JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword,
it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Heb 4:12).
Wherever the Bible has been consistently applied, it has dramatically changed the
civilization and culture of those who have accepted its teaching.
Unique and Supreme Person
The unique and supreme Person of the Bible is the final evidence for the authenticity
of the Bible as the Word of God. The Bible is a supernatural book revealing the Person and glory
of God as manifested in His Son Jesus.
A person like the Jesus presented to us in Scripture never could have been the invention
of mere mortal men. His nature and personality never could have been conceived by the wisest
and holiest of mankind. His perfections never could have been imagined by finite man.
There are some obvious similarities between the Bible as the written Word and Jesus as
the living Word. Both are supernatural in origin with the perfect blend of the human with the
divine. Both have a transforming power over those who believe. Divine perfection is embodied
in each. The revelations they disclose are as simple as the mental capacity of a child and yet as
complex as the infinite treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge.
Self-Authenticating
While external evidences can be helpful for a historical belief, they are not compelling
for saving faith. The evidences without direct authentication will never be sufficiently
convincing, that is, they will never have the apologetic force to sanction belief because the
historical evidences support faith only within faith. Faith is the establishing of the evidences, not
vice-versa.
The main task of apologetics is, therefore, not to convince the faithless, but to instruct the
faithful. The place of apologetics is to verify faith at the practical level. It is Christ alone, through
the work of the Holy Spirit in the unbeliever, not apologetics that leads to faith. External
evidences merely point the way.
One of Barth's basic presuppositions when it comes to the truth of the Christian faith is
that if something external to the Word of God is necessary to establish the Word of God as true,
then that external support is greater than the Word of God. According to him, it is a very weak
Word of God that needs external supports. If the lion needs gophers and rabbits to announce his
kingship, then the lion is no longer king of the beasts. Barth's maxim is that what establishes is
greater than what is established. Since there can be nothing greater than the Word of God, the
Word of God establishes itself.56