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Chapter VI

The Miraculous Life of Christ

The Perfection of Christ's Character

Certain aspects of the doctrine of Christ have already been considered and shown to be strong evidences of His deity and of the unique truth of Christianity. These include both His miraculous birth, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, and also a preliminary discussion of His bodily resurrection, the climactic and crowning proof that He indeed was God.

Between His birth and His resurrection, however, He lived a life of unique holiness and power. The sinless life He lived, the mighty miracles He performed, and the gracious words He spoke, all providing a matchless setting for the unparalleled claims He made, add still further to the evidence that Jesus Christ was uniquely the Son of God.

Consider the character of Christ, as manifest in His life described in the four gospels. The gospel writers all are concerned solely with describing the words and deeds of Jesus Christ, and everything else is incidental and contributory to that purpose. He is always, in every chapter, the central character and theme.

Yet, with all this attention, it is remarkable that two features are notably missing from these biographies, features which are invariably prominent in all other biographies of great men. First, there is not one line describing the human physical appearance of Jesus! Whether He was tall or short, dark or light, heavyset or thin, bearded or clean-shaven, we are not told. The color of His hair or His eyes, the manner of gait, the structure of His physique, the pitch of His voice — all these things, usually of such interest to writers and their readers, are amazingly omitted by the Gospel authors. Medieval portraits and statues and pious descriptive forgeries notwithstanding, we actually have not the slightest knowledge today of Jesus' human appearance. We do not even know that He had what might be considered Jewish facial characteristics, since He was born without direct genetic connection to either Mary or Joseph.

The reason for this reticence in describing Jesus may be twofold. First, as the son of Man, He is thus capable of identification with all men, not just with Jews or whites, or tall men or brown-eyed men or any other particular type of men. Secondly, man's perverse tendency to idolatry would quickly have made an idol out of His picture or image had we known what He looked like (even without this, many have made what amounts to a shrine or idol out of a "model" of what some have imagined He looked like).

This remarkable restraint on the part of the four Gospel writers can be explained only as a divine constraint by the Holy Spirit. A second restraint, even more amazing, is a complete absence of any eulogies of Christ by the writers. Their portrait of a man absolutely perfect in word and deed, completely lacking in any slightest weakness of character, is quite unique in all literature. Yet they achieve this portrait by a simple factual record of what He said and did. Never do they pause to comment on His perfections, to exclaim over the wisdom of His words or to point out how uniquely moral and correct all of His actions were. The portrait is painted with perfect clarity and beauty, but altogether without the aid of editorial adjectives or interjections. Nothing they could possibly say by way of explanation or description could be half so effective as simply to recount the words and deeds of Jesus.

No one else in all history, or even in fiction, lived in such a way as did the Lord Jesus. Note the following points, among many others that might be listed.

He was always master of every situation, taking exactly the right action to fit the circumstances, never having to seek advice before acting and never having to retract or apologize after acting.

He never had to ask either permission, since He always spoke with authority, or forgiveness, since He never said or did anything amiss.

He had no consciousness of sins or shortcomings in His life, yet never conveyed any impression of pride or sanctimoniousness in His manner.

He was never fearful of anything and could be overpoweringly bold when occasion required, and yet He was gentle and meek in the highest degree.

His words were always perfectly chosen to fit the need, of absolute purity and wholesomeness, never trivial or banal, always relevant and meaningful.

He never complained about His circumstances, in spite of weariness, hunger, poverty, persecution and rejection, but instead provided continual encouragement and comfort to others.

He was equally confident and authoritative with friends and enemies, common people or leaders, never flustered or confused about what to say or do, regardless of the company or circumstances.

A list such as the above could be expanded almost endlessly. It would seem that every type of person or situation confronted Jesus in some way or another in some degree, and He always responded or reacted in the most perfect way. Never do we find a situation in which we feel that we could have done it better or that He was unduly harsh or weak or unreasonable or equivocal or at fault in any respect.

It is true that He had enemies and was hated and persecuted and finally put to death. This was not because of any fault in His own character, but because His very perfections illuminated and condemned the sins and hypocrisies of other men, and they could only react by opposing and crucifying Him.

Even without being told, the reader is impelled to the conviction that His life is our perfect pattern, the example we should continually seek to follow, even though we are painfully aware that we can never really attain it. We are without excuse, however, since He attained it and He is no less human than we. He is the Son of Man — man as God intended and created man to be.

Jesus, in fact, said as much. Without any semblance of conceit or boasting, He made it plain that His life is our perfect example, and that we should follow Him.

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord (Matt. 10:24-25).

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me (Matt. 10:37-38).

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).

I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you (John 13:15).

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another (John 13:34).

As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you (John 20:21).

That the disciples fully accepted this concept of Jesus as their example in all things is evidence from what they later wrote of Him. John said; "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). Paul said; "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).

Peter said, in a classic passage: "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously" (1 Pet. 2:21-23).

Jesus was surely the one man in all human experience who lived a perfect, sinless life. He was perfect man, truly human, and yet fulfilling His humanness as no other man can do. He is thus capable of providing perfect guidance and help for us in every situation. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points [tested] like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:15-16).

Son of Man

The perfect humanity of Christ is implied in the singularly appropriate title "Son of Man." This was evidently His favorite expression for himself. He called himself "Son of Man" no less than 80 times in the four Gospels.

The title is, of course, in no sense a denial of the deity of Christ. He is also the Son of God and, in fact, He frequently used the "Son of Man" title itself in a way which could only be applied to God. Thus: "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Matt. 9:6); "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10); "Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:62).

The title is thus itself an indication of deity. No one man could in himself represent all men; only God is capable of this. Jesus was not just a son of man; He was and is the Son of Man. That is, He is the second man, the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-47). He is the heir of man, the inheritor of all the promises to man.

He is the perfect man — man as God intended man to be. Furthermore, He is man as we shall someday become, when "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). It is as the Son of Man that John saw him in the vision of his glory (Rev. 1:13).

It was as the Son of Man that He was lifted up to die on the cross (John 3:14; 12:32-34), bearing in His own body the sins of all men. The human body in which God thus became incarnate as man is the body which was laid in the tomb and which on the third day rose again from the tomb. It was in that body He ascended into heaven. Stephen said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56).

It is thus as the perfect, resurrected, glorified Son of Man, eternally incarnate, that the Lord Jesus Christ exists today at the right hand of the Father. It is as Son of Man that He will come again (Matt. 24:30) "with power and great glory" and as Son of Man that He will receive "everlasting dominion" (Dan. 7:14).

By His very title, therefore, with all the realms of revelation it implies, Jesus Christ is both set above all other men and yet is made one with all men. He is and always will continue to be uniquely the Son of Man.

The Son of God

Although He spoke of himself most frequently as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ also claimed to be the Son of God. In speaking to Nicodemus, for example, He said, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). Many other Scriptures show that Christ frequently claimed to be, in a very unique sense, the Son of God (note, for example, John 5:25; 9:35; 11:4; etc.).

It was, as a matter of fact, this very claim that gave his enemies the opportunity to have Him condemned to death. In the Jewish law, blasphemy was a capital offense. At His trial before the elders, chief priests, and scribes, the climax came when they asked Him, "Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth" (Luke 22:70-71).

It had been prophesied in the Old Testament that the coming Savior and Messiah would be the Son of God. In the second Psalm, David speaks of the Lord and His Anointed (i.e., Messiah) in verse 2, and then quotes the Lord, in verse 7, as saying: "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Other Old Testament Scriptures speaking of God's unique Son include 2 Samuel 7:14 and Proverbs 30:4.

John the Baptist said, "And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34). Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matt. 16:16). Martha said, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God" (John 11:27). As soon as Paul the Apostle had been converted, "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20). In fact, all the disciples acknowledged, saying, "Of a truth, thou art the Son of God" (Matt. 14:33).

Even the centurion that carried out His execution said, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39). Demons recognized Him as such. "And devils also came out of many, crying out and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God" (Luke 4:41). Finally, none other than Satan himself acknowledged Him to be the Son of God. At two of the temptations in the wilderness, he began by saying, "If thou be the Son of God . . ." (Matt. 4:3, 6). The word "if " actually is better translated "since." It is interesting, in the light of 1 John 4:2-3, that Satan readily acknowledged Him as the Son of God, but refused Him recognition as the Son of Man.

It should be understood that Christ is not a Son of God in the sense that other men may be sons of God by a spiritual relationship to their Heavenly Father. Men are not born as children of God; they become sons of God by being "born again," through the Holy Spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:3-7).

Jesus Christ, however, is the "only begotten" of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16; 1 John 4:9). He is not the only son of God, as many modern translations would have John 3:16 and other such Scriptures say, but the only begotten (Greek monogenes) Son of God. There are at least five ways in which the Scriptures identify Him as Son of God in a special sense:

By eternal generation. He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" (Col. 1:15). He was a Son with the Father before the world began (John 17:5, 24). He has been "going forth …from everlasting" (Mic. 5:2). Eternally, He has been in relation to the eternal Father as His Son.

By special creation. The technical phrase "Son of God" is applied in Scripture in a formal way only to those whose bodies have been specially formed by God, and were not produced by natural processes of human generations. Thus angels are sons of God by creation (Gen. 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Dan. 3:25), and so was the first man Adam (Luke 3:38). The body of Christ was also formed directly by God (Luke 1:35).

By resurrection. Jesus Christ was the "beginning, the first-born from the dead" (Col. 1:18). Paul preached: "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Acts 13:32-33). He has been "declared to be the Son of God …by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4). Finally, the apostle John, introducing the final book of the Bible, identified Him as "Jesus Christ …the first begotten from the dead" (Rev. 1:5).

By inheritance. As the son is the father's heir, in things human, so Christ is to inherit all things from the heavenly Father. He "hath been appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2). "He that built all things is God …But Christ as a son over his own house" (Heb. 3:4-6).

By nature. The phrase "son of — " is a graphic expression denoting one's nature. Thus, James and John were "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17), Elymas the sorcerer was called "son of the devil" (Acts 13:10), Barnabas was so named by the Apostles because he was "the son of consolation" (Acts 4:36); etc. Jesus Christ similarly was called the "Son of God" because His nature was that of God. He challenged the Jews: "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him" (John 10:36-38.

The Teachings of Christ

By common consent, Jesus Christ is the greatest teacher who ever lived. Even many who reject His deity will acknowledge this. The Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the Kingdom, the Olivet discourse, the glorious messages in the Gospel of John, and others all contain wisdom and spiritual power of majesty and insight incomparably superior to any other words ever spoken.

He is the "Wonderful Counsellor" (Isa. 9:6). He is the one of whom it was prophesied that "grace was poured into thy lips" (Ps. 45:2). When He preached in Nazareth, it was said that "all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22).

When He concluded His Sermon on the Mount, it is recorded that "the people were astonished at his [teachings]: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matt. 7:28-29). In Capernaum, "they were astonished at his teachings, for his word was with power" (Luke 4:32).

Even His enemies were impressed with His teachings. When officers were commissioned to arrest Him, they came back to the chief priests empty-handed, with the simple explanation: "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46).

The sermons, the parables, the commandments, and the promises of Christ are an inexhaustible mine of blessing and wisdom and guidance to all who explore them. Each new reading of them yields new truth and insight not seen in previous readings. No other teacher and no other teachings can compare with these.

And yet Jesus was apparently only a carpenter from an obscure village in a despised nation. He never studied in a university, nor any other school so far as we know. He never traveled more than a few miles from His home, never wrote a book or article, never taught in a school. The only ones who paid much attention to what He taught (the multitudes sometimes listened and were impressed, but they soon forgot) were a motley band of unimpressive disciples, and even they missed the point on His most important teachings concerning His coming death and resurrection.

That such an obscure itinerant preacher would leave a legacy of the greatest teachings the world has ever known would seem absolutely impossible. But such is the fact! The only explanation that makes sense at all is that He was "a teacher come from God" (John 3:2), and that, as He claimed: "Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:50).

The Miracles of Christ

A further evidence of the supernaturalness of Christ is that of the miracles He performed. As the "teacher of Israel," Nicodemus said: "No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2).

The time and place in which Jesus lived were not characterized by superstition and gullibility, but rather by learning and skepticism. Miracles were quite as unexpected and marvelous then as the same miracles would be today. The present order of things, as ordained by God (Gen. 8:22) is one of basic uniformity, varied only on rare occasions by the supernatural when God's sovereign purpose so designs.

Even such a great influential man as John the Baptist never performed a miracle (John 10:41). Yet when Jesus came it is said that "his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them" (Matt. 4:24). He sent word to John: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up" (Matt. 11:5). These miracles of healing were never selective, or partial, or temporary, or trivial, as is true with modern so-called "faith healers," but were always medically or psychosomatically impossible, yet instantaneous, complete, and permanent.

Nor were His miracles limited to healings. He transformed water into wine, prodigiously multiplied a small quantity of bread and fish on two different occasions, calmed a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, walked on the water surface, caused a tree to wither away, extracted a coin from a fish, and directed a great draught of fishes into fishing nets, on two different occasions. On several occasions, He even restored the dead to life again.

His miracles were never merely for display or frivolity. Always they had the dual purpose of satisfying some serious human need which could be met in no other way at the time, and also of confirming His own authority and claims. In connection with the latter purpose, it was entirely of grace that He used miracles to vindicate His words. Men should have recognized Him through their study of the Scriptures, through the preparatory ministry of John the Baptist, and by the witness of His own life and teachings. Because of their blindness and hardness of heart, however, He made it easier for them to believe by use of miracles.

Thus it is noted that "many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did" (John 2:23). He told the unbelieving Jews: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works" (John 10:37-38). He even told His disciple Philip: "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake" (John 14:11).

On the other hand, He would not perform miracles simply to satisfy curiosity or carnality. When certain ones came seeking a sign from Him ("signs" and "miracles" are the same word in Greek), He said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it" (Matt. 12:39). He refused to perform before Herod, even to save His life (Luke 23:8-9). He knew that many would never believe regardless of miracles. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31). Note also John 12:37: "Though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him."

It is, therefore, obvious that the Lord Jesus Christ did on occasion perform mighty miracles, but always with clear reason and results, never for display or personal gain. The miracles that He did perform were accomplished before many different people, out in the open, in crowds, and were of many different kinds. They were obviously not tricks of hypnosis or mass psychology, as some have foolishly suggested.

As a matter of fact, many were actually miracles of creation (e.g., the water into wine, the multiplication of the loaves, etc.) and of resurrection. None but the Creator himself could be competent for such mighty works as these. John, in fact, develops his whole Gospel around the framework of seven great miracles of omnipotence and, when he concludes, he says: "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:30-31).

The Claims of Christ

In view of the sinless life, the wonderful teachings, and the mighty miracles of Christ, the claims He makes concerning His own person and mission are extremely important. A man who could accomplish such things as these can neither be dismissed as hallucinatory nor rejected as a charlatan. Neither, as has already been shown, can the gospel writers have been mistaken in reporting what He claimed.

Therefore, these claims must be studied carefully and regarded with utmost seriousness. They were actually made by Christ himself and, by all rules of reason and logic, should be accepted as absolute truth. They amount en toto to an absolute and dogmatic claim that He, Jesus Christ, is himself the eternal God! If this be so, and it is so, then a person can ignore or reject this fact only at the cost of tragic and eternal loss to his own soul.

The claims are many and varied, but all add up both individually and collectively to affirmation of His own unique deity as the eternal Son of God. A sampling of these is given below, without comment (for none is needed):

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6).

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven (Matt. 10:32).

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him (Matt. 11:27).

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die (John 11:25-26).

The Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath (Mark 2:28).

Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:24).

I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).

When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

The Son of Man came …to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst (John 4:14).

The Father …hath committed all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22).

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).

The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live (John 5:25).

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away (Luke 21:33).

Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58).

Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).

I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers (John 10:7-8).

I and my Father are one (John 10:30).

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger (John 6:35).

Statements of this sort could be added in great numbers. Remember that He who was sinless would never deceive, and He who was the wisest Teacher could not be mistaken. The claims are true and the promises sure. In the face of such incontrovertible evidence, we can only say with the once-doubting Thomas, "My Lord, and my God" (John 20:28).

Selected books for further study:

Bellett, J.G. 1943. The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. New York, NY: Loiseaux Bros. 80 p.

Edersheim, Albert. 1990. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Co. 1,523 p.

Guthrie, Donald. 1972. Jesus the Messiah. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House.

Kinney, LeBaron W. 1942. He is Thy Lord and Worship Thou Him. New York, NY: Loiseaux Bros. 230 p.

Lockyer, Herbert. 1961. All the Miracles of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House. 311 p.

Morris, Henry M. 1971. The Bible Has the Answer. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 256 p.

Rice, John R. 1966. Is Jesus God. Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers.

Sheldrake, Leonard. 1950. Our Lord Jesus Christ, A Plant of Renown. Fort Dodge, IA: Walterick Publishers. 171 p.

Tatford, Frederick A. 1950. The Master. New York, NY: Loiseaux Bros.

Thomas, W. H. Griffith. 1948. Christianity is Christ. London: Church Book Room Press. 144 p.

Trench, R. C. 1949. Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 298 p.