Who Are You, Jesus?
[Jesus asks Peter,] But who do you say that I am?
Matthew 16:15 ESV (Monthly Watchword September 2023)
“Doctrine.” The word itself sounds cold and mechanical, perhaps even oppressive. It refers to beliefs that are commonly held by different religious groups. It simply comes from the Latin word doctrina, which means “teaching.” When someone is “indoctrinated,” it simply means that the individual is taught a body of doctrine, a group of teachings about how to think of God and human life in relation to Him.
In our time, we tend to hear the words “doctrine” and “indoctrinate” as negatives. But the truth is that everyone is indoctrinated by something. It’s only a question of what. If we do not teach children or even adults about who Jesus is and to know and love Jesus, the world around them will teach them not to.
Who is Jesus? That’s a pretty basic question for any Christian, the foundation of our doctrine. But it’s amazing how much confusion there has been about this issue, past and present. And it’s not a question that only Christian people ask. If someone were to pull us aside and ask us the same question, how might we respond?
The Bible verse from Matthew 16 before us this month is a part of yet another episode in the dramatic story of Jesus’ disciple Peter. His real name was Simon, but he has become known to us mostly by his nickname. Peter is a popular figure among Christians and for good reason. He walked in a relationship with Jesus characterized by failure, faith, learning, and growing maturity.
His disciples had been with Jesus through a lot by this point. At least some of them had witnessed Jesus’ teaching through both direct instruction and through parables. They had seen Jesus heal others. They had seen him calm a storm on the lake. They had seen him give new life to a dead girl. They had seen Jesus feed five thousand men, not including women and children, with five loaves and two fish. They had seen Jesus walk on water. Peter had his own struggles with faith and doubt, and, true to his nickname (“Peter” means “rock” in Greek), he sank on the water while attempting to walk toward Jesus on the sea. He cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus lifted him up.
Jesus had created quite a stir by this point, but apparently, no one had gotten around to addressing the elephant in the room, at least directly. “Who in the world is this guy who has done all these things?”
When Jesus asked his disciples who people were saying that he was, they gave various answers. But then Jesus directed the question to them: “But who do you say that I am?” For all his failures to that point and that would follow, Peter here gives what Jesus considers the correct answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus says that Peter is “blessed” to have such faith revealed to him, to the point where Jesus says that he will build his Church on this “rock” called Peter. Lutherans and other Protestants have interpreted this to mean that the Church of Jesus Christ would be built on the faith that Peter confessed on that day. Roman Catholics came to interpret this as saying that Peter himself would be this “rock” in the role of the Pope, the head bishop of the Church.
So, who is Jesus? There is no shortage of answers to that question. Muslims (followers of Islam) claim that Jesus is one of the greatest prophets (messengers) of God, second only to Muhammad. Some Jewish people today also consider him to be a prophet. Neither of these groups, however, believe that Jesus is actually God. Jesus’ popularity also extends beyond the traditional Western religions. Eastern religions and philosophies also take note of Jesus. Buddhists consider Jesus to be an enlightened man. Hindus claim that he is an avatar, meaning a physical appearance of a god. Even in the Christian world, there has been confusion about who Jesus is and his significance. The group known as Unitarians, for example, agreed that Jesus played an important role in the revelation of God to the world, but they denied that Jesus was actually God. All this goes without mentioning the way many people, even many Christians, think about Jesus. The way he is often discussed, he is understood as simply a “nice guy” who talked about love and other nice things.
Early Christians wrestled with this question and the accompanying details for a few centuries and in a couple of stages. The first question had to do with how Jesus is related to God the Father. One the one hand, Jesus seemed to be special somehow. He seemed to have a relationship with God unlike anyone else. And in different passages of the Bible, he claimed to be one with God. But he also appeared to be a human. And if he was God, then does that mean there were now two Gods instead of one?
To make a long story short, this is where we get the doctrine of the Trinity, where we confess we have one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the year 325 A.D., the first major church meeting was held in the city of Nicaea, where they agreed that Jesus the Son of God is of the “same substance” as God the Father. There, the roots of what we call the Nicene Creed were written.
But the confusion didn’t end there. If Jesus is one with God the Father, then how is he related to humanity? People put forward all kinds of theories. Some claimed that Jesus was not really human, but just looked like a human (Docetists). Some claimed that Jesus had the mind of God but a human body (Apollinarians). Some claimed that the upper half of Jesus was divine, but the lower half human. Some claimed that Jesus was born as an ordinary man, but he was then “adopted” by God the Father at some point (Adoptionists).
Who is Jesus? This basic question to which Peter gives a correct answer required many years to sort out. Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God. But there was not clarity as to what that meant. Finally, in the year 451 A.D., the fourth major church meeting was held in the city of Chalcedon. There, they decided that Jesus should be understood as being completely God but also completely human. In order to be the Savior of the world, he needed to be completely God. But in order to actually save humanity, he needed to be human himself.
“Doctrine” can sound like a scary word, and it is true that doctrine can be handled legalistically, as simply a body of teaching that people are required to affirm. But true doctrine is not just about a cold and mechanical list of things to believe. True doctrine allows for the good news of who Jesus is to be proclaimed. Without that clarity, we have no foundation on which to build. We don’t “have to” affirm our faith. We “get to” affirm our faith in the God who loves us and gives us His greatest treasure: His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pr. Tom Jacobson