Why Christianity Is So Unique

Or, Is Jesus the son of God or a son of Adam?

What is the difference after all? Are we not all children of God, made in the image of God? Therefore we are all sons or daughters of God. And if Adam is the first human — according to the Bible — then we are all sons and daughters of Adam. So, isn’t Jesus both, just like us?

Does it really matter after all in this messy up and broken world?

It does matter.

It matters to each one of us personally.

Was Jesus really GOD? And was Jesus really HUMAN?

These are important issues, not just as a question of doctrine or orthodoxy. These are important questions about whether anyone can actually help us in this messed up and broken world.

AND THE ANSWER REVEALS WHY CHRISTIANITY IS UNIQUE.

Taking Things Apart

As a kid I would always take things apart. My alarm clock. A radio. My lego sets. I would have piles of parts and wires laying around as I looked at how everything fitted together.

The problem was I couldn’t put them back together. I could take them apart. But I didn’t know how to put them back together. I was learning how things worked, but then they would no longer work. I was figuring out how things fit together, but then I couldn’t fit them back together.

Our Broken Lives

This is how it is with our lives, not just personally, but in the whole world.

We know something is wrong with us, with the everyone, with the world. People do terrible things to each other — lie, cheat, steal, murder. And we do terrible things to ourselves — we self-sabotage, give in to addictions, stay in destructive relationship, self-harm.

Sometimes we even try to take our lives apart to see what is wrong. But then we are just guessing about how to put things back together again. We are just putting pieces and parts together, and we hope that our lives will have meaning and significance, love and acceptance.

Our lives are so much more complex and so much more important than an alarm clock or radio.

How do we fix ourselves?

Can we even fix ourselves once we’re broken?

The Fully God and Fully Human can Fix Us

The question of whether Jesus is the Son of God or the son of Adam matters because it gets at the question of who can fix our broken humanity — something we can’t fix for ourselves.

Fully God

To call Jesus the Son of God means two things. It refers both to his divinity and his humanity. The Gospels — the first four books of the New Testament in the Bible — each declare Jesus to be God in their own way. In the Gospels, however, the term “Son of God” more often refers to Jesus as the promised king and deliverer of God. So in that sense it is also connected to his humanity.

But it is especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul that “Son of God” is used to refer to the special status of the Son of God in relation to Father God. Jesus, the Son of God, is a child of God eternally with the Father. But all of humanity is adopted by God in time.

This is important because if humanity is broken then we need to be fixed. And we need to be fixed by someone who knows what they are doing. Jesus, as God, knows what we are meant to be. He knows the original plan. He is someone who can help us and make things right again.

Fully Human

But that is not all. Just because God knows the original plan doesn’t mean he is in a place to fix us. An architect knows the original plan for the building. But that doesn’t mean he can help with a structural problem in the building once it is built.

That Jesus is called the Son of Adam means he is fully human. Human in every way. This is what Jesus’ baptism is all about. Affirming both that he is fully human and that he identifies with the broken human situation.

This is important because we someone who knows what they are doing to fix us. And is close enough to us — involved with the situation enough — to actually do something about it.

Christianity is Utterly Unique

That Jesus is fully God and fully human makes Christianity so unique. Jesus is not some god that remains detached from the human plight — looking down while above it all. He is not some god who would come and help but remain far off. How could such a god really save us without being one of us — unless the goal is to remove, overcome, abandon, or destroy our humanity! But Christianity doesn’t speak of the destruction of humanity, but the salvation of humanity.

Likewise, if Jesus is only fully human, but not fully God, then we still don’t have a solution. Sure Jesus could be a great example about how to live. But without being God he would just be making it up like the rest of us. It would just be like me or you trying to put together a broken clock.

So Jesus really is the Son of God, and the Son of Adam — fully God and fully human. And without that humanity would still be drifting around, broken and lost.

Is your view of God a little BLURRY? This FREE Refocusing Faith Checklist will help by looking at God, the Gospel, Salvation, Faith, and Holiness.

Please upvote and/or share this post if you liked it. Thanks. ~Geoff