 Good morning, everyone, and I have a wishing all of you a very blessed New Year and welcome to the spring semester. I hope all of you had a good holiday time, a good season with family and friends, and all geared up for another new year to just pursue God's plan, His purpose, just experiences, goodness and faithfulness in our lives. And welcome also to this course on Christology. Before we begin, looking at what Christology is and what theology is and studying about Jesus Christ. Can someone of you please lead us in prayer, please? Anyone? Anyone of you can lead us in prayer? Karen, can you lead us in prayer, please? Thank you, Karen. God, I have been following you. Thank you, Jesus, for a beautiful day of Christmas. Thank you for the gift of love and thank you for everything that you've been doing in your life. Lord, I truly sit low for this class. Jesus, help us a lot to understand from your voice. Lord, speak through your servant to us. Lord, let me hear your voice to you. Help us a lot to apply this in our lives. Lord, help us a lot to know more about you. And I pray that you would excel in our studies, Lord, and you would bring glory to your name. Amen. Okay, so are you all excited about this course on Christology? Yes, no, you can unmute your mics, share what are your thoughts on Christology. So what do you think we're going to be studying in this course Christology? What are we going to study in this course Christology? Any thoughts, any ideas? What is Christology? What will be studying? Y'all can type your answers in the chat section or you can even unmute your mics and speak. It'll be nice to hear some voices. Okay, Anand says Christology is all about Christ. Okay. So what aspect of Christ are we going to be studying about? Can we have some participation? Can we have some hearing, some voices? Some of you are muting your mics and just speaking, sharing. What aspect about Christ are we going to be studying about? His miracles, his signs, what he did, what he preached. So what are we going to study about Christ? No response. Okay, his life and who he is. Okay. Thank you, Jacken. Anyone else? Okay, so we'll see what we're going to learn in this course on Christology. This course is basically designed, okay, princess from beginning to end how it's all about Jesus. Okay, so what do you mean from beginning to end? And what do you mean it's all about Jesus? When you're saying all about Jesus, what are we basically, what are you basically meaning? Okay, Vijay Babu says his existence. Okay, you can unmute your mics and speak. Okay, so in this course, you know, this course is basically designed to help us to gain a clear understanding of the divinity of Christ, that he is God. Okay, and also to understand that Jesus was fully man and fully God. He was 100% God, he was 100% man. And how this, how Jesus who is God, you know, how we try to understand how he was truly human, how he was fully human when he lived here on the earth. We also will be seeing the unique nature of Christ that he's, though he was human, yet he was God. So how humanity and deity coexisted in the person of Christ, or how Jesus was fully God, fully man, how he was 100% God, how he was 100% man. We also understand the significance, so we'll try to understand the importance of the doctrine of Christ, and its impact on us as believers. We'll also understand the unique nature of Christ, how he was so unique that he was, though he was human, yet he was God. And it just, you know, what is our response to this whole aspect of incarnation, how God became man, how he was fully God, how he was fully man, just to create in us an all reverence, a deeper love, and a deeper relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Okay, so the Prince says it's about the prophecies and how Jesus is one with God. Okay, thank you, Prince. So in this course, you know, we're basically going to learn all of these aspects about the person of Jesus Christ. We're not going to be looking deeply into his miracles or his teachings, what he thought, what he did, but we're basically looking at how humanity and divinity coexisted in the person of Jesus Christ. How Jesus was fully God and fully man. Okay, so we're going to study this in this course on Christology. So what is Christology? Anyone knows what is Christology? Christology is a field of study within Christian theology. Okay, thank you, Maggie. It's a field of study within Christian theology. And so in Christology, as the word itself says, Christology is a Christ with learning about Christ. So Christology is a field of study within Christian theology. Now the word theology comes from two Greek words, theos and logia. So the Greek word for theos means God. And the Greek word for logia means word. So when we combine these two together, theology means the study of the word of God or study of word of God. Okay, so that is what theology is. So two words, theos and logia. Theos means God and logia means word. So theology basically means a study of word of God. So in Christian theology, you know, is basically an effort to describe in human words God and his actions. So we basically people studying about God, trying to understand God, trying to comprehend God. It's an effort on the part of us as human beings to describe God in human words and describe his actions as well, especially his actions in relation to the world and to man. And because this is Christian theology, it's written from a viewpoint of those who accept Jesus as one whom God has made himself. Fully known to men. Okay, so that is Christian theology. So Christian theology is basically written from this viewpoint of those who accept Jesus Christ as the one in whom God has made himself fully known to men. So Christology is basically a field of study within Christian theology. I told you what Christian theology is. It's Christian theology again, repeating it. It's basically, you know, an effort to describe in human words God and his actions, especially God's actions in relationship in relation to the world and to man. So Christ Christology is a field of study within Christian theology, which is concerned with the nature of Jesus, who is the Christ. Okay, particularly like I mentioned in the beginning with how divinity and humanity are related in his person or how the divine and human are related in the person of Jesus Christ. So Christology comes from two Greek words. Christos means Christ, which means the anointed one or the Messiah. So Christos is basically Christ when we are talking about it in English, we say Christ. Christos means the anointed one or the Messiah and logos is the word or a study of things related to a particular subject. So that is Christology. Just a minute. Okay. So Christology is basically comes from two Greek words Christos Christ, Messiah, the anointed one and logos, which means word or study of things related to a particular subject. So Christology is generally, you know, less concerned with the details of Jesus's life and ministry. But it's more to look at or it talks more about how human humanity and divinity coexisted in one person and that is in the person of Jesus Christ. So in Christology is basically, you know, we'll be considering this question that the Lord Jesus Christ asked his disciples on the coast of Caesarea Philippi in Matthew chapter 16 where he says, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? So basically in Christology we will, we're basically coming down to this question, trying to consider this question, trying to understand it and, you know, answer this question. Jesus asked his disciples on the coast of Caesarea Philippi in Matthew chapter 16 was 13 where he says, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? So what was the answer of the people? Jesus asked his disciples, what was the answer of the disciples? What did they say? Anyone remembers what you read in Matthew chapter 16? And Jesus asked this question. Thank you, Anand. Some say that you are the Messiah. Anything else? You can go ahead and unmute your mics and speak. Okay, so the disciples answered and said that some say that you're John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others Jeremiah or others, you know, some of them say that you are one of the prophets. And, you know, they were giving their answers based on their own understanding of what, of how they comprehended or understood who Jesus was from, you know, what they had learned in the Old Testament. But, you know, and they were just answering in their own understanding out of flesh and blood. But, you know, Peter answered, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, Matthew chapter 16 was 16. And Jesus says this answer did not come from, you know, your own intellect, your own understanding, but it was revealed to you by my father. So it was a God-given answer that came to the lips of Peter that, you know, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Okay, so he received this answer of who Jesus was or his confession of Peter about who Christ was as a son of God was through divine revelation. Okay, so this is what we are going to be looking at who do people say or who do, you know, men say or women say or people say that I, the son of God, am. So the problem in Christology therefore is, you know, the mystery of incarnation, you know, has God truly or indeed become man. How could the us that is God, or how could this low boss, which is the Greek word for word truly become flesh. How can God become flesh or how can deity and humanity coexist in perfect unity and perfect oneness and perfect harmony in the person of Jesus Christ. So these are some of the questions that, you know, a student who's studying Christology will encounter and will try to answer these questions. So as we study this course Christology, you know, we shall not attempt or we shall dare not attempt to answer the question on how of the incarnation, how the incarnation happened. But we shall only try to understand and affirm what the Bible says concerning the person of Jesus Christ, that he is fully God, and he is fully man. So we look from scripture, you know, how, you know, Jesus was fully God and fully man. And like I said in the beginning, you know, in the introduction that, you know, is one of the, we'll be studying the doctrine of Jesus Christ. So doctrine is basically the study of any topic, you know, looking at it in detail. So when you're studying the doctrine of Jesus Christ, you know, we will study what the entirety of scripture, what entire scripture tells us about Jesus Christ. So when you're studying any doctrine, I'm sure you're going to be learning this in systematic theology as well. You'll be studying various doctrines. So to understand each doctrine, we look at it in the entirety of the entire scripture. What entire scripture is talking on that specific topic or doctrine, and then come to, you know, a conclusion looking at the entire scripture. Same also in Christology, we're going to be looking at various scripture passages, Old Testament, New Testament. And we are going to understand and affirm what scripture says, Bible says concerning the person of Jesus Christ. So in Christology, we're basically going to be studying of the pre-existence of Christ, His eternal nature, the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ, Christ's humanity, His deity, His incarnation, His sinlessness, His death, His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and His return. So this is what we're going to be studying in Christology, just as an overview of the topics that we will be looking at. So with this introduction, let's begin looking at the deity of Christ, that He is God. And we will begin looking at, you know, to establish that Jesus is God, we will look at the pre-existence of Christ. Okay, so before we go into chapter one, anyone has any questions so far? Any questions? Okay, there are no questions. Yes. So we, as children of God, we fully believe that He was fully God and fully man, and we have accepted Christ. So my question here is, what is the aim in studying this in detail? Will it help us to know something, or what should I look forward to in a positive way in this course? Because we already believe about this, right? So is it something that for our knowledge, or how do we see this course, Master? Good question. Thank you, Jack in. So it's basically like I said in, you know, when I was talking about the course overview, it is to just create in us a deeper reverence and awe and love for the person of Jesus Christ. And also as a student of theology, you know, you would be someone who people look up to even as you with questions regarding the person of Jesus Christ. Was He fully God? Was He fully man? You know, how can you explain to them in clear terms? How can you help them or explain to them and show them from scripture, you know, who Christ really is? It also opens us our minds to, you know, to understand the person of Jesus Christ and the love of God for us and what He did in just God becoming a man. And also understanding that, you know, Jesus, how we can relate to Him, you know, though He was God, He became human. Why did He have to become human? How can we relate to the human aspect of Jesus Christ? What does it mean to me? You know, just knowing that God became man, you know, and existed as a human being, He understands my friendlies. He understands my weaknesses. You know, He knows the temptations that I'm going through. He knows my fallen nature. He understands me. He sees, He knows what I go through, you know, when I feel deserted, when people leave me, when people backbite talk against me, or when I go through persecutions, when I go through difficulties, when I feel tired, when I feel lonely, when I feel everyone has forsaken me, my friends forsake me, you know, just to know that there is a God who, you know, it's not just far away who cannot relate to me, but who has gone through all of this and who understands, who sees, who knows, and can relate to me in my situation. And also to know that He was completely divine, you know, just laying down everything, giving up everything, taking on, you know, all of the attributes that make Him God. He laid aside everything just to become, you know, a servant just to serve us, you know, it also leads us to know that, you know, when we lay down our lives for Christ, when we give up things, or, you know, it's not something great that we have done, but there is somebody who has already done that, is Jesus, who gave himself up, who stripped himself off of all his divine attributes and took on the nature of man, became a servant, you know, even though he was equal to God, but yet he, you know, he humbled himself. And so, you know, we learn humility becomes, Jesus becomes our own model. So, you know, just to see what He has done and also, you know, as a man, you know, how He lived in the sonship glory, how He gave us His glory, how He had the life of God in Him, how He gave us His life. So just to know what we receive from both of these, of this natures of God, His divine nature, His human nature, also to explain this to people, teach it to people. And basically, when we are doing evangelism, you know, this is something that is a major incarnation, is something that's a major concern for people of other faiths, you know, who think, who look at this in terms of rebirth and cycles of rebirth, but how it was not a rebirth, but how Jesus was fully God, fully man, and how it coexisted in perfect unity and harmony with Jesus Christ. So did that help, Jacken? Yes, yes, Pastor, thank you for the detailed description. It was very helpful. You can, as we go through the course, we will draw some principles, some learnings for our personal life that we can, you know, fall back on and we can hold on to and which will help us in our journey, in our relationship, in our walk with God. So Anand Paul's question is, is this the study all about the life of Christ? Am I right, Pastor? Yes, it's not just basically, when you're talking about the life of Christ, we're not going to be talking about his ministry in the sense of his teachings, what he taught, and the science miracles and wonders he did, but we are basically looking at the nature of Christ, how humanity and deity coexisted in the person of Jesus Christ. So we look at how Jesus was fully God, how he's fully man, and also we will be looking at, like I just mentioned, you know, we'll be studying about his sinlessness, his death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and his return. Did that help Anand? So any other questions? Anyone else has any other doubts or you have any doubts that's something that you need, you want clarity on of what is said so far? Okay, if not, we will move on to lesson one where we'll be looking at the deity of Jesus Christ and to establish the fact that Jesus is fully God or he Jesus is God, and he was God who became man, we need to talk about the pre-existence of Christ. Okay, so Prince is asking, does it include mysteries and wonders of Jesus too, ma'am? What do you mean by mysteries and wonders? Do you mean the prophecies that we're going to be talking about? Or the mysteries or revelations of God's word, what he spoke? Prince, is that what you mean? Okay, so basically maybe just to help you answer that question, so you're saying mysteries of his revelation, what he thought. So we're not going to be looking at what he thought or preach and trying to understand that, but we will just be looking at, yes, the whole mystery, incarnation is a mystery in itself, how humanity and deity existed in perfect unity and oneness in the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, it's a mystery to us, it's wonderful of God's divine plan of redemption of salvation, but even as we're going to be looking at it, it's not going to be a mystery for us because we will be studying it in depth and so we will be able to understand things and get more clarity on it. Yes, this incarnation is something that will still remain mysterious, something that is wonderful, but something that God has revealed to us to the extent in his scripture that we can understand what we need to know about God. Does that help, Prince? Okay, so Jacob's question is, I'm not going to use the word, you all see it in the chat section because this is going to go on YouTube, we don't want any problems or issues, so if you just look at chat section and see what Jacob says, people of certain faith argue that Jesus is only a son of God and not God, so how to defend our faith as Jesus is God as well. Good question, so that is what we are going to be learning and this course is going to basically enable you to share and show from scripture how Jesus is fully God and how he's fully man, that he's not just a prophet sent by God, but he is God himself. So these people of this faith believe that he is a prophet, he is not God, there is only one God and Jesus is just a prophet, a messenger and he is not God, but we are going to look at various scripture passages and which will help you, you know, share how Jesus is fully God as well from scripture. That is what we are going to be studying Jacob, so I'm sure by the end of this course you will be able to answer that question. Okay, so I'm not going to answer it, that means I'll have to be teaching the whole course now to answer your question. I'll just, we'll just go do it step by step. Is that okay Jacob? Anyone else has any questions? Okay, we'll look at chapter one, the pre-existence of Christ, so basically in chapter one, we are going to be establishing the fact that Jesus is God, not just in chapter one, but we'll be also looking in chapter two, where we'll be studying about, you know, how proving that Jesus is God with his equality with the Father, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Also proving that he is God, that he is deity by talking about his role in creation, which we will be looking in chapter three and you know, the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ, this incarnation that is God taking on human form, which we'll be talking in chapter four, which is all basically, you know, grounding us in the fact of showing us or helping us to prove from Scripture that Jesus is God. And then chapter five, of course, we'll be trying to understand what is incarnation, and then we'll go ahead to look at the humanity of Jesus Christ. Okay, so chapter one, where we'll be studying about the pre-existence of Christ. So what do you understand about the pre-existence of Christ? So what can you quote some Scripture verses, passages that prove to us that Jesus was not just, you know, existed when he was born on this earth, but that he existed before even time began, even before the creation of the foundations of the world, that he was pre-existing, there would never be a time when he was not, there would never be a time when he will cease to exist, that he always was, he always is, and he will always be. So Arnand says, John chapter one was one, Prince says John chapter one was one, yes. Anyone else has any other Scripture references, which talks about, thank you Arnand and Prince, that's good. Anyone has any other Scripture references that prove to us that Jesus is pre-existent? Okay, Revelation chapter 19. Okay, so can you specifically tell us which verse or we can all open our, it's good to all of you to have your Bible with you because we're going to look at a lot of Scripture passages because we're going to be establishing from Scripture because Christology is a doctrine, we're going to be establishing from Scripture. So we'll be looking at Scripture, very important for all of you to please look at, have your Bibles in front of you and turn to Scripture. So Prince says Revelation chapter 19 was 13, he was clothed with a rope, different blood and his name is called the Word of God. Okay, thank you. Genesis chapter one verse two, very good Arnand. So what is Genesis chapter one verse two, says, the earth was without form and void and darkness was the face of the earth and the split of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Okay, that is talking about the Holy Spirit. Okay, Genesis chapter one verse one and the big mean God created the heavens and the earth. So Jack in, I can say that if I was, you know, a nominal Christian, a church going Christian, I would say this is talking about God the Father. Where is it mentioning about the son? Okay, did you get what I'm saying was to talks about the spirit of God, which is referring to the Holy Spirit. Verse one, I can say it's talking about God the Father. Where is it mentioning about Jesus's God here? Anyone else, any other scripture? If you look at one scripture thing that we can look at the talks about Trinity is, you know, when, when says I think in verse 26 of Genesis chapter one, it says, then God said, let us make man in our image. And if you look at your Bibles, the us is very different from the other us that we write us in, in a sentence. What is the difference between the us and the are there? What is the difference between the word us, us and the or you are written in Genesis chapter one verse 26. Anyone saw anything different in that? Basically, the us is a capital you, right? We don't write a capital you for us in a sentence. It's, yes, it's a capital you and a capital or it has an upper case. Right. Thank you, Prince and on. So here it's an capital you and a capital or, which, you know, whenever there is a, is a, it's a referring to God, you know, if we see a capital H, him. We know it's referring to God. It's not referring to a human being capital H. He is talking not about he in terms of a human being or another person's talking about God. So here they're saying like us, which means God is not single. He's plural, which means it's referring to God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. Also, let us make man in our image, which is all capital are referring to God again, which is, you know, talking about God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. Also, we see in scripture wherever we see a capital S for spirit. It's not talking about human spirit, but, but it's talking about the Holy Spirit. Same also when we look at it in John chapter one was one in the beginning was the word. The word here strangely again has a capital W. Right. If you look at John chapter one, all of you chapter one was one. It has a capital W in the beginning was the word. Okay. And, you know, how can we say this are, which we are referring to in Genesis chapter one was 26 is, is, is, is referring to Jesus is because, you know, God spoke. And when he spoke Jesus when, you know, it's the word Jesus spoke the word. And it was a Holy Spirit who went about bringing things into existence. Okay. So, just a brief side note over there. Okay. So we're going to be looking at the pre existence of Christ that Christ exists before he came into this world. If he did exist, then who was he, you know, was he someone just waiting to, you know, come and be born on this earth. What was his role? What did he do? Who was he? So it's basically this chapter we are going to be looking at various scripture passages that talks about the pre existence of Christ. So the good scripture passage to open up and to reveal and to talk to people is John chapter one. And we look at John chapter one versus one to four. So can one of you please read that aloud please John chapter one versus one to four. John chapter one was one to four. 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, nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was the life of man. He's the word of the Lord. Thank you. Amen. Thank you, Maggie. Here we see that if you look at the word word, it starts with a capital W. In the beginning was the word and the word again capital W is referring to Jesus Christ and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Capital H is referring to God again. And without him capital H talking about God, nothing was made that was made in him. Capital H again talking about referring to God in him was life and the life was the light of men. So if you're going to read this in the Greek Bible, basically, you know, I'm not going to interpret the entire thing in some way. It's basically saying in the beginning was the logos and the logos was with theos. You know, the word for the Greek word for God is theos and the logos was theos. He was in the beginning with theos. All things were made to him and without him, nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life and the life was the light of men. So the word here with the capital W is referring to is when interpreted in Greek is the word logos. And John is introducing Jesus Christ, who he is, you know, referring to as the logos. He's introducing him as God. Okay. And if you look at John chapter 14, you know, sorry, John chapter one was 14. Can one of you read that please? John chapter one was 14 and somebody and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and all who come from the path of love, grace and food. Thank you, Prince. So here we see that the logos became flesh. So, you know, John very beautifully introduces in verses one to four that the logos is God. He was with God. He was with God in the beginning and also proves that how he is God, he created everything without him, nothing was made. He has the life of God. And in verse 14, he is going on to very beautifully introduce the logos as someone who became flesh and who came and dwelt or lived among us. And we were able to be held his glory, which is the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. So here again, we see that we be held his glory, which is a capital H. Also as I think Anand had, you know, given the, or Prince had given the reference of Revelation 19 was 13. He was clotted with a rope dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. Okay, so again, the word is a capital W, referring to Jesus. Now, why does John, you know, introduce Jesus as the logos? Why does he use this word logos? Why can't he just basically say in the beginning was Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ was with God and Jesus Christ was God. And he was in the beginning with God and, you know, continue writing like that. And Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. But why does he use this, you know, he uses this word word or why does he use the Greek word logos? Anyone has any understanding? Have a thought of it? Why did the apostle John introduce Jesus as the logos? Any thoughts? Any ideas? Okay, so the Greek word logos in, maybe to let the Jews know that all the scriptures itself by Jesus are about Jesus. Okay, to let the Jews know that all the scriptures itself by Jesus or about Jesus was talking about Jesus. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? He was a fulfilled prophecy foretold. Okay. Do we have any prophecies regarding the word becoming flesh? Okay. Basically, if we interpret this word logos, you know, when it's translated the Greek word logos, when it's translated the New Testament, it means word, speech, reason, report or judgment. So it's basically talking about words, talking about speech, reason, report or judgment. But when we look at this word logos or this use of this word logos in its historical Jewish setting, we see that it had a much richer meaning. So Heraclitus, Heraclitus Greek philosopher who lived in sixth century BC, he defined logos as and he used this word logos, and he referred to this logos as an eternal principle, which gives divine order to the universe. So basically philosophers trying to understand about God, who God is and about how the world came in existence and everything. So he defined logos as an eternal principle, which gives order to the universe. And another Greek philosopher, Chrysippus, who lived during the third century BC, he used logos to refer to a purposeful and guiding reason. So he said this logos is somebody who, you know, gives us a reason to live, a guiding reason and somebody who is a purposeful and a guiding reason. And other philosophers during this time use logos as a rational principle in the mind, which can be expressed in speech. But a Jewish interpreter of the Old Testament named Philo, who lived during the first century AD, he understood logos to refer to as an intermediary between God and man, somebody who was, you know, like a mediator between God and man. So somebody who was an intermediary between God and the universe. So he understood or, you know, he's somebody who interpreted, who spoke about or understood the logos and referred the logos to as an intermediary between God and the universe. So we see that this word logos was something that was this word or this term was something that was very prevalent in the Jewish, the minds of the Jewish people. And they tried to understand who this logos was that he was an eternal principle, which gives order to the universe or somebody who has a purposeful and guiding reason, somebody who's a rational principle in the mind, or like Philo says, you know, an intermediary between God and the universe. And also we see that, you know, the Jewish people, you know, they understood the logos as both as a powerful and the creative word of God in the Old Testament. They knew that, you know, God brought about things that they see in the universe creation through his word. And so they knew it as a powerful, creative word of God in the Old Testament by which the heavens and the earth were created. Psalm 33 verse 6. We'll come back and look at the other understanding of this, the word logos that the Jews had in the mind and then we'll continue from there. We'll go for a break and then we'll come back. Okay. Thank you everyone. I'll see you after the break.