Primacy of Divinity

Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, 

he would remove the veil, until he came out. 

And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,

the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, 

that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. 

And Moses would put the veil over his face again, 

until he went in to speak with him. 

(Exod 34:34-35)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Warner Sallmon painted one of the most recognizable portraits of Jesus called the “Head of Christ” in 1940. As a successful commercial artist and ad man, Sallmon marketed this image all over the world. While this image has recently come under attack for its portrayal of Jesus as a white European (House 2020), what stands out looking at the painting is its picturing of Jesus sporting “the glow.” The glow is something missing from most postmodern renderings of Jesus, irrespective of the ethnicity depicted, because of the recent focus on the humanity, not the divinity, of Christ.

The Preoccupation with Divinity

“The glow” is a traditional reference to to the way that Moses’ face radiated light after he met with God. In the New Testament, Jesus oozes light primarily during the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8). The glow could be thought of as a physical manifestation of the New Testament’s preoccupation with the divinity of Christ. Consider the Apostle Paul’s report on the resurrection:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (1 Cor 15:3-7)

Even after recognizing that Paul never met the person Jesus, but only the Risen Christ, at least three reasons suggest why this preoccupation makes sense.

The first reason why this preoccupation occurs is because divinity is more topical than humanity. If you met the Son of God and were to tell your friends, what details would have priority? Paul states clearly that the most important thing to know is that Christ died for our sins and has been resurrected—he is alive.

The second reason is because the resurrection was a public event and the entire New Testament was written post-resurrection. Paul reports that Jesus appeared to as many as five hundred brothers at one time, many of whom were still alive when he wrote. This implies that Christ’s divinity was beyond dispute for these eye witnesses. Jesus’ teaching gets an exclamation mark with his divinity. Jesus’ humanity—other than his ethnicity—was so obvious that it went without mention.

The third reason is that Paul wrote primarily to a gentile audience with a focus on pastoral and evangelistic objectives. In this ministry context, we can all agree on objective ideas like divinity, priorities, and theology, while subjective ideas, like feelings, politics, and ethnic/cultural/gender concerns are harder to communicate and agree on. Traditionally, a good leader was someone who focused on the things that we can all agree on, not the things that lead to strife. Jesus’ ethnicity and appearance would not be a selling point with a gentile audience.

Jesus is pictured as an emotionally intelligent person, but we not given insight into his personal appearance, friends, and family, except in passing. And the details that we have been told were communicated primarily through the Gospels that were finalized years after Paul was martyred.

Ethnicity Revisited

When I was in my doctoral program at Michigan State, I studied agricultural economics, especially economic development, and I lived in the graduate student dormitory. Most of my friends were foreign students and I had many colleagues from West Africa, both because of my field of study and because foreign students seldom lived off campus like the Americans. Consequently, I was a de-facto member of African club and was privy to African student views on various topics.

At student parties and other events, the Africans used to quietly make fun of the Americans (usually former Peace Corps volunteers) who would come dressed in traditional African garb. When I asked why they felt this way, my African friends would explain that when they visited villages to offer assistance they always put on a  white shirt, black suit and tie, imitating European visitors in spite of the tropical temperatures. Dressing this way elevated their status among the villagers.

I took this advice to heart in ministry. When I worked in Providence Hospital that served the African American community in Northeast Washington DC, I always wore a black suit, white shirt, and tie (2011-2012). My attire served me well in my interactions with the staff and patients, but garnered push-back from other chaplain interns who dressed more informally and did not receive the same level of access and cooperation. My usual response to this push-back is to argue that our social position is one of the crowns that we lay at Jesus’ feet (Rev 4).

The question of Christ’s humanity versus his divinity occupies a similar landscape in the New Testament.

Primacy of Divinity

Also see:

The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com

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