11th & 12th Grade DGroup Recap

Last night we delved into the deity of Christ. Is Jesus God or just a great moral teacher? In review, we’ve been dealing with the accuracy of the New Testament writings. We’ve established that we know they are accurate and an easy way to remember the evidences are to remember they all start with “E.” NT writers gave testimony that was early, eyewitness, embarrassing and excruciating. Secular historians and archeology provide extrabiblical and enemy testimony. There is actually testimony from the OT as well that would be considered “expected.” The OT predicted the arrival of a Messiah.

1)      OT Claims that Christ was the Messiah--Isaiah 42 and 53 predict a servant Messiah and suffering Messiah. These predate Christ by several hundred years. There are also Messianic passages in Genesis, Jeremiah, other Isaiah passages, Micah, Malachi and Daniel. Turek notes, “Jesus’ life serves as the box top for many pieces of the prophetic puzzle found throughout the Old Testament.”There have been at least 71 OT messianic prophecies fulfilled by Christ.

2)      Apostles claimed Christ’s deity.

3)      Demons acknowledged that Jesus was God.

4)      Jesus’ claims to be God—direct and indirect--In one of the most stunning claims of his deity, Jesus uses OT, Jewish wording that his NT Jewish audience would clearly understand. He referred to himself as, “I Am.” He also referenced a passage in Daniel about the Son of Man returning to judge the world with authority given by God. It is popular for unbelievers these days to say that Jesus didn’t claim to be God. They clearly have not read the evidence. However, a good question to ask them when they state this is, “If Jesus didn’t claim to be God, then why was he killed?” His crucifixion is difficult to explain unless he made that claim. Jesus also made many indirect claims to be God. He declared his deity implicitly through parables. He performed miracles. He acted as if he was God through divine actions. He accepted worship and commended those who acknowledged his deity.

In a famous statement and argument by C.S. Lewis, Lewis explores three possibilities—namely that Jesus was either Lord, a liar or a lunatic. Liar and lunatic do not fit the facts of his life—how he lived and what others thought of him. That leaves us with Lord. We can also show from our previous study of the evidence that he was not a legend either. “In light of Jesus’ miraculous deeds, his resurrection, his supreme conduct and teachings, the prophecies fulfilled, and the fact that he would be unlikely to die for his own lie, liar and lunatic are eliminated. All of the evidence points to the fact that he was The Lord.

The Trinity

We also discussed the important, but difficult to understand, concept of the trinity. We looked at an explanation that avoids heresies which states that The Trinity is three persons with one nature. And that Jesus is one person with two natures—both divine and human. The three “whos” are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. All three of those “whos” have one divine nature. The Son, does not give up his divine nature, but he adds a human nature when he takes on skin and walks the earth as Jesus.

Some important things to remember about the Trinity: The Father and the Son are equal in essence but different in function. The Trinity may be beyond reason, but it’s not against reason. While we can’t comprehend an infinite God, we can apprehend the Trinity. The Trinity actually helps us understand how love has existed from all eternity. Tri-unity in the Godhead solves the problem. To have love, there must be lover (the Father), a loved one (the Son), and a spirit of love (the Holy Spirit).

(Much of the above is taken directly from Turek/Geisler’s book “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.”)

 

Check out this One Minute Apologist video on the Trinity.