Wednesday: The Parallel Between Christ and Scripture
Read John 1:14; John 2:22; John 8:31-32; and John 17:17. Which parallels do you see between Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, and Scripture, the Written Word of God?
There is a parallel between the Word of God, who became flesh (i.e., Jesus Christ), and the Written Word of God (i.e., Scripture). Just as Jesus was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit yet born of a woman, Holy Scripture is also of supernatural origin yet delivered through human beings.
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Jesus Christ became a man in time and space. He lived during a specific time and at a specific place. Yet this fact did not nullify His divinity, nor did it make Jesus historically relative. He is the only Redeemer for all people, all over the world, throughout all time (see Acts 4:12). Likewise, God’s Written Word, the Bible, also was given at a specific time and in a particular culture. Just like Jesus Christ, the Bible is not time-conditioned, i.e., limited to a specific time and location; instead, it remains binding for all people, all over the world.
When God revealed Himself, He came down to the human level. Jesus’ human nature showed all the signs of human infirmities and the effects of some 4,000 years of degeneration. Yet, He was without sin. Similarly, the language of Scripture is human language, not some “perfect super-human” language that no one speaks or is able to understand. While any language has its limitations, the Creator of humankind, who is the Creator of human language, is perfectly capable of communicating His will to human beings in a trustworthy manner without misleading us.
Of course, every comparison has its limits. Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture are not identical. The Bible is not an incarnation of God. God is no book. God in Jesus Christ became human. We love the Bible because we worship the Savior proclaimed in its pages.
The Bible is a unique and inseparable divine-human union. Ellen G. White saw this clearly when she wrote: “The Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ John 1:14”. — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 8.
| Why must the Scripture be foundational to our faith? Without it, where would we be? |
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The Word and Christ are inseparable. Christ is the spoken word. The resonating sound that vibrates the universe into life. The Word which encompassed the universe shrank himself to become the incarnate Word in Mary.
Matthew 7:28-29
The crowd was amazed at His teaching. Because Christ did not give his interpretation of the word but the principle of the written Word.
When Christ spoke, "Thou shalt not kill", our interpretation was the physical act of killing, but Christ gave the true intent of the law, which is to eliminate the seed of hatred in the mind.
He taught as one with the authority. Every one of us writes comments based on our perspective; however, when Christ spoke, He spoke with authority no one was able to question His wisdom.
Every one of the Christian martyrs died, not because they were guilty, because the world could not find fault in their word, because of the incarnate Word was in their mind. (Philippians 2:5)
Do not fear the end time, the Holy Spirit himself will give us the word to speak
I have a question regarding paragraph 2 by the lesson writers. It says "Jesus Christ became a man in time and space. He lived during a specific time and at a specific place." Note it says specific time and place. Then it goes on to say "Likewise, God’s Written Word, the Bible, also was given at a specific time and in a particular culture." Again it says a specific time... But then the writer says "Just like Jesus Christ, the Bible is not time-conditioned, i.e., limited to a specific time and location;" Now saying that Jesus and the Bible are NOT time-conditioned to a specific time. This seems to be in contradiction to the first to statements.
Can someone please help me understand what is being said here.
Thanks
Eddy
Hi Eddy,
I look at it this way. God, who is unlimited by both time and space, became man in Jesus, where he was both limited in time and space. He did that projection of the infinite onto the finite so that he could save us and we in turn could understand him more. Likewise, the Bible is a projection of God's eternal principles into our time/space continuum in a way that we could understand them. he provided the "Children of Israel" framework in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, he reinterpreted that framework for the Christian Era. That model is easy for me because I think in terms of mathematical transformations, but there are probably other ways of thinking about it as well.
Thank you so much Eddy for such a wonderful question. We also gained from the response.
Thank you
Hello Maurice,
Do you understand Laplace transforms, convolution and partial differentiation? Just wondering.
Richard Ferguson
Rusty, but yes.
Jesus, the Son of God, became like the son of man. Not limited by flesh, He became flesh. Not limited by time, He grew from a child to an adult. Although it is hard for us to fully understand this, likewise, we will only comprehend all when we receive eternity! Thank God because He understands you and me, He has been "on our shoes". He has overtaken our nature. Perhaps while we are here, limited by our own time and space, we could just try to put on Jesus example of earthly life! By trying to understand His love for us, may we be sensitive and touched. Love can change us thoroughly!
Eddy, while the timely writing down the will of God for a new developing nation, and the incarnation of Jesus as a fulfillment of time(mark 1:15), yet both are timeless in application. The law wasn't given "for the Jew only", but was given through them to the world. Jesus was the lamb "slain from the foundation of the world" and His timely propitiating sacrifice brought salvation for Adam, and for all who dwell on earth until the close of probation for Adam's race.
Also, that which was written had been given orally through the patriarchs, beginning with Adam, all the way to Jacob(Israel) and Joseph, who knew the law of the Lord as a slave in Egypt. From Moses to now, it is preserved for all of Adam's children(everyone) for the truth itself is timeless.
Hi Eddy,
The problem with modern day brain is its audacity to question the infinite wisdom. Failing to find harmony on the apparently conflicting themes, it quickly concludes that the Bible is unbelievable.
This, to me, is a wrong course of action. The saying "Jesus Christ was man in time and space" has overtones of historical particularity. Remember it says when Jesus Christ was "man"! Should not this speak of a glimpse at His humanness within the historical domain?
And when the writer says Jesus Christ is NOT time-conditioned, does it not bring divine overtones?
There is absolutely no contradiction here. The self-proclaimed brain has failed to analyze between the lines.
Always in the face of biblical contradictions, one should fathom the depth of his finite judgment, and should never make a mistake of concluding that the Bible is not trustworthy.
God is God because we cannot by "searching find Him" (Job 11:7)
Jesus as a name was historical and subject to suffering. That name suffered humiliation and was nailed to the cross. When He rose and rendered death meaningless, thus giving humanity another chance for Hope, He became the Christ.
"The Jesus whom ye crucified became the Christ" (Acts 2:36).
And may I add, what unparalled love that God in making Christ the One, gave His Son to save us.
John the beloved put it this way:
In this the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:9-11. AMPC
If I do not reject this strong drawing of love. Eternal life is gifted me. "He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has (possesses now) eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day."
John 6:54. AMPC
As we feed on Him our brains become satisfied. Not by any marits of our own. Experience a relationship with Him.
Simon I am not picking on you, I needed a place to jump in.
You have picked up on an important point Eddy.
The statement presented in the lesson is overly simplistic to the point that is potentially misleading. As Maurice has pointed out, there are timeless principles reflected in scripture. But there are also time-conditioned principles and also time-conditioned application of timeless and time-conditioned principles. Bible interpretation involves, among other things, identifying which of these categories a particular passage or parts of a passage is reflecting.
There is a link in this upcoming Friday's lesson to a document at the Biblical Research Institute titled Methods of Bible Study that provides some examples illustrating the validity of these above categories.
Maybe this will help:
Christ is the personification of the Word (Bible). The Bible has one consistent theme and story throughout it 66 books written by its 40 authors; Christ the redeemer and how His sacrifice makes possible the righteous justification of His people by way of God’s law (government).
Grace, the unmerited favor of God figuratively represented in the Old Testament by the Mercy Seat of the Ark covering the Law of God beneath it, comes literally alive in Christ when His sacrifice on the Cross meets the demands of the law for each one of us that seek and accept Him by way of the written Word (Bible).
Finally, the written Word gives a historical record of the life of Christ we should seek to emulate in its glorious simplicity; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.
Eddy, how about attributing this to the imprecise use of language used here. When I peel back the layers of understanding in order to discover a better 'fit', I find that the writer could have meant that the TRUTH embodied in Jesus and the Bible are "not time-conditioned to a specific time or place".
Eddy, I think the writer is pointing out that, although Jesus took on human flesh and nature at a certain point in time, and His earthly sojourn encompassed a certain period of time within a certain geographical area, He can still be with us today. His power in our lives is not affected by the fact that we live in a different time and place than 1st-century Palestine. Likewise, although the Bible was written within a certain period of time, and within a certain culture, it can still speak to us today, wherever we are.
If we don't trust the written Word of the LORD as a direct message from Him then we are being misled.
I believe that the LORD has progressively revealed His character, as we start at Genesis and work through the Word until we get to Revelation, however the latter revelations do not contradict the earlier ones.
If we needed additional information to understand, it would have been included, historical philosophy should not override clear statements in the Word.
Jesus was laid on the cross for the sake of our sins
Guidance from the Holy Ghost.
Sometimes the use of language is difficult to understand depending on how we interpret or misinterpret things.
The Holy Scriptures is now called the 'bible', but the bible was not in Jesus days. No one called the Holy Words that name while Jesus was present on earth. The word 'Old' and 'New' testament was not in Jesus days. It was just the words of God written on a scroll with 4000 yrs of history.
The combination of the 'old' and 'new' covenant what we now call the 'old' and 'new' testament came years later.
Jesus was and still is, and will be forever a part of the Godhead. But he has several names: Alpha and Omega, The beginning and the End, The First and the Last, The Everlasting God, Eternity and several other names. But what the all mean is, Jesus cannot be bound by time and space. There is no beginning of time or ending of time to his life, reign, his dominion, etc. He is, He was and He is forever, Amen. He can be here, there and everywhere at the same time. No bars or boundaries to him.
But when Jesus came as a baby in a woman womb(Mary), he came as a human. He was then limited to space and time. Humans are limited to space and time. Psalm 90:1-17 penned it so beautifully. Who God is in comparison to humans.
The longest time a baby stays in the womb is 9 months. That time in the womb is limited to human time. He, as a baby probably stayed less but cant be more. (Not debating that). He was delivered at a specific place and at a specific time like any other baby who were born on this earth. He grew up as a child, then a teenager, then adult. He, Jesus while growing as a human could not be here, there and everywhere at the same time because he was subject to time and space.
As a child his parents took him literally to Egypt to escape his death. A little older, he was taken to the temple and remained there for three days. He was literally in Jerusalem when his parents returned to look for him.
As an adult he literally was not found in different places at one time because he was human. He was the same God as mentioned earlier but was now clothed in humanity. He never used his divinity. He did all the things a human will do (except 'fell' in love and got married as some suggested but that is another topic). He felt pain when hurt, he cried, he rejoiced, he was an hunger, he walked, talked, had friends, teach, went to the temple. He was limited in time and space.
Now the bible is a record of him; before, during and after he came and spent a short time with us. But behind the 'written words' in a book/electronic, it is a spiritual force that guides humans. No matter where we are on this earth, it is now the Holy Ghost who guides us and gives us a true understanding of the scriptures. The Holy Ghost as part of the God-head is now doing such a work. John 14:16-21. He can be here, there, and everywhere.
As mentioned before, the bible becomes power to who or for what reason we are using it. It can just be a literature book to some, to other something different.
Jesus said that He and His Father were one. When He said in John 14:18 "...I will come to you." it was the same as when He said that He and His Father were one. In other words, He and the Holy Spirit are also "One." And when we ask the Father as per Luke 11:13 to give us His Spirit, the Father answers and gives us His Spirit and it is as if Jesus Himself is present to bless us.
Thank you Lyn, appreciate your views and I did really understood your explanation. More plain and to the point.
The parallel between Jesus and the Word of God is that He lived by every word in it. By doing this, He demonstrates that we are able to do the same. The innocence and perfection of Eden is possible through faith, and must be if we are to dwell "in the house of the Lord forever".
"To him that overcomes...." is the promise.
It is a great question Eddy. The matter of time and place do not conflict. Jesus Christ is eternal as found in Revelation 1:17,18 and Micah 5:2. The Holy Spirit and Father fulfilled the promised Messiah in the conception of baby Immanuel in Mary. See Luke 2:35 Matthew 1:20-23 That is when Jesus entered this world as human. Interesting though, we are made in God's image and created in His image. This forms a special common bond for all eternity. Sin interrupted this bond. Genesis chapters 2,3, Jesus death on the cruel cross re-establishes the bond once a sinner accepts Christ's atonement for sis."If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV. Doubting Thomas insisted that he touch Christ's wounds as a point of belief. Jesus blessed those who believe in faith even though they have not seen or touched Jesus. See John 20:24-30. "... Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
Hi Eddy, what a good question. So here’s where my brain went with that paragraph. Jesus came, as a human, to a specific place, at a specific time, and there was scripture that told anyone who wanted to know, when and where that would be. This was so ALL would/could now he was the Messiah. As God, before becoming human, Jesus was not confined by time and space as we are. Once he became human, he gave that up, all so we could be restored back to what we were created to be before sin entered our world.
All the answers you received have been very informative, and I’m glad you asked the question.