Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture by J. Ed Komoszewski & M. James Sawyer & Daniel B. Wallace

Author:J. Ed Komoszewski & M. James Sawyer & Daniel B. Wallace
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Apologetics, Literature & the Arts, Christianity, Religion, Christology, Christian Theology
ISBN: 9780825497568
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Mark and Luke, both penned before 70, declare Jesus to be the unique representative and Son of God. Surely this is enough to undercut Dan Brown's claim that Jesus was seen to be no more-though no less-than a great man by his early followers. But there's more. As the Gospels of Matthew and John make clear, Jesus' identity went beyond his divine position as God's Son. He also was viewed as a divine person who was God's equal.

Matthew moves in this direction through the use of a conceptual inclusio that emphasizes Jesus' divine presence. Composed as early as the 60s, this Gospel begins with the proclamation that Jesus' name means "God with us" (Matt. 1:23) and climaxes with Jesus' promise to his disciples then and now: "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20, emphasis added). If God is with Jesus, then God is with the disciples who are with Jesus. Matthew's inclusio forms a theological framework for his Gospel that stresses the intimacy Christians share with God through the ever-living Son.

According to the Gospel of John, which most scholars agree was written no later than the 90s," Jesus is not only the ever-living Son but also the eternal Son. That is, the divine person of the Son-who took on human flesh at a specific moment in history and permanently conquered physical death through his resurrection-has always existed.

John wastes no time in making this plain: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.13 ... All things were created by him" (John 1:1, 3). To be sure his readers make no mistake, John identifies "the Word" for them: "the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory-the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth.... For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ" (1:14, 17, emphasis added). In short, the eternal Word became incarnate in the earthly Jesus. And since the Word is called "God," Jesus must be called "God," too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.