Who is Jesus Christ?
The question "Who is Jesus Christ?" is the one the Lord Himself put to His disciples, and the answer they gave joined two things that seem impossible together: a real man standing in front of them, and the living God. Commentators return again and again to that union — what His name means, what He came to do, and how anyone comes to know it.
The Name and the Title
"Jesus Christ" is not a first name and a surname. One writer separates the two and shows what each carries:
Walter Scott"Jesus" is made of two parts, meaning Jehovah-saving (Matt. 1:21). It was a name given Him before His birth, and one which exactly describes His Person and His work. The greatest of all names, the name above all others, is the name of Jesus (Phil. 2:9-11)... Christ (Greek) and Messiah (Hebrew) both mean the anointed one, as in Psalm 2.
No Beginning
The opening of John's Gospel is read as a statement about time, or rather about the absence of it. The verb tense is doing the work:
J. N. DarbyIn the first place, there are the direct passages — John 1:1: "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This is a striking passage in every way: when everything began, He was — that is, He had no beginning, He was God, as indeed had to be the case, and yet He was a distinct person; He was with God, and always was, was so in the beginning, so that He created everything. Later we find the Word made flesh.
Truly God, Truly Man
Both sides must be held, and writers insist the reason is not academic. Remove either one and there is no rescue for us:
Edward DennettBut it is essential that we hold fast both His true divinity and His equally true humanity. For if He had not been true man, He could not have been a sacrifice for sin, and if He had not been God, His sacrifice could not have been available for all. Satan knows this, and so in every age he has tried to undermine one or the other of these truths.
Because the two were never split apart in Him, nothing He did was merely human:
William KellyThat Man was inseparably God; and this was so from His conception, and fully so in His death and resurrection. So His every word, work, thought and suffering had divine value.
He Shows Us God
Messengers had come before Him, but they could only report. He is different in kind:
James BoydAngels might come and go in the past age, running God's errands to a world that had broken away from Him, and prophets might speak in the name of the Lord to a rebellious people, but what could either bring except faint rays of light from Him whom neither angel nor prophet had ever seen? But the Son of God comes, and what has He not brought with Him? What has He left behind for someone else to bring to light in a future day? He is the image of the invisible God, and whoever has seen Him has seen the Father.
Saviour — Past and Present
His saving is not filed away in history. He died, and He is alive now doing the same work:
The Bible TreasuryAs the perfect Saviour, He died to save us, as in 1 Corinthians 15: "Christ died for our sins." How precious! ... But He who died for us was raised again, crowned, "exalted as Leader and Saviour." He is a Saviour now; He lives to save us. Will He fail? No! He is able to save right on to the end, through traps and difficulties; the world, the flesh and the devil may plot to bring us down, but He lives to save us (Rom. 5:10).
Knowing Him Is a Gift, Not a Deduction
When Peter answered, he named two things at once — and the source of his answer was traced above his own reasoning:
Leslie M. GrantThere is no hesitation in Peter's precious answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Both the Messiahship and the deity of Christ are clearly confessed by one who can speak for every true child of faith... Peter was deeply blessed because he had received this truth as a revelation from the Father, not from any human source.
The words were spoken to Christ, not about Him — and that is what makes them a test:
William J HockingPeter's statement was made to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He looks for a similar acknowledgement from you now. He wants you to say, from your heart, in His presence, looking Him in the face, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Everyone Will Answer the Question
The same Person meets every human being — but not everyone meets Him in the same way:
Edward DennettThe One who sits on that great white throne as the Judge is the blessed One who, now seated in glory at the right hand of God, is proclaimed to you as a Saviour... So no one can escape; but the question that affects you, and will affect you for ever, is whether you will bow the knee to Him now while it is the accepted time and the day of salvation, or whether you will be forced to bow before Him as your Judge on the throne.
Summary
- Name — "Jesus" means Jehovah-saving; "Christ" means the Anointed. His name states His work; His title states His office.
- Person — He is God with no beginning, and true man; the two are joined in one Person, so every word and suffering of His carried divine value.
- Purpose — Had He not been man, He could not be a sacrifice; had He not been God, that sacrifice could not reach all.
- Reach — He shows the invisible God as no angel or prophet could, and He saves not only at the cross but right on to the end.
- Response — Knowing who He is comes as revelation from the Father, and is confessed to His face. Every knee bows eventually; the only question is whether now to a Saviour or later to a Judge.