Page 154 - Bible Writers Theology Original

138 ♦ Bible Writers' Theology Chapter Seven
7.3 Who do Men say that Christ is?
Christ asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Matthew 16:13). The following scriptures give us clear insight con cerning the spiritual human nature of Jesus Christ. Still there are those who have not yet seen who the Lord Jesus Christ is (Matthew 16:13; Exodus 15:3; Isaiah 42:13-15; Hosea 2:16). His question to the Pharisees was "What think ye of Christ?" These very important questions seem to echo the words of the Eternal One through the Prophet Isaiah: "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One" (Isaiah 40:18,25). This question asked by Chnst must be answered correctly even today. In order to do so, it requires a revelation from God, the same as it did for Peter. Peter gave the answerthatwasacknowledgedbyChristastrue. Itisnecessarytohavea scripturallycorrectexplanationoftheidentityofChrist. Thevalidityofthe promises and, indeed, all scripturally recorded statements made by Jesus and His apostles totally depend on who Christ is (Matthew 11:27).
Paul states that he will not employ certain words, phrases, sentences, or
sets of assumptions whenever he discusses God's wisdom. For we read in
Colossians 2:2-3, "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the
acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Paul writes, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world...The worldbywisdomknewnotGod"(ICorinthians1:20,21). Thisimpliesthat we cannot know anything significant about Jesus Christ through application of worldly assumptions and words, phrases, or sentences that claim to describe either the worldly human or natural systems. Consequently, such usageshouldbeavoided. Indeed,PaulwritesthatHewillnotuse"enticing wordsofmanswisdom"(ICorinthians2:4). Hestatesthat"thewisdomof thisworldisfoolishnesswithGod"(ICorinthians3:19). Moreover,hecom municates revelation from a "hidden wisdom" (I Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians
4.9), and the wisdom he writes is not "of the princes of this world, that come to naught (I Corinthians 2:6). Paul implies that one should not seek wis dom mthe same manner as the Greeks sought wisdom (I Corinthians 1:22).
One must Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not afterChrist' (Colossians2:8)."Whichthingsalsowespeak,notinthewords which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth" (I Corinthians 2:13). Thus, we should not accept philosophical arguments using assumptions previously handed down, nor should we utilize the basic premises and procedures of previous Greek wisdom or any logical account