18. How Was Jesus Deified?
The significant question before every man, woman, and child upon this earth today is who and what is Jesus of Nazareth - except that question comes in a very personal form.Who do you say that I am?
Christians say that "Jesus is God," but then they image him into a limited, tiny, and faraway form, looking very much like Constantine the Great as he appeared at the Council of Nicaea. When you and I say that Jesus is a Man, all here now and Personal inside of us, we are considered to be "un-Biblical." Yet few consider what God actually says.
This is the contention of Christ.
This question of Christ also includes "where" Jesus is, as if an all here now and Personal in us Savior could be "positioned" somewhere else? Yet our brethren insist that He is, in fact, somewhere else and far away, that He is "coming back" someday.
How can Jesus be "coming back" when He is all here now and alive inside of us and when we are His physical body, Jesus walking the earth right now today?
Lesson 18.1 The Contention of Christ investigates this great question of who and what is Jesus of Nazareth entirely from a Biblical point of view, ending with the personal question to the reader - Who do you say that I am?
Lesson 18.2 The Council of Nicaea explores the real motivation behind the decision to "deify" Jesus, to turn Him from a Man, always at the right hand of the Father, always all here now and living in us, our very and only life and into an limited, tiny, and faraway image looking very much like Constantine as he presented his pagan glory to those arguing over "Christ."
Lesson 18.3 Driving Jesus Away demonstrates the real reason for "deifying" Jesus, turning Him into a demigod, and that is to separate as far as possible between Jesus and our own human flesh, His dwelling place and His revelation.