"WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT
I THE SON OF MAN AM?"

Max R. Miller

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:8-10).
Who is this Jesus? Lowly carpenter of Nazareth? Was He God? The only begotten Son of God? Was He really from heaven? Was He only a good man blessed of God in unusual ways? Was He a real flesh and blood human being, or a ghost-like phantom figure? Who was this Jesus of Nazareth? Throughout the Christian Age the true identity of this holy character has been a great controversy. To the wise men of the East and even Herod himself, Jesus, born at Bethlehem, was only an earthly king. Pontus Pilate asked of Him if He was a king, and received little for his inquiry. Controversy followed the man of Nazareth everywhere He went. Pharisees and Sadducees, strongest of the religious leaders of Israel, denied the true nature of Jesus. Rather than accept Him as King of the Jews and the only begotten Son of God, they crucified Him. These of New Testament times, passed on, others came and passed on, but the controversy about the person of Jesus Christ has continued until this day.
The Ebionites of the second century denied the divine nature of Jesus Christ. To them, Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary, who so completely fulfilled the Jewish law that God chose Him to be the Messiah. He would come again to found a Messianic kingdom for the Jews. Along with them, the Docetists also denied the Lord's true nature. They deemed Him to be "only seemingly (docetic) human" (an apparition, ghost-like appearance). They taught that His body seemed to be flesh and blood. He seemed to suffer. His tears of pain and sorrows were apparent, not real. He appeared to be a man of flesh, bone and blood-but what seemed to be real was not real at all. Docetics denied His humanity.
We here give attention to an even more dangerous sect that denied the true nature of Jesus: the Gnostics. Gnosticism was pre-Christian in its origin, and was in existence before Christianity came into the world. The height of its influence was from about 135 to 160, though it continued a force long afterward. Gnosticism threatened to overwhelm the Christian faith, and brought the gravest crisis to the church since the Pauline battle for freedom from the law of Moses.
The term Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis (knowledge). Through mystic, supernatural knowledge Gnostics were brought to a true understanding of the universe, and were saved from the evil world of matter. By that mystic endowment of knowledge Gnostics attained to the realm of perfect Light. This knowledge and its source were superior to the Gospel of Christ. Sparks, or seeds of the Divine Being, fell from this transcendent realm of Light into the material universe, which is wholly evil, and dwelt in human bodies. Reawakened by knowledge, the divine element in humanity can return to its proper home in the transcendent spiritual realm of Light. The end and object of Gnosticism was to purify its followers from the corruption of matter, and to raise them to a higher order of being, suited only to those who were made perfect by knowledge.
Gnostics taught the existence of two Gods. One was the God of Light who sent Christ into the world; the other, the Demiurge, was the creator of the world of matter. All matter was evil. The Demiurge, the God of Biblical creation (Genesis 1:1-2) could not be the high and good God, the God of Light, but an inferior and imperfect being. Gnostics denied the divine spirit touched evil, material human flesh. Therefore, the person of Christ could not be a composition of material elements. To them, Christ was totally a spirit being, a subordinate spirit, one of the angels, that emanated from the High God of Light. He had not come "in the flesh," but in ghost-like, Docetic appearance. Christ did, indeed, appear. He taught His disciples but as a heavenly being, not one of flesh and blood. Gnostics denied the humanity of Christ. The apostle Paul stated, in the face of rising Gnosticism, "For in him [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). His compass of the ministry of Jesus Christ-from heaven-to earth-and back to the heavenly is stated fully: "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
About the years A. D. 85-90, John writes his Gospel and his First Epistle. He begins his Gospel by stating clearly: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). His First Epistle begins with the testimony of an intimate bosom companion of Jesus who declared, we (John and other apostles) heard Him with our own ears, we have seen Him with our own eyes, and we have handled His fleshly body with our own hands (1 John 1:1-3).
John boldly incriminates those who deny that Christ came in the flesh as liars and antichrists. Hear him: "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:3). "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time" (1 John 2:18). "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 7).
Furthermore, John in his writings, refutes the growing menaces of Gnosticism by identifying the true Light. John turns the word light, as misused by the Gnostics, against them and their heresy. Rather than Light being the god above the God of Creation, he shows the true Light is the God of Creation: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). John identifies Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit of God, as the Immanuel of prophecy (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:19-25). This Immanuel (God with us) is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead [deity] bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Jesus Christ said of Himself, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). Paul urged Timothy to keep the commandments "of our Lord Jesus Christ…Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto…" (1 Timothy 6:14-16).
The children of God walk in the light with the God of Light (1 John 1:5-7). There is no darkness in the God of the Apostles, neither is there darkness in the children of the true God of light. "Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14-16). God's children are made to be "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…delivered from the power of darkness…translated into the kingdom of his dear son" (Colossians 1:12-14). His children are a "chosen generation…called out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). "Ye [Christians] are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Paul praises the God of heaven "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness [who] hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). The children of God are to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11).
The apostle Paul summed up the fullness of divinity in Jesus Christ as he wrote to the Philippian saints, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).
Christians may ever be grateful for the God of love, who sent the light of His Son Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost, delivering them from the captivity of Satan and darkness and giving them the light of life. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). The Holy Spirit in God's Holy Book reveals to us the truth and knowledge of Immanuel, God manifest in the flesh. This is He who gives life and light to His faithful disciples. For He "hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:9-10).-10726 Hwy 59 W., Burlison, TN 38015-7244