Who is Jesus Sunday School Lesson

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Who is Jesus Sunday School Lesson

Introduction

Jesus. Although secular society continually at-tempts to exclude Him, He still seems to beeverywhere. We see Him as a plastic dashboardstatue in a passing car. We watch Him portrayedin Hollywood productions. We observe Hint inmany variations as the manger baby for Christ-mas. In spite of all of this attention, we some-times neglect to ask the most crucial question:"Who is Jesus Christ?" The lessons for this quar-ter will explore this vital question.

A.The Path to Heresy

Perhaps you have heard the word heresy atsome time in your life. Merriam-Webster saysthat heresy is "an opinion, doctrine, or practicecontrary to the truth." Heresy is dangerous falseteaching that negates or denies the central truthsof the Christian faith (see 2 Peter 2:1).

Many heresies that have arisen in the historyof the church are centered on Jesus Christ him-self. The first major heresy about Jesus came froma collection of false teachings we call gnosticism.While there were several false doctrines withingnosticism, the most dangerous was the beliefthat Jesus was not really human—He just seemedor appeared to be human. Gnostics had no prob-lem with the divinity of Jesus; they denied Hishumanity. But, as Hebrews 2:14 teaches, if Jesushad not been a man, He could not die. Thus, ac-ceptance of gnostic beliefs would deny the basicdoctrine that Jesus died on the cross to pay theprice for our sins, the doctrine of the atonement.A second major heresy that was centeredspecifically on Jesus was a fourth-century teach-ing we call Arianism. Arians taught that whileJesus was indeed a powerful, supernaturalbeing, He had not always existed. He was a cre-ated being. This was recognized as a heresy be-cause it ultimately denied the divinity of Christ.If He were a creature, then He could not be thecreator—He could not really be God. If this weretrue, then Jesus' claims about himself were delu-sions or lies, and He should be rejected as a falseteacher.

Both of these heresies can be found in thechurch today. There are those who do not like tothink of Jesus as a man, thus falling into a mod-em gnosticism. For example, this viewpoint hastrouble thinking about the baby Jesus ofChristmastime without also thinking that Henever cried or while assuming that He wasspouting words of wisdom while in the cradle.There are others today who see Jesus as the ul-timate man but not as God, thus agreeing with theArians. These modem Arians admire Jesus as anadvocate for the downtrodden, a wise teacher, oreven as a revolutionary leader. This line ofthought stops short of seeing Jesus as God in flesh.Biblical Christians are called to affirm thatJesus was fully human and fully divine. To doanything less sets one on the path of heresy anddeparture from the Christian faith.

B.Lesson Background

Paul's letter to the Colossian church was sentprimarily to combat a growing threat of heresywithin that group of believers. Paul never says exactly what the heresy is, but we can see that herefers to it as a type of "philosophy" (Colossians2:8); it seems to have been an early form of gnos-ticism, perhaps combined with a type of Judaiz-ing. Judaizing was the belief that Christians wereobligated to keep every aspect of the Old Testa-ment law, including circumcision. Paul wrote tocorrect the problem and call the church to a re-turn to the simple faith in Christ (2:6, 7).

Today's lesson text comes on the heels ofPaul's opening prayer for the needs of the Colos-si. church. Paul has asked God that the Colos-sian believers would be spiritually wise (1:9),live upright lives (1:10), be strong in the face ofpersecution (1:11), and be thankful for their glo-rious salvation through Jesus Christ (1:12-14).Having ended his prayer on this high note, hethen proceeds to discuss the true nature of Christand what this means to his readers.

I. Divine Christ for Creation(Colossians 1:15-20)

The six verses in this subsection (1:15-20)have been labeled the "Christ Hymn" or the"Hymn to Christ."

A. Jesus: Image of God (v. 15)

15. Who is the image of the invisible God, thefirstborn of every creature.

This extraordinary verse is one of the mostprofound doctrinal statements of the entire NewTestament. Yet it is susceptible to misunder-standing in at least two ways.

First, when Paul says Jesus is the image of .. .God, he does not mean that Jesus is some type of"copy" of God. We know from our experiencewith copy machines that the copying process al-ways causes degradation, and each copy is lessperfect than the original. Such experiences donot apply here. Paul means that Jesus is "imag-ing" or revealing the unseen God, the creatorwho does not normally allow human eyes to seeHim (compare John 1:18). Jesus is the visible ex-pression of God. See also John 14:9.

Second, when Paul describes Jesus as the first-born of every creature, he is not saying that Jesushimself is a created being. Rather, this is his wayof saying that Jesus is the ruler over all creation.In the ancient world the firstborn son has au-thority over the father's household that is essen-tially equal to that of the father himself. The onlyone who can overrule the firstborn son is the fa-ther. Since them is complete unity of purpose be-tween Jesus and His Father, the authority of theSon over creation is equal to that of the Father.

The word translated firstborn here is translated"first-begotten" in Hebrews 1:6. There it is evenclearer that Jesus enters the world of humansfrom the outside as an uncreated being.

Thus Paul begins the Christ Hymn with a ro-bust statement of the divinity of Christ. He doesthis by affirming two mighty characteristics ofJesus: His role in revealing the (role God and Hisauthority over creation.

INVISIBLE GOD

Most religions in the ancient world worshipgods represented by idols. Yet the God of theBible refuses to be represented by an idol of anykind; He commanded that His people not make"any graven image" (Exodus 20:4). When the Ro-mans first occupied Palestine, some officers en-tered the Holy of Holies in the temple and weredismayed that there was no image there. Becausethere was no idol present, they concluded thatthese Jews did not worship any God at all andthus were atheists.

Today many people doubt God's existence be-cause they cannot see Him. Yet in other areas oflife we readily accept what we cannot see. Wecannot see carbon monoxide, but we know thatthis gas can be lethal. We cannot see love, but wefeel its presence and power. We cannot see radiowaves, but that does not stop us from tuning inour favorite stations. Even though all thesethings are invisible, we still order our livesaround them because we know they are real.God too is real. And Jesus is the image of God.That means that what we see in Jesus is a pictureof what God is like. The apostle John tells us thatno one has even seen God, except as God's Sonhas revealed Him (John 1:18). What a privilege tosee Jesus in the pages of Scripture!

B. Jesus: Creator and Sustainer (vv. 16, 17)

16. For by him were all things created, thatare in heaven, and that are in earth, visible andinvisible, whether they be thrones, or domin-ions, or principalities, or powers: all thingswere created by him, and for him.

Living an inclusive statement with important im-plications. First, all things were created by Him.Paul makes sure that his readers do not excludeanything from this broad statement. There are noexceptions. Paul wants the Colossians to knowthat this includes both the physical realm (inearth) and the spiritual realm (in heaven).Paul also insists that all things were createdfor hiss. This, of course. further excludes Jesusfrom the realm of created beings and things.While the full purpose of creation is not laid outhere, we know from elsewhere in Scripture thatcreation was undertaken by God for His glory.Paul includes Jesus in this goal; there is no sepa-ration of purpose.

17.And he is before all things, and by him allthings consist.

Paul's mighty statements about Christ con-tinue at an intense pace. In this verse he assertsthe preexistence of Christ. The affirmation thatJesus is before all things tells us that the divinityof Christ is not limited by time or space. Thisstatement is similar to Jesus' own claim that "be-fore Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).

Paul goes on to declare that Jesus is not onlythe creator but is also the sustainer of all things.The word translated consist has the sense of"continue to exist." The Bible never sees God-the-creator as some kind of divine clockmakerwho makes the clock, winds it up, and thenabandons it. Christ continues to be involved inthe ongoing affairs of the created order. Withoutthis involvement the world would quickly ceaseto exist.

C. Jesus: Preeminent One (v. 18)

18.And he is the head of the body, thechurch: who is the beginning, the firstborn fromthe dead; that in all things he might have thepreeminence

Having established that Christ is the creatorand ruler of the world, Paul now narrows thefocus of the Christ Hymn to Jesus' role in thechurch. As elsewhere, the church is seen as thebody of Christ (see Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians12:27), a beautiful metaphor. Compare Ephesians1:22, 23; 4:15; 5:23. (See question #1. page 128.)In regard to Christ's relationship to the church,Paul lifts up three important concepts. First,Christ is the beginning or originator of the church.He founded the church (Matthew 16:18) and pur-chased it with His own blood (Acts 20:28).Second, Jesus' resurrection is the crucial doc-trine of the church. Without the resurrection ofJesus, the faith of Christian believers is futile anduseless (1 Corinthians 15:14), and the church isbased on fraud. The doctrine of the resurrectionemphasizes the flesh-and-blood side of Jesus. Asa man Jesus died, but God raised Him from thedead. As the firstborn of the resurrection, He willlead all believers to victory over death.

Third, Paul states that all of these things workto establish Christ's preeminence. This wordmeans first place or highest rank. There in no au-thority in the church that exceeds the authorityof Christ in any matter. It is His church, not ours.We must remind ourselves that we exist as thechurch for His service and for His glory.

D. Jesus: Dwelling of Deity (v. 19)

19. For it pleased the Father that in himshould all fulness dwell.

This verse lifts up the doctrine of the incarna-tion. Although we may not be able to understandthis teaching completely, it is a foundationaldoctrine for the Christian faith. This is the beliefthat the deity of God was present in the person ofa man, Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul adds more detail to this statement inColossians 2:9: "For in him dwelleth all the fill-stens of the Godhead bodily." Understanding theterm Godhead allows us some insights into Paul'sthought on this matter. This word is an abstractform of the word for God, thus meaning deity ordivinity. This may be a less than satisfactory ex-planation except for Paul's important qualifica-tion that in Christ we find full deity. Jesus did notmerely have a "spark of the divine," or "a moreintense relationship with God." Christ was and isGod. As the apostle John wrote, "the Word[Christ] was God" (John 1:1), and this Word "wasmade flesh and dwelt unsung us" (John 1:14).

E. Jesus: Peace Offering (v. 20)

20. And, having made peace through theblood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things sato himself; by him, I say, whether they bethings in earth, or things in heaven.

From the doctrine of the incarnation, Paulcontinues the Christ Hymn with the equallyfoundational doctrine of the atonement. Brieflystated Paul teaches that Jesus' death on the crosswas an act that paid the price for human sins; it'hereby returned all creation back to God.

There are many aspects to the doctrine of theatonement, and Paul draws on three of them here.First, the cross of Christ served as a type of peaceoffering to God. The biblical concept of peace canmean more than lack of hostilities. In the OldTestament peace (Hebrew shalom) could be usedin the sense of "satisfaction of a debt." For exam-ple. a landowner who failed to cover a pit, thusallowing his neighbor's ox to fall to its death, wasobligated to give the neighbor a new ox. To do nowas to make peace with the neighbor (see Exodus21:34, where the idea of payment is representedby the Hebrew shalom). Elsewhere, Paul teachesthat Christ is our peace, having breached the wallof separation between Jews and Gentiles and be-tween God and humanity (Ephesians 2:11-22).Second, Paul uses the concept of Jesus' deathas a blood offering for sins. The Bible teachesthat without the shedding of blood there is noforgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). This is theessence of Paul's "preaching of the cross" (1 Co-inthians 1:18), that the blood of Jesus serves asan ultimate, once-for-all sin offering (see Hebrews 10:10).

Third, this verse speaks of the atonement interms of reconciliation. Two parties who wereonce on good terms but who have been alienatedfrom one another need to be reconciled. They arereconciled when the cause for alienation is re-moved. We were alienated from God because ofsin but reconciled when Jesus' death covered oursin (see Romans 5:10). What is even more re-markable is that Jesus' death does more than rec-oncile humankind with God; it also reconciles allof creation—all things . . . whether they be thingsin earth. or things in heaven—with its creator.

II. Human Savior for Humanity(Colossians 1:21-23)

Verse 20 marks the end of the Christ Hymn.Paul now turns to its direct implications for hisreaders.

A. Jesus: Justifier and Sanctifier (vv. 21, 22)

21, 22. And you, that were sometime alienat-ed and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of hisflesh through death, to present you holy andunblamable and unreprovable in his sight.Paul reminds his readers of our side of theproblem: we are the ones who caused the alien-ation by our sin (wicked works). Our movementaway from God brings to mind the story of thewife who was riding with her husband in theirbig old car with the old-fashioned bench seats.She asked, "Honey, why don't we sit next to eachother like we did on our honeymoon?" Her hus-band, who was driving, answered, "Dear, Ihaven't moved." Alienation from God is not dueto any failing or moving away on His part. Themoving away has been entirely our work.When we are reconciled to God through theblood of Jesus, He is able to present us com-pletely restored before the throne of God. We areholy (cleansed of sin), unblumable (withoutfault), and unreprovable not accused of anywrongdoing). '

ALIENATED ... RECONCILED

Our family likes to watch old movies. Onefond memory is the 1968 comedy With Six YouGet Egg Roll. starring Doris Day and Brian Keith.Day is a widow with three boys; Keith is a wid-ower with one daughter. Day and Keith meet andthe chemistry begins to flow. At one point Keithbreaks a date with her in order to go to a birth-day party. But when Day sees him at a restaurantwith a much younger woman, she is furious—not knowing that the young woman is his daugh-ter and her birthday party is at the restaurant.After that is cleared up, Day and Keith getmarried. When Keith discovers that his daughter houseworkwhile Day's son plays basketball, the fireworksbegin anew! He moves out of the house, andtheir relationship is on the rocks again. Eventu-ally the misunderstandings are straightened out,and they live happily ever after.

Alienated, and then reconciled. Unfortunately,our alienation from God was more than a simplemisunderstanding. We sinned, and this created agreat gulf between us and God. But God pursuedus. It took the sacrifice of His Son to unite usonce again with God. It was that great sacrificethat makes it possible for us to live happily—andeternally—ever after.

B. Jesus: Core of the Gospel (v. 23)23. It' ye continue in the faith grounded andsettled, and be not moved away from the hopeof the gospel, which ye have heard, and whichwas preached to every creature which is underheaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.Here Paul speaks of the faith as the body ofdoctrine that is to be believed by Christians (seeJude 3). If we depart from the central doctrines ofJesus Christ as contained in the Christ Hymn,then we abandon the faith (see 1 Timothy 4:1).The danger that is in view here is not that wewill quit believing altogether, but that our beliefswill become false as we drift into heresy. [Seequestion #4, page 1281

While Paul's books may have different em-phases, they are consistent concerning these cen-tral doctrines, as is all of the New Testament.This is why we are able to use verses from onepart of Scripture to help us understand a verse inanother book. This is known as the "analogy offaith," since Scripture never fights with itself. It speaks with one voice in teaching us about theimplications of Jesus' life, death, and resurrec-tion. These teachings are both secure and time-less, serving with equal value every generation ofChristian believers. [See question #5, page 1284

Conclusion

A. The Ageless Jesus

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today,and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). Some things aboutthe church must change as culture and societychanges. For example, no churches in the firstcentury AD had Web sites or parking lots. How-ever, the church has no need for new, updateddoctrines about Jesus. Those doctrines as taughtin the New Testament were adequate for Paul'schurches and they remain sufficient for ours.Church history tells sad stories of teacherswho wanted to redefine what the church taughtabout Jesus. Gnosticism and Arianism were onlytwo of several threats that the church battled toretain "the faith": the true doctrines concerningChrist. Until Jesus returns there will be falseChrists (Mark 13:22). These may be flesh-and-blood impostors. They may be teachers present-ing warped views of the nature of Christ and Hiswork of salvation. Church leaders should alwaysbe on guard against the infiltration of such falseteachings into the congregation (see Titus 1:9).

B. The Christ of Christmas

Paul never tells the Christmas story of babyJesus, either in his letters or in his recordedpreaching in the book of Acts. (The closest hecomes is in Galatians 4:4.) Yet Paul would agreethat the basic story of a baby born in Bethlehemis essential to our understanding of who Jesus is.Jesus did not appear on the scene as a full-grown man, like gods of Greek mythology. Thestory of Jesus is an account both of human frailtyand of divine, awe-inspiring power. He was bornon the road and cradled in a feed trough. Yet Hewas worshiped by wise kings, and His birth washeralded by an angel choir. Even at His birth Hewas truly God and truly human.

C. Prayer

Father God we stand in awe of the mystery ofthe true nature of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Maywe rest assured in the knowledge that Jesus'blood has purchased our salvation. We pray thisin the name of Jesus, amen.

D. Thought to Remember

Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.

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