Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What if God was one of us?

Why is Jesus Christ the blueprint for manhood?

Because Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human.

The belief that Jesus the Christ is fully God and fully human
is unique to Christianity and central to our faith
Sorry.  This is not a theology blog so I’m not going to justify this central revelation and truth of Christianity.

If you are a Christian then this is a matter of faith and study of our sacred Scriptures found in the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus the Christ was (and is) fully God and fully human.  There is One God who eternally exists as three persons; Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Moving right along…

I write this in case you are wondering why Jesus Christ and not King David or Arnold Schwarzenegger is the blueprint for our manhood.

We can learn plenty from David, Arnold or any man.  But only if we have God’s standard can we make a right judgment about what is Christian manhood.

Jesus Christ is the prototype for Christian manhod.

Christians believed that there has always been “types” of Christ found in the Scriptures.

Isaac was a type of Christ by being the son of promise offered up as a sacrifice.  Joseph was a type of Christ in being betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery and then to return as savior.  King David stripped the natural enemies of Israel just as Jesus stripped Sin and the Devil of their power.

In Jesus’ earthly ministry He reminded the people of the prophets. They thought that Jesus was one of the prophets alive from the dead.  Jesus had the boundless energy and passion of Elijah who ran faster than a chariot.  He reminded the people of Jeremiah whose writings demonstrated personal transparency and sorrow over the sins of Israel.

Even advertisers know the power of archetypes
But Jesus Christ is the archetype or “original model after which other similar things are patterned.”  Psychiatrist Carl Jung defined archetype as “the images, patterns and symbols that rise out of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams, mythology and fairy tales.”[1]  The hero the world collective longs for is actually Christ Jesus; the true hero, king & warrior of man’s dreams.

The Living God warns us over and over again about making images of Him or anything to worship.  To worship is not just praying to something, but passionately pursuing and setting our affections on someone or something.  We can tell what we worship by where we spend our time and money.  This is why we need to “renew” our minds because we can sing a hymn on Sunday and cuss our neighbor on Monday.

And the principal is that you become what you worship.  If you worship money you become shallow and greedy.  If you worship man then you become fearful and insecure.  When we worship something blind and deaf we become spiritually blind and deaf to seeing and hearing God.

God is invisible in part so that we can always pursue Him.  So that we can remember that everything that we see may be good but it’s temporary.  Everything we see is to be filtered through the Word of God.

We are meant to seek an invisible God by listening carefully to His Word…
We are meant to hear His Word so we can worship in spirit and in truth…
We are meant to worship the invisible God because transformation is from the inside out

There was a song that asked the question, “What if God was one of us?”  There seems to be more than one person who sang this, and I don’t want to judge the writer/singer incorrectly.

But the only way you can ask that question is if you flat out reject that God became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth.  He is “God with us” so the question was already answered; the image of the invisible God in word & deed.  Jesus is the new man making us sons of God through His grace.

This should ignite our imagination!  Let's study how Jesus handled His relationship with His Father, His human family, His people, His enemies and even how He died as the blueprint for our faith and identity.

When we accept the answer we are on the path to renewing the image of God in us.  Then we worship in spirit and in truth.  Then we will be transformed to reflect the image of Christ.


Jesus was not only the reality of the "archetypes" He was a genuine human being.  He was born in poverty to parents who were unprepared.  The circumstances of His birth were scandalous to say the least from human eyes and His early life was spent as a political refugee.  Jesus learned to submit to parents who didn't really understand Him and He grew up in a ghetto community that rejected his ministry.  I could go on but I think you understand.

"Through Nomadic Eyes" artwork
from the Stations of the Cross
in Lodwar Cathedral, Kenya
In His divinity Jesus was the archetype of all heroes.  In His humanity Jesus is a man that any man can easily relate to as a brother.  He fully presents to us the heart of the invisible God. He reveals what men (and women) would be like if we had no sin.

How did Jesus transform your image of God?
How does Jesus transform your imagination concerning masculinity and men?

C.S. Lewis said, “God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.”

Imagine Jesus according to all the Scriptures not sound bytes and popular verses.  Let the Scriptures help you imagine Jesus on the job with you.  Imagine how His character would be expressed to your parents or to your children.  And re-imagine yourself because Christ is living through you.

Be blessed.

Your brother,

Minister Onorio




[1] Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/archetype (accessed: November 28, 2010).

4 comments:

  1. Greetings Minister Onorio

    Jesus Christ is indeed the prototype for Christian manhood.
    For him to be so, means he is 100% man and NOT Almighty GOD!
    [Heb 2.17]
    Because GOD is not a man!
    [Num 23.19, 1 Sam 15.29, Job 9.32, Hosea 11.9]
    Therefore,
    I recommend this video:
    The Human Jesus

    Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Adam Pastor for the post!
    As I said the post, I'm not going to debate with non-Christians.
    There are other venues for that and other Christians who specialize in expounding on Christian doctrine.
    Christians affirm that there is one God who eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
    So Jesus Christ, being one person with two natures, God and human, means he reveals both.
    Continue to enjoy your search of the Scriptures.
    If you really believe the Word, then you also will come to accept this wonderful revelation.
    Just like in Romans 10. Where it is clear that Jesus the Christ, who is Lord, is also YHWH. For all who call upon the name of the Lord (YHWH) will be saved.

    Here briefly:
    9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

    Notice my brother: Salvation is equal to confessing that Jesus is Lord. In the Greek it is Kurios.

    10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

    Note again that the subject continues to be faith in Jesus Christ.

    12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

    Notice that the subject continues to be Jesus Christ who is also Jesus the Lord. The end quote is in from the book of Joel 2:32.
    In the original Hebrew is YHWH.
    But not in the Greek, it is Kurios.
    So Jesus is Lord (Greek) but for the Jew and Gentile who know the Old Testament Hebrew and the Septuagint (which translated YHWH and Kurios) the same is Jesus is YHWH.

    Jesus is YAHWEH made flesh.

    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh and Adam, please remember, we believe as Christians in one God who is three persons.

    We bow the knee to Scripture. We don't bend Scripture to make it say something that "makes sense" to us or that is in line with our "concept".
    For all the Scriptures you can quote concerning Christ's humanity or the uniqueness of God the Father, you still have to contend with John 1:

    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    Here you have the Word (Jesus Christ) both his distinction from God the Father and the oneness.

    It is not either/or.

    It is both.

    The doctrine of the Trinity is the most faithful exposition on the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah and the New Testament.

    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beside the Bible, here is wonderful resource on Jesus Christ online;
    http://www.crosswalk.com/who-is-jesus/

    ReplyDelete

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