A "Quickening Spirit"

The Bible thus defines Christ as that life-giving or "quickening spirit" (I Cor. 15:45) through which God creates and sustains the universe: "He is the firstborn of everycreature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth. . . And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. 1:15-17) ..... in this sense, the Bahá'i teachings affirm, "'Christ' is an expression of the Divine Reality, the simple Essence and heavenly Entity, which hath no beginning nor ending".

As an expression of God's nature, Christ is called "the Word" (Logos): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1; emphasis added). This verse suggests that the preexistent Christ-spirit is in one sense identical with God (He "was" God) and in another sense distinct (He was "with" God). Many similar Bible passages illustrate the same paradox: Some speak of Christ and God inter­changeably, while others distinguish between them.  

Traditional theology resolves these seeming contra­dictions via the Holy Trinity, which interprets three "persons" - Father, Son and Holy Spirit- as aspects of a single Deity. Bahá'is understand the Trinity as follows:

The Holy Trinity  

The Bible affirms the reality of one infinite, unknowable, transcendent God. Saint Paul glorifies this Heavenly Father as "dwelling in unapproachable light" where "no man has ever seen or ever can see him" (I Tim. 6:16 NEB). However, Christ, in His spiritual nature, is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), "the express image of his person" (Heb. 1:3). Knowing Him means "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" (II Cor. 3:18) - seeing God reflected in a perfect mirror.  

These Bible verses enable us to express the relation­ship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit through a simple physical analogy:  

1. God is like the sun - that is, the astronomical sun, inconceivably vast and unapproachable, its inner essence veiled by its own blazing glory.  
2. Christ is like the sun's reflection, appearing with perfect fidelity in a polished and stainless mirror.  
3. The Holy Spirit is like the sun's rays, which, having cast the reflection within the mirror, are shed by that same reflection over all who turn towards it.  

God, the sun; Christ, its mirror image; the Holy Spirit, its rays. From one point of view, these three entities are distinct. From another, they are one and the same. We can point to the sun's reflection and say, "We see the sun" - and indeed we do. In terms of our experi­ence, the sun's radiant image is the sun.  

To think of Jesus Christ as a mirror reflecting the Divine Image is to confirm something Christians have always understood - namely, that He has a dual nature, both human and divine. In strictly human terms, Christ, according to the Bahá'i teachings, is a "Perfect Man"  with a "pure and stainless Soul", created sinless and infallible. This human personality is in effect the mirror. We can think of Christ's physical body as the mirror's frame and His human soul as the polished glass or reflecting surface. In spiritual terms, however, Christ is infinitely more than a human body or a human soul. His "real" identity - the Divinity that makes Him who He is - is the mirror image of God shining with full intensity in and through His humanity.   

In summary, Bahá'is view Christ as that preexistent "quickening spirit" through which "all things were made" - a divine expression related to God's essence just as the sun's reflection relates to its actual substance. This view of Christ is completely faithful to the Bible, illuminating the intent of many passages that might otherwise seem inconsistent or obscure. Indeed, if we study scripture in light of this "divine reflection" analogy, the entire Bible comes alive with new meaning and insight.  

From this point of view, there is only one Christ. There cannot be two Christs, or ten; Christ cannot have a predecessor, successor, substitute or replacement. He is the only avenue through which we can know God: "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). The Bible does, however, refer to Christ as that Ruler "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). Bahá'is understand this to mean that that "quickening spirit" called Christ has appeared on earth not just once, but at various times in human history, in the form of the Founders of various World Religions.  
Bahá'is believe that this same Divine Presence has reappeared, in our day, as Bahá'u'lláh, founder and Central Figure of the Bahá'i Faith, fulfilling the Bible's promises concerning the "return" of Christ. "Jesus, the Spirit of God. . . hath once more, in my person, been made manifest unto you", writes Bahã'u'lláh. In strictly human terms these Mirrors differ, having distinct physical bodies and human souls. But they are the same divine spirit, for both manifest the One Eternal Christ. 

Bahá'u'lláh asks not for blind obedience, but simply for a fair investigation of His stupendous claim that the Spirit of Christ has returned. Such a claim leaves no middle ground: It must be either entirely false or absolutely true. Bahá'u'lláh invites each human being to "consider His clear evidence" in light of the Bible and "ascertain whether or not such a light hath appeared". His words echo the biblical injunction to "prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I Thess. 5:21). Christ Himself gives the standard by which we must judge any claim of divine authority: "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. 7:20). Since Christ is "the way, the truth and the life", and the only way to God today, as always, can any Christian fail to investigate this claim? 

Copyright Acknowledgement: This web page is based on "The Glory of Christ: A Bahá’í Testimony " pamphlet from: Stonehaven Press