by John H. Gerstner

What has been the influence of Christ on succeeding centuries? Shortly before His death He said, "Believe Me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do" (John 14:11-12). These were very ordinary men to whom Christ--admittedly the most extraordinary person ever to appear in human history--said that they would do greater works than He had done. A strange prediction it was, and stranger still that it has been fulfilled, and even stranger still how it has been fulfilled.

When Christ uttered this prophecy, infanticide was a common thing. Quintillian and others regarded it as a beautiful custom to abandon infants. It was the followers of Jesus to whom Jesus had said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not," who put an end to this "beautiful custom." Clement, Origen, Tertullian, the fathers of the church, exposed the horror of infanticide. And the weakest of all creatures, the human infant, became the best protected of all, as the followers of Jesus continued the emancipation of children to much greater lengths. As James Stalker has written:

Christ converted the home into a church, and parents into His ministers; and it may be doubted whether He has not by this means won to Himself as many disciples in the course of the Christian ages as even by the institution of the church itself.

Murder for pleasure was eradicated by the disciples of Christ. When Jesus uttered the promise about "greater works," the Romans regarded gladiatorial combats as the choicest of amusements. The bloodier the battle of condemned slaves or captives, the rarer the diversion. Telemachus, who leaped into the arena in an attempt to separate the warriors, and succeeded only in having himself stoned by an enraged mob of spectators who saw in this man only a mad spoilsport, was, of course, a Christian. He died, but gladiatorial combats were to die with him, as the church was to do greater works in this area than her Founder.

Another example is that of cannibalism. Of all the atrocious deeds of man against man, the most gruesome is cannibalism. With this practice of degenerate savagery, Christ had no personal contact; yet its abolition is the work of those who, in His name, have done greater works than He. When a South pacific islander told a European mocker of foreign missions that if it had not been for the missionaries he would not be alive to say that he did not believe in missions, he was true to the record. It was through missionaries, a number of whom actually became victims of this hideous practice, that cannibalism has been almost entirely exterminated. Many a soldier in World War II subsequently told of his amazement to find himself welcomed rather than devoured in some remote island where he had been stranded. How glad were such men, who trudged wearily through the jungles with a fear of what the next clearing might reveal, when they saw Christian churches and knew that they were safe. There were the experiences which made missionaries out of GI's, and produced the now famous "khaki-colored viewpoint." They found the church there, for the disciples were doing greater works than their Lord.

Time would fail us to mention all the works or acts of Christ. Suffice it here to repeat what James Russell Lowell said a century ago,

"Show me a place on the face of the earth ten miles square, where a man may provide for his children in decency and comfort, where infancy is protected, where age is venerated, where womanhood is honored, and where human life is held in due regard, and I will show you a place where the gospel of Christ has gone and laid the foundation."

We are fully aware that to attribute Godhood to any man is a colossal affirmation. It borders on the incredible--the impossible. But when we consider the impression of Christ's humanity, the great claims He made for Himself in the most humble way, the unrestrained adoration and worship of those who knew Him, the miracles associated with Him whose life was a "blaze of miracles," and the constant recurring miracles of grace which have attended the heralding of His name throughout the world, we propose that (if it is difficult to believe that a man was also God) it is impossible to deny Christ's deity. It is difficult to believe; it is impossible to doubt.

So the question now becomes, what will you do with Jesus?

*****

This is part eleven of John H. Gerstner's small book entitled Theology for Everyman, originally published in 1965 (Moody Press, Chicago). That book was subsequently republished by Soli Deo Gloria in 1991. It has since fallen out of print and we thought it would be good to revisit this book here on the blog. Over the next couple of months, we'll work our way through the book. Here is where we've been so far: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

New! Get all of Dr. Gerstner's lectures on Church History now available on one MP3 disc. Click here to learn more.