Cornerstone #5 - The Nature of Christ

As I mentioned in my last post, what I'm providing here is a logical framework. When I get to Cornerstone #6 I'll shift away from logic.

Let's walk down through the previous cornerstones:

• If one believes that God exists and has revealed something of himself in creation, and
• If one believes the Bible to be a special revelation, in which the true nature of God himself is revealed to us in a way that is believed to be true, and
  
• If one believes what the Bible tells us about God; namely that he is "Holy" -- different, set apart, perfect, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, and
• If one believes what the Bible tells us about ourselves; namely that we not perfect, that in fact we fall well short of God's Holy nature, that in fact the difference between ourselves and a Holy God is so wide, so enormous, that we can't possibly bridge the gap through our own feeble efforts ... then
• One starts to grasp the nature of the problem we face -- that is, we are alienated from a perfect God by our sinful nature, and that no matter how hard we strive we'll never be perfect. In short, since we can't reconcile ourselves to God, then it will be only through God's actions that we have any chance at all of ever being reconciled.
  

Our sin represents a grave injustice -- an affront to God's perfect and Holy nature. In a perfect setting, there would be no injustice ... there may be offense, but every offense would be met with a perfectly calibrated punishment such that justice will have been served.

Note: be careful not to confuse justice with mercy. One may choose to forego punishing someone for an offense committed. One may choose to do that for many reasons -- a forgiving heart, for one. When one chooses to not meet offense with justice, one is measuring out mercy. But mercy does not eliminate the offense, and an offense not answered is injustice.

God, being perfect and Holy -- including a perfect sense of justice -- cannot simply ignore offenses committed. Doing so would create a realm of injustice, and injustice would be a violation of God's perfect nature. One aspect of God's nature as revealed in the Bible is his inability to be something other than what he is -- that is, perfect and Holy. It is like asking if God has the power to lie ... yes, he has the power to do anything, but for him to lie would be for him to cease being perfect and Holy; in short, he would cease being God. Therefore, God is "incapable" of doing anything that contradicts who he is, including ignoring injustice. Therefore, our sin -- an offense to God -- requires that it be met so justice can be served.

Note: one should stop reading if one doesn't agree with that. If one believes God is capable of, and indeed does simply overlook sin, then there is no chance that the message of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ will make any sense whatever.

What's the difference between perfect and imperfect? I argue that the difference is like that between 1,000,000 and infinity. Or between 1,000,000,000 and infinity. In other words, the difference between perfection and anything other than perfection is essentially infinity. Therefore, our transgressions -- our sins -- are an offense to God that is of limitless degree.

Now, if our offense before God is limitlessly large, then for justice to be served would require a limitless response. But what would be the nature of a just punishment when the crime is so complete and vast? A slap on the wrist certainly isn't it -- that would not serve the need for perfect justice. Even the killing of a handful -- or more -- of us would not provide the punishment needed to effect perfect justice.

No, the truth is that before a perfect and Holy God our sin requires nothing less than our complete and utter elimination. God has not yet done that because in additional to God's perfect justice, God is expansively -- but the Bible tells us not limitlessly -- merciful. His mercy is demonstrated by what he chose to do -- make another suffer the punishment in our place.

That was Christ on the cross.

Now if Jesus was just another man, then the punishment would have been completely insufficient for the offense. So Jesus had to be more than "just a man" ... Jesus had to be perfect himself so that his death would provide the perfect atonement for the enormity of our sins against God. If Jesus were just another mortal man, then he could not -- by definition -- be perfect (see Cornerstone #4 on the Nature of Man).

Which is why it is so critically important -- within the framework of the Christian doctrine -- for Jesus to be more than "just a good teacher." Jesus had to be perfect -- Jesus had to be God himself. And so he was -- Jesus was God incarnate. The perfect sacrifice to effect the perfect atonement.

Hence Cornerstone #5 -- the Nature of Christ -- perfect; God incarnate. Anything less than that makes the entire Christian doctrinal framework come apart.

Note: this is why the previous cornerstones are so critical. The idea of Christ as God incarnate makes little sense if any of the prior four cornerstones isn't in place. If God chose to remain hidden (denying cornerstones #1 and #2), then we'd have nothing on which to base any claim of Christ's deity. If God wasn't perfect (denying #3) then there'd be no need for a perfect sacrifice. If man weren't truly sinful (denying #4) then there'd be no need for justice to be served, or at least no need for a punishment as enormous as God humbling himself by becoming man for 33 years and then killing himself on our behalf.

That's it.

The final cornerstone has to do with our proper response to this. We then jump the rails of logic to what we ought to do. But not necessarily what logic dictates that we do.