The Cross

A Broadcast with R.C. Sproul On the cross, Jesus bore the sins of His people and satisfied the demands of God’s justice. From his series Dust to Glory, R.C. Sproul discusses the atonement.

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A Closer Look at the “Son of Man” Saying of Jesus

https://chab123.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/a-closer-look-at-the-son-of-man-saying-of-jesus-3/

10 Things You Should Know About The Kenosis Controversy

That title may have put you off, but if you are still reading, I trust you will recognize how critically important this issue of Kenosis is to our understanding of the person of Christ and the incarnation.

(1) The word translated kenosis is related to the Greek noun kenos and the verb kenoo. Kenos has the sense of empty or to no purpose and kenoo means to deprive of power or to make of no meaning or effect. It is the verb form that is found in Philippians 2:7 (see also Romans 4:14; 1 Cor. 1:7; 9:15; 2 Cor. 9:3). where it says of the pre-incarnate Son of God that he “emptied himself” (ESV) or “made himself of no reputation” (KJV).

Read more: https://www.samstorms.com/enjoying-god-blog/post/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-kenosis-controversy

The Christ of the Creeds

A Broadcast with R.C. Sproul Jesus Christ is described in Scripture as being truly man and truly God. From his Foundations series, R.C. Sproul explains how the early church councils helped clarify the doctrines of Christology.

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Revisiting the Minimal Facts Argument: A Hypothetical Discussion Between a Skeptic and a Christian

https://chab123.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/revisiting-the-minimal-facts-argument-a-hypothetical-discussion-between-a-skeptic-and-a-christian/

The Names of Christ

A Broadcast with R.C. Sproul The Bible often attaches great significance to names and titles. From his Foundations series, R.C. Sproul takes us through the many names of Jesus and explains what they reveal about Him.

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Here’s Why Jesus Never Said “I Am God” In The Bible

~ Nicholas Davis

 

In the Bible we never read any verse where Jesus says the words, “I am God.”

However, this does not mean that Jesus never claimed to be God. If he never claimed to be God, then his public enemies would have never crucified him for blasphemy. What is “blasphemy”? It’s when a person claims to be God.

A lot of people try to argue that Jesus never claimed to be God. They will say something like, “Where is the Bible verse for him claiming he was God?” Sometimes Christians will then get stumped with such a question because they can’t find the exact sentence where Jesus says, “I am God,” and so he must not have said it. But it’s right in the Bible!

In the Gospel of John, we are told that the Jews immediately took up stones to throw at Jesus when he said the following statement: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (Jn 8:58). In those days, you got stoned for blasphemy, for claiming to be God. People don’t try to kill you or crucify you if you claim to be a really good person or a nice guy. I mean, they don’t even try to kill you for being crazy! They will, however, slaughter you in cold blood for claiming to be God.

When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” he was claiming to be God. His language echoes that time when God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” The Greek Bible, called the Septuagint, translates this as “I Am the Being,” and Jesus’s statement here confirms this teaching. At the very end of the Bible, in Revelation, John puts it like this:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev 22:13)

Therefore, what Jesus means is not simply that he came before Abraham in some pre-existent state, but that he created Abraham. Jesus was claiming to be the very God of Israel, the Creator of the universe as described in the Old Testament. If this wasn’t his claim, then his opponents never would have killed him for it.

They also wouldn’t have accused him of making himself out to be God—if he wasn’t saying that he was God. The Jews actually told Jesus, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (Jn 10:33). The trouble with the question is that we are trying to read an ancient text as if it were written today. Jesus isn’t answering our question, though; he was answering theirs. He spoke in a specific way to a specific group of people who understood exactly what he said. Jesus was, and is, God.