October 27th, 2013

Matthew 16:15-16 — He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

From when I was 10 years old (say, about 4th grade) for the next eight years, through my senior school education, I was tested a lot. I confess I was not very successful very often. But one lesson I did learn, because it was drilled into me. It was “answer the question”.

As I’ve got older, I have come to appreciate the lesson. I hope you will forgive me if I observe that not a lot of people seem to share my appreciation. There’s one question, though, that is essential. It’s the one that Simon Peter answered so clearly. I’m guessing that almost everyone reading this has answered the question to their own satisfaction, and shared Peter’s answer. But every one of us has family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues and contacts who might not have the right answer yet. Today, I’m moved to join those trying to help you answer the essential question.
In fact you might have to answer a preliminary question: “Why does it matter so much?” Only God — the Son of God — could pay the complete penalty for every sin that mortal man has committed. 1 John 2:12 tells us that Jesus did that.

Jesus’s actions proclaim that He is God. So do His words, and the words of powerful witnesses.
Now, nowhere in the Bible is it written that Jesus said, flat out, “I am God”. In many places, however, His combination of words and actions make the statement for Him. Consider, for instance the passage in Luke 5:17-26 where he forgave the paralytic his sins — provoking the Pharisees to say “Only God can forgive sins”, which Jesus promptly followed by miraculously healing the poor man. Or consider John 10:30 where it is written that Jesus said “I and the Father are one.” The Jews knew what He was saying. They tried to stone Him for blasphemy because “You, a mere man, claim to be God”.

John wasn’t just a witness of Jesus’s claims. He was a witness in his own right. He said plainly at the start of his gospel, “The Word was God” and “the Word became flesh”.
John was just one powerful witness. Thomas the disciple who is often now called “doubting Thomas” had no doubts. He said “My Lord and my God (John 20:28).
There are many passages that make it clear that the apostle Paul believed Jesus to be God. One passage is Philippians 2. Verses 5 and 6 say “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”.
There are many other places in the Bible that make it clear that Jesus is God. For me though, perhaps the most powerful witness in the Bible is a non-believer speaking in what he might have seen as the moment of Jesus’s defeat. The Roman Centurion said “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54)!

Make sure you answer the essential question. Friends, enemies, Jesus’s words and actions — they all make it clear. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.