 it's still not come on okay welcome to class everyone good to see your faces on your profile pics but once in a while I think some of you all can just put on your videos so it can be a little more engaging for me otherwise just looking at a screen blank screen is kind of a little difficult so it'll be nice if some of you can put on your videos once in a while it just I know it it kind of hinders the good connectivity internet connectivity but you can just try once in a while okay before we begin class today can somebody lead us in please anyone okay go ahead sit here let's pray father we come to the throne of grace lord thank you for this day the monday you have given us lord whatever we are going to learn about christ and whatever what we are going to learn from your word lord let it short not be kept in just our hearts and mind lord but it should be manifested by our daily lives lord lord give us your character lord and thank you for this day you have given us lord all the blessings you have given us lord lord give us your wisdom lord give us your fear so that we can be learning your word about your word lord in jesus name we pray amen amen thank you for leading us in prayer okay today is our first class in christology so when you think of this word christology what comes to your mind i hope some of you've taken some time to read the introduction yes lubega i think christology comes from two words christos and logia which means the the discourse the study of jesus christ okay thank you anyone else when you think of christology or when you read the introduction to the course the course content course overview what did you gather about what christology is all about anyone okay before we look at what basically christology is and what we are going to study in this course we'll just look at you know the why this course is designed for us so why is this course you know available for us to study it's basically designed to help us to get a better understanding or a clearer understanding of the deity of christ that means the divinity of christ if christ is truly god he is god okay so to get a better understanding on that the second thing is you know this course designed to help us understand that jesus was truly human when he came he became man he came and lived on this earth when he lived here he was fully human he was 100 man just like you and i the third thing is to see the unique nature of christ how he was human yet god how humanity and divinity co existed in the person of jesus christ this course is also designed to give us a better understanding of the importance of what we are going to study about the doctrine of christ christology which is one of the doctrines and its impact on believers in christ jesus okay it's also designed to help us understand the unique nature of christ i said that you know he was that he was human and yet he's god and this is you know so we could have a better reverence towards god we can stand in awe of who he is and his work and what he has accomplished and fall in love in a deeper love in an intimate way that we could love the person of jesus christ so this course is designed to help us understand clearly the divinity of christ his humanity as well to understand how the humanity and divinity of christ co existed in the person of jesus christ and also by doing so you know we can have we can stand in awe or we can have a better reference who jesus is and fall in love with the person of jesus christ okay so now we'll begin um with our introduction we'll look at what christology is like lubega said you know christology comes from two greek words one is christos the other is logos okay christos means what does christ mean what does the word christ mean savior okay thank you john anyone else ma'am messiah messiah okay the other word for crisis messiah basically the greek word christos uh sorry is uh uh you know um uh it means the anointed one or the christ or the messiah okay and we know what the meaning of the word logos is we studied that in systematic theology doctoral foundations logos means several things uh it means the word uh it means the decrease of god the judgments of god the spoken word of god the written word of god and also it's referring to a person that is jesus christ so logos which means the word or study of things related to a particular subject so christology is basically studying about christ the anointed one uh the messiah um and we're looking at the way the scripture passages which reveal who he uh is okay so christology is a field of study which is concerned more with the nature of jesus christ particularly how divinity and humanity related in his person okay i'll say that again christology is a field of study which is concerned with the nature of jesus christ particularly how uh divinity and humanity are related in his person in christology we basically consider this question that the jesus put forth to his disciples uh at the coast of cesarean filipi when he asked them we read about this in matthew chapter 16 verse 13 who do men say that i the son of man am okay so it's basically considering this question that jesus put forth to his disciples who do men say that i the son of man am so what people's understanding of who jesus was what was their answer or how did they understand jesus when he lived here on the earth what what did they say who jesus was some said he was a prophet some said he was a prophet yes just a prophet some yes to bega he was a son of god who takes away sin of man he was the son of god who takes away sin of man okay so when people had to answer this question some of them said uh like he was one of the prophets like john said he was jeremiah some said he was elijah some said he was john the baptist and we know all of these answers where put their own understanding of their old testament and it was the understanding of flesh and blood but the god given answer or the divine revelation of who jesus is came to the lips of peter okay he said thou art the christ the son of the living god we read this in matthew chapter 16 verse 16 and this uh you know statement peter or this confession by peter as jesus the son of the living god it was through divine revelation okay so in christology we basically will look at this question who do you know men say that jesus christ is or what is our understanding of who jesus is so a student of christology you know approaches this whole study or this topic or this doctrine by looking for answers to some basic questions and these questions are has god indeed become man how could the logos truly become flesh and how could deity or how could divinity and humanity exist in real unity in real oneness in one person that is jesus christ so you know a student of christology is basically engaging and trying to get answers to these questions and trying to find these answers scripture and also through various theological methodology that is available okay so in christology we basically be studying about the pre-existence and the eternal nature of jesus christ the Old Testament prophecies about christ we'll study about christ humanity his divinity the incarnation of jesus christ we look at his sinless nature his death his resurrection his ascension his exaltation and his return again so basically you know topics that we will be considering or studying or looking into in this topic on this doctrine christology okay so with this introduction we begin looking at the pre-existence of christ we'll basically be looking at the deity of christ the divinity of christ before we begin chapter one does anyone have any comments to make any doubts you have any questions okay there are no questions and we'll move on to chapter one we're going to basically basically be looking at the divinity of christ you know that jesus christ is god and we'll begin by looking at the pre-existence of christ so that christ exists before he came into this world if he did exist before he came into this world as a human being then who was he so this chapter will look at various scripture passages or the bible passages versus in the bible that talks about the pre-existence of christ okay and we'll be looking at a full attribute of the pre-existence of christ so let me just we'll be looking at a lot of scripture references so i will just put up these scripture references on screen so that y'all can you know quickly be able to read it sorry it's just taking a little time oh i'm not able to do that i don't know why it's not showing up on my screen okay so you can see the scripture references and then maybe a few of you can read it out so it's you know we don't have it'll be easy for y'all to look and read okay so can somebody read for us it's already presented on the screen so can somebody read john chapter one versus one to four please in the beginning was the world the world was with god and the world was god he was in the beginning with god all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made in him was life and the light was a light of man thank you so here we see that the word word is a capital w and it's referring to the person of jesus christ and john is introducing you know the word as or when he translated into greek logos and he's referring the logos as the person of jesus christ he's referring it to as jesus christ now logos also means a lot of other it had a lot of other different meanings we saw we learned about this in systematic theology word can also be the spoken word of god the speech of god uh his speech to human lips his his declarations his commands his judgments as ordinances the written word of god also we see that john introduces the logos the word as jesus christ and we look in why at why he is referring to the word as jesus christ okay but before that we'll just feed a couple of more verses john chapter one was 14 can somebody read that please and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we we held his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth thank you and somebody else can read revelation chapter 19 was 13 revelation 1913 he was floated with a rope dipped in his blood and his name is called the world of god yeah thank you oh so we see that you know in all of these references john chapter one versus one to four john chapter one was 14 and revelation chapter 19 was 13 you know we see a capital w there okay and all of these wherever we read the capital w it's referring to person uh uh jesus christ okay and it's talking about jesus christ and john is also uh you know introducing the logos as uh jesus christ in revelation chapter 19 was 13 uh he says that jesus's name is called the word of god okay so let us consider uh the use of this word logos and its translation in the new testament we as i already said you know we learned about this in systematic theology that the word is in is uh in greek and when interpreted in english it means word and in several places word which is small w uh can mean the speech of god uh it can be reason it can be report it can be judgment uh it can be declarations of god it can be god's word that he puts in human lip uh in human mouth or speaking through human lips but i said that you know logos could also mean uh and john is introducing the word logos here as the person of uh jesus christ now why does he uh introduce logos the word as uh jesus christ okay so let's look at that uh we look at uh a few um uh you know uh historians or um um philosophers uh in the in the new testament time and um uh basically the historical jewish setting we see that this word logos has a very rich meaning okay and we'll examine this word logos in in the context of the historical jewish setting and we'll see what the rich meaning of this word logos really means now uh uh heraclitus a greek philosopher okay who lived in the sixth century bc he defined logos as an eternal principle which gives order to the universe okay so heraclitus a greek philosopher uh who lived in the sixth century he defined logos this word logos for him this understanding was that this is an eternal principle which gives order to the universe another great philosopher chrysopis who lived in the third century bc uh he understood this word logos and he introduced this word logos to refer to a purposeful and guiding reason okay and other philosophers during this time use logos as a rational principle in the mind which is an expressible speed expressible in speech that means a principle that is in the mind which can be expressed towards which can be expressed in speech uh and jewish interpreter of the old testament named philio who lived during the first century adi understood logos to refer to an intermediary between god and the universe now this was the basic um understanding of this word logos in the historical jewish setting and uh john you know takes this word which is having a very huge and enormous significance or importance attached to it and he kind of takes it and he uses it to introduce um you know uh jesus christ as the logos so he said jesus christ is not just uh you know when introducing logos he's saying that it's not just uh uh that this logo so he's introducing is some rational principle of the mind which can be expressed in speech or somebody who's an intermediary between god and man or you know somebody who's an eternal principle that gives order to this universe but he uses this uh word logos you know to refer to uh jesus christ as god and by saying that he introduces uh jesus and he makes some four important uh uh attaches four important attributes uh to logos who he's introducing as jesus christ who is god so the first thing um uh he introduces jesus is that the word was in the beginning okay so we see here in john chapter one uh verse one in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god okay so we're going to look at uh john chapter one versus one two and three um and we're going to see uh the four attributes of god of jesus christ that uh uh posthum john introduces uh to his readers um as the logos okay and by introducing jesus as a logos he's saying he's not just an uh uh you know uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh between god and man he's not just some um you know a principle in the mind he's not some just some guiding reason but he is holy god okay so the first important attribute we see here is that the word was in the beginning so this indicates that Jesus Christ existed not only before he came into this world but also that he was there before all time okay and he was not just also was in the beginning so when if you say that he was there from the beginning that means we say there was a time when he was not existent and there was a time when he began to exist saying that he was not from the beginning but he was also in the beginning and that he had his being before the beginning we can say that or we can conclude that he never began and therefore was ever okay so there was never a time when he was not there will never be a time when he will never will cease to exist okay and that is why he is God so uh John by introducing uh Logos as Jesus Christ he says that he was there in the beginning which means uh you know he was not just from the beginning but he was also in the beginning and he had his being before the beginning which means uh you know he never began and therefore was ever or he is eternal the second attribute is that John introduces of this Logos who he refers to as Jesus Christ is the word was with God okay that means he's saying that Jesus was ever with God the Father he was with God the Holy Spirit in John chapter one was 18 we read that he was in the bosom of the Father now what does it mean by uh you know he was in the bosom of the Father anyone what does it mean by relationship with Father sorry John intimate relationship with Father yes he had a very intimate he had a very close relationship with the Father his his relationship with the Father was very very intimate okay so that is the second attribute that the word was with God now the third attribute is the word was God that means Jesus was God he possessed the essence and the substance of all that made God God okay now what do we mean by essence essence simply means the same thing as being okay being means a living being a form a person uh individual so Jesus was God and why do we say he was God because he possessed the same essence essence is the same thing as being and the substance of all that made God God okay and the Logos was not just an intermediary creature between God and man as it was understood by some of the philosophers and said by Filio but the Logos was God himself if you read Assam chapter 90 verse 2 can somebody read that please some 90 verse 2 some 90 verse 2 is here okay can somebody read some 90 verse 2 please before the mountains are born or gave you gave birth to the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting you are God thank you uh so some 90 verse 2 highlights an important attribute of God that you know God is God from everlasting to everlasting okay the last phrase of this of some 90 verse 2 says even from everlasting to everlasting you are God so everlasting to everlasting means God transcends time therefore in saying that the word was God we understood we understand this word that Jesus Christ was from eternity past and will be in eternity future so everlasting to everlasting means you know eternity past and will be to eternity future okay so the word was God now the next thing in him was life okay and the life we read in verse 4 of John chapter 1 in him was life and the life was the light of light of men now if you look at this word life here in John chapter 1 verse 4 it's the word the Greek word Zoe okay and this gives us a better insight about the divinity of Jesus Christ this word Zoe is used in the Testament to refer to the spiritual life or the kind of life especially the eternal life that comes from God to faith in Jesus Christ okay so all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior can say that we have the Zoe life in us means we have the kind of life we have the spiritual life we've received this life because of our faith in Jesus Christ now what is this Zoe or this God kind of life or the spiritual life in John chapter 5 verse 26 we have an insight into what the Zoe is okay can somebody read John chapter 5 verse 26 please John chapter 5 verse 26 says for as a father has life in himself so he has granted the son to have life in himself now if you read it in Greek it says for as the father has Zoe in himself so he has granted the son to have Zoe in himself okay so Zoe is the life of God and we receive this Zoe kind of life or we receive this Zoe life and we accept Jesus as our personal Savior so Zoe is a life that God has in him self and what do we mean by this it means that you know God is self-existent he's self-sustained he is eternal he does not depend on anything for his sustenance for his for his for his dependence you know he's self dependent and he's not dependent on any outward source for his continuity for his life so Zoe is the self-existent is the self-sustaining and the eternal life of God and so here we see that just as the father has the Zoe life this God the life of God in him because he is God Jesus also has the Zoe hence he is God him so Jesus having this Zoe life is God himself and he is self-existent he is self-sustained and eternal that means he is from eternity past to eternity future because he has the Zoe in him okay Jesus does not just possess the Zoe in him but in fact he is way right he is Zoe I would put it this way we read this in John chapter 14 verse 6 can somebody read that please or if somebody knows that by heart John chapter 14 verse 6 what did Jesus say I am I have the way the truth and life yes I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me so by making this state Jesus does not just say that he has the way in him but he is in fact is the Zoe okay so these are the four important attributes of whom John declares and defines of who this logos is that he is presenting or referring to okay this logo is Jesus Christ and he is God he was he was with God in the beginning he was in the beginning he was with God he himself is God and he has the Zoe in him okay anyone has any questions doubts any comments to make is it here can we move on yes okay so then we're looking at the pre-existence of Christ and we look at his nature and attributes of him being God if he is God then he has to have or possess the nature and the attributes of God and we look at some scripture references that show us this or confirm this that he is God in nature and attributes Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 7 okay let me just put that up if it's there okay Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 and 7 can somebody read that please for us it's on your screen let this might be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bone serving and coming in the likeness of men thank you John you know this was the scripture verse has some very few important facts that presents to us concerning the pre-existence of Christ here it says who being in the form of God okay Jesus Christ who being in the form of God and was equal with God okay please under the line those two phrases in your Bible you know Jesus who being in the form of God and also equal with God now this word form in the Greek means morphe which refers to form or nature and to give us a better understanding of what this word form means we will look at the amplified Bible Philippians chapter 2 verse 6 the first phrase and also we look at it in the international new international version so can somebody read these two verses as it's presented on the screen in the amplified Bible and the new international version please somebody else read yeah thank you Philippians 2 verses 6 amplified Bible who although being essentially one with God and in the form of God possessing the fullness of attributes which make God God Philippians 2 6 new international version who being in very nature God thank you so the word form here is therefore you know just more than an outward appearance you know when we say form and shape you basically think about the outward appearance but it's not just an outward appearance it refers to very a sense of nature and attributes and it's clearly mentioned in the amplified that this form of God is basically possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God or the very nature of God okay so here Jesus possessed the fullness of the divine qualities which make God God which implies his pre-existence okay so this is one verse that we can look at then other thing that we can look at that he was pre-existent so he's God in his nature is that no he is self-existent okay another thing that we can say that Jesus Christ is God is that he is self-existent that means he was always there and which scripture reference attributes to this is Colossians chapter 1 verse 17 so can somebody read Colossians chapter 1 verse 17 please it's on your screen and he is before all things and in him all things consist yes so he was he's before all things and in him all things consist okay that means he is self-existent now Jesus existed before all things that means he was pre-existent okay we look at a few more scripture passages John chapter 8 John chapter 8 was 58 so can somebody read John chapter 8 verse 58 please John chapter 8 verses 58 Jesus said to them mostly assured assuredly I say to you before Abraham was I am yes thank you so here Jesus is saying making a very bold statement okay this is most assuredly most surely most truly I say to you before Abraham was I am now where else do we read this word or this this title or this name of God I am or these two words I am where else do we read it in the Bible and we look at Exodus when God encounters Moses and answers us home should I say that you are yes thank you John so we read this in Exodus chapter 3 verses 13 to 14 when when God meets Moses at the burning bush and tells him to go and you know set his people the Israelites the Hebrew people free from Egypt and and he says go tell them that the God of your fathers has sent me to you and so Moses is saying God if I say to them and they ask me what is his name then what shall I say to them and what does God reply he says tells Moses I am who I am okay he says I am who I am and he tells them tell the children of Israel that I am has sent me to you okay so this word I am or this name of God you know is reveals the the nature of God it reveals not just the name of God who is but it reveals the nature of God which is be looking at that in a few minutes as we go down you know as we go into the class okay but here we see that I am has a very rich Jewish heritage and this is attributed only to God alone so I am is attributed to God alone because this is how God you know calls himself or names himself and so this you know I am in the Jewish heritage and was attributable to God alone and so by using these words I am Jesus was declaring that he has no beginning and no end that he was he is eternal he eternally existed he is a self-existent one he's self-sustained and thus he was declaring his equality with God the father okay first Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 can just verse Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 can somebody read this please verse Corinthians chapter 1 verses chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 first Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 more over brethren I do not I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers who are under the cloud all passed through the sea all were baptized into the Moses in the cloud and in the sea all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for the drank of that spiritual rock that that followed them and that rock was thank you so this reference here is to Exodus what Paul is writing in first Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 he is referring it to the book of Exodus where you know the leading of the people of Israel out of Egypt you know through the wilderness to the promised land and here we see that God led his people by a cloud during the day Exodus chapter 13 verses 21 and 22 and God parted the Red Sea we read about this in Exodus chapter 14 and you know the people walked on dry land God provided them food from heaven Exodus chapter 16 he provided them water from the rock we read this about this in Exodus chapter 17 and Numbers chapter 20 so here you know Paul is stating in first Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 that the rock was Christ that means Jesus himself was with the people as they passed through the wilderness so this once again points to the pre-existence of Christ and his birth into the world was not his beginning but it was simply his incarnation that means it was simply God was pre-existing taking on human form okay and you know we also read in Micah chapter 5 verse 2 can somebody read that please that you know his origins were from dateless eternity Micah chapter 5 verse 2 so again somebody somebody else who's never read can read it it's there on the screen I made it easy so that you all can just read it from the screen can somebody read it for us please Micah 5 verse 2 Micah 5 verses 2 but you butlehem though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be the ruler in Israel who's going forth and are from of old from everlasting thank you so what does this verse reveal about the pre-existence of Christ it shows us that his origins are of old says his who's going going forth are from of old from everlasting that means he's saying that his origins are of from of old from eternity and it shows to us or reveals to us that Jesus always existed in eternity past and hence he was pre-existent okay and he he existed even before he came down into this earth as a human being the last scripture verse we read is matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 6 so can somebody read matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 6 please it's on your screen now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born king of Jews for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born so they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet but you Bethlehem in the land of Judea are not the least among the rulers of Judea for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel yeah thank you John so here we see that the Jewish priests and scribes knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and you know that is exactly where Jesus was born and this was you know revealed to the prophets in the Old Testament throughout the father and hence we see that you know that Jesus was born as a human being at one point of time but his that that his going forth was from eternity past that means he was his eternal and then that means he is God and which also concludes that he was that he was pre-existent even before he became man okay so in this first chapter we're basically looking at the we looked at the deity of Jesus Christ the divinity of Jesus Christ that he is truly God and how did we establish this fact we established this fact by basically looking at his pre-existence his equality with God and that he had the very nature and the attributes that make God God and hence we prove from scripture that Jesus is God and that he was you know he that he eternally existed okay so that is chapter one anyone has any comments any questions anything that you're like to say anything you all didn't understand then we can move on to chapter two in the book of Micah chapter five was to be read that scripture yes towards the end okay I'll just quickly read that but you Bethlehem if Ratha though you are a little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be the ruler in Israel who's going forth and from old from everlasting could you please explain the last few phrases who's going forth are from old from everlasting yes that's the one you want to know yes okay so it shows actually that his origins are are of old okay his going goings forth means his origins are from of old and and and not just from old which could mean the old testament where we saw you know we see that this rock was Christ which Paul is referring to the events in Exodus and you know that Jesus was there with them even as they journeyed from Egypt to the promised land but it's also attributing to the fact that he was from everlasting everlasting means from eternity past to eternity future that means endless endless past endless future and hence you know that this ruler of Israel who's going to be the Messiah is God because he was from everlasting and is going to be you know eternally in the future there's never a time when he was not there will never be a time when he ceases to exist and basically it's talking about his origin okay yeah thank you okay yeah John you had any doubt any other doubt uh no thank you okay anyone else has any other doubts okay if not we'll move on to uh oh we just have one minute okay we'll take a break now and we'll come back at 10 and we'll begin with chapter 2 is that okay fine we'll take a break now thank you