Thou Art the Christ, the Son of the Living God: The Person and Work of Jesus in the New Testament

by Eric D. Huntsman (Editor), Lincoln H. Blumell (Editor), Tyler J. Griffin (Editor)

While Jesus and his disciples were at or near Caesarea Philippi, Peter testified that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Martha had a similar divine testimony, proclaiming, "I believe that thou are the Christ, the Son of God." In much the same way, a standard part of Latter-day Saint discourse includes bearing testimony that "Jesus is the Christ," but what do we mean when we say that Jesus is the Christ? This volume compiles essays given at BYU Sidney B. Sperry Symposium that uniquely address such questions from a Latter-day Saint perspective, bringing together both biblical scholarship and Restoration insights that invite us to come to Christ and apply gospel teachings to real life.

Genres: Religion

440 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2018

Reviews

[Heather]

There are some really great and helpful and important insights here about Jesus Christ and His role and mission as the Son of God. I think the thing I liked best about the book was my desire to continue to study and experience and know Him better myself. Here are some quotes I liked:

"What does it mean when we say Jesus is the Christ? (p. vii)"

"'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent' (p. viii)."

"'Be literate in the language of spiritual things' (p. viii)."

"Speak... about Jesus Christ and his work (p. ix)."

"Exegesis is the careful and formal analysis of a scriptural text that seeks to understand its original meaning before seeking appropriate, contemporary application (p. xi)."

"Each of the five verses ended with the words 'O Lamb of God, I come! I come!' As I sang, I wanted to come unto Christ (p. 3)."

"Did I come to Christ? It felt like I had only gotten as far as the altar (p. 4)."

"To truly come unto Christ, we must come by the strait and narrow way, but the Lord's authorized ordinances and covenants (p. 4)."

"'When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren' (p. 5)."

"When we decide to follow Jesus Christ, do we continue with our allegiance past the planning stage or the baptismal date? (p. 6)"

"Are we intrigued by someone who takes a different stand than the prophets' on such things as how to seek God or administer the laws of the kingdoms? Such 'wolves in sheep's clothing' do exist, and we must be firmly determined to continue on the strait way and give them no heed (p. 6)."

"We build the kingdom when we nurture others (p. 8)."

"Our attitude about the symbols of the Savior's sacrifice and atonement will inevitably influence others (p. 8)."

"The Holy Ghost is a perfect translator of wholehearted faith in any language, even in broken Portuguese sentences (p .9)."

"I have gained more knowledge of God and felt his grace pour down upon me and my family through the gift of the Holy Ghost, especially in times of grief and pain (p. 10)."

"The work of salvation of souls is a work in which each member of the Godhead is intimately involved and to which they are eternally committed (p. 12)."

"Few passages in the New Testament have touched my heart more than the gentle invitation from Jesus to 'come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'... Four centuries later the last great Nephite prophet-editor expanded on this glorious truth.... 'Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.' There it is: the eternal mission of the Church of Jesus Christ, the invitation to all humankind to come unto the Holy Messiah and enjoy perfection--wholeness, maturity, or spiritual completion in him (p. 13)."

"Jesus came to do the will of the Father in all things (p. 14)."

"One of the major thrusts of the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught in both the Old World and the New, was to reveal and make known the Father (p. 18)."

"Christ is our Mediator with the Father, our Intercessor in the courts of glory, but we pray directly to God our Father (p. 19)."

"Jesus prayed frequently as an example to the saints and to all men and women of the need to communicate with God--often, regularly, consistently, intensely, reverently... Jesus prayed to the Father because they enjoyed communion (p. 20)."

"As the children of God, we are charged to become like God, like his Son Jesus Christ (p. 23)."

"'If we yearn to dwell in Christ and have him dwell in us, then holiness is what we seek, in both body and spirit. We seek it in the temple... We seek it in our marriages, families, and homes. We seek it each week as we delight in the Lord's holy day. We seek it even in the details of daily living: our speech, our dress, our thoughts' (D. Todd Christofferson, p. 23)."

"Not only was Jesus the firstfruits of the resurrection, but his resurrection made it possible for all others to be resurrected (p. 28)."

"Priesthood keys are associated with the resurrection. No mortal, not even the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yet possesses these keys... The keys of resurrection are conferred after one has been resurrected. Those keys are then used to resurrect others (p. 29)."

"The first spiritual death is overturned. Every person is restored to the presence of God to be judged. Thus, resurrection is both redemption and restoration (p. 33)."

"A body is necessary to become like Deity (p. 35)."

"'Our physical body is the instrument of our spirit' (Boyd K. Packer, p. 36)."

"Jesus did proclaim liberty to the captives in the spirit world as he taught the righteous spirits there (p. 38)."

"Individuals receive the kind of resurrected body they are entitled to receive based on obedience to God's laws (p. 39)."

"Those who were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth knew that the worst that could happen to them, or any disciple, because of their testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was physical death. But such a happening mattered little, for just as Jesus was raised after his death, so would all others be raised by the power of the resurrection (p. 46)."

"The examples of those disciples who walked with Jesus during his mortal ministry can inspire our understanding of who he is and what he came to earth to do (p. 49)."

"As we seek to 'come unto Christ, and be perfected in him,' we must come to better know what it means that he is the Son of God and the Savior of the World. This knowledge is rarely perfect or certain in our early walk of discipleship (p. 62)."

"Full conversion embraces the gospel of repentance, forgiveness, and everlasting life made possible only through the mercy, merits, grace, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ (p. 62)."

"While Matthew follows the basic order and storyline of Mark, Matthew weaves new material into it, especially many teachings of Jesus, some of which are shared with the Gospel of Luke and others that are unique to the First Gospel (p. 67)."

"Matthew quotes the Old Testament at least twice as often as any other Gospel writer (p. 69)."

"Matthew's Sermon on the Mount appears to emphasize the importance of the law (p. 70)."

"Abraham holds a prominent place in Matthew's description of Jesus's identity (p. 71)."

"Matthew... emphasized a royal Christology (p. 73)."

"There are also symbolic connections with Moses's miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, which Jesus echoes by crossing the Sea of Galilee, not by dividing it but by walking on it (p. 76)."

"The Gospel of Mark had its beginning in an oral culture (p. 94)."

"In Mark's Christology, Jesus shares the human situation as a fellow human being even as he is the Son of God exercising divine power, evoking awe in all, and challenging mortal understanding (p. 101)."

"While the Marcan Jesus is a Jesus of deeded, with Mark reporting the miracles of Jesus in the most fulsome and descriptive way of any of the Gospels and sharing Jesus teaching in parables and short, pithy statements rather the longer sermons and discourses reported in the other Gospels, Jesus emphasizes that the came primarily to teach (p. 101)."

"Teaching is central to Jesus's mission because preparing people for the kingdom of God entails teaching them to see and judge as God does rather than as man does; consequently, the Jesus of Mark constantly challenges our perception after the other (p. 102)."

"Jesus's question to Mark 'But whom say ye that I am?' is the crucial question for each of us. There are many ways that we may come to know that Jesus is the Christ--prayer, scripture study, experience, following the counsel of the Spirit, and modeling our life after Jesus all help us answer that piercing question (p. 17)."

"In Mark's Gospel, we find a Savior who is fully human and fully divine (p. 107)."

"The pattern of Jesus always doing the will of His Father is established in the story of the boy Jesus in the temple... is a theme throughout the Gospel (p. 118)."

"Healing miracles are a prominent part of Jesus's ministry in all four of the Gospels, and Jesus's rescuing people from physical infirmities can be seen as symbolic of his larger redeeming work (p. 121)."

"Jesus is gentle with other characters in Luke... A distinctively Lucan characteristic is his clear identification of Jesus as God's Son in the annunciation (p. 125)."

"Jesus's status as God's beloved Son in Luke is most patent in the close relationship between the two that the narrative portrays (p. 127)."

"John clearly distinguishes Christ from the Father by emphasizing that he was sent from God and always does the will of the Father (p. 136)."

"Jesus regularly testifies of his Father and how he gets his power and authority from him, but the same Gospel presents Jesus as God (p. 137)."

"Another way we see John's witness of Jesus as God is his identification of Christ as the Creator (p. 141)."

"'These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name' (p. 153)."

"Seeing miracles was an important experience that led Nicodemus to transition from being a spectator watching Jesus's miracles to one who enters and becomes a part of the kingdom of God (p. 158)."

"Neither Nicodemus nor any other teacher can understand the things of heaven, including understanding who Jesus is, through their early study (p. 159)."

"Jesus uses the dialogue to engage the woman and capture her attention by teaching of the living water that he promised to provide for her... Only after Jesus had gained her attention with the hope of living water did he move to help her raise her sights (p. 161)."

"His visual limitation was not only a physical reality but a symbol for his spiritual blindness (p. 165)."

"The real miracle was that the man received his spiritual sight, which enabled him to break free from his earthly shackles and 'see' who Jesus really was: not just a man, or even a prophet, but his God (p. 169)."

"They struggled to understand that Jesus was not just another man or miracle worker or even a prophet (p. 169)."

"As the creator God, Jesus brings both physical and spiritual light to the world and its inhabitants (p. 169)."

"The hymns of the New Testament explore that tension between man and God (p. 194)."

"Christ literally 'poured himself out' into a human form like a slave. This describes an active process where Christ lowers himself from one state to another: God does not pour Jesus into a physical body; instead, Jesus takes on a body himself (p. 199)."

"In any discussion of New Testament Christology, Paul's writings become crucial (p. 216)."

"The cross helps readers focus on the victory that is won through the cross (p. 228)."

"Jesus Christ was the first to experience resurrection (p. 230)."

"Paul's letters nonetheless provide a very vivid and vibrant depiction of Jesus, revealing him to be the divine Son of God and the vital agent of our salvation (p. 233)."

"The effect of the Lord's self-sacrifice was directed not at an outward cleansing as was the old covenant (p. 247)."

"He became the guarantee of salvation to the faithful (p. 249)."

"The Lord's sacrifice was retroactive--reaching back to all people of all ages (p. 250)."

"The epistle makes clear that redemption comes to all only by the means of the Lord's death (p. 250)."

"Jesus serves as the model for devotion to God (p. 252)."

"Jesus was the Father's offering 'to bear the sins of many' (p. 256)."

"Were Jesus Christ not sufficiently divine, how could he have the power to rescue humanity? (p. 307)"

"Ebionites are often described in ancient Christian texts as 'Jewish-Christians' (p. 310)."

"Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament, the God worshipped by Jews, was a god of wrath, vengeance, and justice, and was not the God who sent Jesus (p. 313)."

"'By clothing himself with our flesh he made it his own, and by making it his own he made it non-sinful' (p. 324)."

"For Tertullian, it was necessary that Jesus Christ be both human and divine (p. 325)."

"'The Son is more intelligent than they all.' But his 'natural' endowments still had to be cultivated. 'By obedience, by righteousness, through faith, over long ages and eons' (p. 336)."

"'His advancement was from one grace to another, not from gracelessness to grace; from good to greater good, not from evil to good; from favor with God to greater favor, not from estrangement because of sin to reconciliation through repentance and propitiations' (p. 349)."

"Jesus 'patiently 'waited upon the Lord' for the right time to start his ministry (p. 372)."

"'He spake not as other men, neither could he be taught; for he needed not that any man should teach him' (p. 372)."

"Once Jesus began his ministry, he quickly exhibited divine authority (p. 373)."

"Each of the four Gospels displays unique information about Jesus Christ and his purposes (p. 382)."

"'Christ' appears in the New Testament 571 times. Particularly in the Gospels, it serves as a title (p. 395)."

"Lamb... This imagery informs its passion narrative, which presents Jesus as the ultimate paschal lamb (p. 398)."

"While Redeemer is not a title that appears in the New Testament, the concept of God or his servant as being a personal and national redeemer was an important promise in the Old Testament (p. 403)."

"Perhaps the most important Christological title, Son of God is most common in the Johannine corpus (p. 406)."

"condescension: Literally meaning 'coming down to be with' us, condescension refers to both God (Heavenly Father) becoming the Father of the mortal Jesus Christ and especially the premortal Christ setting aside his glory, power, and knowledge to be born as the Babe of Bethlehem (p. 410)."

[Lisa]

This is a book about Christology, which is a word that shouldn't scare you--it is really about Christ in the New Testament and the way He is portrayed by each of the Gospel writers. It is a collection of articles presented at the BYU Sperry Symposium in 2017. It enriched my testimony of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I especially appreciated Robert L. Millet's "One Eternal God: The Latter-day Saint Doctrine of the Father and the Son," Camille Fronk Olson's "We Believe and Arr Sure," the articles about the things we can learn about Christ from different Gospel writers and from Paul, and Jason R. Combs' "'Christ' After the Apostles: The Humanity and Divinity of the Savior in the Second Century." As I have finished the book the day before Easter, it has been a rich reading to approach Holy Week and to enhance my testimony of Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine, who was literally resurrected from the dead and who graciously obeyed Heavenly Father's generous and loving plan of salvation that makes it possible for all to overcome death and for those who accept the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome sin, weakness, unfairness, and all the problems of the world to achieve peace in this life and eternal blessings in the next.

[Karen]

Wow!! What a powerful book about our Savior. It has greatly strengthened my testimony of him. I loved almost every single chapter in the book. There were a couple of chapters that didn’t mean as much to me, but most of them added greatly to my understanding. Even the introduction is very significant I especially loved the first nine chapters and the last two. I wish all of my children and grandchildren, would read this book and increase their knowledge and understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he did. I think it is much more meaningful if you are very familiar with the scriptures! Especially the New Testament!

[Jeff Crosby]

Historical and doctrinal essays.

[David Barney]

Good overview of different aspects from the four gospels. Can be a bit academic.