Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 86:341 (Jan 1929)
Article: The Deity Of Jesus Christ As Set Forth In The Epistles
Author: C. Norman Bartlett

BSac 86:341 (Jan 1929) p. 70

The Deity Of Jesus Christ As Set Forth In The Epistles

C. Norman Bartlett

Before His Resurrection

A word or two at the outset in regard to the general aim of our thesis may not be amiss. While the structure of creative thought in this paper has been reared upon the foundation of a sound exegetical study of practically all the passages bearing upon our subject, we have very frankly aspired to produce a thesis characterized by freshness of insight rather than display of scholarship. To what extent this ambition has been realized, it is for the reader to judge. Instead of flitting rapidly and superficially over a wide field of proof texts, we have chosen rather to dwell broodingly upon a few of the great salient passages that relate to the deity of our Lord and Savior.

We feel that great benefit is to be derived from this course of intensive meditation that we propose to follow. The riches of truth and beauty do not disclose themselves to the careless observer. He who rushes through an art gallery and bestows but a passing glance upon great masterpieces is bound to miss the treasures gathered by the art lover who sits for hours before a single picture and studies it in detail with trained powers of appreciation. And when we seek prayerfully to unveil the deep inner significance and suggestive implications of passages in the Epistles bearing on the deity of Christ that we have been all too accustomed to glance at hurriedly because of our very familiarity with the general truth they contain, we shall be amazed to discover what subtle tints and gorgeous hues of color there are in the variegated splendor of our Lord’s divine nature.

The Deity Of Jesus Christ Is Taken For Granted In The Epistles

One cannot read the Epistles with any degree of carefulness without being made aware of the fact that in them the deity of Christ is everywhere taken for granted.

BSac 86:341 (Jan 1929) p. 71

Abstract from them this basic and all-pervasive assumption, and the Epistles will be left as shrivelled up and juiceless as desiccated fruits and vegetables. Let us amplify this statement a bit. In all of the letters of the New Testament the linking of the name of Christ with that of God the Father on a plane of equality is so common as almost to escape notice. Such titles are given to Christ and such powers ascribed to him as it would be manifest blasphemy to attribute to any one other than a divine being. “Lord” was Paul’s regular Trinitarian name for Jesus and was used by him as equivalent to “Jehovah” in the Old Testament. In fact “Kurios” was a title commonly applied to God by the Hellenistic Jews of Paul’s day. There are abundant references in the Epistles indicating that prayer to Jesus was the co...