Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 08:4 (Fall 1999)
Article: Jesus Christ: A Story Continued
Author: John Boonzaaijer

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RAR 8:4 (Fall 1999) p. 63

Jesus Christ: A Story Continued

John Boonzaaijer

I’m only human!” How often is this phrase used to describe our human quirks and deficiencies? Amongst our tools of explanation for moral failure, this one is as used and cherished as our most well-worn hammer or screwdriver. This one answer seems to perform equally well for both problems; one explains sin, the other explains finitude. Why do we use this moribund phrase to explain not only our naturally human finitude, tendencies and propensities, but also our moral and ethical deficiencies? Is depravity native to humanity? Is the progress of sanctification and redemption a lessening, or an increase of humanity? Our answer is crucial and emanates from our doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ.

If humanity is something we need to grow away from, is it really good that Jesus was a man? And was His humanity real? These questions are as old as revelation, and our misunderstandings and heresies are as old as the questions. The deity of Christ is unquestionable for many of us—and it has been defended bravely in this century. The humanity of our Lord, I fear, is more often grudgingly accepted than vigorously confessed. Mentally, we know and accept orthodoxy, but our hymns, attitudes, subculture and ideals reveal a theology in need of radical correction. Post-Reformation orthodoxy has held its confessions concerning the doctrine of Christ disjointedly from its worldview and body of theology. We have failed to wed the doctrine of the person of

RAR 8:4 (Fall 1999) p. 64

Christ to an incarnational theology.

A theological description of Jesus Christ is a necessary part of the church’s work as she formulates biblical doctrine and resists heresy, but if she forgets that she came to know Jesus Christ through the proclamation of His story, she will soon stray in her life of worship. With the need for modern and Western accuracy, it is difficult to remember at times that Jesus Christ is taught and proclaimed in the Bible as the continuation of the Adam narrative. We often forget that orthodoxy depends as heavily upon the ongoing life of the narrative as it does upon a systematization of its truths. Indeed, history reveals that communities which embrace their confessions apart from the narrative which formed them, soon lose the truth of the confession itself.

The most public of the early controversies
are commonly called the “Trinitarian
Debates.” At the center of these debates
was the exact nature of the relationship
between Jesus and God the Father.

Historical Attempts To Define Jesus Christ
Instill Respect For Caution
As Well As For Certainty

God’s revelation in Christ cr...

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