Joel M Bradshaw

21So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”23He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 

28So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30As he was saying these things, many believed in him.–John 8 (with emphasis)

I posted more verses this morning than usual, but I wanted you to have the various ways Jesus described himself. If you heard someone speak this way to you I guarantee you would be tempted to just dismiss them out of hand. This is why Jesus did many miracles, for they backed up this radical, but essential truth about Jesus. He was not just some dude, but actually is the eternal Son of God in the flesh.

So theologically speaking the man Jesus had a human beginning. John told us in chapter 1 that the Word became flesh. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a manger, etc. But Jesus here claims to be someone from above and existing in a realm where God the Father exists. John also told us in chapter 1 that this Word was with God in the beginning and that the Word is God. So even though human Jesus had a beginning, the Son of God who He also is did not. Again, Jesus was not just some dude, but is the eternal Son of God in the flesh.

Please reread the underlined portions above. These realities separate our understanding of Jesus, God, the Trinity, etc. from everyone else. To be a Christian you must maintain these core beliefs about Jesus. The religious elite of Jesus’ day refused to understand what Jesus was claiming and therefore condemned him for blasphemy. But if Jesus was telling the truth then He wasn’t actually blaspheming. It’s the core theological tension of the Gospels. When you explain that Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man to someone, you understand that tension. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.–JMB