Study of the Bible Community Group
The Bible unfolds like literature, and we follow the instructions like marching orders. The last orders supersede the previous ones. So the New Covenant (Testament) gives the design of who we are, what we do, and how we meet. What do you see in it, that can help us live better?
Who was the real Jesus in the bible?
The Bible does not reveal Jesus as a God but as a man – albeit a special man because he was the son of God. He was though a man with the same ‘nature’ as all humans – that is to say a proneness to sin and being subject to death.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ Jesus;” 1 Tim 2:5
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took PART OF THE SAME; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death… ” Hebrews 2:14
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHEN… For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Heb 2:17-18
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
How could Jesus be tempted to sin against God if he was God? What would the point of been of speeding 40 days in the wilderness being tempted? These things simply do not make an sense unless we conclude that Jesus was a man, the son of God, and not God himself, having the same nature as other men but having been given the power, by God to overcome the temptations that came his way. In every temptation Jesus chose to do God’s will.
It is only through a correct belief and association with what Christ has done that we can have a hope of God removing our sin-prone natures and forgive us our transgressions.
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12
“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17
Christ then is our representative. He is the one who performed God’s will perfectly and the one who we should seek to follow. It is only through association with his work we can have our sins forgiven and our nature removed.
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
He paid the ultimate price, he sacrificed himself that we might have opportunity of association with what he has done.
One of our hopes should be the return of our Lord.
The Bible does not reveal Jesus as a God but as a man – albeit a special man because he was the son of God. He was though a man with the same ‘nature’ as all humans – that is to say a proneness to sin and being subject to death.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ Jesus;” 1 Tim 2:5
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took PART OF THE SAME; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death… ” Hebrews 2:14
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHEN… For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Heb 2:17-18
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
How could Jesus be tempted to sin against God if he was God? What would the point of been of speeding 40 days in the wilderness being tempted? These things simply do not make an sense unless we conclude that Jesus was a man, the son of God, and not God himself, having the same nature as other men but having been given the power, by God to overcome the temptations that came his way. In every temptation Jesus chose to do God’s will.
It is only through a correct belief and association with what Christ has done that we can have a hope of God removing our sin-prone natures and forgive us our transgressions.
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12
“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17
Christ then is our representative. He is the one who performed God’s will perfectly and the one who we should seek to follow. It is only through association with his work we can have our sins forgiven and our nature removed.
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
He paid the ultimate price, he sacrificed himself that we might have opportunity of association with what he has done.
One of our hopes should be the return of our Lord.
I and the Father are one.
Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
Psalm 8
1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.