THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CHRIST DOCTRINE

Christianity as would be described by many is the faith built on the figure of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian then would be to understand and adhere to the doctrine of Christ. It is a monotheistic theology hugely misconstrued by many who regard it as a departure from monotheism. Many in the Christian Community are also timid in the understanding of the doctrine the result being an impoverished defense of the faith. The magnitude of the Eternal Being is so huge that he packaged it in mysteries requiring revelational insights for a better understanding of him. It is therefore a doctrine built on, though not limited to, revelational epistemology.

Colossians 2:2-3 NKJV

“That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

John 16:13-15 NKJV

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Before creation, God just is; the absolute eternal reality, the uncaused cause, who didn’t come into being, and neither can he go out of being because he is Being. There cannot be any other reality outside of him unless he wills it into being. A secondary being cannot exist autonomously outside the absolute being. His essence, therefore, has to exist in the new reality, to anchor it to the absolute being. The personification of his essence is the first existence in the new reality.  In the new reality where creation occurs, the embodiment bearing all the fullness of the eternal being is YAHWEH. Metaphorically, he is the firstborn of the new reality; our Father in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-16 NKJV

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in Him, all things consist”.

An image by dictionary definition is a visual representation of the external form of something. What then would be a representation of the Eternal being in the secondary reality?  YAHWEH being the substance of image for Man, cannot project in man that which he does not bear. Therefore, the image of the eternal being is Soul and Spirit, existing as one being: I AM; YAHWEH. The new reality is by the will of his absolute majesty progressively carried forth in YAHWEH.

The eternal being is sovereign. He decides how he relates with his creation. In the new reality, there’s a specific way he chose to initiate and interact with the creation. He embodied the expression of his thoughts into the Word who is the conveyor and interpreter of the wisdom within. It is through the Word that the whole universe was spoken into being. In the word, God packaged His Will in conceivable terms to his creation by whom they were to abide. Nothing came into being without the word in whom the thought of it was compounded. YAHWEH and his Word were the personification of the Eternal Being. The Word is the person of his being in whom all creation reconcile to him having being created through him.

John 1:1-5 NKJV

“In the beginning, was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

1 John 5:7 NKJV

“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 8:6 NKJV

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live”

Man is a unique creation who bears the image of God. Generically we use the word Man to mean a male human being. The original meaning was an image of God’s Being, in a physical body with dominion over his physical creation.

Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV

“Then God said,” Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” so God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Man as an image of God’s Being is a soul with a spirit. He requires a physical body for his engagements in the three-dimensional world. His essence is in the soul; a likeness of God’s being, with a mind of his own and free will. He is aware of God’s will through the Spirit. It’s only by the Holy Spirit that he bears the mind of Christ. In the three-dimensional world, therefore, he is a Free willed soul with a spirit living in a physical body. Though an image of God’s being, he is not God. He is a creation of God connected to his Being through the Holy Spirit.

 As Man faltered, Christ; the Word, with the responsibility of reconciling everything to the Father as had been pre-ordained, came in the nature of men physically into the world for his redemption.  In the realm of men, the Word became a soul; an image of God’s being bearing God’s will.  Unlike Adam the first man created with free will, he came with the will of God thus becoming the embodiment of the Godhead in the physical realm. As a soul with a physical body, he was fully human. With God’s will, he was fully God. Adam was a soul; an Image of God’s Being with free will. Jesus was a soul; an image of God’s Being with God’s will.

John 1:14 NKJV

“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.

Before sin, Man as the uncorrupted image of God, through the alignment of his will to God’s through the Spirit, reflected the being of the eternal God in the physical realm. He was created as a partaker in eternal life, as long as in exercising his free will, he was within God’s will. By the first man falling out of the confines of God’s will, sin entered the world. The second Man came in God’s will, and maintained God’s perfect image despite being born in sinful flesh thereby conquering sin. By sin, man deprived himself of eternal life. By conquering sin and death, the man Jesus Christ reconciled man to eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:45 NKJV

“And so it is written,” The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit”.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NKJV

“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive”.

1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

 The man Jesus; a sinless soul maintained the perfect image of God, a clear representation of what Adam, man, would have been without sin. The major difference being the application of their respective wills. By maintaining righteousness in the realm of men he became the unblemished Lamb for man’s redemption from sin. He regularly referred to himself as the ‘’Son of Man”, since although in God’s will, came into the world through sinful man. Through him, man finds reconciliation with God.

Through Adam, we died in sin. Through the man Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from sin. He is the unblemished Lamb sacrificed as a sin offering before God for man’s atonement.  By embracing this sin offering, man is resurrected with him and restored to his original state as a perfect image of God. Man is therefore born again of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:47-49 NKJV

“The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man”.

The first man Adam was created and given free dominion over God’s physical creation. The second man Jesus Christ, the Lamb, having reconciled man to God through his blood, was granted a more expansive dominion which includes everything on earth and in heaven except the giver of the authority. By believing in him, partaking in his crucifixion sacrifice, and becoming a new creation in his resurrection, we conform to his perfect image of God worthy of reigning with him in this new Kingdom.

1 Peter 3:22 NKJV

“Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him”.

Just as the earthly priests intercede on our behalf, The Lamb having entered heaven, appearing before God in the holiest of places, by his own blood of the sacrifice becomes the highest priest to intercede for us. Through him, we present our requests and supplications. Through him, we enter into the presence of God. It is in this knowledge that non-other is holy enough to appear before God, that we make our prayers in his name as the Highest priest of the most high God.

Hebrews 7:26 NKJV

“For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens”.

John 14:12-14 NKJV

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it”.

The marriage mystery is that a husband and wife become one flesh. A man leaves his parents and goes to find flesh of his flesh. All souls being images of God, belong to him and thus he does not delight in their destruction. Just as a man goes to find flesh of his flesh, he sent his Son Jesus Christ to reconcile an image of him to himself. In him, by his sacrifice, man’s soul is reconciled with its substance; God. It is only by enjoining ourselves to the Lamb that we bear an image that qualifies for eternity. Just as a bride is engaged to a man prior to the wedding, the church is betrothed to the Lamb, the Holy Spirit being given to us as the guarantee for this betrothal. Through the Holy Spirit, we are imputed with Christ’s righteousness qualifying us for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Man on his own, limited by his sinful nature, cannot attain the righteousness required for eternal life. Such righteousness is only imputed in him by the grace of God through enjoinment with the Lamb. With Christ as the head of the union, God looks at us through the lens of the head, being one with Christ, choosing to ignore our imperfections and focussing on Christ’s righteousness in the union.

Revelations 22:17 NKJV

“And the Spirit and the bride say,” Come!” And let him who hears say,” Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

Our belief as Christians in one Eternal God is incontrovertible. The magnitude of his being is fully permeated in the creation in three persons. His Soul and Spirit; I AM, and his Word assuredly exist as one Being. This is the Being that we have come to generically refer to as the Holy Trinity. Indeed, the expression Holy Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. It is just but a derivative of his Being. The Being is the imperative while the person is the indicative. The person is the manifested Being. In his own sovereignty, he has established the way he wants to deal and relate with his creation (both visible and invisible): In a triune nature. The Holy Trinity.