Who Jesus Was vs. Who Jesus Is

 

Who Jesus Was vs. Who Jesus Is

Posted by Clark Bates

June 30, 2016

      Recently I was listening to the a contemporary Christian radio station and a song began to play. As I listened to the lyrics it began to unsettle me, and the more I thought about the word the more troubled it has made me. I'm writing this not to expose a musician or to speak out against the contemporary Christian music industry, I actually really enjoy the band that recorded this song, but to briefly discuss the problem, as I see it, with some of the theology that flows from it. While this might, “show my hand” as it were, I'd like to list the lyrics that troubled me and expound on them:

Some people say he was a healer,

      Who had his moment long ago.

Some even say his time is over,

      But I don't want to talk about history

Cause I know who he is to me.

He is hope

He is light

He is with me every moment

He is all that I need

Everything good in me

Some might say that Jesus was

I say Jesus is.

Now, I recognize that the intent behind this song is to express the relevance of Jesus in the modern age, and, to a point, it has valid statements. Certainly through the indwelling of Christ all believers carry His presence and draw from that an inseparable bond with the eternal Son of God. He is indeed our hope and all that could be seen as righteous or good in us. However, and this is probably the apologist in me, to discount the historicity of Jesus is a detrimental form of “Experiential Theology.”

      When I use the term “Experiential Theology” I'm referring to the increasingly popular notion that what's of most importance is the experience a believer has as a child of God. Emphasis is often placed on how God has made them feel whole, or confident; how their life has changed for the better, or their overall outlook on life has improved. While all of this might be true, it does little to nothing in the arena of worldviews to demonstrate the validity of Christianity or the Supremacy of Christ. If all the believer has in their arsenal to support the exclusivity of Jesus Christ is experiential moments or subjective feelings, how will they respond to the Buddhist who claims to have the same experiences through meditation, or the Muslim who finds similar experiences with Allah? It becomes nothing more than an endless, “he said, she said” diatribe with no way to determine the truth of one worldview over the other.

       It cannot, I would even say must not, be forgotten that Christianity is unique among all religious claims in that the centerpiece of our faith is the man, Jesus Christ. The claims of the Christian faith exist within a time-space continuum that can be investigated. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation upon which all of Christianity rests and has occurred within a specific time frame, in a specific location, and can be cross examined for reliability. While each believer's personal relationship with Christ is a defining issue for them, it is not the means by which one can engage with an opposing worldview to demonstrate the need for sharing that faith.

 

 

"The claims of the Christian faith exist within a time-space continuum that can be investigated. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation upon which all of Christianity rests and has occurred within a specific time frame, in a specific location, and can be cross examined for reliability."

      In short, the song above implies that Christians should “not want to talk about history”, but in so doing, Christians cut off the essential line of reasoning by which the Christian faith supports itself. We should want to talk about history. Who Jesus was, as it were, is equivalent to who Jesus is. Jesus was the eternal Son of God, God Himself, incarnate as man to live a perfect, sinless life, becoming the solely sufficient sacrifice to God the Father on behalf of the sins of the world. He was this in history. Jesus is still the same eternal son of God, returned to the presence of the Father, having become the Savior of the world, destined to return and rule. In the interim He is the source of hope, life, light, peace, strength, confidence, support and holiness from which we draw, and Christians can say that this is true because the claims of the historical Jesus (who Jesus was) are verified through His existence in us now (who Jesus is). These are not mutually exclusive realities and they should never be handled as if they were.

      If you are one of the many believers out there that wish you had a dramatic conversion experience from which you could recount the power of God to another individual, let me assure that you already have that regardless of what transpired. Let me tell you what you're dramatic conversion experience was: The infinite, transcendent, God of all creation loved you with an unrequited love of such grand proportion that He became human, taking on the shame of a servant and died the death of a criminal so that He might rise from the dead and return to His throne, providing for you the opportunity to receive eternal life free from sin continuously within His presence. I can think of no greater conversion experience than this and it is true for each one of us.