Hello there! Well its the main reason why I logged on todday, Its something thats been hammering at the back of my mind, that I dont really understand, that I dont really associate him with my troubles or joys , that I dont view him the same way as I view God or the holy spirit. There's something not right with that, since I call myself a Christian and I feel I am a Christian.
There are so many names, the Lord, the Messiah, the Son. He is all those and more? He is God's only begotten son? What does begotten really mean in that context? After all arent I his child?
I view God, as God and most definitely to myself ,a Father. Maybe thats where im getting baffled, because im human , and so fixated with the whole Father concept. So who is? Jesus is God?Saying that confuses me. Jesus is my Saviour? Yes i believe he died on the cross for us. I accept that, but im sure that not all there is to it,is it? I pray to God and only to God so very openly, i've never done anything else. What am I supposed to do with my belief in Jesus?Im not processing something, please help to simply this.
Who is Jesus to you? How do you apply this to your spirituality?
The apostle John wrote in about 98 C.E., that "these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the
Son of God."(John 20:31) The apostle Peter, in answering Jesus question as to whom he thought he was, said: "You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16) Saul, after having received back his sight from being blinded by Jesus and who later became the apostle Paul, "immediately in the synagogues he began to preach Jesus, that this One is the
Son of God."(Acts 9:20) Jesus is hence, the "Son of God",
not "God the Son" nor God.
Jesus is the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), meaning "anointed one." At Psalms 2:2, it says that "the kings of earth take their stand and high officials themselves have massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one.("anointed one", Hebrew
ma·shi´ach) Thus, Jehovah God's "anointed one" here at Psalms 2:2 is the one that was prophesied to become the Messiah or Christ, Jesus. Jesus was anointed by God to serve in the official position as Christ.
However, when Jesus was born to Mary, he was not at that time "the Christ." This did not occur until the fall of the year 29 C.E., after his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. At that time, "after being baptized Jesus immediately came up from the water; and, look! the heavens were opened up, and he saw descending like a dove God’s spirit coming upon him."(Matt 3:16) Then a voice from the heavens said: "This is
my Son, the beloved, whom I have
approved.”(Matt 3:17) Jesus is thus Jehovah God's Son, and at this time became the "anointed One" or Christ immediately following his baptism.
Jesus, though, is more than just a "Son." He is God's "only-begotten Son." Jesus, in speaking with Nicodemus, told him that "God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life."(John 3:16) The expression "only-begotten Son" applies
only to Jesus. What does this mean ?
The Greek word rendered as "only-begotten" is
monogenes, and literally means "
single of it's kind, only", or "
the only member of a kin or kind",(Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1889, p. 417; Liddell and Scott’s
Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford, 1968, p. 1144) and is used to describe the relation of both sons and daughters to their parents. For example, at Judges 11:34, concerning Jephthah's daughter, it said that "she was absolutely the
only child (Hebrew
weraq´ hi’ yechi·dhah´; Greek
Septuagint monogenes). Besides her he had neither son nor daughter."
And in the online interlinear,
Scripture4all, the meaning of
monogenes is "only-generated", as at John 3:16 and 18 concerning Jesus, Luke 7:12 with regard to the son of "widow of Nain", and Luke 8:42, concerning the daughter of Jairus. The word "generate" means "create: to bring something into existence."(
Encarta Dictionary) Thus, as was Jephthah's daughter, the widow's son of the city of Nain, Jairus' daughter, these being "generated" or being brought into existence, so likewise Jesus was also "generated" or brought into existence, and had a beginning, just as any son or daughter, Jesus being the
only one directly created (only-begotten)
by God.
Jesus himself said: "And to the angel of the congregation in La·o·di·ce´a write: These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation by God."(Rev 3:14) Jesus Christ is thus God's
first act of creation, before "the beginning" when Jehovah God "created the heavens and the earth."(Gen 1:1)
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that "there is no God but
one (not three). For even though there are those who are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” there is actually to us
one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him;
and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him."(1 Cor 8:4-6)
Jesus, on the night before his death, told his eleven faithful apostles: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."(John 14:6) Thus,
through Jesus we approach the
Father in prayer. The apostle Paul wrote to the Timothy: "For there is
one God, and one mediator
between God and men, a man,
Christ Jesus."(1 Tim 2:5) As God's "only-begotten Son", Jesus serves as a "mediator between God and men."
Psalms 65:1, 2 says: "For you there is praise—silence—,
O God, in Zion.....O
Hearer of prayer, even to you people of all flesh will come." It is to God that we direct our prayers or petitions, for Jesus himself directed all his prayers to God. The apostle Paul wrote at Hebrews 5:7: "In the days of his flesh [Christ] offered up
supplications and also petitions
to the One who was able to save him out of death, with strong outcries and tears, and he was favorably heard for his
godly fear."
In addition, Jesus worshipped the Father. When speaking with the Samaritan woman near the city of Sychar, he told her: "You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we know, because salvation originates with the Jews. Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those
worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” Hence, Jesus had "godly fear", worshipping the Father, Jehovah God, for he loved his heavenly Father, praying to him and setting the perfect example for us to follow in worshipping "the only true God."(John 17:3)