What benefit does it produce to make Jesus God

[Michiah-Imla]

I'm not Jewish nor do I study the old covenant

It’s a principle from God.

Don’t shrug it off.

Jesus also said:

“…If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

All professionals get refresher training for a reason.

Do you target practice just once and then never target practice again?

Of course not!

 

[Renniks]

The "Word" is the wisdom, plan or purpose of God and the Word became flesh as Jesus Christ. Thus, Jesus Christ was the Word in the flesh, which is shortened to the Word for ease of speaking. Scripture is also the Word in writing. Everyone agrees that the Word in writing had a beginning. So did the Word in the flesh. In fact, the Greek text of Matthew 1:18 says that very clearly: "Now the beginning of Jesus Christ was in this manner..." The modern Greek texts all read "beginning" in Matthew 1:18. Birth is considered an acceptable translation since the beginning of some things is birth, and so most translations read birth. Nevertheless, the proper understanding of Matthew 1:18 is the beginning of Jesus Christ. In the beginning God had a plan, a purpose, which became flesh when Jesus was conceived.

It literally says the Word, which clearly refers to Jesus is God.
I don't go in for that twisting scripture stuff you're doing.

 

[Renniks]

It appears to me that you’re reading Jesus into the text, not out of the text.

“In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.”

Is that what you see (or hear) when you read John 1:1?

It's clearly talking about Jesus.

 

[Peterlag]

The Bible says in many verses that there is only one God and “God” does not have a God. We read in Isaiah 44:6 “…there is no God besides me” and Ephesians 4:6 says there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all.” Jesus has a God in contrast to “God” who alone is God and does not have a God. Jesus spoke about his God after the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, saying “…I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God” (John 20:17). Jesus still called God “my God” after his ascension into heaven when he was standing at the right hand of God.

There are also verses in the New Testament that clearly speak of “God” being the “God” of Jesus Christ. Romans 15:6 says “...you can, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:3, Ephesians 1:3, and 1 Peter 1:3 all say “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So the “one God and Father” (Ephesians 4:6) is the God of Jesus Christ. The “one God” of the Bible never says He has a God because He is God, the Father, the Creator, “the Most High God” and He has no equals. Jesus is not “God” because he's a man, the last Adam, the created Son of God, and the God of Jesus is God the Father.

In John 5:44 Jesus called the Father “the only God” and The New American Standard Bible goes so far as to translate it as “the one and only God.” The straightforward reading of this verse is that Jesus did not think of himself as God. Jesus prayed to God on the night he was arrested that people would “know you, the only true God” (John 17:3). It seems disingenuous or at least confusing that Jesus would refer to his Father as “the only true God” if he knew that both he and “the Holy Spirit” were also “Persons” in a triune God and that the Father shared His position as “God” with them. It seems much more likely that Jesus spoke the simple truth when he called his Father “the only true God."

Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation.” Scholars disagree on what this phrase means, but that is primarily because the doctrine of the Trinity obscures its simple meaning. Trinitarian doctrine states that Jesus is “eternal” but if that is true then he cannot be the firstborn “of all creation” because that would make him part of the creation. But the simple reading of Colossians 1:15 seems clear: Jesus is a created being. The BDAG Greek-English lexicon [entry under “creation”] explains the Greek word translated “creation” as “that which is created… of individual things or beings created, creature.” Not only was Jesus a created being, but he's also called the “firstborn” from the dead because he was the first one in God’s creation who was raised from the dead to everlasting life—a point that is also made in Colossians 1:18.

 

[Jack]

I’m a Biblical unitarian.

Once you accept Scripture is the inspired word of God and read it for yourself, you realize you do not have to abdicate your reasoning mind and embrace mystical dualism.

To quote Galileo, I don’t believe God would bless us with a reasoning mind to forgo its use.

Scripture explicitly and repeatedly states God alone is the Father and Jesus is the Son of God (which is not equal to God the Son). Every epistle states this dynamic duo with no reference to a God the Holy Spirit person.

I find no reason to go beyond what Scripture says. Indeed, I find reason to stay in the lanes of what Scripture explicitly teaches. Embracing the 4th century man-made dogma of the trinity is fodder, not bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Your and Galileo's opinions do not overrule the Christian Bible.

 

[Peterlag]

It’s a principle from God.

Don’t shrug it off.

Jesus also said:

“…If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

All professionals get refresher training for a reason.

Do you target practice just once and then never target practice again?

Of course not!

I'm in fellowship with the spirit of Christ all day long. I graduated from the map book that taught me how to get there.

 

[Matthias]

It's clearly talking about Jesus.

Do you have any thoughts on why John didn’t write “Jesus” in the text?

 

[Jack]

@Jack has a clear obsession which is unhealthy in and of itself, bordering on a compulsion- which is a disorder. I don't think he quite knows what to do with someone from a Southern Baptist foundation like yours, or an Evangelical background like mine, who simply disagree with a premise he might hold dear-- so he insists on trying to put a label on folks that he can otherwise dismiss. He's a one-trick pony.

One trick indeed, the Bible, the written Word of God!

 

[Jack]

Oh good grief. Seek help.

I have all the Help I need. It's called the Christian Bible that JW's attack at nearly every opportunity.

 

[Jack]

I have not said that Jesus was Michael the arch Angel, so what’s with the JW accusation?

Aren't you attacking Jesus / God?

 

[Jack]

841



“But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name (singular) of other gods, even that prophet shall die.” (Deuteronomy 18:20)

But we all know that all these gods were different and had individual names…

So that argument is shut down.

Why don't you quote the Scripture? Hmm

 

[Michiah-Imla]

I'm in fellowship with the spirit of Christ all day long. I graduated from the map book that taught me how to get there.

Laboring in the word never ends.

“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” (1 Timothy 5:17)

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)

I find your dismissal of continued reading of the scriptures offensive and abominable.

 

[RLT63]

I don't get that. Seems like it would be going backwards.

That shows you have a lot to learn.

 

[TLHKAJ]

We should never be done reading the Word of God.

Matthew 4:4
[4]But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

If you're alive (living), you need the Word every day. Don't believe this?

Matthew 6:11
[11]Give us this day our daily bread.

John 8:31-32
[31]Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
[32]And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Romans 10:17
[17]So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We can't expect to hear God if we're unwilling to place importance on and confidence in His Word. How can we expect to grow and walk in faith if we disregard the Word of God? No wonder there is such a lack of knowledge of who He is. The lack of faith demonstrated by some in this thread is very evident.

 

[Phoneman777]

Yeah well, I think a child can understand it. I know God and He would not make this thing difficult.

I think it was Luther who once said when we approach the Bible, it's like harvesting apples: first walk up and pick up what's lying around, next we shake the tree and collect what drops, then we reach up and pick what's in arm's reach, then we climb the tree and grab what we can, then we shimmy out on the branches and grab more still, then we look behind and around and under the leaves for those not in plain sight.

If a child can understand "it" - the Bible - why does Paul say it contains both "milk" and also "meat"? Certainly, this indicates both elementary and advanced learning, right? In the same way a light that grows brighter and brighter reveals more and more the infinite darkness that surrounds us, so it is that any gain in knowledge of God should serve to further show finite men more of His infiniteness.

 

[Michiah-Imla]

I graduated from the map book that taught me how to get there.

“…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

Have you stopped feeding your flesh with food?

Why?

 

[Charlie24]

Do you have any thoughts on why John didn’t write “Jesus” in the text?

John could have said the three that bear record in Heaven are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He could have said Jesus, but he wished to convey a deeper identity to Christ. He as much as told us it was Christ when he said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But why did John wish to present Him as "the Word?"

"The Word" refers to the Greek word Logos, the Eternal Logos. It embodies who Christ is in the plan of the Father for man to be redeemed.

Depending on context "the Word" is also the written Word. This Greek word is rhema. The centerpiece of the Bible is Christ being revealed through "the Word."

He is hidden in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament. The Tree that God told Moses to cut down and throw in the bitter waters of Mara represented the Tree that Christ was crucified on. What Christ did on the Cross/Tree will make the bitter waters of life sweet again as the bitter waters of Mara became sweet.

The scarlet thread that Rahab hung out of her house on the walls of Jericho that saved all that were inside from sure death by the Hebrews represented the Blood of Christ that saves man. So on and so on is Christ represented in the Old Testament, but actually revealed in the New Testament.

I said all of that to say this, The written Word is Christ and Christ is the written Word. It's all about Him, and I mean all of it!

John uses "The Word" to show the depth of Christ, who He is, what He is in this plan of God to redeem man.

 

[Matthias]

John could have said the three that bear record in Heaven are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He could have said Jesus, but he wished to convey a deeper identity to Christ. He as much as told us it was Christ when he said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But why did John wish to present Him as "the Word?"

"The Word" refers to the Greek word Logos, the Eternal Logos. It embodies who Christ is in the plan of the Father for man to be redeemed.

Depending on context "the Word" is also the written Word. This Greek word is rhema. The centerpiece of the Bible is Christ being revealed through "the Word."

He is hidden in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament. The Tree that God told Moses to cut down and throw in the bitter waters of Mara represented the Tree that Christ was crucified on. What Christ did on the Cross/Tree will make the bitter waters of life sweet again as the bitter waters of Mara became sweet.

The scarlet thread that Rahab hung out of her house on the walls of Jericho that saved all that were inside from sure death by the Hebrews represented the Blood of Christ that saves man. So on and so on is Christ represented in the Old Testament, but actually revealed in the New Testament.

I said all of that to say this, The written Word is Christ and Christ is the written Word. It's all about Him, and I mean all of it!

John uses "The Word" to show the depth of Christ, who He is, what He is in this plan of God to redeem man.

Are you saying all of scripture is about Jesus?

 

[TLHKAJ]

Are you saying all of scripture is about Jesus?

Most definitely.

John 5:39-40
[39]Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
[40]And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

 

[Peterlag]

“…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

Have you stopped feeding your flesh with food?

Why?

How do I pretend that I need to go back and keep trying to learn what I already learned. Could he be possible that you do not understand the Scriptures which is why you have to keep reading the same pages over and over?