Many Christians are familiar with Alpha, a program designed to introduce people to Christianity. The title is quite fitting since alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. The program consists of a series of excellent videos addressing fundamental aspects of the Christian faith.
The central figure behind the Alpha program is a man named Nicky Gumbel. As a young man growing up in London, England, Gumbel was an atheist, full of bitter contempt for Christians. While a university student, he was horrified when one of his close friends became a Christian. Nicky was studying to become a barrister (that’s a lawyer, for those Americans not familiar with British English). Like a good lawyer, he decided to find out more about Christianity in order to combat this pernicious development.
So, one evening Nicky Gumbel sat down and began to read the Bible, starting with the gospel of Matthew. Within a few days, he had devoured the entire New Testament. Gumbel was shocked and overwhelmed by the compelling truth and beauty he encountered in the scriptures. Instead of dissuading his friend from being a Christian, Nicki Gumbel’s investigation resulted in him becoming a Christian! This decision put him on a different path in life. He eventually became an ordained minister in the Anglican Church.
Alpha videos have been used effectively by churches around the world, including my own. Through Alpha, many thousands of people have come to genuine faith in Jesus. Admittedly, the program is not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of Christian thought. But Alpha did get me thinking about how exactly the early Christians introduced Jesus to the world. What was the most important thing that the first Christians said about Jesus?
In order to answer this question, let’s take a brief tour through the book of Acts. We shall begin with the day of Pentecost, when the power of the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus. The city of Jerusalem was then packed with Jews from all over the known world who had come to celebrate the feast of weeks, or Shavuot. This crowd was both perplexed and dazzled when the Spirit enabled believers to speak in various languages.
The apostle Peter arose to address the crowd. His words give us the first example of the Christian message. Peter’s oration focused heavily on the resurrection. “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” Based on Jesus’ shocking victory over the grave, Peter concludes: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.“
One important thing to note here which might seem strange to contemporary Christians. Peter does not say anything about the deity of Jesus. Now I would not for one moment deny that the deity of Jesus is absolutely vital for the Christian faith. We know from all sorts of scriptures that, following the resurrection, his followers quickly came to affirm that Jesus of Nazareth embodied the God of Israel.
For example, when doubting Thomas finally meets the risen Jesus, he exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” The apostle Paul wrote, “For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form.” And the book of Hebrews states, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
Yet even though the deity of Jesus is indeed central to Christianity, this is not the first thing that Christians said about Jesus. Rather, Peter’s main point was that Jesus was the Christ.
Shortly thereafter, the apostles were dragged before the Sanhedrin – the ruling council of the Jews – for teaching in the name of Jesus. But even in the face of severe threats, the disciples pressed on: “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” Tellingly, this short summary statement condenses the good news – the essential Christian message – down to one single phrase: Jesus is the Christ.
This same pattern unfolds again and again throughout the book of Acts.
When persecution breaks out against the Christians, the newly appointed deacon Philip “went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.”
Soon we are introduced to Saul (later Paul) of Tarsus. Initially, Saul brutally persecuted the church. But his behavior was radically transformed when he was confronted by the Lord in a stunning vision along the road to Damascus. Instead of stamping out the nascent sect, Saul become one of its leading proponents! “Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.”
Eventually, Paul makes his way to the city of Corinth in the Roman province of Achaia (modern Greece). The book of Acts summarizes Paul’s ministry in Corinth in this way: “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.”
Acts also tells us about a Christian named Apollos, who (like Paul) was a frequent traveler. Originally from the great city of Alexandria in Egypt, he came to Ephesus and eventually moved on to Corinth. Wherever he went, Apollos was a compelling orator who boldly declared the word of God. “[Apollos] vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”
Many more examples could be provided, but I hope by now readers have gotten the point. When the first Christians talked about Jesus, the most important thing they had to say was that he was the Christ.
Now I will repeat that the first Christians really did believe that Jesus was the full embodiment of the one true God. They would have heartily affirmed that Jesus shared the same “substance” as God the father. (This language would later be used by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD to describe the nature of the Trinity.)
When the Alpha videos address the question “Who was Jesus?” they almost exclusively discuss his deity. And that effort is certainly important and worthwhile. However, it must be noted that if the first Christians ever produced an Alpha video series, it’s safe to say that they would have spent the majority of their time talking about Jesus as the Christ.
In my experience, very few Christians (pastors and elders included) can offer a clear and coherent explanation for Jesus’ claim to be the Christ, and why this is so important. Many churchgoers mistakenly believe that when the writers of the Bible refer to Jesus as the Christ, they’re talking about his deity. But this is simply not the case. Jesus’ role as the Christ is quite separate from his deity. If people are going to truly understand the Christian faith and comprehend their own scriptures, it’s crucial that they understand the difference between the two.
For other folks, the word Christ has been reduced merely to a proper name, simply another way of denoting Jesus of Nazareth, as opposed to any other man who might bear that name. The term has become a bit of window dressing; it looks and sounds nice but we’re not really sure if it’s necessary.
This leaves us with an important task. What precisely did the first Christians mean when they referred to Jesus as the Christ? And why was this the “alpha statement” – the most important thing that they said when they bore witness to him?
When the early Christians referred to Jesus as the Christ, they were bestowing upon him a very special title – a title pregnant with meaning and hope for the Jewish people. The term Christ refers to a mighty king who would come from the line of David. This great ruler would establish God’s justice and peace, not just over Israel, but over the whole earth. “He will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth…All kings will bow down to him, and all nations will serve him.”
Next week we shall step further into the world of meaning contained in the title of Christ. For if we don’t understand it, then we don’t know the first thing about Jesus.
