The Christ of Christianity

Colossian 1:15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Hm.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Hebrews 1:3: "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of HIs nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."

Philippians 2:6-8: "[Christ Jesus], who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, He humbles Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

1 Timothy 2:5-6: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave HImself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time."

John 1:1-5, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The whole of Christianity rests upon the person of Christ Jesus.  He was an actual, historical person who lived a perfect, sinless life, who was put on trial and murdered for His lack of crime, but on the third day after His death, He rose from the grave, as the resurrected Lord and Savior, King over all creation.  The last sentence, while being full of true theological assertions, is rooted in the theology of Scripture.  So, in an effort to always affirm that the Scripture is the authority, today seems a good day to let the Scripture speak for itself so that we could think about such important things as this.  This has been, admittedly, an all-too-abbreviated survey of Christological passages, but they are at least sufficient to get the ball rolling in our hearts and our heads.  And always: thanks be to God that He has revealed Himself in His Son so that we could know Him in redemption!