THEOS

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


We have now come to the third lesson in this series of teachings based on the Greek word for fish. We have learned that the word "ichthus" is used as an acrostic identifying names and roles of Jesus, with each letter in turn standing for: Jesus - Christ - God - Son - Savior. Today we will try to understand the middle letter, (theta) which is the first letter in the word for God, "Theos."

Actually, this combination of letters is fairly familiar in our own language. For example, we are aware today that there are major countries in the Middle East which consider themselves to be "theocracies," meaning that they consider themselves to be directly under the rule of God. In these countries, the religious leaders have the ultimate power. Afghanistan under Taliban rule was one example, and, incidentally, we saw how regressive and brutal religious people can be. Currently the country of Iran may be the closest thing to a theocracy - while there is a president, he is in power only with the approval of the Islamic religious leaders.

Another word you may have heard is "Theophany," which is a visible manifestation of God.

More noticeably, another prominent example of the letters "theo" being used in one of our words is "theology," a word which simply means "a word (logos), or study about God."

Obviously, in the few short minutes we have here today, we cannot begin to plum the depths of this subject, Theology. Thousands of very qualified scholars have prayed, studied, and tried to explain God in their writings and teachings. What they have told us is bewildering and confusing. In fact, they leave us with the question, is there anything that is really certain, is there anyone among us, or even in the entire world today that can claim that they know all there is to know about God?

    One theologian tells us that God is sovereign, that is, He controls and determines everything that happens on earth; Another theologian tells us that's not so, man has free will and determines his own destiny.

    On the one hand we're told that the God of the Bible is a God of war, proven by the stories of conquest in the Old Testament;
    On the other hand we're told that God is a God of love.

    One teaches that in order to be righteous we have to follow the rules;
    Another that we are free to follow conscience.

    There's the theology of creation that simply says God created the world by His word;
    Another insists it was through the mechanism of evolution.

    One theology says God is aloof;
    Another that He is very involved;

    One says God wants us to financially prosper;
    This is countered by the doctrine that says God wants sacrifice.

    A prominent theologian contends that salvation is by faith alone;
    Others, as represented by songwriter Keith Green tell us that being accepted in heaven depends upon "what we did or did not do."

    Some say God is up there out there;
    Others say God is right in here.

    One theologian says that in the universe there are two equal all-powerful figures, one good, and the other evil.
    Others say God is One.

    Some parts of Christianity teach the unity of God;
    Others argue for the trinity.

    There's even a lot of debate as to how we can get to know God, or how we can even develop theology - do we learn about God only in the Bible, is it by our experience, or is it merely by observation of His creation?

Doesn't this leave you confused and perhaps even despairing that one can never know for certain?

For a few minutes, let's put all of this aside and go right to the bottom line. One thing that sets true Christianity apart is this simple idea - Jesus is God. Whatever else you may or not believe, you cannot be a Christian without accepting this. Jesus is God. He's not a man pretending to be God, He's not God pretending to be a man, He's not half man and half god. Jesus is God.

This Jesus is none other than the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God who warned Noah to save his household from the Great Flood; He is the God who spoke to Moses at the burning bush; He is the God who took a shepherd boy from the field to establish an everlasting kingdom; He is the God who spoke by the prophets and apostles - and He is the God who gave Himself to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

No wonder Paul proclaimed that he only preached Christ and Him crucified - Paul understood that Jesus was the fullness of the godhead (Colossians 2:9).

Yes - Jesus was fully man, and as such He was tempted in all points like us, but He is also fully God. This takes us back to what was said when we talked about the previous title, "Christos" - we said then that that title was nearly synonymous with the term "Kurios" or Lord. The early Christians laid their lives on the line when they refused to stop proclaiming that "Jesus is Lord." This was considered treasonous because the supreme ruler, Caesar, wanted the term "kurios" to be reserved for himself. He wanted all to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord" - the Christians refused, they proclaimed, "Jesus is Lord" - Jesus is above Caesar, He is above every ruler that ever walked this earth, every ruler that has sat upon their throne in highest displays of splendor known to man.

In fact, this is the very reason the early Christians developed the secret sign of the fish, so they could identify themselves to each other without being brought to the attention of people who were loyal to Caesar and who would report them for arrest.

However, the question quickly comes, how do we know that Jesus is God?

1. We are plainly told so by John in the opening statement of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

2. We have the words of Jesus Himself.

    "Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.'" (John 14:8-10)

3. When the people of Jesus day did not believe His own testimony, He told them, "The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me . . . even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." (John 10:25, 38)

4. When it comes to worship, have you ever noticed the difference between Peter, Paul and Jesus?

    When Cornelius went to bow down to Peter, he immediately corrected him - Peter would not allow any man to bow down to him. (It's noteworthy that those who claim to sit in Peter's seat, the Roman Catholic Popes, they do allow men to bow down before them, and kiss their ring as though they were the supreme king!)

    When a lame man in Lystra was healed, and the people wanted to "offer sacrifices to them," Barnabas and Paul refused to accept their worship; they "tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 'Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them." (Acts 14:14,15)

    In contrast to this, Jesus allowed the people of His day to bow down and worship Him. (Matthew 17:14; Mark 1:40; 10:17)

    The Apostle Paul uses this same imagery of "bowing down" in the writing of Philippians: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." (2:10)

5. William Evans, in his book, Great Doctrines of the Bible points out that "Jesus possess the qualities and properties of deity." Evans goes on to explain:

    Jesus has Pre-Existence ("Before Abraham was, I am." - see also John 17:5; Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:16, 17);

    Jesus has "Self-Existence and possesses Life-Giving Power:" "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself." (John 5:21, 26) (See also John 1:4; 14:6; 17:3-5; 10:17, 18; Hebrews 7:16)

    And He has "Immutability" - "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)

6. For another thing, in answer to those who say Jesus never claimed deity for himself, we have the testimony of the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus and accused him of blaspheme - in fact at one point they picked up stones to stone Jesus (John 8:58,59)

Whenever we talk about Jesus being God, we have to admit that this poses for us a mystery. How could it be possible that a single man could contain God? In the Old Testament we are told that man cannot even look on God and live, so how could man be God? There are two scriptures that help us understand this.

    In Colossians we are told that "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Jesus]" But we have to understand the idea of fullness. Let me ask this question, would it be possible to funnel Niagara Falls into a drinking straw? You say, of course not. And you would be right if you're thinking that we would be trying to get all of the water coming over the falls into the straw. And yet, we can say that the fullness of the water is going into the straw, that is, all the qualities that make up Niagara Falls water is now in the straw.

    The other scripture is in Philippians 2 where is tells us that Jesus "made himself nothing" (NIV - "made himself of no reputation" KJV). The word used in this verse literally means, "he emptied himself." The way the fullness of God could be in Jesus was that certain of His divine prerogatives were lad aside. It might be like a police officer laying aside his official uniform and badge when he comes to church. By putting on street clothes, he is shedding himself of the authority that goes with the uniform and badge. He is the same person with or without the uniform and badge, but without it, he has willingly laid aside the authority given him by the state.

At the beginning of this talk we noted some rather common words which include the Greek letters for God, "theo", like theocracy, theophany, and theology.

But also in the Bible there is a person's name which includes this word, "theo." It's found at the beginning of both Luke and Acts, helping us understand that these two books were written by the same author, and addressed to the same person; the name is Theophilus, a name which means "lover of God." I wonder if this is a name we would like to adopt for ourselves? Are we lovers of God?

Interestingly, these same two words, when reversed (philotheos), come up in a warning Paul gave to Timothy:

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (II Timothy 3:1-5)

How would our friends, neighbors and coworkers characterize us? In their eyes, are we lovers of ourselves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure? Or would they quickly identify us as "lovers of God"?

Discussion Questions
Theos

1. What are some religiously oriented words which included the letters, "theos"?

2. What are some of the confusing, and at times competing ideas within the discipline called "Theology"?

3. Why is the truth that Jesus is god both radical and essential?

4. Why was the confession, "Jesus is Lord" deemed to be a threat to the Roman emperor?

5. One group, known as JW, believes that John 1:1 includes the indefinite article before the word "God" - "the word was a god." Besides this interpretation not being supported by the Greek language behind this text, what is wrong with this interpretation?

6. Why was Jesus apparently frustrated with the words of Philip, "show us the Father and that will be enough," and what did Jesus say in response?

7. What happened during Jesus' time on earth which further supported the idea that He was truly God?

8. How did Jesus respond to those who knelt before Him as compared with the response of His apostles?

9. What are some of the attributes of God that we also know to have been possessed by Jesus?

10. What did the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day understand about His teaching that caused them to pick up stones to stone him?

11. How is it possible that this statement is true, "In Jesus dwelt all the fullness of God"?

12. In what ways did Jesus "empty" Himself when He came into our world as a man?

13. What does the name "Theophilus" mean, and what loves must be rejected in order for us to claim such a name for ourselves?

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