The Lord Jesus is the Christ – Reflection on Matthew 16:16
Today’s Gospel
And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. – Matthew 16:16
Reflection
When Peter followed Jesus, he found Jesus’ words were the truth and His work was beyond the reach of man. In addition, he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, so he could recognize the Lord Jesus is the Christ. But why is Jesus called Christ, and what is Christ?
One day, I read two passages of words, “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself.” “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life.”
Only the incarnate God can be called Christ. Christ not only has a normal humanity, but has a complete divinity. Because of His substance of divinity, He can express the truth and do the work of God Himself. Although outwardly Christ appears to be ordinary, His substance is God. Therefore, He can be called Christ. Those fake Christs claim to be Christ, but they do not have the divine substance of God and cannot express the truth or do the work of saving mankind. They are the counterfeit of evil spirits. From these, we can understand that Jesus could express the truth, and do the work of mankind’s redemption, and bestow upon man the way of repentance. In a word, the Lord Jesus is the Christ, and the incarnate God on earth.
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