If we don’t uphold the full divinity of Christ, we don’t get a “humbler” Christianity – we get a scarier one.
When someone begins worshipping Jesus as a mere human being, all of the theological Jenga pieces start sliding out of place.
Take authority for example.
Authority doesn’t disappear. It just moves sideways… to us.
Consider John 17:
Jesus says the Father gave Him glory and then says something astonishing: “The glory that You have given Me I have given to them.” (v. 22)
Some assume: If Jesus receives glory the way we receive glory, then He must be like us – just another human in receipt of gifts. But John 17 won’t let that slide. Earlier in the same prayer Jesus speaks of a glory He had before the world existed: “Glorify Me… with the glory I had with You before the world was.” (v. 5). That glory isn’t creaturely, isn’t newly acquired, isn’t the kind of glory any “mere” human being receives.
So, John 17 forces a crucial distinction:
- Eternal glory: the glory Christ has with the Father from all eternity
- Communicated glory: the glory Christ receives in His saving mission and then shares with His people
What’s communicated only makes sense because of what’s eternal. The reason Jesus can share glory with us is because He possesses glory in a way we never can by nature.
So, Jesus’ authority isn’t up for grabs.
- Christ’s authority is magisterial: He defines truth, forgives sins, rules His church
- Christian authority is ministerial: we speak His Word, announce His gospel, serve His purposes
Hence:
- when we baptise, it’s not into our name
- when we forgive, it’s not by our power
- when we teach, it’s not our message
The church doesn’t stand beside Jesus as a competitor. The church stands under Jesus as a witness.
Shrink Christ, and you inflate yourself – and your institution – with a lie about glory as old as Eden. That’s when things get scarier.
Be careful what your theology does to your own sense of power.
