Friday, July 22, 2016

The Big Issue

JW’s point out that Jesus said the Father was greater and therefore, Jesus is not the supreme being of the universe, his Father is.

Others point out that biblical authors say that Jesus is divine, meaning God, the supreme being of the universe.

John 14:28, “You heard that I said to you, 'I am going away and I am coming to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.”

From this statement we can surmise that God the Father is greater in position and authority, and somehow because of this, God’s purposes are going to advance more after Jesus leaves his disciples.  The Father is not only Jesus’ father but also rightly his God.  As the Father delights in the Son, the Son also looks to his Father as the supreme being of the universe.  What do you get when you take all this and also add the biblical teaching that Jesus is divine?  Something close to the doctrine of the trinity.

The Bible is clear about Jesus being divine, or deity, meaning God.  The big question is, can there be any other explanation of what it means for Jesus to be divine, or God, than that he really is?  There needs to be an answer to that, or a valid alternative understanding of what the Bible means by Jesus’ divinity.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Does the Bible say that Jesus is God?

Does the Bible say that Jesus is God?

According to the Gospel of John
In John 1:1 the Word is said to be God, meaning that the Word is divine (see footnote in New World Translation).  Later, in verse 14, it is said that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.  The Word that was with God and that was also divine, became flesh.  It goes on to say “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father”.  I think it can be concluded that the Word who at the beginning was already with God, and is also divine, is Jesus.

Divine means having the nature of or being a deity.  The phrase “sons of God” is used for both men and angels, but nowhere is it said they are divine, or God in any way.  They are created beings.  But the one unique Son of God is said to be God, meaning divine.

According to Paul
Consider 1 Cor 8:6, “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

I think, when Paul referred to God, he was referring to the Father of Jesus.  He would refer to Jesus rather as the one Lord.  But of Jesus, Paul said,

ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς Θεότητος σωματικῶς, Col 2:9

The New World Translation translates this as “because it is in him that all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily.”  The NWT translates τῆς Θεότητος as “the divine quality”.  If by “divine quality” the translators mean merely godlike, or having God’s character, or something like that, I think they are way understating what’s being said.  The Berean Literal Bible translates it like:

For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily.

τῆς Θεότητος means the state of being god, divine character/nature, deity, divinity.  This is real similar to what the Gospel of John says in John 1:1 when it’s said that the Word is God, meaning divine.

I think that referring to Jesus as God is more our type of language and way of putting things.  But the biblical authors referred to Jesus in such as way that they obviously thought of him as the unique Son of God, sharing the Father’s divine nature.  Jesus is never referred to as a creature, but rather the unique Son of God.  Referring to the Son as a “spirit creature” is saying something that Scripture never says.

How should we think of who Jesus is if we start afresh with the Bible rather than rely on how the church throughout the centuries has spoke of Jesus and explained who he is?
We should affirm:
Jesus existed with God the Father before he was born as a man.  In the beginning, he was.  “Was” is in the imperfect tense in John 1:1, meaning that in the beginning the word was, referring to past time.
Jesus became a man, lived as a man, relied on his Father and God in Heaven, was murdered by men, and was resurrected to life on the third day.
Jesus, the unique Son of God, shares the same divine nature as God the Father.

Objections based on Jesus’ manhood
It seems that most objections are based statements about Jesus that refer to his manhood.  For example, how can God learn obedience, as the writer of Hebrews says the son did through what he suffered (Heb 5:8)?

Jesus became fully man.  He lived fully as a man trusting in his God.  He “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52), learned and grew as a man does.  He completed all righteousness as a man.  This is what the author of Hebrews is referring to.

But what we can’t ignore from our understanding of who Jesus is that in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, for Jesus is the unique Son of God who became man.

Monday, July 18, 2016

A Response to a Watchtower Publication by the Jehovah Witnesses

“The Most Useful Comparison You May Ever Make”  (The Watchtower)

From page 14, “Today, there are thousands of denominations that are called Christian, yet they are divided by conflicting doctrines and differing views.”  This is true, yet there are basic doctrines that Christians traditionally hold in common, such as those stated in the Apostles Creed.  The doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses are different than those common doctrines traditionally believed by Christians.

From page 14, “Jesus is the firstborn Son of God.  Jesus was created, and thus he had a beginning.”

This is not clear or explicit biblical doctrine.  Paul said Jesus was the “firstborn of all creation” meaning he has the highest place.  Nowhere in the Bible is it said Jesus was created.  Revelations 3:14 says that Jesus is the beginning of God’s creation.  The word for beginning is ἀρχὴ which can be beginning but can also mean ruler, or originator or source.

The proof text that the Watchtower publication gives at this point is John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I am”.  This is true, especially when Jesus spoke these words as a man “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3).  The Watchtower publication is also correct when is says that Jesus is subject to God and obedient to his will.  But, we can’t ignore that the Bible also says Jesus is the unique son of God (John 1:14), who is divine (John 1:1), and in whom “the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:19).  No where does the Bible say Jesus was created or had a beginning.

From page 14, “The holy spirit is a force that God uses to accomplish his will.  It is not a person.”

It is true that the Holy Spirit is forceful and powerful for the purposes of God, just as the Father is and just as the Son is.  But the Bible doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit is merely a force and not a person.  That doctrine goes against what Christians as a whole have believed over the course of Church history.  Many examples can be given from the Bible where the Holy Spirit is regarded as a person.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Jesus is ....

still thinking about this matter ....

Jesus is ....

  • the firstborn of creation, meaning that he has the highest place
  • beginning, ruler, or source of God's creation
  • he is the word that was with God, was God (divine), and became flesh
  • he is the unique son of God
  • he is the only man who is truly righteous in himself, fully pleasing to his Father
  • he became the ransom to remove all guilt of sin from all those who repent of their sin and trust him
  • he has defeated death
  • we will all give an account to him
  • he is the Lord of creation

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Who is Jesus?

The unique son of God.  Creator, sustainer, and reason for creation.  We don’t have an origin account or origin explanation of the son of God.  In the beginning, he was.  By “only unique son”, I take that to mean that he is of God’s nature and essence, rather than a created being.

I've been talking to Jehovah Witnesses lately and that's why I've been thinking through who Jesus is.  I've enjoyed my talks with the JW's so far, and Paul and Don especially are very pleasant to talk with.  They allow me to respond to them and so forth.  I like them.  But I think it's a pretty fundamental difference we have in our understanding of Jesus.  They see Jesus as a created being.

Is Jesus a Created Being?

From “Good News From God”, pg 8, “He was God’s first creation”, “He is the only one created directly by Jehovah and is therefore appropriately called God’s ‘only-begotten’ Son. (John 1:14)”

Proverbs 8:22, 23, 30 is referenced, as well as Colossians 1:15, 16

The Proverbs passage is personifying wisdom (a literary practice; foolishness is also personified) and doesn’t apply to our question, “is Jesus a created being?”  The Colossians passage is:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
16 For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him.

The Greek text is :

15 ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, 16 ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ [a]πάντα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς [b]καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, εἴτε θρόνοι εἴτε κυριότητες εἴτε ἀρχαὶ εἴτε ἐξουσίαι· τὰ πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται·

Πρωτότοκος : 1) pertaining to birth order 2) pertaining to having special status associated with a firstborn

Examples of usage:
Ex 4:22 ”Israel is my firstborn son” (Πρωτότοκος in the Septuagint)
Ps 89:27 “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (referring to David)
Jer 31:9 “for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn
Isa 14:30 “the firstborn of the poor will graze”

The point of the passage that Col 1:15 is found in, is that the Son of God is preeminent over everything else in all creation.  It follows that by referring to the Son as the firstborn, the emphasis is on having special status associated with a firstborn, rather than making a point about the Son’s birth order.  If the word “firstborn” can be used in a figurative sense, like in the Scriptural examples above, it doesn’t necessarily follow that Paul is implying that the Son is a created being.  Possibly Paul is using OT language that was used of David and Israel for the Son who fulfills both David and Israel.

Is God Just?

I've been having a conversation with Gill, an atheist, and it has caused me to think about some things.  One question that I'm dealing with is, "is God just?".  Gill and many atheists would say no.  And of course, we are talking about the Christian God, the God of the Christian Bible.  I think reasons Gill would give for saying that God is not just is:
  • all mankind is suffering for the sin of Adam and Eve
  • many innocent children and unborn children were killed by God in the flood (during Noah's time)
  • nations were wiped out, including innocent children, at the command of God
  • God allowed slavery, the owning of people, even among those people God called his own (the Jewish people)
I think the Bible surely claims that God is just.  Is that true?  Here are some thoughts:

God doesn't claim to be fair.  Not everyone is treated the same.  God may show mercy on whom he shows mercy.  But that doesn't mean that God is not just.  To be unjust is to treat someone in a way they don't deserve.

For me, this comes down to children.  God does not punish innocent children, but sometimes their death is included in the punishment of their father.  An example is Korah's rebellion.

Another thought.  I think God's actions in the OT were meant to perserve his people, or even mankind as a whole.  What would have happened if men were able to do all that they set their minds to, as in the days of the Tower of Babylon?  But God interviened.  Perhaps a better view of the justice of God will be ours when we see the full picture, including what happens to people in the age to come.