Savior - Jesus or the Christ?

I would suggest that before you dive into this entry, you check out another post on this line. It sort of leads into this one, which I know has been an issue of debate among world Christians since the first Council of Nicaea 17 centuries ago.The reason I suggest looking at a previous post first will make sense as I go, but understand that yesterday's post talked about a spiritual cause to the universe, not a material (mortal) one.




That debate has colored Christianity ever since, and in effect, has diminished at least some part of Jesus' and his apostles' work. The debate swirled around whether Jesus was God. For full disclosure, I was raised in the Lutheran church, which is one of the "mainstream" Christian churches which believe that Jesus was God incarnate on this earth, and is worshipped as such. This belief in the man Jesus being a deity has been problematic. Why? Two reasons: (1) Because Jesus stated in the Bible that his followers do what he did - "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: (Matthew 10:8)" - and "preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)." If Jesus was a deity, it wouldn't make sense that an "infinite" Jesus would command "finite" mortals to do the God-like things he did; (2) It is logically impossible in the first place for an infinite being to be inside a finite form and remain infinite. Therefore, to consider Jesus as God would be making God a finite, mortal being (which in one way is consistent with the God in the second chapter of Genesis) - one that is born on this earth, lives on the earth, then dies after a certain period of time.

Because followers (outside of the disciples) believed themselves to be mortal, limited beings, they have virtually ignored the healing work and focused only on "preaching the gospel." And I believe it's because they've been confused about their Savior. They believe the Savior to be Jesus the man. If Jesus the man is the Savior, and he is the only one with the power to do the healing and the cleansing and the casting out, then all of that ended when he ascended.  Right?

Then what about the book The Acts of the Apostles, which documents works by Jesus' followers AFTER he ascended? If Jesus the man is the only source of this healing power, and he took it with him into heaven, then where did the apostles get the same power? And what about some prophets in the Old Testament - before Jesus' arrival - like Elijah, Jacob, Abraham and Elisha? The stories about them healing and raising the dead? Jesus hadn't arrived on the earth yet, but these seers were doing similar "miracles." How can this be?

And let's extend this further. If Jesus the man is our Savior today, that would be a bit problematic for us too, since Jesus the man is not on this earth to "save" us. How does Christianity survive so long?

To me, in my study, I have found logical conclusions in that those who look to Jesus the man are creating another God, another power in the universe. But there is only one power, God - which created everything in the universe (see Genesis 1). There is no other power, and should not be in our thinking.

Let's take a look at the other side of Jesus Christ - the Christ. In this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson, the subject is Christ Jesus. One of the Bible passages features Jesus asking his disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" (see Matthew 16:13-18) The disciples gave him different answers, saying that some thought he was "John the Baptist; others, Elias ... Jeremias, or one of the prophets." Jesus re-stated his inquiry: "But whom say ye (the disciples) that I am?" The disciples had been trained and educated in Jesus' ways and works; they knew he was a spiritual being, created by God. Simon Peter spoke up and said, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Interesting that Simon called Jesus "the Christ," the one and only, and not Jesus. That is because he had learned that Jesus is the most perfect human expression of the infinite spiritual God, whose immortal idea is the Christ. When Jesus used "I" or "I am," he was not referring to his human self, he was referring to his spiritual self. Why? Because he knew that he and everyone else were created spiritually, as the "image and likeness" of God (see Genesis 1:27) - a spiritual, immortal (not in body) being. To Jesus, the mortal (material) man was not our being, nor his. He denied a mortal existence and focused only on the spiritual.

And since God has been, is and always will be infinite and eternal, he always creates and is the eternal power and only cause in the universe. The Christ, as His spiritual idea - the "only begotten Son" mentioned in John 3:16 - is also eternal and infinite because it is made of the same substance as God. And it is this Christ which has been through history healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils and cleansing lepers. Elijah, Elisha, Abraham and others all were in touch with it; Jesus, and all of his disciples. And today, every single person (Christian or not) has the ability to access this Christ-power for themselves and others. We all have the ability to "be saved" by our Savior - as long as we see it as the Christ.

When Simon Peter answered Jesus' question, Mary Baker Eddy wrote of it in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 138): "It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm of harmony." When men said that Jesus was "one of the prophets," they considered him another human with the ability to heal - something that not every human had. But Peter recognized through following Jesus and his teachings, that it was the spiritual Christ, not the human Jesus, which healed, and that this was available to all who were open to receiving it.

Think about who the Savior is in your life - is it Jesus, or the Christ? One is consistent with the idea of a single cause (God, spiritual, infinite, constant) and single effect (good, spiritual, infinity, constancy) in the universe. The other tends to differ from the first chapter of Genesis and tends to lead us into inconsistency, finiteness, limits and materiality. One lives forever and is available always; the other has already left the earth and is not returning to "save" anyone else.

As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue to seek salvation through pardon and not through reform, and resort to matter instead of Spirit for the cure of the sick." (p. 285)

Just something to ponder.