APOLOGETICS BIBLE STUDY Q&A: "Unique ba ang mga claims ni Jesus kumpara sa ibang relihiyon sa mundo?"

Common misconception na nating mga Pinoy 'yung pagsasabing, "Pare-pareho lang naman ang lahat ng relihiyon, ang mahalaga ay mabuti kang tao." Sounds nice, 'di ba? Very inclusive. Pero if we really look at the "resibo" the historical facts and the actual claims of these religious leaders makikita natin na hindi sila pare-pareho. In fact, si Jesus Christ lang ang nag-iisang matapang na nagsabing Siya ang Diyos.

The "Life Coaches" vs. The Savior

Sa totoo lang, most founders of world religions never claimed to be deity.

• Confucius and Lao-tzu: These guys were like the O.G. life coaches or philosophers. Influential sila sa culture and morality, but they weren't theologians. Ang mga turo nila, if you read them, parang "Proverbs" style wise sayings for a better life, but not "I created the universe."

• Buddha: Ito ang plot twist some scholars say he might have been an atheist. He didn't focus on God; he focused on ending suffering.

• Muhammad: Clear ang Qur’an dito si Muhammad ay propeta lang ni Allah, but he is definitely not Allah. In Islam, God has no partners (Surahs 4:171). So, the idea of Muhammad being God is totally out of the question.

• Krishna: Siya ang closest candidate for godhood sa Hindu writings (Bhagavad-Gita). Pero the problem is historicity. Hindi sure ang mga experts kung talagang nabuhay si Krishna or legend lang siya. Plus, in Hinduism, everyone has a "divine nature" anyway. It’s not the same as being the one true Creator who is separate from His creation.

Why Jesus is Different (The Blasphemy Factor)

Si Jesus lang ang may dual titles: Son of God and Son of Man. When He claimed to forgive sins, 'yung mga religious leaders noon were triggered. Bakit? Kasi they knew only God can forgive sins. Noong tinanong Siya ng High Priest kung Siya ba ang Anak ng Diyos, Jesus didn't play safe. He said, "I AM."

Ito ang "Real Talk": He didn't just teach a way to God; He claimed to be the Way. At 'yung claims Niya, recorded ito within decades of the events, hindi centuries later. Reliable ang documents natin.

The Ultimate Resibo: The Resurrection

The biggest proof that Jesus is who He says He is? The Resurrection. Dead men don't do much, right? Pero ang empty tomb ni Jesus is one of the best-attested facts in history. Within weeks, 3,000 Jews gave up their long-standing traditions, traditions that defined their national identity kasi nakita nilang buhay ang Panginoon.

Under the New Covenant, we see that Jesus didn't just give us a new set of rules or another "tithe" to pay to gain favor. He paid the ultimate price for our sins once and for all. Salvation is a gift we receive because of what He did on the cross. Only Jesus taught that His death serves as the payment for our "utang" (sin) that we could never pay ourselves.

He is the only one who rose from the dead to prove it. So, if God raised Him, then God approved His message. Case closed.

Call to Action: Ngayong alam mo na si Jesus ay hindi lang basta "teacher" kundi ang mismong Panginoon na nag-alay ng buhay para sa 'yo, how does this change your perspective today? Don't just settle for "religion" seek a relationship with the One who conquered death for you. Share this with someone who needs to know that there is hope beyond the grave!

Question: “Pastor Ronald, if only the human nature of Jesus died, what happened to His being God?”

Answer:

The simple and consistent answer of historic Christianity is this: nothing in His divinity changed or was damaged in any way. According to classical Christology, Jesus has two natures: His divine nature, which is eternal, unchanging, and incapable of dying; and His human nature, which has a real human body and soul capable of suffering, hunger, pain, and even death. These two natures are united perfectly in one Divine Person, a mystery the early church called the Hypostatic Union. Because of this union, we can say that Jesus truly died, but the death took place in His humanity, not in His divinity. His divine nature did not weaken, disappear, or “pause.” Even while His body lay in the tomb, the Son of God remained fully God, still sustaining the universe, still possessing all divine attributes, still eternally alive as God. In short, when the human body of Jesus was pierced or exhausted or crucified, none of these experiences touched or reduced His divine essence, because the divine nature, by definition, cannot suffer or die.

Now, about the popular statement many Catholics and Protestants use today, “God died,” this can sound shocking or even wrong if taken literally. But most theologians don’t mean that the divine nature died. What they mean is that the Person who died is God the Son, and because the same Person owns both natures, what happened in His humanity can be spoken of using His divine title. This is why the early church used the term communication of idioms (communicatio idiomatum), meaning that what human nature experiences can be attributed to the divine Person. For example, Acts 20:28 speaks of the “blood of God,” even though God, strictly speaking, has no blood. The Bible can speak this way because the One who shed His blood is indeed God the Son, though the blood itself comes from His human nature. So many Christians say “God died for us” not as a technical theological formula but as an expression of devotion and faith, emphasizing that the One who sacrificed Himself is no ordinary man but truly God in the flesh. However, if someone hears this phrase without understanding the theology behind it, it can lead to confusion, which is why teachers must clarify that the death happened in the human nature, never in the divine nature.

A more careful and orthodox way to express the truth is this: “Jesus, who is truly God and truly man, died in His human nature; His divine nature never died.” This is exactly what the great councils of the early church taught, especially the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), and is affirmed by mainstream Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical theology. A simple analogy is to imagine a driver using a steering wheel: if the steering wheel breaks, it is the driver who experiences the situation, but the driver’s nature as a person does not disappear or become less human. In the same way, the human nature of Jesus is the “instrument” through which He lived, suffered, and died, but the divine Person, the eternal Son, remained fully and unchangedly God throughout the entire event of the crucifixion.