THIS BOOK IS an invitation to live life in Christ as the only way to live. But before we issue that invitation and before the thoughtful reader can accept it, we must explore what we mean by “Christ.” I came near saying “we must define,” but to define is to confine, and when we are dealing with the Eternal God manifested in the flesh, which I conceive Him to be, we can only explore—our definitions are departure points, eternally open to eternal explanations.
We begin with Jesus, not with Christ, for you cannot say Christ until you have first said Jesus—the Incarnate One. For Jesus puts His own character content into Christ. The Jewish people had the idea of a conquering Christ, the Messiah, conquering by force. The Amplified New Testament when it uses the word “Christ” amplifies it into “Christ, the Messiah,” but this isn’t amplification—it is minification, for it puts Christ back into a Jewish Messianic mold. That mold has been broken; it was too small.
Other molds have proved too small. One by one they have been broken. Christ, the Teacher, the greatest of all teachers? Yes, but more, for a teacher imparts knowledge—He imparts life. The greatest of characters, the best of men, the highest example? Yes, but more, for we are not to imitate Him in life, we are to receive Him as life. Someone pinpointed in history, our Guide and Inspiration? Yes, and more, for we cannot live on a remembrance, we must live on a realization. A martyr to the cause of the kingdom of God? Yes, and more, for His death seems to have all the signs of a cosmic struggle with a cosmic result—the redemption of the race. Who then is He? He is the Word become flesh, God become man, the Eternal manifesting Himself in time, God simplified, God approachable, God lovable.
O Christ, while we cannot define Thee precisely, we can know Thee intimately. And to know Thee is to know life, to know release and redemption. We thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: This is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
