Spiritual Warfare: The Divinity of Christ

Monday, August 03, 2009

The Divinity of Christ

Part Two

God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering. -- Saint Augustine of Hippo

In Part One, I discussed the assertion of some “theologians” that Jesus Christ was unaware of His divinity until His crucifixion. I disproved that theory with the accounts of the Gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John. Here in Part Two, we will disprove the absurd notion of some “theologians” that Christ had dark, evil, and even lustful thoughts.

This convoluted idea that Jesus Christ had dark, evil, or lustful thoughts goes entirely against everything contained in Holy Scripture regarding Him. We know from Scripture that Jesus Christ had no sin and that He took on our sins and paid the price for us by His sacrifice on the cross. We have these words from scripture:

2 COR 5:21: Him, who knew no sin, He hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in Him

HEBREWS 4:15: For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.

1 PETER 1:17-19: And if you invoke as Father Him who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every one’s work: converse in fear during the time of your sojourning here. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.

1 JOHN 3: 4-5: Whosoever committeth sin committeth also iniquity; and sin is iniquity. And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

We know that Jesus became lower than the angels and took on flesh, and became man. He was true man in every respect except His being sinful. His body was a natural body like our own, and He experienced the same natural weaknesses we experience in our bodies, such as hunger, thirst, sufferings, and death. Because however, His body was conceived miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit, He did not have those infirmities that result from our sinful fallen nature.

To say that Jesus had dark, evil, or lustful thoughts can be disproved entirely from Scripture, especially in the Gospels. We know that after He was baptized by Saint John the Baptist, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert where He was tempted by Satan:

MATTHEW 4: 1-11: Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, And said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, And said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.

Jesus also taught that to have evil thoughts was to sin, as we see from these verses:

MATTHEW 5: 27-28: You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.

MARK 7: 14-15, 17-23: And calling again the multitude unto Him, He said to them: Hear ye me all, and understand. There is nothing from without a man that entering into him, can defile him. But the things which come from a man, those are they that defile a man. And when He was come into the house from the multitude, His disciples asked Him the parable. And He saith to them: So are you also without knowledge? understand you not that every thing from without, entering into a man cannot defile him: Because it entereth not into his heart, but goeth into the belly, and goeth out into the privy, purging all meats? But He said that the things which come out from a man, they defile a man. For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.

So we can see from these instances of Holy Scripture, that unlike us, Jesus was able to overcome temptation from the devil, and that He taught unequivocally that dark, evil, or lustful thoughts were sins which defiled a man. Was Jesus defiled? Of course not! For anyone to say that Jesus Christ had evil dark thoughts is to accuse Him of sin who did not have sin. Further, to accuse Christ of sin is to call His sacrifice on the cross meaningless and without any merit whatsoever. If Christ had had sin, then He could not have taken on our sins, and His death on the cross would have been meaningless. Therefore, the teaching of these theologians calls Christ's death on the cross without merit. If His death was without merit, then we would still be under the penalty of eternal death and there would be nothing that could give us the salvation we need.

Have you ever wondered as I have as to how or even why some of these people became “theologians”? The dictionary gives the following definition for theology: 1.study of religion: the study of religion, especially the Christian faith and God’s relation to the world; 2. religious theory: a theoreligious theory, school of thought, or system of belief; 3. course of religious training: a course of specialized religious training, especially one intended to lead students to a vocation in the Christian Church. It also gives this definition for theologian : specialist in theology: somebody who is an expert in or a student of theology.

Now, let me point out a couple of things here. First, because one has the title of “theologian” it does not necessarily follow that he or she is also a Christian. In fact, it is not even certain that some theologians have any belief system at all. Indeed, there are those who study, have degrees in, and are teachers of theology, who are not nor ever have been Christian. It is easy to ascertain who these non-Christian “theologians” are, when they make strenuous efforts to disprove and repudiate Jesus Christ and His Church. These are the same “theologians” who repeatedly refer to such things as the Gospel of Judas and Gnosticism as “Christian”, which if they were true students of Christianity, and had true knowledge of such heresies they would know those things were everything but Christian. I have even seen one “theologian” who said that Saint Paul never had a vision of Christ when he was converted on the road to Damascus. He said that Paul met with Christ who was living in Syria at the time. Yes, these are theologians. So once again, let me say, Lord, save me from theologians. Especially theologians who make it their life work to deny Christ.

Please don't think that I am dismissing all theologians as anathema, I am not. The history of the Church is replete with many great theologians such as Saint Albert the Great, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Augustine of Hippo just to name a few. Today we have very able theologians such as Pope Benedict XVI, Scott Hahn, the late Father John A. Hardon, and Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio among many others. The thing to remember is, if a theologians work seems more inclined to oppose Christ, His teaching, and His Church, then don't waste your time with their work. Compare it to the work of the theologians listed in this paragraph, who always proclaim the Gospel and the Church. Beware of men who write for the admiration of other men, and follow those who write for their love of God.