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Any question re this article contact us or the author James White chesterct@lycos.com Note: Born again Conservative Protestant Christians do not believe that Jesus is God the father, but that he has the nature of God like God the father. Yet Jesus is also a human being. He is the God-man (God the son).
We Have to believe Jesus is God, to get eternal life John 8:24, 58 Jesus said we will die in our sins (no eternal life) if we do not believe he is the "I am" (of Exodus 3:14)
Matthew 1:23 "Immanuel" means: God with us. John 1:1 The word was God. John 1:14 The word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 20:28 Thomas called Jesus God. If Jesus was not God, as a good Rabbi he would have rebuked Thomas for blasphemy. But instead, he congratulates Thomas. Acts 20:28 God Purchased the church with his blood. God the father is spirit, so he didn't shed blood, but Jesus did. Romans 9:5 Christ is God over all. Phillippians 2:6 Jesus nature is God. 1 Timothy 1:17 Jesus is called
the only God.
Matthew 4:7 When the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 "Do not test the Lord your God". Jesus was referring to himself. John 5:18 Jesus was making himself equal with God. John 8:57-58 Jesus said he is the "I am" of Exodus 3:14. Jesus was claiming to be God, because the Jews picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy. Jesus was not claiming to be Messiah, because under Jewish law, claiming to be the messiah was not a reason to stone someone to death. If Jesus was claiming to be messiah, surely he would have objected to the Jews stoning him. But instead, he hid himself.
God the father calls Jesus God Hebrews 1:8 Thy throne, O God, is forever.
Jesus is the creator Colossians 1:16-17 Jesus created all things visible and invisible. Jesus existed before anything was made.
Jesus is God in human flesh Colossians 2:9 In Jesus, all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form. Hebrews 2:9 Jesus made himself a little lower than the angels. Only God can do that, a created being cannot.
Who raised Jesus body? John 2: 19-21 Jesus raised his own body. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 God the
father raised Jesus body.
Who is the alpha and omega, the first and last? Isaiah 44:6 The father Isaiah 48:12 The father Revelation 1:8 The father Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus Revelation 2:8 Jesus Revelation 21:6 The father Revelation 22:12-13 Jesus
Who should we worship? Exodus 34:14 God only Matthew 4:10 Jesus Matthew 28:9 Jesus Matthew 28:17 Jesus John 4:23 the father John 9:38 Jesus Hebrews 1:6 Jesus Revelation 4:10 the father Revelation 5:11-14 Jesus Revelation 22:8-9 God
11 OBJECTIONS
(with answers) -- Jesus is not God
because:
1) Proverbs 8:22 God produced Jesus as the first of his works ANSWER Wisdom is speaking in this
verse. Yet Proverbs 1:20, 4:7-8, 8:22, & 9:1 show that
wisdom is female. And Proverbs 8:12 says that Prudence lives
with wisdom. So these verses could not be referring to
Jesus.
2) Mark 5:30/ Luke 8:45 When Jesus was walking through a crowd, he didn't know who touched him. 3) Mark 13:32 Jesus didn't know when he was coming back. ANSWER Jesus didn't know who touched him or when he was coming back because he "gave up his place with God, and made himself nothing" (Philippians 2:7) to come and live among mankind. He voluntarily ceased using some of his divine attributes in order to accomplish his objectives (he laid aside his glory as God, so that he might be born in the likeness of men). Jesus made himself a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9), so he must have existed as something higher than the angels before he came to earth. In John 17:5, Jesus asks the father to give him the glory he had before the world began.
4) Mark 10:18 Jesus does not consider himself good, but tells a man no one is good but God. ANSWER Where in the verse does Jesus explicitly say he is not good? Merely asking the question: "Why do you call me good?" is not a confession that Christ is not good. Jesus wasn't claiming that he did not have the goodness characteristic of God, nor was he denying that he was God. Jesus was asking the young ruler to examine the implications of what he was saying. Jesus was forcing him to a very uncomfortable dilemma: either Jesus was good and God, or he was bad and man. A good God, or a bad man, but not merely a good man. No good man would claim to be God when he wasn't. Jesus statement could be summarized: If I am not God, don't call me good, for only God is good. Or: you have given me a title which belongs only to God. Do you understand and mean it?
5) John 14:28 Jesus said: "my father is greater than I". ANSWER Jesus is not speaking about his nature or his essential being, but rather his lowly position in the incarnation. Jesus did not say my father is better than I. The father is greater than Jesus because he has a higher position. (That is why the father knew when Jesus was coming back and Jesus did not). But the father is not better than Jesus. Example: the president of the United States is greater than us because of the office he holds. But the president of the United States is not better than us. Greater is position. Better is nature. The father has a greater position than Jesus, but not a better nature.
6) John 10:30 Jesus said: "I and the father are one". This could not mean Jesus is God, because it contradicts John 17:11, 21-22. John 17:11, 21-22 Jesus asks the father that the disciples may be one with him, just as Jesus is one with the father. ANSWER The context in the above 2
chapters of John are entirely different. In John 10:33, the
Jews picked up stones to kill Jesus for claiming to be God
in verse 30. If that is not what Jesus meant, he would have
corrected them. John 17:11, 21-22 are discussing unity of
will and purpose, not becoming one in essence. Jesus
disciple's were subject to the world's evil influence, and
the protective power of Jesus physical presence was soon to
be withdrawn. He is praying that his father (whose holiness
separates him from the world) will keep all who belong to
him holy and separate, and that by the disciple's love for
each other, they may reflect the unity of will and purpose
that exists between the father and himself.
7) John 20:17 Jesus said: "I am returning to my father and your father, to my God and your God". ANSWER Since Christ came as a man,
and since one of the proper duties of man is to worship,
pray to, and adore God, it was perfectly proper for Jesus to
call the father: "my God", and to address him in prayer.
Positionally speaking, as a man and as a Jew Jesus could
address the father as God. However, Jesus did not relate to
the father in this way until he emptied himself and became
man as it says in Philippians 2:6-8. The reason Jesus did
not say: I am ascending to our father and our God, is
because Jesus was always careful to distinguish his
relationship with the father (God's son by nature), from the
relationship humans had to the father (God's son by
adoption).
8) 1 Corinthians 11:3 "The Head of Christ is God" ANSWER This verse also says that Christ is the head of man, and that man is the head of woman. The Bible is clear that men and women are equal in terms of nature. Even though men and women are equal in nature, there exists differences between their functions. In the same way, Christ and the father are utterly equal in their divine being even though Jesus is functionally under the father's headship during the time that he possesses his human nature.
9) Colossians 1:15 Jesus was born, he had a beginning. Yet God always was and always will be. ANSWER Firstborn in Greek means
preeminent, not the first one born. This verse is saying
that Jesus was preeminent over creation. Firstborn in Hebrew
means both the first one born and can also mean preeminent.
Example: In Genesis 41:51-52 Manassah is the firstborn. Yet
in Jeremiah 31:9, Ephraim is firstborn (preeminent over
Manessah). Manassah was dropped out because of his sins.
10) Revelation 3:14 Jesus is the beginning of God's creation. He had a beginning. ANSWER The word beginning in this verse is from the Greek word arche, which means first cause. Some translations render this verse "JESUS IS: the beginner (Goodspeed), the moving cause (Barclays), the prime source (NEB), the ultimate source (JB) OF GOD'S CREATION". Since the use of the Greek word arche in Revelation 1:8 and 21:6 does not mean that God the father had a created beginning, why insist that arche in Revelation 3:14 means that Jesus had a created beginning?
11) Jesus is not God because the doctrine of the trinity was borrowed from pagan beliefs. Example: A carving found in a temple on Elphanta Island, Bombay, India claims three Gods-Destruction, Creator, Preserver. These 3 Gods are treated as one. This illustrates the pagan form of the trinity as expressed in the mythology of Hinduism. ANSWER Artwork from Hindus and Buddhists that depict triad or trinity Gods were created centuries after the trinity had become the official religion of the Roman empire. It is possible then, that the Hindus and Buddhists of that time period got their ideas from the Christians. Pagans teach the concept of a great flood that killed much of mankind, and the idea of a messiah like figure named Tammuz who was resurrected. But just because false religions have similarities to biblical teachings, this does not discount the truthfulness of the biblical teachings.
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