How anyone can read
John 17 and think anything other than the Father and the Son being two completely different individual personalities but one in nature, motive, purpose, character, and glory,
even before the world began, is beyond me.
And if they are one in nature, then they are both God. If Jesus is the son of God, then He is of the same nature, having the same divine "DNA" , and is thus accurately described as being the express image of the Father.
Glad you asked that brakelite, now, without argument, but reasoning from the scripture I will answer your question. "
How anyone can read John 17 and think anything other than the Father and the Son being two completely different individual personalities but one in nature, motive, purpose, character, and glory, even before the world began, is beyond me".
here's how. scripture #1, Isaiah 63:5 "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold:
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me".
Scripture, #2. Isaiah 59:16 "And he saw that there was
no man, and wondered that there was
no intercessor:
therefore his arm brought salvation
unto him; and
his righteousness, it sustained
him".
from these two verses alone we can see that "God's OWN ARM" brought salvation unto himself, correct. his "own" ARM. is not your arm you? yes. now lets see the ARM of God as God himself. supportive scripture,
Isaiah 53:1 "Who hath believed our report?
and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isaiah 53:2 "For
he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. (STOP, are we getting what the prophet is saying here? the ARM of God is he himself, God in flesh).
Isaiah 53:3 "
He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him;
he was despised, and we esteemed
him not. (Remember this he, this him is God's OWN ARM)
Isaiah 53:4 "Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 "But
he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon
him; and with
his stripes we are healed.
now, everyone knows that this is speaking of the Lord Jesus the Christ, correct. and the Lord Jesus the Christ is God's "
OWN ARM" meaning God's "POWER".
now tell me after reading this scripture if this is two distinct person. Isaiah 63:12 "That led them by the right hand of Moses
with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?" question," who divided the waters of the red sea? and who made a everlasting name for himself? answer GOD. so is God arm a distinct person from himself? of course not.
one more, Psalms 98:1 "A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things:
his right hand, and
his holy arm, hath gotten
him the victory". question, "his" right hand? "his" holy arm? are these, distinct persons? no. right hand, and arm are a anthropomorphism that singify God's POWER and his STRENGTH.
understand that the ARM of God is God himself. one need to pick up on these anthropomorphism.
so brakelite, it's not two person, with the same Nature, no, it's the same person ony a G243 allos of himself in the "similitude" as a man. so no there is no same divine "DNA", and the express Image is in "character", which means "SON". BINGO. my source for this understanding of "character" or the "characteristics" of God's person is in the term G5207 huios. this is taken from the Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
PICJAG.
PS, if you want to understand this anthropomorphism of his "OWN" ARM, and his "OWN" RIGHT HAND? just understand the Greek term G243 Allos, which clearly explain God in flesh in as a "NUMERICAL" plurality of his "own" self, and
not a plurality of himself in persons.