How was the thought about Christ in the days of the early Church? Let us study the truth and the thought about Christ that early Christians had. If we put together all the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments in the Bible, Jesus Christ is God who came to the earth in the flesh. However, when the mighty God came to the earth, why did He call Himself the Son of God and call God Father?
“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High . . .” Lk 1:31–32
Jesus is God who came to the earth in the flesh, but lived a life as the Son of God, not as God, in order to make us sons of God, that is, children of God. Actually, we did not know how to become sons of God. Nobody knew that. For this, God Himself came in the position of a son and set us examples as a son of God.
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Jn 13:15
The reason Jesus set us examples for us to follow is because everything He did was what the sons of God should do. Unless we follow the examples of Christ, we can neither become sons of God nor enter the kingdom of heaven.
The example of calling God Father
It was because Jesus set us the example that we came to call God Father.
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name . . .’ ” Mt 6:9
As Jesus came and set the example of calling God Father, the saints came to call God Father.
The example of overcoming temptations
After Jesus was baptized, He was tempted by the devil, through which He set us the example of what faith the sons of God should have in order to overcome temptations (Mt 4:1–11).
When Satan tempted Jesus with physical food, He overcame it with the words, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” And when the tempter said on the highest point of the temple, “Throw yourself down,” Jesus overcame it by quoting the words, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, the devil said that he would give Him all that if He bowed down and worshipped him. Then, Jesus overcame it by saying, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” We too come to encounter many temptations while living the life of faith in the spiritual wilderness after being baptized. This is the process we must go through in order to become sons of God.
Jesus Himself set us the example of what faith we should have in order to overcome temptations and become sons of God.
The example of obeying God’s commands
If we are sons of God, we must obey what He commands.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Jn 14:15
Since the sons of God love God, they are pleased with obeying God’s commands. However, those who are not the sons of God follow man-made rules without regarding God’s commands as precious.
Jesus kept the Sabbath day according to His custom (Lk 4:16), and His apostles too kept the Sabbath as their custom, following the example of Jesus (Ac 17:2).
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Lk 23:55–56
Since Jesus set the example of keeping the Passover, the saints of the early Church kept the Passover holy. The reason Jesus kept the Sabbath and the Passover was not because He needed the commandments. In order to make His loving people God’s sons, Jesus Himself kept God’s commandments that the sons of God must obey.
The example of obedience
Many records of Jesus’ life show that He absolutely obeyed God.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! . . . For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Christ] the many will be made righteous. Ro 5:15–19
When God came to the earth in the flesh and obeyed God, He was in the position of a son, not in the position of God. In order to become sons of God, we too must obey God absolutely. For this, God Himself came as the Son Jesus and set us the example of obedience.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Heb 5:8–9
The example as a royal priesthood
It was the tribe of Levi that God chose to serve as priests in Israel. And the tribe that had the legitimacy of the royal family was the tribe of Judah. Therefore, a person or a tribe could not hold the two offices of the kingship and the priesthood at the same time.
However, when Jesus came to the earth, He came as king of the Jews (Mt 2:1–2; Jn 18:33–37) and as the high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb 5:6–10). Jesus set us the example showing that we can become sons of God and a royal priesthood if we do as He did.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God . . . 1 Pe 2:9
. . . they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Rev 20:6
When the people who are to be saved become the royal priesthood, Christ will become King of kings and Lord of lords.
“They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings―and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” Rev 17:14
The example as an heir
In this world, too, a son is given the right to be an heir who will inherit his father’s estate. Likewise, if we become sons of God, we will be able to inherit the heavenly estate from God.
In order to teach us the way to become God’s sons who will inherit the heavenly estate, Jesus Himself came to this earth as a son of God.
What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate . . . But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Gal 4:1–7
In order to be sons of God who will inherit the estate of God, we should become like Jesus. Although Jesus is God, He lived His life as a son to make us sons of God.
The path Jesus walked is the path we must walk as sons of God. Jesus prayed to God, calling Him “Father,” and shed tears while praying to God. And He willingly kept God-given commandments, and was pleased with obedience to God even in the way of suffering. All the life of Jesus is the life we should live, and the life we should choose as sons of God.
Christ is God
Though Jesus came in the flesh, He is God. And the Spirit and the Bride who are prophesied to appear in the last age are also our Gods who have come to the earth to make us sons of God. So, those who realized Christ recorded that Jesus is God.
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Ro 9:5
. . . And we are in him who is true―even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 Jn 5:20
The path we should walk
In order to grant His poor children, who committed sins in heaven, the right to become children of God again, God Himself put on the flesh as His children did, and made known to us the way to become sons of God by setting us examples and walking the path as a son of God in the same state as ours.
If God had walked the path of the Son with all glory and power of God, we would have given up the way to become sons of God just by looking up at Him. However, since He set us the example of becoming a son of God in obedience to God with the same appearance and the same power as ours, how can we give up the way?
With this thought and truth, the saints of the early Church believed in Christ who came to the earth in the flesh as God, and they preached Christ. Only the thought and the truth that the saints of the early Church had can lead us to the eternal kingdom of heaven. We, too, who are living in the last age, should believe in Christs, the Spirit and the Bride, as our Gods who have come to save us in this age and should display Their glory.