uses very strong language when it says that “…our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of (Jesus’) body.” Let me show you why such teachings about Jesus matters by considering Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven.
Think of Jesus’ ascension into heaven as the climax of Jesus’ incarnation. For example, when Jesus was born, he took on our flesh; when he died, he died in the flesh; when the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus conquered death in the body and Jesus can no longer die in the flesh, because he was raised immortal. Death no longer has a grip or claim on him.
Then, when Jesus physically ascended into heaven, he took our humanity, our human nature with him. That is, Jesus’ physical body—now immortal and glorified—is in heaven where God reigns in eternity. Christ has placed our humanity at the right hand of God; he has raised our fallen nature, so much so that Scripture elsewhere (Eph.2) can say that “…God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace….”
If Jehovah Witnesses say that Christ is not in heaven with his raised and glorified body, then we are lost—then we do not have a Savior; then we cannot look forward to our own resurrection; then we cannot claim to have eternal life already today and fully when Christ comes again. Then we are to be pitied more than anyone else.
This is why the teaching about Christ’s essence or being is so important. The uniqueness of Christ is essential to our salvation and leads to comfort and power in the midst of death.
Why do we affirm the bodily ascension of Christ? Why do we declare boldly that we believe “in the resurrection of the body”? It’s because our salvation—and the entire creation’s redemption—depends on what God has done in Christ Jesus, when he sent his Son—in the flesh—to die for our sins, to conquer the powers of death and the devil—and to open the gateway of eternity.
All of creation longs for the day when Christ shall come again and restore it and us to the glory God has intended for his creation and creatures to have from all eternity. This is the gospel—the good news, the mystery of God’s salvation revealed to us by God’s Word and Spirit today. We must not violate such good news by false teachings. In fact, such good news enables us to live with comfort and power in the midst of life and death.
When my friend and mentor Bob Webber wrote that he did not fear death, he said so because he believed—with the church of all ages—that Christ has come in the flesh, has died, has risen, and will come again to make all things news.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen!