Was Jesus Just Another Man?

by Ivan Maddox

West End Bible Fellowship

Atlanta, Georgia

 

Like most other Christians, I was taught from childhood that Jesus Christ is God. Even after I was convinced from the scriptures that this was not the case, it was quite a while before I felt comfortable teaching differently. This was a subject in scripture that I absolutely did not want to make a mistake in. I certainly understand the carefulness and hesitation of those who are trying to determine for themselves what the scriptures actually teach regarding so critically important a subject.

Does the fact that he is not God make Jesus just another one of God’s children on the same level as you and I?

There are actually two answers to this question, depending on whether you are talking about Jesus during his earthly ministry, or Jesus now.

In his earthly ministry, Jesus was in all ways "made like unto his brethren" (Hebrews 2:17), with one critical exception. We are all counted as having sinned when Adam sinned, because we were in the loins of our father Adam when he sinned, just as Levi is counted as having paid tithes to Melchizedek in Abraham when Abraham did this (Hebrews 7:1-10). I Corinthians 15:45 calls Jesus the "last Adam," and I believe that is the best way to describe him: like an Adam who never fell, while we ourselves are fallen man. Everything Jesus did during his ministry on earth he did using, during the first thirty years of his life, only what was available to any other man with access to the scriptures. Once he received the spirit of God at his baptism, he used only what was available to any other man with the spirit of God upon him.

The first chapter of I Corinthians reveals an important secret about how God does business.

I Corinthians 1:26-29.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

God’s method is not to seek out the most capable men and women, and assign them to tasks they are well suited to do. Instead, God uses the weak to take down the mighty; He uses the foolish to take down the wise.

And this is the very method that God used in dealing with the devil. He didn’t condescend to take on the devil Himself; that would have been insulting to Him. Instead, He selected a weak human being, a "nobody" in the scheme of things on the earth, and used him to utterly defeat the mightiest of angels. Jesus did not triumph because he was mightier than Satan; he triumphed because he was faithful to obey God every step of the way, even when that meant his own cruelly painful death. He obediently lost everything; then God miraculously turned his humiliating defeat into the most spectacular of victories.

God brought down a mighty rebellious angel with a "second Adam."

But Jesus Christ no longer holds this same position. God has highly exalted Jesus, who he raised from the dead, so that he is now not only far above all men, but also far above everyone else except God. In this God has placed him on a level far above us, as our Lord.

At the same time, God is our Father; Jesus is our brother — the "firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). We share with Jesus in his inheritance, and in resurrection we are promised that we will share in his glory, and receive the same kind of body that Jesus has. (Philippians 3:21.)

The best picture I've seen in scripture of what God did in exalting Christ is Pharaoh's exaltation of Joseph to his right hand. Pharaoh exalted Joseph over everyone in his kingdom (except Pharaoh), and gave him his signet ring (the authority to make laws). If anyone came to Pharaoh with a problem, Pharaoh sent him to Joseph: you couldn't go over Joseph's head to Pharaoh. Yet there was only one Pharaoh -- and Joseph wasn't him! Joseph never forgot this. If you read the record of how Joseph conducted business, he was always careful to know and do Pharaoh's will. Even when he wanted to invite his family to Egypt -- and even though he had the authority and right to do so -- he went to Pharaoh first and cleared everything with him before taking any action on this. All Egypt was subject to Joseph, but Joseph walked in subjection to Pharaoh, even though he had been made lord over all.

Is Jesus Christ just another man? Not by any stretch of the imagination. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the man seated at God’s right hand, with all things under his feet. Except, according to I Corinthians 15:27, God. Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and there is no way for us to get to the Father except by him; but he is not God.