Solus Christus | Fully God, Fully Man
Everything in Christianity hinges on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Though the world provides many different religions and theologies, the litmus test of truth and authenticity comes from a right relationship with and understanding of Jesus Christ. Throughout my lifetime, I have seen the rise of multi-faith services where those worshipping different God comes together to worship their respective gods for the sake of unity. Yet, doing so partners ourselves with the worship of false gods and makes us culpable, setting others on equal footing with Jesus Christ. Plain and simple, it is an affront to God. Our salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. He is not one of multiple ways but the only way. No one else can compare with the vastness of Jesus’ reign and He comes as the One, True King who reigns over all other ruler. Christ does not peacefully coexist with other religions and other gods as Christianity is exclusive in its Godhead while being inclusive of all peoples. To follow Christ means a rejection of our preferences, desires, and wishes and submitting to Jesus Christ and Lord and Savior over all because He is the only means by which we can be saved.
The core of Solus Christus states that Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation by His sacrificial work on the cross and His nature as God made flesh. Mankind, from the fall in Genesis 3 and the introduction of sin into the world, inherently resides in a state of sinfulness. No one can be declared innocent from their own works or striving and all are guilty of rebellion against our creator. God cannot allow sin to persist and must enact justice in the world to deal with the issue of sin. Furthermore, the consequences of sin is that blood is spilt because of the rebellion against the created order and against God Himself. We are all are sinful but unable to pay the full consequences of our sin. Jesus Christ, however, being fully God and taking on flesh, provides a unique opportunity to rescue mankind from our sins and return us to righteousness.
The Full Divinity of Jesus Christ
Jesus as being fully divine can be a difficult concept to grasp. Yet, throughout the testimony of the Gospels, we see Jesus making claims of His divinity. He is the one and only Son of God (Matthew 17:5). His status lies above ours and He rightfully rules over all creation. Jesus claimed full unity with God, demonstrated an ability to forgive sins (rather than sins being forgiven, a passive statement), and received the worship from people. Furthermore, His ability to perform signs and wonders demonstrated an ability that only God could provide. Jesus does not merely represent God (although He definitely speaks the mind and word of God), but instead Jesus is God in His very existence. The very nature of Jesus gives Him the right to rule over all creation, over all things physical and spiritual.
Jesus is not like God (being similar to Him) but is God Himself. For the full work of reconciliation to be completed, no man could sufficiently come up to the task. Mankind, being in the very nature dead due to sin, could only go so far in our interceding on behalf of mankind. God did not send an envoy to die for the sins of mankind but came Himself. The limitations of mankind would be made perfect with the presence of God in the world. If we sin and die, our death is deserved. Jesus, being fully God, would be the only person to be on the earth in a sinless state being fully God. Thus the death of Christ is an undeserved act of grace that preserves justice in saving mankind. The intervention of God for the sake of His people stems first and foremost from God and not from our own efforts. We cannot produce salvation. Nor can we obligate God to save us. Our salvation and rescue comes from Christ alone as an act of God alone.
The Full Humanity of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ always existed as a full member of the triune Godhead. He played a role in creation and He was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Yet, God did not remain far off but chose instead to become incarnate in the flesh. As John tells us, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV). Jesus walks among the people. He shared meals with them. He slept and went through everything else that mankind went through all so that His presence would be in our midst. The humanity of Jesus cannot be denied without doing damage to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If Jesus did not take the form of man, then His sacrifice on the cross would be no sacrifice at all and our sins would remain unpaid. The pain and death Jesus felt on the cross on our behalf was a real experience as seen as He cries out in thirst and anguish. He took the burden of our flesh upon His flesh and identified with us so that we might identify with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.
For us, this means that God chose to relate to us on our level in order to return us to Himself. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14-15, ESV) More-so than that, it demonstrates the great lengths that God will endure to save and rescue His people. God was under no obligation to take on the form of man, a lesser honor than the King of Existence is due. Yet, the full humanity of Jesus Christ shows us that God desires to intimately know us, be with us, and save us from among us. Throughout the whole of scripture, God has revealed Himself to His people in order to save and redeem them by living with them and tabernacling in their presence. Taking on the form of man allows Jesus to be tempted in every way we are and to resist that temptation. Furthermore, it allows Jesus to die for mankind as a representative of them, bearing the full weight of the consequences of our sin upon Himself. Where Adam failed as the first representation of mankind in the Garden of Eden, Jesus Christ stands in our place, bearing the burden of our sin upon Himself, all to return His people to paradise with Him.
The Interaction Between Divinity and Humanity
The two natures of humanity and divinity cannot be separated from one another. He cannot be divided into the divine and human parts. Instead, they are identical and overlapping. The fullness of each finds its expression within Christ. If this were not the case, the effectiveness of His work to die for our sins and advocate on our behalf to the Father would be diminished according to the limitations of Jesus’ being. The idea of the incarnation is that God became man without sacrificing His God nature. Both play a role in the crucifixion and both are necessary for our eternal life. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV). Jesus Christ humbled His divinity to become man and emptied Himself to allow mankind to approach Him.
God presents Himself to mankind as both divinely transcendent and physically immanent. We, on our own, cannot rightfully or willfully approach the throne room of God unless God brings us to Himself. Thus, Jesus Christ is supremely necessary for our salvation. He alone inhabits both camps bridging the rift between God and man that sin left. Furthermore, Jesus maintains the justice of God by refusing to allow sin to go unpunished and extends grace by bearing the punishment upon Himself. Only Jesus Christ can pay the price that our sin demands. The cross of Christ, a humiliating death, demonstrated the fullness of God’s deity and humanity as the only means by which humanity can be saved. The reformation thought of Solus Christus comes on full display that we can only be saved by Jesus Christ and his unique person. When we submit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we submit ourselves to a God who rescues us out of His own sacrifice for His glory. Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully man gives us the only path to salvation by living and dying on our behalf. God identified with us so that we might identify with Him in his death, burial, and resurrection.
