Wednesday, October 1, 2008 - Jesus and Life |
Did Jesus have to be God Almighty in order to give everlasting life?
This study is partly in response to the "oneness" essay found at:
http://www.whoisjesus.com/deputy.html
There is absolutely no scripture at all that says that Jesus had to be God in order to give everlasting life. Such a thought has to be added to, and read into, the scriptures. The one sent by the only true God (John 17:3) had to be a man, nothing more, nothing less, in order to buy back what Adam lost. It was not God who sinned and brought sin upon the world. The world was not condemned in God. The world was condemned in one man, Adam. Thus only one man, not one God, would be needed to pay the price for sin, as offering to God. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; Ephesians 5:2) God did not offer himself to God. It was "the man, Jesus Christ, who offered himself [to God] a ransom for all." -- 1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 9:14.
All mankind, being condemned Adam, has been subjected to vanity, under a bondage of corruption from which he needs to be delivered (Romans 8:21), a state of being crooked (not justified, not straight), and no human under this condition could make straight what God made crooked. The offspring of Adam was made crooked -- in an unjust condition -- by God due to Adam's sin. (Ecclesiastes 1:15; 7:13) Due to Adam's sin, the creation (not the angels, planets, stars etc., but rather mankind) was made subject to vanity, futility, under a bondage of corruption, from which it needed to be delivered -- saved. (Ecclesiastes 1:2,14; 3:19; 4:17; 12:8; Romans 8:20,21) The world aside from Jesus is a "dying" world. (1 Corinthians 1:18) This offspring is pictured as the "crooked generation" (Acts 2:40), "a crooked and perverse generation" (Philippians 2:15), "sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2), and "children of wrath." -- Ephesians 2:3.
If all mankind are condemned in Adam, how could Jesus be a man, and yet not be condemned with the rest of mankind? The scriptures tell us that Jesus was born in a special way. It was his God who specially prepared his body (Hebrews 10:5) that it could be an offering for sin. (Hebrews 10:10) Jesus' birth, as a human being, was due to being being begotten/born (Greek, gennao) by means of God's holy spirit in the womb of Mary. (Matthew 1:20) Jesus, as a human being, was "living bread." His flesh, his body, was specially prepared by God (Hebrews 10:5), pictured as bread from heaven, separate from sinners, and separated from the condemnation of sin by means of Adam. (Romans 5:1-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5) Thus, "in him was life" (John 1:4), life as Adam had it before Adam sinned. (Romans 5:14-19) Only Jesus had such sinless flesh that could be offered in sacrifice for the world, and that because his body was prepared separate from the offspring of Adam, who are "children of wrath," "sons of disobedience." (Ecclesiastes 1:15; 7:13; Ephesians 2:2,3) He gave that bread from heaven, his flesh, for the life of the world and for the believers of this age. (John 6:5; Hebrews 10:10) Jesus now lives by means of the power of the only true God. (2 Corinthians 13:4) After his resurrection, he has become the "last Adam," "the life-giving-spirit," who comes from heaven during the blowing of the last trumpet to raise the dead, the believers in the resurrection of life, the unbelievers in the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28,29; 12:47,48; 1 Corinthians 15:45,52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 11:15,18) Thus, Jesus' power to give life to those who dying in Adam comes from the only true God, who has given him this power (Isaiah 9:7; Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Luke 1:32; 10:22; John 3:35; 5:22; 13:3; 17:7), based on the the ransom sacrifice that Jesus has given.
Nothing in any of this necessitates the idea that Jesus had to be God in order to receive his authority and power from his God and Father. Having received such authority and power from God, Jesus will awaken the dead in the "last day."
Indeed, if Jesus is God Almighty, then, in effect, the basis of the ransom as presented in the scriptures is dimished. It would basically nullify both Paul's and John's argument for an atoning sacrifice, condemnation in one man, justification in one man. It would further mean that, rather than condemning sin the flesh (Romans 8:3), Jesus justified sin in the flesh, since, rather than proving that a sinless man like Adam could obey God, it would have proved that only if Adam had been God Almighty that Adam could have obeyed God Almighty. However, in reality, through Jesus' obedience to his God, and through the sacrifice of his sinless life, Jesus provided the proof that the only true God is both just and yet the justifier of sinners. (Romans 3:26) He did not just let sin go unpunished, which would have been unjust on his part, but by means of the sacrifice of his son, the debt of sin was paid -- a man for a man (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; not God for a God), so that God could be just in justifying sinners based on the offering that Jesus had given.
Jesus, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, and having once for all time offered up his flesh, will never be seen in that flesh again. (Hebrews 7:27; 9:28; 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18) However, this does not rule out the *possibility* that Jesus may manifest himself as did the angels of Yahweh in the Bible, who appeared as "men," ate as men, and looked like men, manifesting themselves with a body of flesh. -- Genesis 18:2,8,22; 19:1,5; Judges 13:2,6,8,9; Luke 24:4.
Jesus no longer has the body of a man, a glory a little lower than the angels. (Hebrews 2:9) Having offered (to his God in heaven) his terrestrial, earthly, fleshly body for sin, once for all time (John 6:51; Hebrews 7:27; 9:11,12,24;10:10), he will never again be seen with that body. (1 Corinthians 15:40,44) Now being a life-giving spirit, he comes again from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:40,45-48), during the blowing of the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 8:2,6), with a celestial, spiritual body, in which the plenitude (Greek, pleroma) of might (Greek, theotes) dwells, giving him the bodily power needed to carried out his exalted position. -- Colossians 2:9,10.
In Revelation 1:8 it is the God and Father of Jesus who is speaking, not Jesus. Jesus is never spoken of as the Almighty, or the Most High. He is the son of the Most High. The One speaking in Revelation is the One that Jesus speaks of as "my God." -- Revelation 2:7; 3:2,12.
http://reslight.net/forum/index.php?topic=139.0
Isaiah 9:6 speaks a singular name by which son given by the only true God (Isaiah 9:7) is to be called. That name is, "Pelejoezelgibborabiaadarshalom," which has been given the meaning: "Wonderful in counsel is God the Mighty, the everlasting Father, the Ruler of peace." -- This appears under Isaiah 9:5, in some editions of the Jewish Publication Society Translation.
Nevertheless, Mighty God, if applied as a title to the Messiah, should be understood in a manner that the same expression, in plural, is used in Ezekiel 32:21. I don't know of any translation that renders the expression there as "Mighty Gods," but most translation render it with similar epressions as in found in the King James Version, that is, "The strong among the mighty." Jesus is now, after his exaltation, certainly a strong one among the mighty, but he is not the Most High of whom he is the son.
http://reslight.net/forum/index.php?topic=405.0
In John 20:28, the expression "the lord of me and the God of me," would usually denote two different persons, since the definite article appears twice. When one person is meant, there usually are not two definite articles, as can be seen in Greek of John 20:17, just two verses before. Thus, it is possible John showed these contrasts close to each other to indicated that Thomas was speaking of Jesus as the lord of me, and then he was speaking of the God and Father of Jesus as "the God of me."
If Thomas did speak of Jesus when he said, "the God of me," this would be only instance in the entire Bible where anyone addressed Jesus by such a term. We do not find anyone else addressing, or speaking of, Jesus as "my God," "our God," or "your God." Of course, the God and Father was "in Jesus" (John 10:38; 14:10,11,20; 17:21) and thus Thomas could have been addressing the God and Father of Jesus as being in Jesus. Or, Thomas could be using THEOS in the sense of rulership, as a form of EL is used in Ezekiel 32:21. The usuage here does not necessarily mean that Thomas thought that the Almighty Yahweh was there standing before him. It certainly does not give us reason to conclude that Jesus is the only true God who sent Jesus. -- John 17:3.
In John 1:1, John twice states that the Logos, the Word of God, was with God. This agrees with John 17:1,3,5, in which Jesus expressed that he was with the only true God before the world of mankind was made. Being the the Logos was with the only true God, the most logical reasoning would be that John was not saying the the Logos 'was' the only true God whom he was with. The most logical reasoning would be to look in the scriptures to see in what manner the word "theos" could apply to one who is not the only true God. In the Hebrew, such usage is often recognized by English translators by rendering the various form of EL (the basic Hebrew word for "God) by expressions that denote might, power, strength, etc. Applying this the Word of God, who was with the only true God, then the latter part of John 1:1 could be rendered as "the Word was mighty," not "the Word was God." Jesus "was" (past tense) indeed a mighty one with the only true God before became flesh. Jesus was not the only true God whom he was with.
http://notrinity.blogspot.com/2008/08/john-112-word-was-mighty.html
"The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) John testifies of having seen the glory of Jesus while Jesus was a human being, in the flesh, a little lower than the angels. Having a body specially prepared by God (Hebrews 10:5), he had the unmarred crown of glory as a human. (Hebrews 2:9) Adam, who was also a "the son of God," in effect, lost that sonship by becoming a 'son of disobedience.' (Ephesians 2:20) Being disobedient, Adam became a child of God's wrath, falling short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Nevertheless, before Adam sinned, Adam provides a type of Jesus, who was to come in flesh. (Romans 5:14) Unlike Adam, however, Jesus never fell short of the glory of God, for in was no sin. (1 John 3:5) Thus, in Jesus' flesh could be seen the glory of the only true God. None of this means that Jesus is Yahweh, of whom he is the Son.
"Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28, World English) A more literal translation would be "blood of his own." Thus, some translations read similar to the Revised Standard: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son." In Acts 20:20,21, Paul distinguishes between Jesus and God, saying: "I didn't shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." In Ephesians 1:3-7, Paul speaks of this matter, and differentiates between Jesus and God. Likewise, in Colossians 1:12-14. In Hebrews 9:12-14, we read that Jesus offers his blood to God. God does not offer God's flesh and blood to God. However, there is a manner in which the blood of Christ can be understood to be that of the only true God, since Jesus' body of flesh and blood was specially prepared by God himself. (Hebrews 10:5) It is only in this sense that Jesus' blood could be understood to the God's own blood, that is, that Jesus was the offspring, the son, of the only true God. In this sense, I can say that my son is my own blood, meaning my offspring. None of this means that Jesus is the only true God who sent Jesus. -- John 17:3.
"In [instrumental "en", Strong's #1722, by means of] Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19) "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation." (New American Translation) "That God was by Christ, (\~en cristw\~,) by means of Christ; by the agency or mediatorship of Christ."* "God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ."** Verse 18 shows that "en" is being used as denoting instrumentality: "All things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through [Greek, dia, Strongs #1223] Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation." Jesus' being the instrument used by God would actually show that Jesus is not God.
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*Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5". "Barnes' Notes on the New Testament". http://www.studylight.org/com/bnn/view.cgi?book=2co&chapter=005.
**Guzik, David. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5". "David Guzik's Commentaries on the Bible".
http://www.studylight.org/com/guz/view.cgi?book=2co&chapter=005.
1997-2003.
"She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name JESUS, for it is he who shall save [deliver] his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Like, many of the saviors sent by Yahweh to Israel to deliver Israel from their enemies (Nehemiah 9:27), Jesus was also sent by Yahweh, the only true God, to deliver his people from their sins. "Yahweh... sent me... to deliver those who are crushed." (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18) "I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (John 12:49) Jesus could deliver mankind from sin because he, as a man, maintained obedience to his God and Father, and thus, through the sacrfice of his flesh, he could thereby offset the condemnation that is upon mankind through Adam, providing the ransom, the offsetting price, for all. -- Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6.
Matthew 1:23 - "'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.'" Evidently it is being assumed that since Jesus is called by this name, that this would mean that Jesus is Yahweh. In actuality, the bearer of a name in which God is declared as being or doing something does not mean that the bearer of the name is God who is being declared by those names as being or doing whatever is being spoken of. the name. "Jehu" means "He is Yah" or "Yah is He." Does that mean the man who bore the name Jehu is, in reality, Yahweh? Likewise with the name Eliathath, which means "God has come". Are we to think that Eliathath is God Almighty because of the name given to him? We can look at nother name, "Elnathan", meaning "God has given"; does it mean that the bearer of this name is God who does the giving? When Abraham called the place where he sacrificed the ram "Yahweh-jireh", meaning "Yahweh will provide", was he saying that the place was Yahweh Himself? Did the name Daniel, meaning "Judgment of God", mean that Daniel was God? Nevertheless, the only true God was with Jesus while Jesus was in the flesh, and thus, through Jesus, God was with his people. (John 8:29) By means his words and works, one could see the only true God through Jesus. (John 14:9; 16:32) "Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." -- 2 John 1:3.
It is misleading to say that "God made Jesus, and then Jesus made everything else." Yahweh, "God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ" (Colossians 1:3), created through (dia), or by means of (Greek instrumental "en") of his firstborn living creature. (John 1:3,10; Colossians 1:15,16) Jesus evidently was not present when Yahweh created the physical universe. (Isaiah 44:24) However, Jesus was the firstborn living creature, the first that God brought forth into being, and then God made the world of mankind "through" Jesus (John 1:3,10), and by means of him God made all dominions (living beings) in heaven and on earth. (Colossians 1:16) In the Bible, Jesus, the Lamb of God, is never spoken of as the creator; Jesus did not claim to be the Creator, but claimed that his God and Father was the creator. -- Mark 10:6; 13:19.
http://sonofyah.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/is-44-24/
http://creation.reslight.net/tb.html
"Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.For, 'He put all things in subjection under his feet.' But when he says, 'All things are put in subjection,' it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him. When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) A clear distinction is made here between God, who subjected all things to Jesus, and Jesus, to whom all things have been subjected. That which was subjected to Jesus does not include God, and never will include God. When all things have been brought into subjection to Jesus, then Jesus will deliver up the kingdom to God, that all creation may be in harmony with "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus." (2 Corinthians 11:31) This brings up to the time when the millennial sheep inherit the earth after the thousand years of the reign of Christ with his church. During this thousand years, Jesus continues a mediator between God and man until all things have been brought into subjection through Jesus. When all things have been brought into subjection, the need for a mediator will end. This does not mean that Jesus' everlasting dominion will come to an end. (Daniel 7:14; 2 Peter 1:11) However, all the power and authority that Jesus has at any time is that given to him by his God and Father. (Matthew 28:18; John 5:30; 8:28) What Paul is saying is that once all things are brought into a sinless condition, and death is swallowed up in victory, then there is no longer a need for a mediator since the reconciliation between God and man will have been completed.
Neither Jesus nor the God and Father of Jesus was ever a part of this world, as that term is used in scripture. (Greek, kosmos, Strong's #2889) Jesus came into this world, the world that was made through him. This world did not recognize him. (John 1:10) This world has as its prince, its ruler, Satan. (John 14:30) "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 John 5:19) This world that he came into has been condemned in sin. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:32) This world that Jesus came into is made of sons of disobedience, who have been made by nature children of wrath. Jesus had no part in that condemnation, and remained separate from this world. Those who follow Jesus must also become regenerated as new creatures, belonging to Jesus, and thus no longer part of Satan's world even as Jesus was no part of Satan's world. -- Galatians 6:14; Ephesians 2:2; James 1:27.
Of course, I realize that what is meant is that Jesus, allegedly being God Almighty Himself, became part of his own creation. Taking to its logical conclusion, it would mean that God became a creation, a part of the material universe, thus He who created was created as part of the creation that He created. Of course, in reality, we find nothing at all in the Bible about God becoming a part of the material creation that he created. It is but human philosophy that has to be added to and read into the scriptures. There is not one thing in the Bible that gives us reason to add to the scriptures that God Almighty Himself would have to become part of his material creation in order, that is, that God would become a material creation of Himself, in order to save mankind. The Scripture does not say that God sent Himself as a son of Himself, but rather "God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9, KJV) I have no reason to philosophically change this so as to make it mean that God sent Himself as his only begotten Son of Himself, not just into the world, but as part of his own creation, that we might live through God who sent Himself as his own Son, part of his own creation. The scriptures no where speak of such a thing.
1 Peter 1:18,19 - Knowing that you were redeemed, not with* corruptible things, with* silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with* precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, the blood of Christ.
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*The word "with" is supplied by translators in all three instances.
1 Peter 1:18,19 - knowing that not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were you redeemed from your worthless way of life handed down from your fathers, -- Greens Literal Translation.
Green supplies "with" twice, but he does not supply "with" before "silver or gold."
1 Peter 1:18,19 - knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. -- New American Standard
The NAS supplies "like" before silver or gold. Of course, something has to be supplied to have the words make sense in English. The NAS, I believe, comes most closely to what Peter's thought was.
The New International Version: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers
New Living Translation: For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.
I believe that Peter is using gold and silver as symbols of the highest degree that man has to give in his present vain condition.
Through Adam, the world became corrupted due to lust (desire). (2 Peter 1:4) Adam was put on this earth in a condition of being not corrupt, but he was corruptible. He was upright, not crooked. (Ecclesiastes 7:29) He succumbed to the desire to please his wife, and thus disobeyed God, and by such disobedience he became corrupted. Thus the whole world, all of the offspring of Adam, has been made crooked, corrupt, in a bondage to corruption from which not one of mankind under that bondage is able escape. "It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. That which is crooked can't be made straight; and that which is lacking can't be counted." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-15) The world through is Adam is as Solomon stated: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" (Ecclesiastes 1:20) As Peter says, such is a worthless way of life. With this, Paul agrees, saying: "For the creation [not the stars, planets, sun, moon, nor even the angels, but the world of man only] was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it." (Romans 8:20, American Standard) Paul goes on to say: "in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption." (Romans 8:20,21) Yes, the world of mankind is in a bondage of corruption due to Adam's sin, and need to be delivered from that bondage. This dying existence of man as such is but useless, vanity, futile. The dying existence that Adam has left the world with cannot be delivered from its crooked state by corruptible things, such as silver and gold which are usually used in this corrupted world to purchase things.
Silver and gold, at least as the world now is, is subject to corruption in the form of possible corrosion, an illustration of man's highest efforts to being upright while being in bondage to corruption due to Adam's sin. Although corrosion of gold or silver is possible, both are highly resistant to corrosion, and thus it is very hard to think of gold and silver as becoming corrupted, or being perishable, which is probably why Peter chose these two elements as examples.
Paul uses gold and silver to illustrate one's works. (1 Corinthians 3:12,13) The highest works that man can perform -- as represented in gold and silver -- outside of Christ would be still be found corrupted. Thus the Psalmist wrote: "Surely every man at his best is a mere breath." (Psalm 39:5, New American Standard) Indeed, no matter how close a person may come to being sinless, without Christ, he still falls short, and is still under the bondage of corruption. His works as represented in gold and silver will not deliver him from the bondage of corruption, not matter how incorruptible the person may seem.
Jesus, on the other hand, was not born into this world under its bondage of corruption. His flesh, his body with its blood, was specially prepared by his God. (Hebrews 10:5) As such, his flesh was not born in corruption, but he was born as was Adam before Adam sinned, in an incorrupt condition. To fulfill the law, however, he had to be as was Adam, corruptible. In other words he had have that possibility of being corrupted. He was upright, but would he become crooked, as did Adam? We know from the scriptures that Jesus never became corrupted, and by proving his obedience, he, in effect, "put on incorruption." Jesus remained "without spot," without any sin, and thus his blood -- representing his life, his soul, was never corrupted by sin. Indeed, Jesus proved that he could not be corrupted; he was incorruptible. By proving himself incorruptible, he brought life and incorruption to light. (2 Timothy 1:10) No human before him had ever proved himself incorruptible. Having proven himself incorruptible, he had the right to live forever as a human, but he sacrificed that incorruptible blood -- representing his incorruptible human soul, his incorruptible human life (Leviticus 17:14; Deuteronomy 12:23) -- in order to redeem, to buy mankind back from the bondage of corruption.
The whole basis of the ransom hinges on the fact that it was a man (not God), who gave himself as a ransom (offsetting price) for all. (1 Timothy 2:5,6) Jesus was the offsetting price because he was what Adam was and what Adam could have been had Adam remained in obedience.
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