Leon Morris on the Person of Christ

When we want to understand the importance of a person we turn to his work. If we think, for example, of Winston Churchill our minds instinctively go back to the dark days of the war when he rallied the Empire. If we think of Napoleon we recall his mighty deeds on many battlefields. If we think of Einstein his enunciation of the theory of relativity gives us the measure of his greatness. What men do shows what men are.

Similarly in the religious world, if we wish to understand something of the person of Jesus Christ we do well to begin with what He has done. John sums it up for us in a sentence: “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 Jn. 4:14). The greatness of Christ is to be seen in the fact that He brought salvation, not for just a few, but for “the world”.

The Bible views men’s plight as serious in the extreme. It tells us over and over again that men are sinners. This does not mean that in their own eyes they are incredibly evil; indeed, most think they are quite decent folk (it is other people who are the sinners!). Rather does it mean that they do not measure up to the standard that God sets. Or, to put it another way, no man lives up to the highest and best that he knows, and because of this he is a sinner in God’s sight, whatever he may be in his own. The Bible insists that the consequences of this are terribly serious. It talks of hell. Modern man has laughed hell out of existence to his own complete satisfaction, and finds the whole idea an amusing relic of the thinking of an earlier age. Because it does not square up with what he thinks is fit and proper he assumes that it cannot possibly exist; and this is disastrous thinking. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that as we live out our lives we are not engaging in some light-hearted parlour game, with no particular importance. Our actions have eternal significance. What we are in the next life is determined by what we are in this life. Since all men are sinners (Rom. 3.23) the prospect is very bad.

In this situation the Bible tells us that Christ came to be our Saviour. The New Testament writers are unanimous that His death is the means of our salvation. However we understand atonement to have been effected, it comes to us only on account of Christ’s work for us. Such a work demands a personality more than human, for a mere man could never atone for another man, let alone for all mankind. But through the centuries men have been putting their trust in Jesus Christ, and finding in Him peace of heart and mind, forgiveness of sin and the assurance of God’s favour. That is to say, they have found that He did bring about atonement. What He has done and continues to do, then, indicates strongly that He is more than any mere man. Keep reading