There is no single topic as important as the doctrine of the deity of Christ! Get this one important fact wrong, and your doomed for all eternity! It has always been my main emphasis of study and focus when looking into the word of God through the study of scripture! Lately this focal point has been questioned, challenged, and denied even within the preterist community! What a shame and dissapointment! Preterists who I have held in great esteem have become an utter disappointment in this area! You would think that in the application of sound herminutics, this truth would not need to be challenged, but to my chagrin, it has proven to be a stumbling block for many who I would consider to be wise yet have stumbled in foolishness! Leaving many with a faith that has become shipwrecked, and devoid of truth!
“Professing to be wise, they became fools.” Rom.1:22
I remember many, many years ago, standing in opposition against many in the student center at college debating so called Christians and church groups who denied the deity of Christ! As the president of the campus Protestant Club, I was shocked at how many times this topic came into question and even ended up in heated debates! Fortunately, I was very successful in those debates in my defense. I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would see the day that I would have to defend this simple and basic tenant of our faith both then, and now! Sad to say, many Christian brothers and sisters who once held to the Deity of Christ have denied this truth in view of their eschatology! Eschatology does not need to redefine all areas of our faith! Over the next several weeks, I am going to share some of my studies on this fascinating topic in an effort to help build up your arsenal to defend this monumental truth!
Let me begin by first stating that historically speaking the deity of Jesus was never even challenged in the Christian church until about the year A.D. 190 when a Byzantine leather merchant (Shoemaker / tanner ) named Theodotus denied it! Of course the Judiazers and unbelievers challenged it from the beginning. But I’m speaking of members of the primitive church, those who professed to be Christian and were members of the church of the first couple of centuries. Of such we have both Oriegn of Alexandria Egypt (A.D. 185 -254) and Arius of Alexandria Egypt (AD.250-336) these are the most profound heretics of the early church! It is their repackaged teachings about the person and their anti-deity of Christ concepts that you get lectured on when visited by these so called Christian cults who come knocking on your door! It’s not new, it’s old and just the same old heresy the Christian church had to purge itself from at the end of the first century! It has since reared its ugly head many times being repackaged, renamed, retooled, and unfortunately, re-taught to those unable to discern the truth!
The first step we need to take in getting to the bottom of this conflict, is that we need to know what Christ said of Himself. Likewise, Jesus even said that He through the giving of the Holy Spirit would even later enlighten them with more knowledge that the Apostles were not ready to hear! Even the Apostle Paul would come to revelations of the identity of the person of Jesus and His deity, and write about it!
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” Jn.16:12-14 (NKJV)
So what in fact did Christ say of Himself pertaining to this topic? Did He say that belief in his deity was or is essential to salvation? Yes He did, and I think He made it abundantly clear!
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”John 8:24 (NKJV)
εἶπον οὖν ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν
I said therefore to you that you will die in the sins of you
ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις
if for not you believe that I AM you will die in the sins
ὑμῶν
of you
Later in that very same chapter Jesus said:
Jn. 8:58 “Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί”
Truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was born I Am
Now what was the IMMEDIATE RESPONSE? (See Jn. 8:59)
ἦραν οὖν λίθους ἵνα βάλωσιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν
Took up therefore stones that to throw (they) upon Him
Why would they want to kill Him by stoning! Why? It’s because He claimed to be God! He literally claimed to be the “I Am” Who was, Who is, and Who always will be! In other words, Jesus said to them that when God spoke to Moses – it was actually Him at the burning bush in Exodus3:14! We will look at many other scriptures of Jesus claiming that He was God in the flesh throughout the upcoming studies, but I want to leave you with an example of the Spirit of truth who Jesus said would guide the apostles into all truth, and glorify Him. (Jn.16:14) Let's look at what the Apostle John wrote as enlightened, and inspired by the Holy Spirit:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
In beginning was the Word and the Word was with the God and God was the Word. Jn.1:1
In the beginning Jesus was, meaning that as the Father existed eternally, He existed as well. This is clearly brought out in the second verse of John’s Gospel.
οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν
This one was in beginning towards the God. Jn.1:2
The Greek word πρὸς which means “toward” or “with” denotes direction as in being positionally towards something, looking to, moving to, relating to, showing that another personage is in view.
And yet this other one is also called God!The Apostle John never borrowed any of his terminology like “The Word” from Greek paganism, Greek thought, mythology, or philosophy! He used a term found right in his own Bible and theTargums! Notice that he states that the Word was in (the bosom of)God, (Jn.1:18; 14:18) with God, and was God! (Jn.1:1b.) This wordπρὸς shows us separation between the Word and another, namely God the Father, all the while both being the one God! Some like the Jehovah's Witnesses on the other hand, translate the end of this verse as: “and the word was a god.” Their rational is biased on the fact that there is no definite article before the word God (θεὸς ). I will answer that next week when we pick up this study next week. Thanks for your time and I hope you will join me again in the up and coming studies over the next several weeks
Matt 1:1...The ORIGIN of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.
ReplyDelete1:18...Now the ORIGIN of Jesus Christ was |thus|: His mother Mary having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child by holy Spirit.
Begotten, Born, Birth, Coming into Existence
Why is it so difficult to believe that Yahoshua was born (came into existence) of Yahweh? We have no difficulty believing that Adam and Eve came into existence (born) in Genesis 1:27, which states, "And Elohim created the man, in his own image, In the image of Elohim, created he, him,—Male and female, created he, them." They both were of Elohim; "of Enos, of Seth,—of Adam; of God" (Lk. 3:38). Why is it so difficult to believe that Yahoshua was the seed of David? Could Abraham be the seed of David? Why not? Because Abraham came before David. David could be the seed of Abraham, because he came after him but Abraham could never be the seed of David! Yahoshua can not be the seed of David if he came before David! If Yahoshua is the Creator, then David is the seed of Yahoshua and not visa versa. The scriptures state, "I, Yahoshua, have sent my messenger, to bear witness unto you of these things, for the assemblies. I, am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and the morning Star" (Rev. 22:16); "And, one of the elders, saith unto me—Do not weep! Lo! the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath overcome..." (Rev. 5:5). When have you ever read in someone's Statement of Faith that the Lord Yahoshua is the seed or root of David, of the tribe of Judah?
Yahweh is not Begotten
Yahweh was not begotten but Yahoshua was. Yahweh is not of the seed of Adam, Abraham, Judah, Jesse and David but Yahoshua, his Son, is! But men will say, 'His flesh was of Adam but Yahoshua is a eternal spirit, who became flesh (incarnation).' Then this leads us to say, 'If this is so, then Christ didn't die for our sins but rather his body died for our sins because, you say, Christ never died. Then Christ was not raised from the dead, as is taught, because Christ never died but rather Christ's body, and not Christ, was raised on the third day.' Our faith then must stand in believing Christ's body died for our sins, according to the scriptures and that his body was raised from the dead? Foolishness! Contrary to the doctrines of men, a foundational truth in the scriptures is that men do not live without their bodies Throughout history, men have desired to live without their bodies, as spirit beings, just ask any medicine man, philosopher or guru, which is why they all have come up with doctrines that incorporate this grand illusion into their future state. This is important because Yahoshua did not exist before his birth, except in the foreknowledge of his Father, as we also existed. Abraham can be the seed of Adam but Adam cannot be the seed of Abraham. Yahoshua can not be the seed of David and exist before David! The tradition of men teach that Yahoshua, is 'The Creator,' who created Adam, which leads us to question, 'How could the Creator be the seed of David, his creation'? Yahweh's father is not David because Yahweh has no father but Yahoshua's has two fathers; one being Yahweh and one being David, making him Son of Yahweh (Son of Elohim) and Son of David (Son of Man). These titles do not apply to Yahweh but only to his Son.
The majority of Christians have been taught or they believe that all of the above verses of scriptures were only metaphors: that Yahweh did not literally have an only-begotten Son; that Yahoshua is not literally born of Yahweh; that Yahoshua is not literally from the tribe of Judah; that Yahoshua is not literally the seed of David; that Yahoshua did not literally die because, after all, he is the Creator.
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ReplyDeleteTAKEN, BUT NOT UP
ReplyDelete“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was RECEIVED UP (analambano) into heaven...” Mk 16:19
“...this same Jesus, which is TAKEN UP (analambano) from you...” Acts 1:11
“Beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he (Jesus) was TAKEN UP (analambano) from us,... Acts 1:22a
“ANALAMBANO” (misinterpreted)- The reason we know that the addition of “UP” is the result of preconception with James Strong and the king James translators is that there’s an inconsistency to the translation of “analambano” in other passages. The word appears in several places in the N.T, and in some of those places “UP” is not included in the meaning.
Notice in the following examples, when referring to someone or something other than Jesus, the very same word is used quite differently...
Yea, you TOOK UP (analambano) the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Acts 7:43
(In this case “analambano” is translated “TOOK UP,” but obviously they were not lifting the idol up. They “took up” the tabernacle of Moloch, not in the sense of upward movement, but rather they ACCEPTED it. They “took it up,” meaning they accepted it unto them selves; they received it. This is quite different from “floating or lifting upwards”)
And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to “TAKE IN” (analambano) Paul: Acts 20:13
Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, “TOOK” (analambano) Paul, Acts 23:31
Wherefore "TAKE UNTO YOU” (analambano) the whole armour of God,
Above all, “TAKE” (analambano) the shield of faith, Eph 6:13,16
...”TAKE” Mark, and bring him with thee: 2 Tim 4:11.
Thus, analambano is translated “take in” (I.e, “to ACCEPT” or to “RECEIVE”) “took,” “take unto” “taking,” and “take.” These reflect the correct meaning of the word... with NO UPWARD movement indicated.
It is obvious that Acts 1:2 does not indicate that Jesus floated upward and went out of site into and through the stratosphere. Rather it indicates that he was “taken” (i.e, accepted) by His Father to sit upon his throne as King and Heir of heaven and earth... Which was so stated by God Himself in Matt 17:5. 2 Pet 1:17. Jesus was “accepted into glory” not lifted away from earth; Jesus was changed in form to a state of existence that we mortals have not yet experienced.
Jesus never literally came down from heaven SO he never literally went to heaven...