Who is Christ for us? 2. Christ and God

In a selection of texts (Mark 1.10f.; 9.7; 2 Cor 5.19; Rom 1.3f.; Acts 2.22; 7.56), which speak of the relationship between Christ and God, God always takes priority. It is God who takes the initiative, it is God who undergirds and approves Jesus’ ministry. The ordinary event of baptism is transformed by the voice from heaven, heard by Jesus as he emerges from the water. The strange event of the transfiguration is overshadowed by the voice from heaven that addresses the disciples. In these events, Mark would have it, God interrupts certain moments of time, and declares his relationship with the earthly Jesus, 'You are my Son... This is my Son', in words that echo the oracle of God uttered by the priest at the coronation of the kings of Judah,  when the new king was declared son of God by adoption.

In Paul's strong declaration: 'God was in Christ', we find God in the controlling role. It is the relationship between God and Christ that is decisive for what the Bible calls our salvation; it is the relationship between God and Christ that opens up our own way to relationship with God. It is not that the man Jesus did this or that which is decisive, but that in all his life, in all his activity, God was with him, working in and through him. Wherever he went, people experienced God, in mercy and in judgement, more keenly than at other times and in other places.

At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul insists that Jesus shared completely in our humanity... 'on the human level he was born of David's stock'. He was every bit as human as you and I. Then in Peter's sermon there is the declaration that Jesus was 'a man singled out by God' and that 'God worked... through him'. And in Stephen's vision, God is central while the Son of Man stands at God's right hand. So, varied as these texts are, we can see clearly that God always takes priority. And it is important that we should see that, for it is sometimes an easy thing in the Church to get our doctrine of Christ distorted and out of focus.

In our piety, we must not focus on Jesus almost to the exclusion of God. We must remember that God is the subject of the most powerful phrases of the New Testament: 'God so loved the world that he gave...' 'God was in Christ reconciling the world.' The Jesus we encounter in the Gospels is one who prays to God, who addresses God with the word 'Father', and who teaches his followers to pray 'our Father'. This reinforces our emphasis on Jesus' identity with us; that he fully entered into the human condition, that he was human as you and I are human, and it is most important that we should be clear on this point.

God was in Christ reconciling the world. And now, we say, God is in Christ. God is in Christ still today, and in God we worship him as our Lord and Master.

There is much more we might say; and other New Testament texts we might examine, some of which might suggest somewhat different emphases, not least the texts that speak of the pre-existence of the Word, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. These texts, and others, also have some bearing on our subject.

At Easter Jesus 'was declared Son of God by a mighty act in that he rose from the dead' and so became, for the church in every generation and for us, the Christ of faith. As men and women who have placed our faith in his God and Father, we may still claim the benefits of his life and death and risen life with God. We live our lives in the light of his obedience to God, and in our turn we seek to obey him.

Our lack of faith is admonished by his faithfulness, our weakness is encouraged by his strength, our self-centredness is exposed for what it is by his self-giving. More positively, his faithfulness encourages us to be faithful, his strength is given to make us strong, and his self-giving invites each of us to give of ourselves, our time, our talents, and our possessions, in the service of God. Above all, in him we discover that we have been accepted by God, and so we are encouraged day by day to be more faithful in the discharge of our discipleship.