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What do we mean when we say, Jesus Christ is Perfect Theology?
Jesus Christ as Perfect Theology means that we can’t come to know what God is truly like without Jesus. That God can only be known, and the whole of Scripture can only be interpreted, through Jesus alone. Jesus becomes the lens through which we view ALL of Scripture.
Whereas Job and ALL the Old covenant prophets are posing the question:
“God, who are You?”
Jesus is the answer:
“I AM what God is like.”
God is Like Jesus
The book of Hebrews begins with this:
“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” Hebrews 1
Jesus said:
“If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” (John 14 NLT)
Jesus never said anything that the Father wasn’t giving him to say. Everything Jesus was given to say was carefully chosen by the Father to lead people into eternal life which Jesus defines for us as restored relationship! Also, Jesus never did anything on his own. He always partnered with what the Father was already doing. The Father was expressing “Himself” perfectly through Jesus Christ leading his lost children back home.
First of all, both Ryan and I begin in this talk by relating our understanding of God growing up in the church. He believed God would only love him if he remained faithful. Ryan talks about how so many of us partner with a cycle of shame and a performance mentality that we allow to define our relationship with God. We make it about us and not about the marvelous beauty and wonder of who God is and enjoying fellowship with Mr. Joy Himself.
Jesus Christ is Perfect Theology in You
A couple of Scriptures that Ryan Kibbe shared in this interview were:
“…as He is, so also are we in this world.” – 1 John 4:17
And:
“Christ in you the hope of glory” – Colossians 1:27 NASB
Ryan emphasized how Christ didn’t die for a doctrinal statement but to live in you and me to re-present the Father to an orphan minded world of what the Father is truly like.
I love that! When Ryan said that we re-present the Father to an orphan minded world I couldn’t help but think of the interview I just did with Mel Wild! We talked in that episode about how the Father’s embrace is healing the orphan minded in both the church and the world. As one poet once said, “Jesus wants to save Christians too.”
Listen to what John writes in the beginning of his Gospel:
“No one has ever yet seen God. The only begotten God, the One being in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” John 1:18 Berean Literal Bible
It seems that all the other prophets prior to Jesus have only have ever caught the faintest whispers of what God was truly like until Jesus revealed him. If we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus.
All true prophets since Christ’s coming have Christ living in them. They can truly know the Good Shepherd and “see God” which is something Jesus said would be true for the pure in heart (or fully surrendered).
We, as Christ followers, are now displaying what God is like. Jesus in us is still putting God on display to the world saying through us, “this is what God is like.”
The apostle Paul writes in one of his letters to the Corinthians about beholding the glory of God and reflecting him to this orphan hearted world like Ryan mentions in this talk.
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
(This is where our band name Reflect Worship comes from! Check out our music here: www.reflectworship.com)
And again:
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
What About all our Carefully Crafted Doctrinal Statements of Theology?
While it may seem like a cop out to simply say, “Jesus Christ is Perfect Theology”, I actually see this perspective as the most brilliant way to live in unity and harmony with other believers. Personally, I refuse to even play the game of defining theology as hammering out a doctrinal statement anymore.
Theology is a Person.
If we are in relationship with Truth Himself (Yeshua, aka Jesus) then we know that all errors in our understanding of this Perfect Theology will be straightened out in time as we grow in relationship.
Relationship has always been the point!
As I mentioned before, Jesus defines Eternal Life as Relationship! If you don’t have relationship by actually coming to Jesus then you do not have eternal life.
It isn’t our perfect understanding of Theology that saves any of us, but Perfect Theology Himself who saves us. After all, Jesus own name spells out “I AM Salvation”.