The Witness of Christ as Seen in Some Contradictory Phenomena of His Life and Character
Ll. D. Bevan, D. D. John 8:14-17 Jesus answered and said to them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know from where I came, and where I go… The conflict of Christianity is ever being narrowed to the question of the person of Christ. Unitarians have either abandoned their old positions and Christianity with them, or returned to views not easily distinguished from orthodox. Both friends and foes write lives of Jesus, and seek in that for proof of Lordship or evidence of delusion. Men have largely forsaken metaphysical arguments. "What think ye of Christ?" is the question of apologist and infidel. The issue here is vital. Victorious at this point all the rest is easy; defeated here the Christian Church expires. In this line of argument it is natural to ask what testimony Christ gives of Himself, and we propose to point out certain paradoxes and find their explanation. I. THE PHENOMENA. A candid observer will notice in Jesus — 1. His sublime self-consciousness of Divinity, together with His ceaseless subjection to God. (1) Compare Him with all religious teachers, and we find Him dreaming no dreams, seeing no visions. We never hear Him saying, "Thus saith the Lord," but "I say unto you." He consoles His disciples. "Let not your hearts be troubled." Why. "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me." "Show us the Father," says one: the response is, "He that hath seen Me," etc. In discussion with Jews He says, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day" — wild words to scribe and Pharisee. "Thou art not yet fifty years old"; the rejoinder is, "Before Abraham was I am." There is an endeavour to explain away the simple meaning of all this. Much greater force will therefore be found in the indirect words of Christ. Take one, "If I go not away the Comforter will not come," etc. What must He claim who says He will send God's Spirit? and who must He believe Himself to be? (2) On the other hand, a young man asks, "Good Master, what good thing," etc. Jesus replies, "Why callest thou Me good," etc.? Although He said, "I and My Father are one," He also says, "The Father is greater than I." "I came not to do My own will." Nowhere does the contrast appear more distinctly than in that scene in the Temple, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business;" and then He meekly places His hand in His mother's and becomes "subject unto Joseph and Mary." 2. His pronounced self-assertion and His humility and self-abnegation. (1) He appeals to no authority but His own as the ground on which men should accept Him. When He propounded His law on the Mount, He contrasts His teaching with that of the ancient law, although Divinely given, with the words, "I say unto you." What a significant scene is that in which He upbraids the cities for their unbelief, and then hearken to the words which follow, "Come unto Me all ye that labour," etc. From His disciples He learns how men misunderstand Him; and how calm, resolute, inspiring, the words in which He replies to these misapprehensions, and rewards the confession of Peter. "On this rock I will build My Church," etc. Is this arrogance, egotism? It is the sublimest ever witnessed. If true, the noblest; if unfounded, the wildest and most vain. (2) But what a contrast. The child of a carpenter's wife; He is fitly born in the outhouse of an inn, and moved for thirty years amidst the humblest surroundings. When He came into public life His career opened to Him no affluence or dignity. "The foxes have holes," etc. His moral characteristics were in keeping with His circumstances. "I am Meek and lowly of heart." "He is led as a lamb to the slaughter," and prays for His murderers. 3. Infinite power combined with noteworthy weakness. (1) Mark the works of Jesus — how easily performed. "Let there be light," says God, "and there was light." He opens the windows of heaven and a race is overwhelmed. And thus Christ works. It is in a storm; the Master sleeps. The disciples cry, "We perish!" He rises, speaks, and there is a great calm. In His dealings with disease, a touch upon the eyelid pours daylight on the darkened orb. "Be clean," He says to the leper, and the loathsome disease is gone. Another word, and the man who had become a wild beast is sitting at His feet in his right mind. Here is no paraphernalia of the magician, or the exercise of delegated power. (2) In contrast with this is Christ's meekness. Take the supernatural out of His life, and what feebleness! He who can multiply the bread is familiar with hunger. "Give me to drink," He says to one to whom He gives living water. With His hand upon a universe He is as helpless as a child. 4. The complete absence of any sense of sinfulness or moral defect. The religious life of the leaders of human thought has been marked by a profound sense of personal unworthiness, but there is no trace of this in Jesus. "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" asks Jesus of the ages. "I find no fault in Him," re-echo well nigh two millennia. 5. In these series of contrasts we have noted two contradictory qualities — infinity and limitation. The last scenes of His life exhibit these. Our Lord comforts His disciples. Calm and helpful, He promises them Divine strength. But see Him a few moments after in His agony. Where in all literature is an artistic contrast so striking? And this only the simple story of the unlettered, who tell the story as they knew it best. But what is this. An armed hand approaches, and at a word from Him they fall to the ground — yet He submits to be led away. II. SOME OF THE EXPLANATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN GIVEN. 1. That Christ is a natural product, the outgrowth of the ages; that all preceding generations gathered in Him, and produced the ideal man. But where in Judaea, Greece, or Rome, can be found the elements from which the nature of Christ could be compounded? And if one Christ could be produced why not others? 2. That Christ is a literary product, the ideal of an individual mind — the grandest triumph of human imagination, but altogether fictitious. But who was the romancer who must have been greater than His romance? 3. That Christ is a mythical product; that a remarkable individual did exist who founded a school, and after death was slowly changed by the loving regard of His followers into the heroic, and at last into the Divine. Granted that such a myth may have grown up in a century, how is it that we have the unique Divine nature of Jesus made the ground of a finished argument in the Epistle to the Romans, published within a generation from the time of Christ, by one whose life overlapped His? 4. The theory that Christ was a deceiver or deceived hardly merits notice. A knave ought to recognize that Christ was truthful, and a fool, would he open his eyes, might see that He was perfectly self-possessed. III. THE THEORY WHICH ALONE SATISFIES ALL THE CONDITIONS OF THE CASE. In these phenomena — 1. We find evidence of a personality altogether unique. There are contrasts, but there is a unity about the Person, and a consistency in the life which make us feel confident of the truthfulness of the Bible record. All things fall into their place when we are taught that Christ is at once the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is Divine, and all the Divinity of His being is thus accounted for. He is human, and all the humanity of His lot is wholly explained. 2. The origin of this unique personality must be traced to God. The human race could produce no such being. Even were the ideal conception possible, which is doubtful, a person who had formed the idea could never have realized it. But with God all things are possible. 3. The purpose for which such a unique being was sent by God must have been to accomplish some special work. (1) A mere teacher or reformer might have been only man. (2) God would not have become man for His own sake. He can require nothing which He cannot supply. (3) Christ is evidently not the first of a new species, for He has no successor. (4) His mission therefore must have been for man, to establish some new, or modify some old relation between God and man. Such an object is declared by Scripture to have been sought by God and accomplished by Christ, and for this such a Personality as has been described was suited and designed. (Ll. D. Bevan, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. WEB: Jesus answered them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don't know where I came from, or where I am going.