Was Jesus saved by grace through faith or did He know who He was? I have looked all around with no answer to this question. I asked the minister's wife after prayer tonight just to hear what she believes. I have my own thoughts on this and would like to share them. I have never heard anyone explain it this way. My understanding is a little off the beaten path and I don't expect to change anyone's mind. If I have given you food for thought then I have done well.
It is my belief that Jesus himself was saved by grace through faith. I have heard in sermons that Jesus lived a sinless life and because of that He sits at the right hand of God. I disagree with that assertion. If that was the case then Jesus was saved by works.
When Jesus was on the earth He was fully man. The bible clearly states "For by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of WORKS, so that no one may boast." Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrected. All fruit is harvested in the same manner. We are saved by grace through faith not by works. Jesus must have been saved in the same way.
The bible also states that "without faith it is impossible to please God. To me this means that Jesus had to accept God and His promises by FAITH not by foreknowledge because He remembered or knew who He Himself was. The bible clearly tell us that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist that a dove came down and rested on Jesus. Suddenly there was a voice from Heaven saying "You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
If Jesus knew who He was and knew that He would be resurrected after three days and nights then He would not have sweat blood when He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane? It is my belief that He took it that He would be raised from the dead on faith alone. If He remembered that He was God and immortal then there was no sacrifice. By definition you can NOT kill an immortal.
What do you think? If I am wrong in any of this please let me know. I want to know the truth. I want to understand.
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Jesus was fully man and fully God while here on earth. It seems hard to understand how he could be both but he is God and can do anything. Jesus did not need to be saved he is the who saves. No man could pay the penalty for sin, we could never be good enough or perfect enough.(Romans 3:23) That is why we see in the Old Testament that they constantly had to sacrifice animals for their sins.
ReplyDeleteGod (Father, Son & Holy Spirit three persons but one God) decided to send the son Jesus to die for us. (John 3:16) There was no way for us to redeem ourselves so God had to do it for us.(Romans 5:8)
Jesus is the Savior who saves us when we believe (he did not need to be saved). He is the perfect sacrifice for us once and for all. Only God was perfect enough to die for our sins. No longer do we have to sacrifce animals as in the Old Testament. Jesus (God) came and died for us. There is nothing we could do to save ourselves from eternal death, only Jesus's sacrifice is what saves us.
His baptism shows His diety. His prayer at the garden shows us his humanity but then his diety as he submitted to the will of the Father. He was raised from the dead because He is God and he has the power over death and the grave. The grave could not hold him. He died in the physical..but he is God and He conquered death and then rose again in the physical. But he never died spiritually. God is eternal He always was, always is and always shall be.
But remember blood had to be shed for our sins and it was through Jesus, his sinless life, his earthly death; He antoned for our sins. He paid the price for us to be saved.(Romans 6:23) And it is through His Grace that we are saved. There is nothing we could do. We are given the gift we just have to accept it. (Romans 10:9-10)
Thank you for your comments but let me ask you a few questions and make a few comments. I really do want to keep exchanging ideas!
ReplyDeleteTrue, Jesus was fully God but when he was born he was at that time fully man. When he was resurrected he was once again fully God. I don't believe he was both at the same time.
I believe that Jesus was born like the rest of us with no memory of who he was. I think that he was told by his parents and studied the Torah completely and knew that the signs all pointed to him BUT he had to believe (have faith) about who he was.
If Jesus knew he was God and therefore immortal then why did he sweat blood in the garden the night before he was crucified? If he knew he was immortal and that he couldn't die then he didn't sacrifice anything. Yet, he clearly laid down his life for us.
The bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. When Jesus was baptized a voice said this is my son in whom I am well pleased. That tells me that Jesus had great faith not knowledge.
He who was without sin became sin. That says to me that he did indeed need the grace of God. The bible says that salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast. Again, this says to me that he needed the grace of God.
Jesus calls himself the first fruit of the resurrection. You harvest the first fruit the same as the rest of the harvest. We are saved by grace through faith. The same has to be true of Jesus.
Jesus knew the Torah well. He knew the words AND the spirit of the Torah well. He was a living Torah and followed it in everything he did without fail.
It's totally amazing when you think about it.
Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time here on earth. Here are some examples of this truth....
ReplyDelete•He was God before he was born in the flesh: "In the beginning was the Word ... and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
•After his human birth he continued to be God. On earth, Jesus forgave sins (Mark 2:5-7), something only God can do. He claimed divinity (John 8:58) and thus equality with God (John 10:28-30). These claims led to charges of blasphemy (Matthew 26:63-66) and death by crucifixion.
•After his resurrection, he continues to be God. Thomas called the risen Jesus "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
•The author of Hebrews, quoting Psalm 104, says of Jesus, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8).
There are a lot of questions here so I will try to sum up....
In the garden we see Jesus hummanity and divinty. His hummanity when he sweat blood because He knew the task ahead of Him was very great, his physical body reacting to divine. He was about to take on the sins of the world. We see his divinty in his submission to God the Father....not my will but your will be done. God the Son's love for us was so great that he was willing to take on the sins of the world so that we can be right with him if we choose.
Jesus did sacrifice so much...He left his heavenly home to be one us, he lived a very lowly life at that as well. His sacrifice is that he was physically beaten and the felt every pain of the cross which was so great. He then took on the sin of the world of all those before him, all those present and all those to come. What a great sacrifice.
Jesus took on sin. He paid our price. He redeemed us from death and Hell. Only God could fix what man had done. To say that a mere man could do all that takes away the greatness of God redeem us to himself. God alone made the way for us. Praise God!
I read your comments with great interest and wanted to carefully consider what you said before I said anything.
ReplyDeleteYou said: •He was God before he was born in the flesh: "In the beginning was the Word ... and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Note the key word BEFORE in that. He was born in the flesh - the conception was virgin but the birth was very normal. Jesus came into the world a baby. Born the same as any other man.
In your earlier comment you said: That is why we see in the Old Testament that they constantly had to sacrifice animals for their sins. This is not correct. It's a very common misunderstanding of the animal sacrifice. Hebrews 10:1 says "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." We learned in the HaYesod class that the animal sacrifice and Temple were to draw near to God. It says in Hebrews 9:9-10 "gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience since they relate only to food and drink and various washings,regulations for the body."
You also said this: Jesus forgave sins (Mark 2:5-7), something only God can do.**Where did you get that? You can read in Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.**IMHO whatsoever is a powerful word that could also include the ability to forgive sins by the grace of God through faith.
It says in Philippians 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. **Notice the word DO.
Jesus was teaching prayer. It says in Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
You said: Jesus did sacrifice so much...He left his heavenly home to be one us, he lived a very lowly life at that as well. His sacrifice is that he was physically beaten and the felt every pain of the cross which was so great. He then took on the sin of the world of all those before him, all those present and all those to come. What a great sacrifice.**I agree that he did all of that AND he gave up his life. He died! He was raised from the dead.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.** He became sin! He needed to be forgiven. He needed the grace of God to be forgiven. The only way to get the grace of God is to have faith. Without faith it's impossible to please God. If he KNEW who he was then there was no faith involved. While this may seem like circular logic it also lends itself to keeping the word consistent.
Interesting that you said this: he lived a very lowly life. Where does it say in the bible that Jesus was poor?
I wrote a very long answer and it was there but now it's gone. I will try to write it again but make it a little shorter.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for your thoughtful comments.