Now, I’ve been to Caesarea Philippi. It is a beautiful little secluded place at the base of Mt. Hermon where the Sea of Galilee headwaters come out. The Jordan River is a group of four springs that come out of Caesarea Philippi and there’s a beautiful place with trees there, and the water provides a lot of greenery, and it’s a very pretty place. And carved into the rock of the mountain, there are two altars that I remember: the altar to Caesar and the altar Pan, the Greek God. And he’s the one we get (the word) “panic” from. He was worshipped there in the Holy Land and there an altar carved into the rock there dedicated to Pan. And so seated underneath this shrine to this false god and this shrine to Caesar, the worshipped the emperor in those days, Jesus asked these questions, and the disciples give this answer; and Peter’s answer was very significant.

There are three phrases here that are important to understand in reference to Jesus. The first is the phrase “Son of Man.” It was Jesus’ favorite description of Himself—it is used 84 times in the four Gospels to describe Jesus. Probably for two reasons. One, He wanted to identify with us.

Hebrews 2:11—“So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.” (NLT)

Notice: Who makes us holy? Do we make ourselves holy by working real hard to clean up our act? No. So Jesus wanted to identify with us, but the other reason Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of man is because He wanted us to make the connection that He was the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s vision described in Daniel 7:13, 14.

Daniel 7:13, 14—“As my vision continued that night, I saw someone who looked like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14He was given authority, honor, and royal power over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.”

This “Son of Man” came with “the clouds of heaven” indicating His heavenly origin and was given the authority, glory, and sovereign power to rule over the world. This “Son of Man” was another way of saying Jesus is our “Kinsmen Redeemer” as Ruth 2:20 describes. (See also Leviticus 25:25–26, 48–49). So Jesus used this phrase to identify Himself with us and to provide a clue to Who Daniel was talking about in His vision of a pre–advent judgement ruling in favor of the saints (verse 22). And even His enemies understood that!

When Jesus was standing before the High Priest in Matthew 26:64–66 (NLT), He told the High Priest, “Yes, it is as you say. And in the future, you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven. 65Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror, shouting, ‘Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. 66What is your verdict?’ ‘Guilty!’ they shouted. ‘He must die!’”

In verse 64, when Jesus was referring to “the clouds of heaven” He was pointing back to Daniel’s prophecy equating Himself with the “Son of Man.” We know this is true because after the High Priest immediately recognized “Son of Man” was a reference to the Messiah, he said that Jesus had spoken blasphemy. So, back in Matthew 16:13, Jesus asks the question already giving them the answer by referring to Himself as the “Son of Man,” but He allows them to go on and tell Him what they think. And it’s Peter who hits the nail on the head using two more Messianic phrases proving conclusively that the disciples at least believed Jesus was God and man. He said, “You are the Christ.”

We said last time the Greek word for “Christ” comes from the Hebrew word for “Messiah.” Peter is saying to Jesus: “You are the Messiah, the Anointed One; the One that the prophets told us would come.” But not only that, Jesus you are “the Son of the living God.” Scholars note, “On behalf of all the apostles, Peter not only confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, but as the Son of the living God. The Son of Man (v. 13) was also the Son of God, the Creator of the universe and all that is in it. He was the true and real God, not a mythological figment such as Pan or a mortal ‘deity’ such as Caesar—both of whom had shrines in Caesarea Philippi.

The disciples’ did not at this time have a full comprehension of the Trinity or even of the full nature and work of Christ. But they knew Jesus was truly the Christ and that He was truly divine, the Son of the living God.” (MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary: John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23)

It’s clear from this passage alone that the disciples believed in Jesus’ divine nature. Even though Jesus’ enemies didn’t believe Him, at least they understood that Jesus was claiming to be God and man. For additional proof read John 10:24–33. So we know that Jesus knew He was God. That His enemies understood He claimed to be God. And that His disciples believed Him to be God. But what about the rest of the writers of the New Testament?

Paul wrote a good portion of the New Testament. He wrote Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and many say Hebrews too. Now I don’t have time to show you all the references of Jesus as God in each of these books, we don’t have time. So I’ll just focus on a few. The first is Colossians 1:19 (NLT). “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” Verse 15 adds, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all.” Philippians 2:6 (NLT) states, “Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.”

Hebrews 1:3 (NLT) adds, “The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about Him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of His command. After He died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.”

John wrote the Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John, and the Book of Revelation. John, who was the closest to Jesus, affirms Jesus deity. John 1:1–2 (NLT) says, “In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.”

1 John 5:20 (NLT) adds, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.” And it goes on and on and on. All the writers of the New Testament believed Jesus to be God and man in human flesh. So there is no truth whatsoever to the claims made in the Da Vinci Code that Jesus’ followers believed Him to be just a good man with good ethics and morals as Thomas Jefferson thought.

But what about the early church leaders? Who did they understand Jesus to be? The leaders of the early church, beginning in the second century, were largely those who were appointed as leaders by men like Paul. These appointed leaders can be divided into two main categories. The first category included those who cared for the spiritual leadership and direction of their people.

These leaders had various titles but each title basically represented a different facet of the same position. People in these spiritual leadership positions were appropriately called “Overseers” or “Elders.” Sometimes these titles are translated as Bishop or Ruler (Romans 12:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:12); Leader (Hebrews 13:17); Pastors (Ephesians 4:11; cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2) or even Presbyters (from the Greek word for “elder”). We Adventists use the title Elder most often.

What’s interesting is Paul gives the qualifications and responsibilities of these Elders in 1Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:6–9 and one of the most important things these elders are supposed to do is “Have a strong and steadfast belief in the trustworthy message he was taught; then he will be able to encourage others with right teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong.”

In Titus 2:1 (NLT) he adds, “But as for you, promote the kind of living that reflects right teaching.” So teaching sound doctrine and refuting false doctrine is a primary role of an Elder.

But there was a second category of leadership in the early church. Those who care for the administrative details and day to day operations of the church were called “Deacons.” Which literally means, “Humble servant.” Paul gives the qualifications and responsibilities of Deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8–12. But the model for this type of leadership structure was first started in Acts 15:1–7.

Those of you still awake are probably wondering: what’s all this boring church organization stuff got to do with the proving the full divinity and humanity of Jesus? Who cares what the elders and deacons do! Well, it’s important because after the apostles died, these are the folks who carried on the leadership of the early church and became known as the “early Church fathers.” So we go from eyewitnesses to writers to leaders to church fathers.

Chris Armstrong, a writer for Christian History Magazine, says it this way: “The first thing you notice when you read the early ‘church fathers’ is that they are completely convinced Jesus is God Himself. I’m talking about those bishops and teachers from the 100s and 200s as well—long before the Nicene Council.” (Christian History Newsletter: “Thanks, Da Vinci Code,” Chris Armstrong, November 14, 2003) These early Church fathers eventually concluded that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man—even though that belief was often challenged.

But before I dive into the main details of this Church council, let me first define what a Council is. Church Councils are events where various church leaders and representatives would gather and discuss challenges that would come up in regards to their faith. For example, the first actual church council is recorded in Acts 15 over the issue of whether or not non-Jewish Christ followers had to be circumcised to be saved.

Acts 15:1-2 (NLT) describes it. “While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the Christians: ‘Unless you keep the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ 2Paul and Barnabas, disagreeing with them, argued forcefully and at length. Finally, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.”

So a bunch of representatives met and they talked about it and decided not to force the Gentiles to be circumcised. And since then, there have been a number of Church Councils where Church leaders gathered to discuss certain issues. In our tribe, these are called General Conferences, which meet every 5 years—the last one being in St. Louis in 2005.

Anyway, from Acts 15, the next big Council was the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and the issue was over the false teaching about the nature of Jesus by a pastor named Arius. Arius pastored the Baucalis Church in Alexandria [Egypt] and he taught that Jesus had a different nature than God the Father. He said Jesus as a lesser being, not eternal, omnipotent, or divine in any way. Historian Bruce Shelly notes, “Arius’ views were all the more popular because he combined an eloquent preaching style with a flair for public relations.

In the opening stages of the conflict, he put ideas into jingles, which set to simple tunes like a radio commercial, were soon being sung by the dock–workers, the street hawkers, and the school children of the city.” (Church History in Plain Language, Bruce Shelly, 100-101)

Arius’ views became so prevalent that the Bishop of Alexandria condemned his teachings and had him kicked out of the church. So Arius turned to his church historian friend Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia [an ancient city in modern day Turkey] and friend of Emperor Constantine. Now, to be fair, Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code is right in the sense that Emperor Constantine had at least in part a political agenda in mind, namely to prevent a church split that would disrupt the now unified Roman empire. But he’s wrong in saying the divinity of Jesus was invented at this council to solve the problem. We know this is true not only from the Scriptural evidence we already read, but also because of what happened during the proceedings of this Council.

Historians agree that Arian’s heresy was dispelled quickly. (Church History in Plain Language, Bruce Shelly, 101) By his own words. (Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity: Tim Dowley, Organizing Editor, 158) This is important because it reaffirms the fact that the early Church fathers believed Jesus to be God and man.

In fact, it took longer to figure out what to do with Arius than it did with Jesus! They were trying to figure out if someone who doesn’t believe in the full divinity of Jesus should be a pastor or even a church member. Ultimately, they decided to uphold Arius’ excommunication from the church. But the topic of Jesus’ being God and man raged on for the next 126 years.

Long story short: the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD affirmed Jesus’ divinity. The Council of Constantinople in 381 AD affirmed the humanity of Jesus. The Council of Ephesus in 431 AD affirmed that Jesus was a unified person—not one with a duality of divine and human natures. And then at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD it was finally affirmed that Jesus Christ is human and divine in one person—specifically 100% God and 100% human. At the Council of Chalcedon, church leaders basically drafted a statement summarizing what the church had discussed and agreed upon over the last 126 years. The statement read, “We all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same Son, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards to his Godhead, of one substance with us as regards to his manhood, like us in all things, apart from sin; begotten of the Father before the ages as regards to his Godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born from the Virgin Mary, the God–bearer, as regards to his man–hood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only–begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, or without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way abolished because of the union, but rather the characteristic property of each nature being preserved, and coming together to form one person and one entity, not as if Christ were parted or divided into two persons...” (Eerdmans’ Handbook To The History of Christianity: Tim Dowley, Organizing Editor, 175)

So did Constantine upgrade Jesus’ status to full divinity in the fourth century AD? No! Jesus established His full divinity Himself in the 1st century AD when for example He said in John 10:30 (NLT), “The Father and I are one.”

No detailed explanation. Just a mindbender. Fully God. Fully man. So Thomas Jefferson, get over it! Everything is not rational. Maybe that’s why 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV) says, “12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

Jesus didn’t need any help from Constantine to prove He was Daniel’s predicted Son of Man. Everybody back then already knew that! All 456 predictive Messianic prophecies were fulfilled—29 alone in the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life. Constantine had nothing to do with inventing Jesus’ divine status and neither did the Council of Nicaea.

Much like the history of how we got the Old and New Testaments, the leaders of these various Councils in the fullness of time merely acknowledged that which was already universally accepted as true and consistent with the eyewitness accounts and testimonies of the Gospel writers and elders and deacons and early church fathers.