Behold, The Man

Part 2.

I have been reflecting on the inablilty of humans to apprehend the revelation of God, in its various forms.

One might bring up the issue of the incarnation (God, enfleshed in Christ) as a key to the clearing up of these kinds of questions, (see earlier post) at least in some ways; but I think that the quest for the historical Jesus, though horribly mangled by those such as the Jesus Seminar, proves that these questions persist.

In some ways, the search for God is a visceral process which most of humanity is compelled to engage with/in. I wonder whether God designed this whole reality. I mean; He could certainly have beamed down and made a dramatic appearance even greater than the historical first coming. However, we are left to fumble about in faith with the occasional ray of light and the prod of the Spirit.

The late Stanley Grenz, in the introduction to his “Theology for the Community of God” speaks about the interpretive motifs’ that theologians have used to frame their systems of ordering doctrine. These motifs’ include things such as, justification by faith, the Glory of God, Scripture; and of course, much has been made of the concept of the Kingdom of God.

As I am considering the above issue of our inability to capture a complete vision of God, who by definition is above and beyond, I believe that the premiere interpretive framework for understanding God is, indeed, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, interpretive motif’s function as clues or windows onto the wider question of who God is and what He is about.

Paul writes that “in Christ are the keys to all wisdom and knowledge”. Quite a concept! Actually, I left out one word from Col 2:3; “hidden”. If he is right, then I believe that a follow up question is warranted, “what do you think of Christ”? “What is hidden there, and how do we approach truth in Him”?

Here again, we have shifted our gaze from the immutable, inscrutable God, to the communicable or somewhat more tangible person of Christ. I would encourage you to take up the spiritual shovel and start digging.

The greatness or benefit of Christianity does not consist in how well we might follow Christ and the teachings of scripture, not in our traditions, or along the arc of historical events in Christendom, but absolutely in the greatness of Jesus Christ. As Pilate said, unwittingly:” behold, The man”!