The Feast of the Epiphany (December 6) brings the Christmas season to a close, and yet that feast’s theme continues in the Season after the Epiphany. If you can’t remember just what that theme is, don’t take it too hard. You won’t be alone. By the time Epiphany rolls around many of us have had about all of Christmas we can take. The season that follows can just seem like Ordinary Time (which, in fact, it is called by other denominations).
The theme of the feast day and of the succeeding season is, appropriately enough, epiphany. An epiphany is a divine showing, a Godly self-manifestation. During this season, Jesus shows himself for just who he really is.
And so it seems appropriate during the Season after the Epiphany to discuss the identity of Jesus. An exhaustive overview is not my intention. Instead, I’m motivated to address a narrower topic about Jesus because it is crucial to our faith and yet seems to be called increasingly into question even among our Christian brothers and sisters. My topic is the uniqueness of Christ, and I will address it in a two-part series.
Briefly put, Christian Tradition and Holy Scripture teach that Jesus is the only Son of God. He is wholly human and wholly divine. As he says himself in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Our salvation rests upon who Jesus is and what he did for us. When non-Christians reject these claims, no one should be surprised. After all, they are tenets of the followers of Jesus Christ. However, recent research about those in the pews on Sunday across the denominational spectrum and statements by a variety of Christian leaders make it very clear that many do not believe in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at some reasons for this and talk about why it matters.
Our Multicultural Social Setting
America is no longer a majority-Christian country. Of course there are many Christians in the United States, and our Founding Fathers were Christian (or at least Deist). Nevertheless, we live in a context formed not only by Christian denominations but also by a variety of faith traditions (for instance, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism) and a rising, increasingly vocal atheism.
As a nation we intentionally separate Church and State. Some Christians take this to mean that all religions have an equal claim to the truth. More specifically, a common point of view is that religious beliefs are purely subjective matters. They are preferences or even prejudices. Claiming truth for any particular religion seems to some to be simply unsophisticated and intolerant.
It is thus not surprising that a claim to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ would run afoul of popular attitudes. We Christians claim something about reality, not just something about our purely subjective values or our dearly held preferences. We claim that this man Jesus was God incarnate. His death reconciles sinners and his resurrection makes us heirs of eternal life. Obviously, other religious traditions reject our beliefs.
I will explain a little further on how we can stand firm in our faith and at the same time exercise our citizenship in our multicultural setting. However, I want first to turn to some misguided strategies for doing just that. Each of these strategies has at their root a denial of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
We Are All Children of God
One strategy for living peaceably with our differences is to remind ourselves that we are all children of God. And while this is certainly true, we must be very clear about what this means. Because the phrase “child of God” can be interpreted in different ways, this strategy can lead us to reject the uniqueness of Christ.
Christians have always believed that God created everything from nothing. Each human being is one of God’s intentional creations. To put it differently, we are creatures and God is our Creator. Moreover, God created everything out of love in order to love. Thus, to say that we are all children of God means simply that we are all beloved creatures and God is our loving creator.
So far so good! But there is a variation from this theme that leads us to theological confusion and, I daresay, theological heartache.
It is something like this. “Yes, Jesus is God’s son. For that matter, Kenneth, Marybeth and Roxanne are God’s children, too. That goes for me, as well. So, we are all God’s children. Jesus is just an especially good example.” There are a number of variations on this theme. But they all have in common one thing. They deny the uniqueness of Christ. He is different perhaps in degree of wisdom or virtue or prophetic courage, but in all essentials he differs in no way from you and me.
So why is this a problem? Simply this. If Jesus is nothing more than a splendid example or a superlative teacher or a fiery social justice advocate then my salvation rests in my own hands. If he can do it, then I can do it. But our belief is precisely that God became man to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He came to conquer sin and death once and for all. This is, as I am fond of saying, above my pay grade. It is above the human pay grade completely. To put it succinctly, rejecting Jesus’ uniqueness forfeits his place as Savior.
Closely connected to these considerations is the question about those who do not believe in Jesus. You may well be asking about the faithful members of other faith traditions. It is an important question, and I will turn to it in our next issue.
