A Radical Belief
The Apostle Paul writes,
“...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:10,11.
Bible scholars note that the early church preached what for the time was a radical and dangerous confession. That being their belief that “Jesus is Lord”.
In the Roman empire at that time Caesar was considered lord. Saying that Jesus was equal to and even greater than Caesar was an affront to Caesar’s power. Yet the early church put this belief unwaveringly at the centre of their beliefs.
The same is true today. Christians the world over believe Jesus is Lord of all. That He is indeed God incarnate. The writer of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear saying.
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3.
The apostle John referring to Jesus as the word “The Word” writes,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” John 1:1-4,14.
C. S. Lewis noted,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Please think about it.
The Apostle Paul writes,
“...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:10,11.
Bible scholars note that the early church preached what for the time was a radical and dangerous confession. That being their belief that “Jesus is Lord”.
In the Roman empire at that time Caesar was considered lord. Saying that Jesus was equal to and even greater than Caesar was an affront to Caesar’s power. Yet the early church put this belief unwaveringly at the centre of their beliefs.
The same is true today. Christians the world over believe Jesus is Lord of all. That He is indeed God incarnate. The writer of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear saying.
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3.
The apostle John referring to Jesus as the word “The Word” writes,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” John 1:1-4,14.
C. S. Lewis noted,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Please think about it.
