First of all, we are struck by the exceptional
completeness and harmoniousness of both the personality and character of the
Savior. Such complete harmony is not represented by any other historical
personality. Then, the astonishing, crystal purity of His moral personality
ought to be pointed out — the ideal humility and gentleness, the inexhaustible
longsuffering, the invincible courage and the wholehearted firmness of
religious will.
There
are none equal or even similar to Him in all the
world’s history. It is enough to mention the name of Christ,
and before our moral and intellectual glance arises an image of incarnate
goodness and holiness. In reflecting on Him and in exploring His image, we
discover an inexhaustible completeness of perfection.
The
character of Christ — all-embracing, universal, and common to mankind — represents
in itself the ethical ideal of all times and all peoples. This character is
without comparison in the power of His blissful influence on the historic life
of man. When the name of Christ is uttered, every human
grandeur pales. Christ can be compared to no one. Christ is the
prototype and symbol of every perfection; the rays of
His most perfect personality are reflected from the greatest saints, comprising
the heights of Christian mankind, but all of these saints are similar to stars
in comparison with the sun.
It
is not possible to extol Christ; one can only reverently respect Him, kneeling
before Him wholeheartedly and loving Him supremely, for within Him was
concentrated in the fullest measure everything that is worthy of love! The most
exact word which comprehensively defines the Savior is Man-God.
How
biased is the conjecture that Christ never existed, that He is just a myth! The
invention of such a character and such a personality is inaccessible to any
person, even a super-genius; all the more impossible is its
ascribed as a creation by such uneducated people as were the Galilean
fishermen. How could it have been possible to fabricate the personality and
activity of Christ, with His sermon on the mount, miracles, parables, the
tragic details of His suffering and the triumph of the Resurrection — stunning
millions of souls of all times and peoples? If the Evangelists “invented”
Christ, they are then more miraculous than Christ Himself!
Faith
in Christ, love for Him, suffering for His sake, and death for Him throughout
the world for over 2,000 years — these acts of faith could have been only for a
vital personality and not an invented image! The personality of Christ is
absolute proof of the reality of the Divinity in history!