Selected books for further study:
Anderson, Sir Robert. n.d. The Lord from Heaven. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. 118 p.
Hanke, Howard A. 1963. The Validity of the Virgin Birth. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House. 122 p.
Machen, J. Gresham. 1965. The Virgin Birth of Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Morris, Henry M. 1993. Biblical Creationism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 276 p.
Orr, James. 1907. The Virgin Birth of Christ. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Sabiers, Karl G. 1943. The Virgin Birth of Christ. Los Angeles, CA: Robertson Publ. Co.
Smith, Wilbur M. 1944. The Supernaturalness of Christ. Boston, MA: W. A. Wilde Co. 235 p.
Chapter VI
The Miraculous Life of Christ
The Perfection of Christ's Character
Certain aspects of the doctrine of Christ have already been considered and shown to be strong evidences of His deity and of the unique truth of Christianity. These include both His miraculous birth, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, and also a preliminary discussion of His bodily resurrection, the climactic and crowning proof that He indeed was God.
Between His birth and His resurrection, however, He lived a life of unique holiness and power. The sinless life He lived, the mighty miracles He performed, and the gracious words He spoke, all providing a matchless setting for the unparalleled claims He made, add still further to the evidence that Jesus Christ was uniquely the Son of God.
Consider the character of Christ, as manifest in His life described in the four gospels. The gospel writers all are concerned solely with describing the words and deeds of Jesus Christ, and everything else is incidental and contributory to that purpose. He is always, in every chapter, the central character and theme.
Yet, with all this attention, it is remarkable that two features are notably missing from these biographies, features which are invariably prominent in all other biographies of great men. First, there is not one line describing the human physical appearance of Jesus! Whether He was tall or short, dark or light, heavyset or thin, bearded or clean-shaven, we are not told. The color of His hair or His eyes, the manner of gait, the structure of His physique, the pitch of His voice — all these things, usually of such interest to writers and their readers, are amazingly omitted by the Gospel authors. Medieval portraits and statues and pious descriptive forgeries notwithstanding, we actually have not the slightest knowledge today of Jesus' human appearance. We do not even know that He had what might be considered Jewish facial characteristics, since He was born without direct genetic connection to either Mary or Joseph.
The reason for this reticence in describing Jesus may be twofold. First, as the son of Man, He is thus capable of identification with all men, not just with Jews or whites, or tall men or brown-eyed men or any other particular type of men. Secondly, man's perverse tendency to idolatry would quickly have made an idol out of His picture or image had we known what He looked like (even without this, many have made what amounts to a shrine or idol out of a "model" of what some have imagined He looked like).
This remarkable restraint on the part of the four Gospel writers can be explained only as a divine constraint by the Holy Spirit. A second restraint, even more amazing, is a complete absence of any eulogies of Christ by the writers. Their portrait of a man absolutely perfect in word and deed, completely lacking in any slightest weakness of character, is quite unique in all literature. Yet they achieve this portrait by a simple factual record of what He said and did. Never do they pause to comment on His perfections, to exclaim over the wisdom of His words or to point out how uniquely moral and correct all of His actions were. The portrait is painted with perfect clarity and beauty, but altogether without the aid of editorial adjectives or interjections. Nothing they could possibly say by way of explanation or description could be half so effective as simply to recount the words and deeds of Jesus.
No one else in all history, or even in fiction, lived in such a way as did the Lord Jesus. Note the following points, among many others that might be listed.
He was always master of every situation, taking exactly the right action to fit the circumstances, never having to seek advice before acting and never having to retract or apologize after acting.
He never had to ask either permission, since He always spoke with authority, or forgiveness, since He never said or did anything amiss.
He had no consciousness of sins or shortcomings in His life, yet never conveyed any impression of pride or sanctimoniousness in His manner.
He was never fearful of anything and could be overpoweringly bold when occasion required, and yet He was gentle and meek in the highest degree.
His words were always perfectly chosen to fit the need, of absolute purity and wholesomeness, never trivial or banal, always relevant and meaningful.
He never complained about His circumstances, in spite of weariness, hunger, poverty, persecution and rejection, but instead provided continual encouragement and comfort to others.
He was equally confident and authoritative with friends and enemies, common people or leaders, never flustered or confused about what to say or do, regardless of the company or circumstances.
A list such as the above could be expanded almost endlessly. It would seem that every type of person or situation confronted Jesus in some way or another in some degree, and He always responded or reacted in the most perfect way. Never do we find a situation in which we feel that we could have done it better or that He was unduly harsh or weak or unreasonable or equivocal or at fault in any respect.
It is true that He had enemies and was hated and persecuted and finally put to death. This was not because of any fault in His own character, but because His very perfections illuminated and condemned the sins and hypocrisies of other men, and they could only react by opposing and crucifying Him.
Even without being told, the reader is impelled to the conviction that His life is our perfect pattern, the example we should continually seek to follow, even though we are painfully aware that we can never really attain it. We are without excuse, however, since He attained it and He is no less human than we. He is the Son of Man — man as God intended and created man to be.
Jesus, in fact, said as much. Without any semblance of conceit or boasting, He made it plain that His life is our perfect example, and that we should follow Him.
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord (Matt. 10:24-25).
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me (Matt. 10:37-38).
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).
I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you (John 13:15).
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another (John 13:34).
As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you (John 20:21).
That