I decided to read through What the Bible Teaches, by R.A. Torrey again. It’s a great book – you can download a free PDF here – so we’re doing a little Bible study every Thursday. The collection is here. Subscribe over there to make sure you don’t miss anything, but come back and add your voice in the Comments! >>>

We started Book II this week, which focuses on What the Bible Teaches About Jesus Christ. Torrey starts with a relatively huge chapter on Jesus’ divinity. Let’s go.

Torrey explains:

1. Jesus’ divine names – 16 of them that clearly imply deity
2. Jesus’ divine attributes – omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, immutability, the fullness of God
3. Jesus’ divine offices – Creator, Preserver, Forgiver, Raiser of the dead, Transformer at His coming, Judge, Giver of eternal life
4. Statements in the Old Testament are referred to Jesus in the New Testament.
5. The name of Jesus is coupled with that of God the Father many times.
6. Divine worship is to be given to Jesus.
7. Prayer is to be made to Jesus.
8. The same honor is to be given Jesus as the Father.
9. Jesus is worshipped by men and angels.

The body of evidence that Torrey presents in this chapter is without rebuttal. No one could reasonably argue that Christianity teaches anything other that the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Which point is so basic, and so foundational to many of us, but it’s so basic and foundational to our faith that it’s also the first to be tested and, sadly, the first to be compromised.

If we stand united – across denominations and discussions about non-essentials – on any point, it has to be this.

So much of the world wants to preach that different people get to God differently, that all religions are really different expressions of the same thing, etc. The truth is no major world religion agrees with this, least of all Christianity. We need to have this answer and this conviction written on our hearts, because each one of us will be called on to give it.

When I met the Lord, I was not one of those over-excited, super-bold new converts. I lost a lot of friends; I felt the weight of my decision, and it wasn’t a light one. The first time I really felt the Holy Spirit show up and empower me to be a bold witness was in a car with some close family members. The issue came up, and someone – once a Christian, but really wandering at the time –  commented that we couldn’t be intolerant, and who were we to say how people can and cannot connect with God.

I didn’t preach a sermon, and I wasn’t even all that bold, but I felt the presence of God as I nervously stated, “Jesus said that no one could come to the Father except through Him.” It got quiet for a long time, and then someone changed the subject.

Torrey wraps up this chapter with this admonition,

Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Savior and Lord is guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting God. A man often thinks he is good because he never stole or never murdered or never cheated. “Of what great sin am I guilty?” he complacently asks. “You are guilty of the awful, damning sin of rejecting God,” we reply.

Have you seen complacency in this regard among the Church? Have you made yourself unpopular by insisting on the truth? Tell us about it!