4. Can modern psychology any longer believe in the Deity of Jesus?
The Scriptures certainly do not teach that Jesus was G.o.d only; neither do they teach that He was man only. It is my own deepest conviction that Jesus was very G.o.d and very man. Furthermore, I believe this to be the teaching of the Scriptures, and the idea that best conforms to modern psychology. To come to Jesus is to come to G.o.d; likewise to come to G.o.d is to come to Jesus. He is at once G.o.d in man, and man in G.o.d. I believe in the G.o.d of Jesus, and I believe in the Jesus of G.o.d. How modern psychology can avoid believing in both the deity and humanity of Jesus, I do not see. Some who believe in Christ"s divinity do not believe in His deity. They say, "Yes, He is divine, He is incomparable, He is altogether lovely; but He is not Deity, because Deity is G.o.d Himself." But my thesis is that Jesus was "very G.o.d and very man."
To picture this truth to our minds will be our next task. An old-time friend, while reporting to me the installation of a minister whom I knew, said:
"Would you believe it! Mr. G. told the council that he not only believed in the divinity, but that he believed in the Deity of Jesus." Here my friend threw his head back and laughed heartily, expecting me to laugh with him. When he had finished laughing, I told him that I also believed in the deity as well as in the humanity of Jesus; and that if I did not believe in His deity I did not think I should believe in any religion at all. This proved to be quite a surprise to my friend. So to his puzzled look of inquiry I replied:
"And I could make you believe it." As his curiosity deepened at this remark, I asked him,
"Do you know where I first met G.o.d--not an emanation from Him, but G.o.d; the Will that formed the worlds,--all the G.o.d there is?" "No," was his reply. "Fortunately," I answered, "I do. It was in my mother. When I was a little boy the great G.o.d at times enfolded me in human arms, and looked into my face through benignant, human eyes, and spoke tender words with a sweet accent. My silent and invisible mother was often so closely identified with G.o.d that they would be thinking and feeling the same thing concerning me. At such times the human form expressed their common thought and love; my heavenly Father, no less than my invisible mother, enfolded me with His arms. If in these supreme moments G.o.d was not in my mother, then it is useless to look for Him anywhere in the Universe. My mother was different from the non-Christian mothers in our rough frontier. Many times she so loved me _in_ G.o.d, and _with_ G.o.d, that she became a channel through which G.o.d Himself had personal access to me through all the human modes of approach."
I then told my friend of an experience with my mother at church in the little frontier schoolhouse. I was lying on the seat with my head in her lap, tickling my nose with her boa. When the time came for prayers, my mother bowed her head to the desk in front of her. While her lips moved in prayer, I observed that her dear face was troubled. As she was unconscious of my gaze, I continued to look into her sorrowful face.
Though but a little child, I fully understood what she was doing, and was able to mark the stages of her progress. My invisible mother was talking with our invisible Father, and the face gradually changed until finally I could tell that her will had merged completely with His will; and then her face, which was primarily His face, became radiant with spiritual beauty. I had seen the dear human face of G.o.d, and at the same time it was the face of my mother.
I called my friend"s attention to the fact that once upon a time the invisible G.o.d said to the invisible Clara Barton:
"Clara, let us go out onto the battle-field where the poor soldier boys languish and die;" and Clara responded to His thought and love. Then the invisible G.o.d and the invisible Clara Barton went to the battle-field in G.o.d"s body, because Clara had no body exclusively her own. So, when that form bending over the soldier boy wiped away the dust and blood and pain, while whispering of home, of mother, and of G.o.d, it was the Father, as much as it was Clara Barton, who was performing the deed; and He, not less than she, was visibly and humanly present. The ministering hand was as truly His instrument as it was hers; while the stronger will and deeper love were the Father"s. Before Clara Barton thought of it, the Father, knowing all and feeling all, suggested to her the kindly deed; nor did He stop loving the soldier boy when she began.
Again addressing my friend, I said:
"It is impossible for me to understand you. You have always believed G.o.d to be immanent in all nature; you have seen Him in sticks and stones and stars; but you now fail to recognize Him in His highest, His only instrument through which He is capable of coming to articulate speech and deed. How I pity your poor helpless G.o.d who is buried fathoms and fathoms out of sight. He can neither see, nor hear, nor breathe; nor can He walk or talk. But you see, _my_ G.o.d can get clear to the surface in audible word, and visible deed. When my G.o.d finds a good, clean Frenchman, He begins talking and writing French. If you doubt this, either you are not familiar with French literature, or else you do not know G.o.d. Under similar conditions G.o.d speaks all the languages. How beautifully and abundantly He has spoken through the German and English tongues! While in Greek and Hebrew, G.o.d has uttered mighty words of wisdom, and has filled the earth with His glorious paeans. Human wisdom alone could never have spoken thus. If we but have eyes to see and hearts to feel we shall realize that all about us G.o.d is getting to the surface through devoted Christians. When the true preacher lifts the souls before him into the will of G.o.d, he sees a divine expression upon their faces; and if he is spiritually wise, he will realize that for the time being these are the dear human instruments of G.o.d, as truly as they are the faces of human spirits; and when he has poured out his soul in behalf of some great cause of G.o.d for which he would be willing to die, he will find someone with outstretched hand ready to meet him and willing to cooperate, if need be, even unto death, and then it is his privilege to know that, while shaking hands with a brother spirit, he was at the same time shaking hands with the infinite G.o.d. In these rare experiences of ours, the invisible G.o.d no less than the invisible man has come to outward expression, and this He would always do, if our wills were not contrary to His will. Our feeble and infrequent inspiration is but intermittent incarnation, while full incarnation is permanent inspiration.
"Why," I asked, "should you hesitate to think of Jesus as G.o.d and man?
If the Father-Spirit and the child-spirit were thinking and willing the same thing, which one came to expression through the words and acts of the body? If A and B were lifting an object, would it be truthful to say that A was lifting it? The visible form that lived and taught by the sh.o.r.es of Galilee was as truly G.o.d as it was man, unless the child-spirit did not know and do the Father-Spirit"s will. Sometimes a whole congregation of wills express themselves joyfully and forcefully through one written resolution. G.o.d never speaks an audible word, except through one of His bodies in which He has enfolded a child-spirit. When, however, the child-spirit rebels against the Father, and causes the instrument to speak or act vile things, the Father is dumb. His child has robbed Him of His body. We have grown so accustomed to this form of robbery that we naturally think of human spirits as having bodies all their own, while we conceive of G.o.d as a vague, disembodied influence.
We speak of G.o.d as sending men, forgetting that He never sends a man anywhere without sending him in His own body and accompanying him with His own spiritual Presence. And that which the messenger says is not worth hearing if it fails to express the Father"s thought and will. The G.o.d who, through beautiful chemical energies, makes the ear, hears; and the G.o.d who makes the eye, sees; and He who makes the lips, speaks.
Either G.o.d knows the thrill of nerves, or else He has an infinite amount to learn. Why then should we say that Jesus was only a good man, when the body was G.o.d"s very own, and the guiding will was that of the Father? A man is all G.o.d except the invisible human spirit; and in the case of Jesus, even the human spirit rendered such filial obedience that the Father, for once in human history, got to the surface through His own instrument in a steady flow of luminous words and loving deeds. If the composite life of Jesus were named after its major elements, then Jesus should be called G.o.d. However, as that would be both confusing and false, we state the truth as it is, and say that Jesus was both G.o.d and man, that is, a G.o.d-filled man, or a G.o.d-man."
"Oh well," said my friend, "if you mean it that way!"
"Did I not tell you," I replied, "that you would believe it? The trouble with you is that you forget it. You should be proclaiming it from the housetop that G.o.d has got clear to the surface in human form, and that men have clasped His hand, and heard His voice, and seen His face."
In the life of Jesus, religion reached a new and distinct stage of development. It was in Him that the essential _oneness_ of Deity and humanity first became clearly manifest. To the friends of Jesus, G.o.d was no longer a disembodied spirit. The Christian"s G.o.d is clearly the G.o.d of Israel, but He is the G.o.d of Israel become human and visible. The world has been slow to grasp the meaning of Christ"s life and teachings.
To maintain the uniqueness of Jesus, it has denied the universality of the truth which He proclaimed: namely, the organic and moral oneness of G.o.d and man. If the union of G.o.d and man as realized in Jesus was so beautiful, a similar union between G.o.d and all men would be equally beautiful. That G.o.d desires such a union with all His children there can be no doubt; and that He is inspiring His disciples with the glorious hope of its accomplishment is equally certain. Yet for the present, even the most devoted followers have not nearly attained unto the fulness of the stature of Jesus; but some glad day they shall be wholly like Him whose image they already unmistakably bear. This is the Christian"s n.o.blest hope.
If G.o.d has ever united His personality with that of even one man, then there is a way of doing it. And if there is a way, what finer goal is possible, than that such a union between G.o.d and every man be consummated? Really, that is what the Christian Religion is about. Not only may G.o.d and every man be similarly united, but the sin of man alone can prevent such a union from taking place. If there were no sin or rebellion in a man"s heart, he would instantly become a G.o.d-man on the plane of his present human development; and as he "Advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with G.o.d and men," he would be a G.o.d-man on a higher level. If the human side of the Christ has continued thus to grow for more than nineteen hundred years, on what alt.i.tudes of knowledge He is a G.o.d-man by this time, we can but faintly surmise. And with the possibility of a complete purging from sin, and the possibility of an infinite growth in wisdom, we, too, may yet be G.o.d-men on what would now seem to us dizzying heights; we shall ever be attaining "Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." No matter what one"s conception of the trinity in G.o.d"s personality may be, G.o.d is capable of uniting with every man in the same way that He united with the man Jesus. If we prefer to believe that G.o.d had an Eternal Son who came to clothe himself in a man, the problem of union would in nowise be changed. A Son-G.o.d, if He existed either in the Father or out of the Father, could not be less than a person, and the manner of uniting Himself with a man would be the same. My interest in the metaphysics of the trinity is that it gives us a firm grasp on the personality of G.o.d and the personality of man. I rest on the fact that the Personal G.o.d became incarnate and still seeks the souls of men for his dwelling-place. I further believe that when we do not read a later metaphysics into the Bible, the Scriptures wholly support the more modern conception. In the beginning was the Logos, Word, or Wisdom.
Wisdom was with G.o.d from the beginning; that is, G.o.d was always Wisdom, and not a material thing. All things were made by Wisdom, or G.o.d. Life was in G.o.d, and G.o.d"s life was the light of men; and though it was shining into the darkness the darkness apprehended it not. The G.o.d who is wisdom, and not matter, was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but it knew Him not. Finally Wisdom, or G.o.d, became flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we discerned His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth. The author seems to me to believe that the Personal G.o.d became incarnate, and that the one in whom He dwelt, in contrast with other men, looked like an only son of a father.
Notwithstanding this glorious possibility, there is always a tendency for religion to revert to a lower type; and this tendency is particularly noticeable just now. Not being able to believe in the divinity of Jesus according to the old metaphysics, mult.i.tudes are ceasing to believe in Him as Emmanuel,--or "G.o.d with us." At a time like this, when a forward movement is the only hope of saving our great material structure from becoming another Tower of Babel, a retrograde movement is lamentable. What we especially need is a new interpretation of Jesus, followed by a finer devotion to Him, and a whole-hearted commitment of ourselves to His ever-widening program. G.o.d is becoming altogether too hazy and inarticulate, at a time when the consciousness of His holy Presence is especially needed, if we are to shape and sustain a civilization that is quadrupling itself in weight and extent by reason of the growth and application of material knowledge. Any quickening of G.o.d that is to be highly beneficial must result in His further advent into human lives and human inst.i.tutions after the pattern of Jesus.
That a mere G.o.d of nature is insufficient was forcibly brought home to me while I was watching a circus performer throw daggers and toss b.a.l.l.s.
The performer, placing a man against a wide board, some ten feet distant, hurled a bunch of daggers into the board on either side of the man, each time missing him by only one or two inches. Then he began tossing b.a.l.l.s until the air seemed full of them, and not one ball fell to the ground. Having witnessed with amazement his great dexterity, these thoughts occurred to me:
"I wonder what he is like when he talks? If he is married what does his wife think of him? If he has children how do they feel toward him? Or if he is a single man, what would I think if he should wish to marry my daughter?" I then realized that I knew absolutely nothing about him except that he was a dexterous machine. Then falling into a homiletical mood I thought of the great skill of G.o.d. "How wonderfully _He_ can toss b.a.l.l.s, and strew the milky way, and hurl Pleiades and Orion! Before such infinite skill the performance which I have just witnessed is ridiculous." Then the thought forced itself upon me, "What would G.o.d be like if He were to talk? What kind of a person should we find Him to be if He walked our streets, and engaged in business, and sat at the table as one of the family circle?" I then realized that if G.o.d could only toss b.a.l.l.s and direct atoms we should really know nothing whatever of His character. If He were no more than the uniform power of nature"s laws He would too closely resemble gravity, or electricity, to be satisfying to His children. The human heart demands that, in addition to all this, G.o.d be individual, and spontaneous, like other persons whom we know, and with whom we hold fellowship. We enjoy seeing our friends run machines, but what an awful life it would be if every person in the world gave no heed to anyone or anything except the machine which he uniformly and incessantly operated! What a monstrous and oppressive idea it is to think of G.o.d, silent as a sphinx, spending an eternity with His mind so riveted upon the operation of His machine-world that He has neither time nor capacity for anything else. If such a G.o.d had time to think of it, He surely would envy the little child who can prattle, and laugh, and sing.
Fortunately this higher demand upon G.o.d is fully met in the religion of Jesus. For while our Father is a wonder-worker and a world builder, at the same time He has myriads of human bodies through which He can live a thoroughly social life. He is the most social Being in the universe; His desire and capacity for social relations are unlimited. He does not willingly leave one individual outside the circle of His friends. All His work in nature is for the purpose of providing instruments and conditions for a family of free children, among whom He may live as the free and adorable Father. It is no wonder that men cease to pray, when in their thought G.o.d is divorced from everything individual and social.
When men conceive of G.o.d as the mere operator of the cosmos, their highest concern is to keep out of the way of the machine. It never occurs to such men that G.o.d is able to treat them as sons, after the most personal and human manner. It is only in the laws of nature that His actions are mechanically uniform. In social relations His moods and actions change to suit the feelings and conduct of His sons and daughters. In _nature_ G.o.d sends the rain and sunshine on the just and the unjust alike, but in _human-nature_ He smiles or frowns according to each individual"s deserts. In Jesus, G.o.d might say, "Come unto me," or He might make a whip of cords and drive the people out of the temple.
Prayer does not cause G.o.d to change His wise and loving purpose, but it does determine _how_ He shall execute His holy will. If the conduct of a child does not change the father"s actions toward him, then the father is both foolish and immoral. Men should learn that G.o.d is even greater in humanity than He is in nature. For in the one, He is uniform power, while in the other, He is Father, Redeemer, and Friend. In the world of wills, G.o.d is individual and human. And His inner communion with us is greatly intensified and clarified when there is added to it His audible voice from without. The voice of G.o.d speaking to us through human lips awakens the voice of G.o.d within us. How wonderfully clear was the Divine Voice in men"s hearts when G.o.d spoke to them through Jesus! Likewise when the apostle Paul went to a new community, it seemed to receptive minds that G.o.d had come to town; and they were wholly justified in thinking so, for though G.o.d had been there all the time, powerfully through nature"s laws and feebly in their darkened hearts, yet for the first time G.o.d was within their city in clear articulate speech, wooing them to Himself. This not only made G.o.d seem real to them, but it made it easy for them to believe and be baptized. Though able to rejoice for a time, yet heaviness soon came upon them after Paul"s departure, because G.o.d too seemed to have departed from their midst. Neither were they mistaken in this, for G.o.d had no instrument remaining through which He could make Himself so humanly real to them, after His devoted and tried servant had gone away. As a result of Paul"s early departure there would follow unbelief and conduct unworthy of Christians. To meet this sad state of affairs in the mission churches, G.o.d would write them a letter, or better still, make them another visit in Paul.
Once there was brought home to me in a very beautiful and unexpected manner the Christian truth about G.o.d"s essential oneness with humanity.
Weary from my afternoon calls, I had just returned home. Entering the side hall that was already dark, I saw through the door slightly ajar my little son and daughter at play. Philip, eight years old, was building up blocks on the floor, while Esther, two years younger, was standing under the electric light with both arms raised as high as she could stretch them over her head. Seeing her dramatic position, and the unusual look on her face, I remained silent in the hall knowing that something was coming. With intense feeling she said:
"Oh, Philip! of course we would kiss G.o.d!" To which Philip replied:
"Oh, you couldn"t kiss G.o.d. He is a spirit. Why, G.o.d is in you,--and in me."
Still standing in her dramatic position with the light shining full on her face, she began lowering her arms slowly, and as her expression of comprehension deepened she said:
"Oh well then, Philip, if G.o.d is in you and in me, if we were to kiss each other we would kiss G.o.d."
"Yes, that is right, you would," was his response. Then said she:
"Let us kiss G.o.d." He arose promptly, and the children, throwing their arms tightly around each other, kissed G.o.d.
If ever there was a glad father I was one. Standing there in the dark hall I thought:
"G.o.d bless the dear children, they have the evangel. That is the very essence of the Christian religion, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto me.""
Of course we all realize that there are certain proprieties which adults must observe, but what could be more beautiful than for a little brother and sister so to recognize G.o.d in each other as to be able to kiss Him?
The idea here involved, if carried out in every relation of life, would be the Kingdom of G.o.d realized. Furthermore, there is no other way of making the Kingdom of G.o.d a reality, either on earth or in the life beyond. Doubtless G.o.d never will be seen outside the bodies which He provides for Himself and His children to use in common. However, we shall have more to say about that later.
A Christian woman has beautifully related an incident which brought to her Christ"s idea and experience of religion. Said she:
"It was my custom to retire each day to my own room for devotion. On one occasion when my heart was deeply oppressed my prayers seemed all in vain. Nevertheless, I continued to plead, "O Lord Jesus, reveal thyself to me." After awhile there came a rap at my door. It was the maid seeking comfort. She had broken a choice piece of china. But I drove her away rather harshly, saying, "You know you are not to bother me at this hour." Then I continued, "O Lord Jesus, reveal thyself." After more fruitless prayer, my little girl came sobbing for comfort as she had broken her first doll. I even drove _her_ away saying, "My child, you must not disturb your mother now." After resuming what seemed to be a useless pet.i.tion, there came to me a suggestion as distinct and forceful as if spoken. "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these ye did it not unto me." I arose from my knees, unlocked the door, and went out.
In the kitchen I found the maid sullen and angry, to whom I spoke comforting words. Seeing the light come to her face, I went on to find my little daughter. From under the grapevine where she had already cried herself to sleep, I picked her up; and after kissing her and wiping the tear stains from her cheeks, I told her that I would get her another dollie,--one ever so much nicer than the first. Having comforted others for His sake, and for their own sake, my soul was filled with inexpressible peace! And once more something spoke to my innermost being, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto me.""
Let no one draw the conclusion that her habit of devotion was worthless, for it is not very likely that all this peace and revelation would have come to her if she had been less inclined to pray. The intense desire of her prayer, coupled with the unpleasant incidents of the day, brought to her the fuller truth.
Though a minister may not neglect his sermons, yet there have been times when I have grown so desperate in my effort to prepare a vital message that I have thrown down my insipid and stupid ma.n.u.script to go out and find some needy, suffering person whom I could bless in His name.
Whenever I have done this I have found G.o.d and my soul and a sermon.
5. Where does Jesus belong in the religious, social and thought worlds?
When the G.o.d Soul and the man soul unite, they so lift nature"s forces up into personal life that the universe no longer lies in broken and confused fragments. Jesus is at the center of all things because all things center in pure personal life. In Him, the Father-spirit, the child-spirit, and nature"s forces were so correlated as to be newly manifest; the child was completing himself in the Father, and the Father was fulfilling Himself in the child, while nature was serving as the common instrument of both. Separate the G.o.d Soul, the man soul, and nature"s forces, and no one of them is revealed. Unite them as they were in Jesus and the meaning of all three appears. Christ"s type of life brings all reality into accord because it combines everything into a composite, personal life.
If you wish to know G.o.d in the most perfect way, go to Jesus; if you care to know man as he should be, go to Jesus; if you would look upon G.o.d, man, and nature"s forces in one radiant, wooing personality, go to Jesus. If it is the purpose of religionists, sociologists, and philosophers to trace reality to its highest form of expression, let them go to Jesus. Yes, let all men go to Jesus with their wealth of technical knowledge which they have gained in the wide fields of research; and in His presence, their treasures, like precious gems, will scintillate with a divine light. This conjunction in Jesus of all streams of reality makes Him the light of the world. In the same way, and for the same reason, every person would be the light of the world if the child-spirit rendered an obedience to the Father equally loving and intelligent. But this is the tragedy,--who has rendered such obedience!
It is the belief of many of us that Jesus was never disobedient, even as a little child. Though it were admitted that this could not be proved, still it would remain a fact that as Jesus "Increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with G.o.d and man," His filial obedience identified Him with the Father. The oneness of Deity and humanity was so certainly achieved in Jesus that no one can rob him of His glory nor of His place as the Messiah. He was the first to open wide the door to G.o.d; yea more, He was the door. In Jesus, we come face to face with the personal G.o.d and with our Elder Brother who lived in G.o.d. In Him, the perfect G.o.d was living in man, and the perfect man was living in G.o.d, while unitedly they were living among men as a visible member of society.
Taking the world as it is, the presence of G.o.d in humanity could but bring both peace and trouble; it brought joy to the pure in heart, and bitter hatred and strife to those who loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The weary and the n.o.ble were attracted to Jesus, while the vicious and the self-willed hurled themselves against Him with mad fury; but it was ever so, from the beginning of human history until the present hour. Whenever G.o.d has made His approach in human life, the evil-in-heart have opposed Him; they have killed the prophets, and stoned G.o.d when He came unto them. In our own day, many who speak beautifully of G.o.d in nature, are fiercely angry with Him when He appears among them in a good man; they are willing to believe that G.o.d is in that part of nature which soothes their senses, but they are not willing to believe that He is in the man who irritates them by opposing their wicked ways, or by hindering them in their pursuit of ill-gotten gains and illicit pleasures. Therefore, when G.o.d in Jesus so fully and perfectly entered society, it is not strange that they put Him to death. However, in killing Jesus they unwittingly exalted Him; in this act they brought to light the heinousness of sin, the inexpressible love of G.o.d, and the compa.s.sion of the child Jesus for his sinful brothers. It is before the cross, if anywhere, that men are led to repentance; it is there, if anywhere, that the heart is both broken and healed. Before such wondrous love the world may well pause and sing:
"In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o"er the wrecks of time, All the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime."
6. Can G.o.d die?
_Yes, G.o.d can die._ Three years ago after the Sunday morning service I received a telegram saying, "Mother died this morning at six-thirty.
Come!" Now, what did my sisters mean by this information; did they intend to convey the idea that our mother had become extinct? Not at all, they only meant that she had lost the dear old instrument that we had known for so many years in this earthly home. Death never signifies more than this to the Christian. Though we said she was dead, we believed our mother to be more alive than ever. If death is simply the loss of our instrument, the body, then G.o.d too can die, for He may lose His body. G.o.d died on the cross with His child, because the Father-spirit, no less than the child-spirit, lost His beautiful instrument in which He had walked by the sh.o.r.es of Galilee, teaching and comforting the people. If Jesus would not forsake the Father in the agony of the Garden, we may be sure that the Father did not forsake His child on the cross. As they were united in life they were undivided in death. To think that Jesus any more than the Father was conscious of the pain, is to make Jesus greater than G.o.d. The G.o.d who creates the body, moment by moment, must know the thrill of every nerve, since they are His own nerves which He shares with His child. Yet it is not the pain nor the indignity heaped upon the Father and His Holy Child that we are here emphasizing, but the fact that He lost the instrument by means of which He had been a living person among men. The disciples scattered in sorrow and bewilderment, when G.o.d and His Child Jesus died on the cross.