Discover: Jesus - The word of God Jesus - The Image of God Jesus - The only Begotten Son of God Jesus - The First Born from the Dead and how they affect and concern you - The believer in Christ Jesus

1. DIVINE LIFE
MINISTRIES
FOUNDATION COURSE OUTLINE
TITLE: THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS
The subject of the person of Jesus is so crucial to the understanding of
other subjects in the kingdom of God because there is no Christianity
without Jesus. It is also important to note that whenever we study
about Jesus, we are actually looking at who we are in Christ because
the scripture declares in 1 John 4:17 “Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so
are we in this world.” in other words, there is fundamentally no
difference between Jesus Himself and the believer in Christ, that’s
why we are called members of His body. (Eph 5:30)
Haven said that; let us now take a brief look into the personality of
Jesus Christ our Lord. In simple terminologies, I will like to define
personality as the essential character and qualities that distinguishes
and makes a person unique. In this case, we are studying those
character traits and qualities that distinguishes Jesus as who He is.
JESUS – THE WORD
As we talk about the person of Jesus as the Word of God, it is
important to note that while the Word of God is eternal, Jesus never
existed until the Word took up flesh! In other words, the Word had
always been with the Father all along but it was when the Word
became flesh that Jesus came into existence. This is why I like to say
that Jesus is more than a prophet like some people of little
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2. understanding think and say. He is not the man who came to start the
Christian religion. He is not just a nice man who did many good things
for people. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.
The bible declares in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Just the way God was
from the beginning, the scripture says that the Word was in the
beginning. The Word wasn’t created like God wasn’t created. The
Word had and still has the very nature and quality of God Himself.
That is the reason John ended that verse by saying “and the Word was
God”
Furthermore, when the appointed time to save mankind came, the bible
declares in Psalm 107:20 that “He sent his word, and healed them, and
delivered them from their destructions.” Now, you have to understand
that the Word of God exists in the realm of the Spirit for God is a
Spirit and so is His word. So Jesus is the intrusion of the Word of God
into the natural realm. That’s why He was called Emmanuel, for God
had come to tabernacle amongst men!
John further buttresses this point in the fourteenth verse of the gospel
according to St. John where he said “And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
So when Jesus walked the earth, He wasn’t the same as every other
person on the earth at that time. He wasn’t like any other that existed
before either. He was divinity manifested in human casing. When He
moved from one village to another, it was the Word of God moving
from one village to another. When He spoke to people, it was the
Word of God speaking. When He performed a miracle, it was the
Word of God performing a miracle. Oh what a personality Jesus is!
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3. One day while He was talking during His earthly ministry, the bible
records in John 8:58 “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Before Abraham was, I am.” This to an English man sounds
grammatically incorrect since you would expect Him to say “I was”
but Jesus and His audience knew exactly what He was saying. The
bible says they took up stones to cast at Him for saying so.
Of course you wouldn’t expect them to attempt to stone Him for a
grammatically incorrect statement. They did so because they knew
exactly what He meant. You see, the phrase “I am” is used of God
alone as revealed to Moses their fore father. And that was why they
wanted to stone Him for saying “I am” They couldn’t understand how
this Jesus who they knew His date of birth, and natural parents was
claiming to be God! What they didn’t know was that Jesus wasn’t like
any other person they knew around. Even though born of a woman, the
substance of His existence was the very word of God. That was why
He could boldly say “He is” before Abraham for the Word of God
existed before Abraham did.
Now you can relate with the Word of God in John 1:12-13 that says
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.” Wow! John said anyone who believes in and receives Jesus
equally receives the power (authority) to become the son of God in the
same capacity that Jesus is the Son of God.
Then he went on to describe what it means to be a son of God by
saying it doesn’t mean to be born of blood. In other words this kind of
birth is not traceable or has nothing to do with human blood at all. In
fact, we are not born of the flesh or of the will (volition) of natural
men. He said we are born of God! Now you may begin to wonder how
possible it is for you to be born of God when you know the very man
whose surname you bear.
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4. The apostle Peter has the answer in 1 Pet 1:23 where he said “Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” He says we are born again
not of corruptible sperm but of incorruptible sperm. He went on to say
that incorruptible sperm that has become the substance of our birth is
the Word of God that lives and abides ever. So just like Jesus, if you
are born again, you are born of the Word of God too.
JESUS – THE IMAGE OF GOD
Talking about Jesus as the image of God; there are two Greek words
translated image and used in relation to Jesus as the image of God in
scripture. The first word translated image is the Greek word
“charakter” from where the English word “character” is derived. It
refers to a tool for graving, a stamp or an impression as in a coin or a
seal. In other words, this word refers to the character or image
impressed upon a coin or a seal. It speaks of how that a seal which
makes an impression on a sheet of paper for example, bears the image
or the character produced by it!
Take for example, a company has a seal or rubber stamp on which an
image is impressed and this instrument (the seal or rubber stamp) is
used for impressing the image that it has on other materials. This is
what the bible refers to in Heb 1:2-3 where it says “Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
He refers to Jesus as both being the image of God’s person and the
instrument for impressing that image on others! He is the adequate
imprint of the essence of the Father. This was why Jesus himself said
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5. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 1:18. The only
begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father (the imprint of the
Father) has declared (impressed) the Father upon our hearts.
Furthermore, when we read in John 10:30 Jesus said “I and my Father
are one” It is important to note that the terminology He used here
means to have their being in each other such that there is no one
without the other! In other words, Jesus is the precise reproduction of
the Father in every respect.
The second one is the word “eikon” from where we have the English
word “icon”. This word is translated image and involves the ideas of
representation and manifestation. It means to be essentially and
absolutely the perfect expression and representation of the original,
model or prototype. It refers to both resemblance and manifestation.
So it means to both look like and to act like.
This was the word Paul the apostle used in 1 Cor 15:49 where he said
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly.” Here he referred to the natural man who is a
descendant of Adam as bearing Adam’s image (eikon). Mankind is
described as a representation derived from the prototype (Adam). In
other words, the natural man looks like and function like Adam. This
is the reason the natural man cannot live a life superior to the quality
of life Adam had but thanks be to God, as we have borne the image
(image and likeness) of the earthy, we now bear the very image of the
heavenly (Jesus)
So when we talk about Jesus as the image of God, we are saying He is
the perfect representation of the invisible Father. He looks like and
functions like the Father. Little wonder why John 14:9 records “Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
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6. not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and
how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
In 2 Cor 4:4, scripture declares “In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them.” Oh Jesus was indeed not an ordinary person at all. He wasn’t
like those prophets through whom God spoke occasionally. Whenever
He spoke, He spoke as God not for God. That’s why He didn’t have to
pray to perform a miracle! He simply said “be healed”, “rise up and
walk”, “be made whole” and so on.
This subject becomes even more interesting when you discover that
God used the same terms when talking about us in Rom 8:29 “For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren.” I mean God says that He foreknew us and predestinated us
to be fashioned and pattered after the very image and likeness of His
Son. You see why it is out of place for you to be trying so hard to copy
and be like the world? We were designed to look like and to function
like Jesus here on earth. You too can boldly say “If you have seen me,
you have seen Jesus” Praise God!
JESUS – THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON:
As we study Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, I will like for us to
consider some of the words translated begotten in the bible. One of
them is the word “Monogenas”. It is the word used in John 1:14, John
1:18, John 3:16 and John 3:18 and refers to a single of its kind. It
implies that Jesus “was” a single of His kind. He “was” the only
representative of a particular species. He was what you would call an
“only child”
So why did I say Jesus “was” the only begotten Son of the Father?
This is because He is no longer the only begotten Son of the Father.
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7. Remember that scripture in Rom 8:29 that says “For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
It is no longer correct to say Jesus is the only begotten Son of the
Father because through His earthly ministry, expiatory death, burial,
resurrection and ascension, it has become possible for other sons to
emerge. This is what transformed His identity from an only begotten
son to the firstborn among many brethren. You and I are now members
of the family of God and as much His children as Jesus is!
Another very important word was used in 1 Pet 1:3 where scripture
says “blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
Here the apostle Peter was talking about the new creation and said God
hath begotten us again to a lively hope. He uses the Greek word
“Anagennao” which means to produce again, born again, born
anew, to have ones’ mind changed so that he lives a new life. In
other words, what he was saying was that God has made us born again
unto a lively hope (a lifetime of hope) by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. You see, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are
born again unto newness of life. So when next you think about Jesus,
you think about the reason for our lives as Christian!
JESUS – THE FIRSTBORN OF EVERY CREATURE: (Col 1:13-15,
18, Rev 1:5, Rom 8:29, 1 Cor 15:20)
When we talk about Jesus as the first born, what comes into the mind
of everyone is that He wasn’t the first to be born into the world, how
then is He the first born of every creature? Well, we would look at this
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8. from two different angles. First, let’s look at Colossians 1:18 “and He
is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things, He might have the preeminence”
The Greek word used here literally means the first born or first
begotten. Also in Rev 1:5 the scripture says “and from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and
the prince of the kings of the earth…” The bible tells us He is the first
begotten form the dead. This doesn’t mean the first to be resurrected
because we know Jesus during His earthly ministry even raised the
dead. The point is this, all those who were raised to life from the dead
came back with the same kind of life they had before they died but in
Jesus’ case, the life with which He resurrected was different.
Despite the fact that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, we know
that he was made sin who knew no sin that we might become the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:21) He was arrested as a
sinner and judged as a sinner. Finally, He was crucified as a sinner and
paid the penalty of sin which was death! Remember the bible says the
wages of sin is death, so He had to receive the wages of the sins He
was then carrying as the representative of mankind. After His death,
He went to hell as a sinner is supposed to. Three days later, He came
back to life. Actually, He was brought back to life by the Holy Spirit
who is referred to as the glory of the Father.
Here’s the difference! He wasn’t just raised to life or resurrected as it
sounds; He was actually born out of death! He was born anew with a
very different life. He did not resurrect as the sinner He was when He
died. He came out of the grave the righteousness of God. He came out
of the grave with the God kind of Life, the Divine Life! Now, since no
one ever lived with that life before Him, He remained the first born of
that race.
CONFESSION:
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9. Dear heavenly Father I thank you for loving me so much and
sending your Word to save me from all destruction. Thank you for
the intensity of your love that looked beyond who I was and what I
had to offer but considered who I could become if only you made
that sacrifice. I thank you for giving birth to me by your living and
abiding Word and then making me as you really are in Christ Jesus.
Thank you Lord for as I had borne the image of the earthly, so I am
now bearing the image of the heavenly. Therefore, as He is so am I
in this world for you have made me your qualified representation
and manifestation. I declare that my world is seeing Jesus in me as I
show forth the beauties and Excellencies of the heavenly every day
of my life.
Yes I am a member of the family of God for I hail from Him. I am
His offspring and His reproduction! I am a child of God in the same
capacity as Jesus – the Son of God for He has given me His life and
the very essence of His personality. Everywhere I go God goes
because He now lives in me and functions through me. All things are
therefore possible to me for I now function with the ability of the
living God in the name of Jesus.
I have been born again unto a lifetime of hope by the resurrection of
Jesus from the dead. Christ in me is the hope of glory for greater is
He that is in me than he that is in the world. Everything about my
life now has the God factor attached to it for I am no ordinary
person at all. I am a supernatural being from a supernatural
kingdom and I reign, rule and dominate in this life by Christ Jesus.
ASSESSMENT
Please let me state categorically that the reason for this assessment is
not to score you or give you any credits but to see to it that you have
clearly understood the topic of discourse. So kindly ensure that you
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10. answer these questions in accordance with your understanding rather
than in accordance with what is written in the outline.
If you find that at some point you don’t seem to know the answer, then
read and re-read the outline until you have a firm grip on the material.
If it takes you several weeks to understand this, it doesn’t mean that
you are dull in understanding at all. It simply means that you are smart
and have decided to take your time to understand the subject and that
in my honest opinion is a million times better than rushing through for
reading sake.
1. What have you discovered to be the reason for studying the
personality of Jesus?
2. What are the three major characteristics of the person of Jesus
described in this study?
3. Is there any reason between Jesus and the word? If Yes, what is
that difference?
4. There are two scriptures in this outline to prove that we too are
born of the word of God? Quote one of them.
5. Briefly describe the two words translated image in scripture
6. How can you describe the believer as the image of Christ?
7. How true is the statement that Jesus is the only begotten Son of
the Father today?
8. Differentiate between the following terminologies: Jesus as the
only begotten Son, Jesus as the firstborn amongst many
brethren and Jesus as the first born from the dead.
9. Do you have any personal questions in connection with the
study that you would like to ask a leader or pastor?
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