November 29, 1949 to February 15, 1950 Location: Chester, Pa. Genre: Essay Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Education Details This paper, written at the beginning of the second term of Davis's course Christian Theology for Today, indicates King's estrangement from the conservative Baptist theology he learned as a child. 6Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom (Psalm 45:6), 25Of old You [Yahweh see context] founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands (Psalm 102:25). 5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. 252 The Church uses (I) the term "substance" (rendered also at times by "essence" or "nature") to designate the divine being in its unity, (II) the term "person" or "hypostasis" to designate the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the real distinction among them, and (III) the term "relation" to designate the fact that their distinction lies in the relationship of each to the others. 6:1-10 with John 12:39-41; Isa. James White comments, If Jesus is a creation, a mere creature, then is He not likewise joining into this song of praise? The Divinity of Christ CHRIST HAS EXISTED FROM ALL ETERNITY - CHRIST IS NOT A CREATED BEING HERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF EVIDENCE FROM GOD'S WORD PROVING THIS . PDF The Divinity of Christ - SDADefend 16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him. Because God was not His Father anymore. Verse Concepts. 2:10-11; Joel 2:32 with Rom. You need to come to sincerely love Him and have faith in Him, but as He made it clear, if you love Him you will also OBEY His Commandments (John 14:15, 23) and you will seek what He wants for your life and not just what you want. You get to be on it at the launch point. White, James R.The Forgotten Trinity. 18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. The Deity of the Holy Spirit - Grace Communion International Guest. [11] Therefore, whenever the New Testament authors refer to Jesus as Lord, they are using the same word that Jewish translators used for Yahweh in the Old Testament. Having said this, they neglected to mistranslate these passages from Genesis which has God speaking to Himself in the plural form. [2] Bowman, Robert M. Why You Should Believe in the Trinity: An Answer to Jehovahs Witnesses. And it should be known by all of you that those kinds of views are still all over the place today. Yet God, not even the angels, is the only absolutely perfect Being who could pay that price, but He was not one of us. In the gospel of John, youre going to find out Johns all about believing, believing, believing. The Bible ascribes the characteristics of deity to Jesus Christ. We are here to declare what John declared and what the true church has declared through all its history- the true Christ as revealed in Scripture. Your today is eternity (The Confessions of St. Augustine XI.13.16, translated by J.G. Minneapolis, MN. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If youve got the wrong Jesus, then everything from there is useless. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic. The Jews understood exactly what Jesus was claimingdeity. 8:11; Mt. [3] White, James R. The Forgotten Trinity. Five Marks of the Divinity of Jesus Christ There is a similar usage of the title I am in Matthew 14:27, John 10:31:33, and John 18:5-6. The question, who created God? thus does not have merit because what cause can there be for existence itself for this cause would have to exist separate from the act of existence. We must get it right about Christ. Definition The New Testament asserts that Jesus Christ is equal to, and identical with God, performing works that only God can do. This is what their leaders say, and I just picked out some of the leaders of this movement who have the largest influence. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. Sign up if you would like to receive occasional treats from us. Consider a few examples. You remember in Leviticus 10, they offered strange fire, and the Lord didnt burn up the sacrifice, He burned up the offerors. Were from God. 13:19). We, then, are Christs. He created Time, Space, and Matter for the material creation and for the immaterial and thus He is not bound by the confines of His own creation. Dont expose yourself to a deceptive, lying Christology. In short, the answer is, Jesus had to be truly God so that he could satisfy God's wrath and secure for us true righteousness and life. Furthermore, Jesus said, He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day (Jn. 2003. Let me close by having you go to 1 John 4- 1 John 4- and then well come to the Lords Table. KJV, Deity of Christ: The Textual & Translational Deficiencies tr Because it is the strategy of Satan to be anti-Christ, right? In saying this, Jesus was claiming that he would be the place where people encountered and worshipped God. I am continually vilified and condemned and criticized by the people that Im talking to you about. 4. For a full exegesis of this passage, see comments on Colossians 1:15. Genesis 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning God created . Bowman writes, The idea that a devout Jew in the first century would cry something like O my God! out of astonishment is an anachronism, reading back into the Bible something that is common in our culture virtually unknown in Thomas culture.[6]. 4:2; c.f. This our Savior did. 2:7).[15]. Hed come as a man., How about Benny Hinn, who is inescapable in the media? The Divinity of Christ - bethinking.org But in the excellency of an ever-present eternity, Thou precedest all times past, and survivest all future times, because they are future, and when they have come they will be past; but You are the same, and Your years shall have no end. I will save the explanation of the Kingship of Jesus and the Church as the Kingdom of God for a later essay so that I can explore those concepts in great depth. This book is intended as a resource for policymakers, members of the armed forces, industry leaders, and wider civil society. Jesus said, "Come." and Peter walked on the water until he began to be afraid. Specifically, Arius held that the Son, or the Word, was created out of nothing, and that there was a time when He did not exist. Though, sometimes, they combined these two terms for a full effect: My kurios and my theos! (Jn. This is why his religious audience tried to stone Jesus: They understood him to be making a claim to deity. You might say, Well what about all the practical things in the Bible? when God became man John 1:1-3, 14). For instance, they have rewritten the passage of John 1:1 that the Word was a god rather than the Word is God, despite the fact that the original Greek supports the Trinitarian position and not theirs. To see Jesus as a "mere" good man like all other prophets is by no means sufficient to explain him. In fact, the closer we get to the end of the age, the more the pseudo-Christs, the false Christs, will appear, according to our Lords discourse. RESPONSE: (Jn. (v. t.) To repel danger or harm from; to protect; to secure against; attack; to maintain against force or argument; to uphold; to guard; as, to defend a town; to defend a cause; to defend character; to defend the absent; -- sometimes . 5. So here he says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit. The word "Incarnation" (from the Latin caro, "flesh") may refer to the moment when this union of the divine nature of the second person of the Trinity with the human nature became operative in the womb of the Virgin Mary or to the permanent reality of that union in the person of Jesus. Copan, Paul, and William Lane Craig. 1:14; 1 Tim. Youll find them on the next program on television with the people who truly honor Christ, and the people who run all of that cant tell the difference? Through the Word of Christ dwelling in you richly. He said this, Jesus, who is righteous by choice- what a ridiculous statement, rather than by nature- Jesus, who is righteous by choice, said, The only way I can stop sin is by becoming it. For a full exegesis of this passage, see comments on John 1:1. RESPONSE: (Jn. Contending with Christianitys Critics: Answering New Atheists & Other Objectors. Again, John uses the phrase ego emi which is the divine name for God. God does not have a cause, He simply is. What the Early Church Believed: The Divinity of Christ Jesus believed that every human beings eternal destiny would rest on their response to his words. In this short book, NT scholar Richard Bauckham argues for the deity of Christ from a Jewish worldview in the first century. It refers to a Messianic figure, who receives glory and sovereignty over the entire Earth. Verse 9, The one who abides in His teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. When somebody has an accurate Christology, they have both the Father and the Son. 4:10; c.f. Komoszewski. Thus, in one sense, God was above the Sabbath law because He continued to work in maintaining the universe. In the Scriptures creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. I would say it this way: Devotion to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is the benchmark of legitimacy in any preacher and any ministry. Where there is an open, faithful display of the Word of God, there will be an equally open display of love for Christ. That is a benchmark. Every one of them attacked His nature. CLAIM: (Mk. He is Oneness Pentecostal, Jesus only, denies the existence of the Trinity. First published Fri Jul 17, 2020. When, however, we hear with the inner ear some part of the speech of God, we approximate to the angels. The first three gospels tell the narrative of His life and death and resurrection, and then the book of Acts tells us about His ascension into glory and His sending the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. They crucified me for claiming I was God, and I didnt even claim I was God. These verses below are titles or acts of Yahweh that are shared with Jesus. 10:31) The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Register. 2:40, 52), wept (Jn. In addition to his indirect claims to deity, the NT makes direct claims to deity. The only one who enjoys it is the one whos doing it. But anyway, I endured it. That is why the apostle Paul said, We preach Christ, Christ only, Christ alone, and Christ crucified.. It has always been Satans anti-Christ strategy to affirm the wrong Christ, the wrong Jesus, and thus to subtly deceive people, redefining Jesus. Bowman, Robert M.Why You Should Believe in the Trinity: An Answer to Jehovahs Witnesses. The Name of God (YHWH) was held to be so sacred that no Jew to this day dares to ever utter it or accidentally slide his finger over it when he reads the Torah; in fact when they write God in English they tend to write G-d. We see this clearly in Leviticus 24:14-16, 23 that anyone who blasphemed the Name of God was to be put to death by stoning. The Divinity of Christ - Catholic News Agency However, Jesus went on to be worshipped by people (Mt. Nashville: B & H Academic, 2009. The Deity of Jesus Christ - Moody Bible 5:19; Lk. The Jews in Jesus day believed that God continued to work on the Sabbath (bringing rain, sunlight, etc.). Joseph Smith. Because the Divinity of Jesus is not just a dogma that all Christians have to believe in, it is beautiful! [6] Bowman, Robert M. Why You Should Believe in the Trinity: An Answer to Jehovahs Witnesses. The most dominant theme throughout the book of Daniel is the sovereignty of God, and yet, this sovereignty is handed over to the Son of Man in chapter seven at the end of human history. Moreover, she also called the Virgin Mary the mother of her Lord, providing the Biblical basis for the aforementioned dogma that Mary is the Theotokos, the Mother of God. Peter asked Jesus if he could come meet him. But I continue to realize that they are under the sway of the great deceiver, Satan himself, and the spirit of anti-Christ that he projects into the world when they are satisfied to believe in a false Jesus. 5 His name is assigned equal standing with God the Father in the church's baptismal formula and in the apostolic benediction. Alex Brittain is a convert to Catholicism. Verses 7 to 11, 2 John. Well, thats a good question- Im glad you asked it. Baker Publishing Group. Obedience, keeping His commandments, is connected to loving. And there is no clearer, or more comprehensive or profound revelation of the nature of the true Christ than the gospel of John. Obviously, those in heaven itself know that Jesus is not one of the created things. 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Philippians 2:10). (Technically the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 is the very first ecumenical council, but Nicaea is the first one recognized by historians to be called outside of the age of the Apostles.) When the guards come to find Jesus, he tells them, I am. How do they react? Paragraphs 253-255 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this manner: 253 The Trinity is One. Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ. It is by far his most favorite self-designation. They are deceivers who have gone out into the world, Those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. They dont acknowledge the truth concerning Jesus Christ. [8] When John tried to worship an angel (Rev. If it was important in His ministry, it certainly should be in all ministries looking to impact the unbelieving world for Christ. There are very few scenarios in which we truly need to defend our point of view. It is the spirit of antichrist, then, to give honor to a false Jesus- and that is deadly. 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. We had a glimpse of that, a profound glimpse of it, in Isaiah 53, and on Sunday nights were going to take a look at Christ in the Old Testament coming up and seeing some of those revelations concerning Him. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. There always have been, there always will be because thats a ploy of Satan to assault Christ, to go against Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989. When somebody has an aberrant Christology, they have neither the Father nor the Son. So, according to Revelation 19:10, Jesus is the theme of prophecy. For out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel. For either the unchangeable Truth speaks directly to the mind of the rational creature in some indescribable way, or speaks through the changeable creature, either presenting spiritual images to our spirit, or bodily voices to our bodily sense. Those who are not from God dont listen to us. 3:6; Col. 2:9). Im quoting from the seven-volume work called The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints - seven-volume work- Im quoting Joseph Smith from that. Minneapolis, MN. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. 148. Zechariah claims that Yahweh will be pierced, but John interprets this to refer to Jesus. The Redeemer had to be truly human: in order to suffer and sympathize. Thats that epistle that focuses on this danger of having a false Jesus. Instead . But in this work I need not labor to give an account of the ways in which God speaks. The false church listens to the false teachers. And if the theme of the Bible is Christ and the purpose of revealing Christ is so that we may see the fullness of His glory, then legitimacy is tied inextricably to a consuming pre-occupation with knowing all that has been revealed about Christ, to understand His full glory with a view to worshiping Him, honoring Him, and loving Him. And that Word is that which is revealed in Holy Scripture, Old and New. Jesus could have used his divine attributes, but because he was modeling how to perfectly depend on the Father and the Holy Spirit, he didnt utilize his own attributes. The people who truly know God listen to the people who speak the truth. 4:10; Heb. The estimate is that there are 25- 24, 25 million people in the Oneness movement. [Jesus said] Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. 15 [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. If this passage is referring to God the Father, then when did God bleed? But the Muslims honor Jesus. For us, plenty of reason to be constantly brought to the glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ on the pages of Holy Scripture so that His Word can dwell in us richly. But did Jesus Himself ever declare His Divinity? This is a technical book that gives an exegetical defense for why we believe the NT calls Jesus God (theos). "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" (Jn 6:56). Mitt Romney has said he believes in Christ as his Savior, and thats what I believe, so you know, Im not the one to judge the little details, so I believe they are.. "Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son.". Many Protestants have the great advantage of knowing Scripture, but the majority of them know nothing about the history of the Early Church. 1998. What about all of the principles and behaviors and attitudes that are declared in Scripture? This essay will continue with that concept and will focus specifically on the Divinity of Jesus Christ, meaning that Jesus is God and is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. 18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. And my prayer as we go through this together is that the Lord will surprise us and bring us great joy in producing what John prayed for and what He stated as his purpose, that many will believe and come to eternal life. So watch yourselves- watch yourselves- your reward, your eternal reward, is at stake, verse 8. [13] White, James R. The Forgotten Trinity. While the runner is still the fastest man on Earth, he has chosen to take on another person in addition to himself. John writes that Jesus came "in the flesh" (1 Jn. 19:34), and eventually died in his human body (Lk. And then the epistles are written to explain the meaning of His death and resurrection. 14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. In summary, theres a desperate need for the true knowledge of Christ, for the salvation of sinners, for the rescue of the deceived, for the love of the saints, so that we might love Him more and obey Him more, worship Him more, honor Him more. Beyond that, which is its own kind of blasphemy, is the more outrageous, blasphemous heresy of Charismatic leaders, gross distortions of the person of Jesus Christ, and they purvey these things daily on the television, Christian radio, and through their publications, through their ministries, their conferences, their meetings all over the planet. 1998. And yet in the book of Mark we see Jesus asleep in the back of the boat, end quote. 87-88. (Isa. 96. 17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 9:6). For a full exegesis of this passage, see comments on 1 John 5:20. And I turned to another preacher, and he was saying, This is what you need to do when youre in trouble. 2:2; 2 Cor. Why do you think Moses upon instruction of God raised the serpent upon that pole instead of a lamb? However, this can be verified in Old Testament as well, Genesis in particular, for God refers to Himself as Us three times: Genesis 1:26 Concerning the creation of man, God said, Let US make man in OUR Image., Genesis 3:22 Concerning the fall of Adam and Eve, God also said, Man has become like US knowing good and evil., Genesis 11:7 Concerning the men who were building the Tower of Babel in the city that would later become Babylon as a form of sacrilege against God, the Lord said, Let US go down, and there confuse their language.. Jesus came as man and at age thirty, God gave us an example of what a man with the anointing could do. So Hes a man until Hes thirty, and because Hes a good man, Hes made a god. Why is my sentence for a life of sin eternity in hell, if Jesus could pay for this in an instant on the Cross? First off, let us establish the important core principle: there is only ONE God. The completed registration allows us to send order and donation receipts to the email address you provided. Four centuries the church fought against heresies against Christ because the enemy knew thats where the most devastating blows can be struck. This is the true God and eternal life. Creation knows its Master.[7]. Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Every Jew that I have lovingly and respectfully asked for their interpretation of these passages of Genesis have all fallen upon the argument that God was speaking to the angels. 8:58) Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.. They go beyond this. Thus He speaks to the holy angels; but to us, who are far off, He speaks otherwise. They are enraged that by calling God Father in a way that was unique and special to himself, He was making himself equal with God. A churchs love for Christ will show up in their devotion to the revelation concerning Christ. Therefore, not only is the dogma of the Trinity required for us to believe, not only is it beautiful, all of our Salvation is dependent upon the FACT that Jesus is God. This is the reason for Johns gospel. Jewish commentary says that when God said these things He was referring to the angels. Three distinctively Divine works are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 84. As verbs the difference between defend and explain. In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.". And loving Christ is proportionate to what you know about Him. When Jesus declared, "I and the Father are one," He was saying that He and the Father are of one nature and essence. Insulting the Spirit is just as sinful as trampling the Son of God under foot ( Hebrews 10:29 ). Others claim that Jesus was unaware of His divinity until after His Resurrection.. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007. I get that. Why? These passages clearly declare that Jesus if God and that He is the Creator (along with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Genesis 1 and 2). And were there any difficulty in applying to the angels the words, Come, and let us go down and confound their speech, we might refer the plural to the Trinity, as if the Father were addressing the Son and the Holy Spirit; but it rather belongs to the angels to approach God by holy movements, that is, by pious thoughts, and thereby to avail themselves of the unchangeable truth which rules in the court of heaven as their eternal law. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made And the Word became flesh [Incarnate] and dwelt among us. They call Him a prophet, a true prophet. What do they say about Christ? And thats a good thing, isnt it? Indeed "everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship." The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. 4:4; Phil. 5:18) For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. 10:13; etc. And one of the most popular views of the modern Charismatic movement- and I need to put this in context- is that Jesus isnt who the Bible says He is. They will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn., And again another Scripture says, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.. 14:3). He is described as eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and immutable. The biblical view, definitively revealed in Jesus, demonstrates that humanity is most itself when it is closest to and rooted in God. "For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin" (2 Cor 5: 21). In this passage we see that Elizabeth was guided by the Holy Spirit to declare the Divinity of Jesus who had not been born yet. Why? [7] White, James R. The Forgotten Trinity. Baker Publishing Group. Moreover, he claimed that he would be the one dispensing the judgment (c.f. DEFENDING THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST - Catholic365.com And I was thinking to myself, Why? Im sitting there, Im saying, Why? Why? Minneapolis, MN. Defending the Divinity of Jesus is not just defending a doctrine, it is acknowledging Him as YOUR God. All rights reserved. Additionally, Zechariah claims that the LORD himself will return to Earth. But these lies are still being spread. Hallelujah.. The single source of the truth about Christ is the Bible. Love the Lord Jesus Christ. Hes got two favorite words: believe and love. Defended divorces are incredibly rare. Jesus made a number of indirect claims to deity. These two verses combine the terms Lord (kurios) and God (theos) demonstrating that Christ is distinct from the Father, and yet, fully God.
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