{"id":72952,"date":"2018-12-21T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T15:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/us\/?p=72952"},"modified":"2018-12-20T11:15:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T16:15:01","slug":"christ-the-god-of-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banneroftruth.org\/us\/resources\/articles\/2018\/christ-the-god-of-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ, the God of Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little does it require proof that Christ is the God of Christians. In the\u00a0New Testament all divine titles are given to him. He is called God,\u00a0the true God, the great God, God over all, Jehovah. He is declared to\u00a0be almighty, omnipresent, immutable, and eternal. He created heaven\u00a0and earth; all things visible and invisible were made by him and for him,\u00a0and by him all things consist. He upholds all things by the word of his\u00a0power. This divine person became flesh; he was found in fashion as a\u00a0man, and in the form of a servant. Having been born of a woman, he\u00a0was made under the law, and fulfilled all righteousness. He redeemed us\u00a0from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. He bore our sins\u00a0in his own body on the tree. He died the just for the unjust, to bring us\u00a0unto God, and having died for our offences, and risen again for our justification,\u00a0has ascended to heaven, where he is seated on the right hand\u00a0of God, all power in heaven and earth being committed to his hands,\u00a0and where he ever lives to make intercession for his people. This Christ,\u00a0God and man, in two distinct natures and one person forever, was to the\u00a0writers of the New Testament all and in all. He was their wisdom; from\u00a0him they derived all their knowledge of divine things, and to his teaching\u00a0they implicitly submitted. He was their righteousness; renouncing\u00a0all dependence on their own righteousness, they trusted exclusively on\u00a0the merit of his obedience and death for their acceptance with God. He\u00a0was their sanctification. Their spiritual life was derived from him and\u00a0sustained by him. They were in him as the branch is in the vine, or the\u00a0members in the body, so that it was not they who lived, but Christ who\u00a0lived in them. Without him they could do nothing; they could no more\u00a0bring forth the fruits of holy living separated from him than a branch\u00a0can bear fruit when separated from the vine, nor than the body can live\u00a0when separated from the head. They felt themselves to be in him in such\u00a0a sense, that what he did, they did. They died with him. They rose with him. What he is, they become. What he has, they receive, all in their\u00a0measure\u2014that is, as much as they can hold. They are filled with the fullness of God in him.<\/p>\n

This being so, it follows, of course, that Christ was to them the\u00a0object of divine worship and of all the religious affections, of adoration,\u00a0of supreme love, of trust, of submission, of devotion. He was their\u00a0absolute sovereign and proprietor by the double right of creation and\u00a0redemption. Love to him was the motive, his will the rule, his glory the\u00a0end of their obedience. It was Christ for them to live. Living or dying,\u00a0they were the Lord\u2019s. They enforced all moral duties out of regard to\u00a0him; wives were to obey their husbands, children their parents, servants\u00a0their masters, for Christ\u2019s sake. Christians were commanded not to utter\u00a0a contaminating word in a brother\u2019s ear because he belonged to Christ;\u00a0they endeavoured to preserve their personal purity, because their bodies\u00a0were the members of Christ. The blessedness of heaven in their view\u00a0consisted in being with Christ, in beholding his glory, enjoying his love,\u00a0in being like him, and in being devoted to his services. It is a simple fact,\u00a0that such was the Christianity of the writers of the New Testament.\u00a0Their religious life terminated on Christ, and was determined by their\u00a0relation to him. He was their God, their Saviour, their Prophet, Priest,\u00a0and King; they depended on his righteousness for their justification;\u00a0they looked to him for sanctification. He was their life, their way, their\u00a0end. If they lived, it was for him; if they died, it was that they might\u00a0be with him. They did not attempt to reform or to save men on the\u00a0principles of natural religion, or by a process of moral culture. These\u00a0had their place, but they are inadequate and absorbed in a higher moral\u00a0power. Paul, in writing to Titus, speaking of Christians before their\u00a0conversion, says: \u2018They were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,\u00a0serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,\u00a0and hating one another. But after the kindness and love of God our\u00a0Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which\u00a0we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing\u00a0of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on\u00a0us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by\u00a0grace, we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life.\u2019 They,\u00a0therefore, laboured for the reformation and salvation of men by going\u00a0everywhere preaching Christ as the only Saviour from sin.<\/p>\n

What Christianity was in the hearts of the apostles, it has been in the\u00a0hearts of Christians of all ages, and in all parts of the world. Of this,\u00a0every Christian has the evidence in his own experience. Christ is to him\u00a0both God and man\u2014God manifest in the flesh; God surrounded by\u00a0the rainbow of humanity, which softens, diversifies, and beautifies his\u00a0rays. Christ he worships, trusts, loves, and obeys. Christ is his wisdom,\u00a0his righteousness, his sanctification, his redemption. Christ is ever near\u00a0him, so that he can be spoken to, appealed to, and communed with; a\u00a0present help in every time of need. Christ is the Christian\u2019s portion for\u00a0time and for eternity. With Christ he has everything, and without him\u00a0he has nothing.<\/p>\n

The experience of one Christian is the experience of all. This is the\u00a0conscious bond of their union. The hymns which live through all ages,\u00a0are hymns of praise to Christ. All Protestants can join with St Bernard,\u00a0when he says:<\/p>\n

Jesus, the very thought of Thee,
\nWith sweetness fills my breast;
\nBut sweeter far Thy face to see,
\nAnd in Thy presence rest.<\/p>\n

When once Thou visitest the heart,
\nThen light begins to shine,
\nThen earthly vanities depart,
\nThen kindles love divine.<\/p>\n

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
\nAs Thou our prize shalt be;
\nJesus, be Thou our glory now.
\nAnd through eternity.<\/p>\n

What is true of the Christianity of the medieval saints, is true of\u00a0believers now. Toplady\u2019s hymn \u2018Rock of Ages, cleft for me\u2019, finds a\u00a0response in every Christian heart. So does his hymn,<\/p>\n

Compared with Christ, in all besides,
\nNo comeliness I see;
\nThe one thing needful, dearest Lord,
\nIs to be one with Thee.
\nThyself bestow; for Thee alone,
\nI absolutely pray.
\nLess than Thyself will not suffice,
\nMy comfort to restore.
\nMore than Thyself I cannot have;
\nAnd Thou canst give no more.<\/p>\n

Volumes might be filled with such proofs of what Christianity is in\u00a0the hearts of Christians. It will be observed, it is not mainly Christ as a\u00a0teacher, as an example, nor even as the expiator of our sins\u2014it is not\u00a0mainly what he has done that is rendered thus prominent; but what he\u00a0is. He is God clothed in our nature, ever with us, ever in us\u2014our life,\u00a0our present joy, our everlasting portion; the one to whom we owe everything,\u00a0from whom we derive everything, who loves us with a love that\u00a0is peculiar, exclusive (that is, such as he entertains for no other class of\u00a0beings), and unspeakable.<\/p>\n

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This article is an extract from \u2018Christianity without Christ\u2019, The Presbyterian Quarterly\u00a0and Princeton Review<\/em>, Vol. 5 No. 18 (1876), pp. 352-62; reprinted in James M.\u00a0Garretson ed., Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry<\/em><\/a> (Edinburgh:\u00a0Banner of Truth, 2012), Vol. 2 pp. 286-97. It was first published in this format the November 2012 edition of the Banner of Truth<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

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More from Hodge<\/h3>\n