History-centrism of Christianity
After reading the story in the bible, many people innocently ask the following question:
What did Jesus really accomplish? There are many good - very nice - people who were killed mindlessly in the last two thousand years. Look at Mahatma Gandhi. He fought for a well-defined cause, made great strides towards that cause using only peaceful means, and finally died during the process but leaving behind a success story. In contrast, Jesus achieved no improvement to the society and died in vain. Gandhi successfully used civil-disobedience to bring justice to millions of his people. Perhaps, Jesus could have had the same effectiveness if he had used it.
This is not a new thought. Speaking on Mahatma Gandhi's death, Nobel prize nominee and legendary missionary E. Stanley Jones described Mahatma Gandhi as "the greatest tragedy since the Son of God died on the cross."
How can Christianity elevate the status of Jesus above all others? Th
e need for dogma to elevate Jesus to the status of God was realized as a necessity by Christian thinkers since the inception of Christianity.
Theodore Beza wrote in his work the Anti-Bellius in 1554:
“There is one way that leads to God, namely, Christ; and one way that leads to Christ, namely, faith; and this faith includes all those dogmas ... If Christ is not true God, coeternal and consubstantial with the Father, how is He our Savior? How is He our sanctifier? How is He victor over sin, death, and the devil? Unless He is true man, save for sin, how is He our mediator?”
C. S. Lewis argues in his book Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Josh McDowell argues, along the lines of C. S. Lewis, in his book Evidence That Demands a Verdict:
Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. You must make a choice.
Belief in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth and belief in the virtue of his teachings are no the same thing. Among qualities of Jesus, what qualities are essential to him - qualities that make him more than just a living exemplar for human conduct and living? Whatever such qualities be, they need to set Jesus apart from other great humans who lived before and after Jesus and whose contributions to the mundane issues of the society were exemplary in their own right and can rival for a position on par if not better than Jesus.
Christians answer all these questions by offering the Dogma of Nicene Creed.
- Jesus came to save the entire humanity, not just a society.
- God sent his Son, Jesus, to save Humanity from Original Sin.
- Jesus did not die in vain. He died for our salvation, for freedom from Original Sin.
What is the source of Nicene creed?
Nicene creed is a set of core Christian beliefs. Nicene creed is not explicitly stated in the Bible. Understanding the Nicene creed requires understanding context offered by relevant Biblical verses. Before we go into Biblical verses that support Nicene creed, we will look at how Nicene creed forms the backbone of Biblical story.
Centrality of Nicene creed to Christianity is best appreciated by reviewing the meta narrative of the Biblical story of Jesus bringing salvation to humanity.
- God makes laws.
- Violating laws is a sin.
- In fact, sin is nothing but violation of laws.
- Without laws, there are no sins.
- Sin begets God's wrath and punishment.
- Punishment depends on the nature of sin.
- Salvation is God forgiving someone's sin.
- Sacrifices please God.
- Just as punishments are sized to match sin, so should sacrifices be sized to the sin one is seeking salvation for.
- Adam and Eve committed the Original (first) Sin of eating the forbbiden fruit.
- Original Sin was so egregious that all descendents of Adam and Eve had to pay for its consequences.
- No sacrifice that humans could offer was sufficient for to be forgiven for Original Sin.
- Sacrifice of the perfect person of Jesus, Son of God, finally brought salvation to all humanity.
While all do not agree on what human sin Jesus was bringing salvation for, the single most important reason offered, and the one reason that gels the story of bible well together, is Original Sin. Why so? Original Sin is something all human beings inherited from Adam and Eve and they have no means of salvation from it. Death of Jesus was the sacrifice that was needed to bring salvation to all humanity from Original Sin. Jesus did not have to die for other normal sins of human beings. There are instances in the bible where Jesus forgave sins of people without effort.
While Nicene creed defines what constitute non-negotiable beliefs, scripture (Bible) forms the foundation of faith. Notice how historical accounts in the Bible are offered to answer the question.
1. Jesus came to save the entire humanity, not just a society:
Jesus came to save humanity from the
Original Sin that Adam and Eve committed.
According to Bible, man has to obediently keep God's decrees, commands, and laws.
The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. Deuteronomy 26:16-17
Violating God's laws is a sin. Sin is nothing but violating God's law. Breaking a law brings God's wrath.
Anyone who sins breaks God’s law. Yes, sinning is the same as living against God’s law. 1 John 3:4
because the law can only bring God’s anger on those who disobey it. But if there is no law, then there is nothing to disobey. . Romans 4:15
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they violated God's law (
Original Sin) and hence faced the wrath of punishment of mortality and an eternity in hell after that. This, the first sin of man, became known as original sin. Humanity (descendants of Adam and Eve) carried the burden of sin.
The doctrine of Original Sin states that all humans have inherited the guilt of sin from Adam and Eve; this state of sin exists in all people from the moment of their conception. According to this doctrine, all people are born sinners and die sinners; all people are 'lost' eternally, and are in need of Divine salvation.
The Bible says:
Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned. Romans 5:12
God's Law to ancient Israel required serious punishments for serious transgressions.
Original Sin carried on from generation to generation. Worse, mere actions of humanity could not atone for the
Original Sin.
But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Exodus 21:23-25
This went on for a few thousand years. Middle East had a history of animal sacrifices in an effort to atone for this sin in the hope of avoiding eternal hell after death. Unfortunately, these sacrifices remained only a reminder of the sin and did not really take away their sins.
Instead, these sacrifices are a reminder of sin every year, because it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:3-4
But God is merciful and wants to put an end to this misery of
Original Sin borne by humanity.
2. God sent his Son, Jesus, to save Humanity from Original Sin:
There are several verses in the Bible where Jesus is strongly implying that he is Son of God.
The high priest asked Jesus another question: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?” Jesus answered, “Yes, I am the Son of God. And in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of God All-Powerful. And you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61-62
Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. John 14:6
What did Jesus mean by "The only way to the Father is through me"? That Humanity can expect salvation only through him. Salvation in Christianity has the special meaning of
savings from sins.
The divine person that could cover mankind's transgressions would have to equal what the first perfect man (Adam) had lost. Therefore, only the death of another perfect man could pay the wages of sin.
... you are to take life for life .. Exodus 21:23-25
That perfect man was Jesus, the Son of God.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. 1 Timothy 2:5,6
3. No, Jesus did not die in vain. He died for our salvation:
The Bible says that the reason Jesus sacrificed his perfect life on Earth was to pay the price for
Original Sin once and for all, for all humanity.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19
Almost everything is cleansed by blood, according to the Law’s regulations, and there is no forgiveness without blood being shed. Hebrews 9:22
Passover Lamb Jesus was a sacrifice for his people, like a lamb killed for the Jewish Passover Feast. 1 Corinthians 5:7
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world! John 1:29
We have been made holy by God’s will through the offering of Jesus Christ’s body once for all. Hebrews 10:10
... because he perfected the people who are being made holy with one offering for all time. Hebrews 10:14
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22
For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son, Jesus, he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13, 14
So Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. He brings this agreement so that those who are chosen by God can have the blessings God promised, blessings that last forever. This can happen only because Christ died to free people from sins committed against the commands of the first agreement. Hebrews 9:15
How does Jesus lead humanity to salvation?
Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don’t, you believed for nothing. I gave you the message that I received. I told you the most important truths: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Some further scriptural clarification for those who have a difficulty understanding original sin as a concept in Chrisyianity. Liberal Christians often downplay Niceness creed and specific dogma in Nicene creed such as Original Sin.
When you disagree with the Nicene creed, you are going against established Christian Theology. Even though Nicene creed was written in 4th century A.D, dogma that it encapsulates has been around from the time the Bible was written.
Romans 5:12-21
Adam and Christ
12 Sin came into the world because of what one man did. And with sin came death. So this is why all people must die—because all people have sinned. 13 Sin was in the world before the Law of Moses. But God does not consider people guilty of sin if there is no law. 14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, everyone had to die. Adam died because he sinned by not obeying God’s command. But even those who did not sin that same way had to die.
That one man, Adam, can be compared to Christ, the one who was coming in the future. 15 But God’s free gift is not like Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But the grace that people received from God was much greater. Many received God’s gift of life by the grace of this other man, Jesus Christ. 16 After Adam sinned once, he was judged guilty. But the gift of God is different. His free gift came after many sins, and it makes people right with him. 17 One man sinned, and so death ruled all people because of that one man. But now some people accept God’s full grace and his great gift of being made right. Surely they will have true life and rule through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 So that one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people. But in the same way, Christ did something so good that it makes all people right with God. And that brings them true life. 19 One man disobeyed God and many became sinners. But in the same way, one man obeyed God and many will be made right. 20 The law was brought in so that more people would sin the way Adam did. But where sin increased, there was even more of God’s grace. 21 Sin once used death to rule us. But God gave us more of his grace so that grace could rule by making us right with him. And this brings us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As we end, we should clarify one point: Jesus did not come to abolish the laws laid down in the Old Testament. Thus, the centrality of Bible, which includes the old testament, is intact. While New Testament establishes Historical basis for Jesus as the prophet and son of the God, Jesus validates the content of the Old Testament.
Don’t think that I have come to destroy the Law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have come not to destroy their teachings but to give full meaning to them. Matthew 5:17
A person should obey every command in the law, even one that does not seem important. Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches others not to obey it will be the least important in God’s kingdom. But whoever obeys the law and teaches others to obey it will be great in God’s kingdom. Matthew 5:19