Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Hebrews 5:8 and Philippians 2:5:rightly dividing the word of truth
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Matthew 20:28 & Philippians 2:5-8:Rightly dividing the Word of truth
This is the second blog in a series where I will prove that the trinitarian interpretation of Philippians 2:5-8,in light of correlating texts,is easily proven not only difficult,but downright impossible.In this blog,we'll explore Philippians 2:5-8 in light of it's correlation with Matthew 20:28.
Scripture # 2:
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I think "Son of man" correlates with "form of God" in Philippians.Because,clearly,Christ was born as a man with God as his father.Christ was the Son of God AS a man.Children are the images of their father. Also, "came to serve"(from Matthew) correlates with "made himself nothing and took the form of a servant"(from Philippians).In addition,"gave his life as a ransom for many" from Matthew correlates with "humbled himself to the point of death" from Philippians.If I am right that Matthew 20:28 correlates with Philippians 2,then this proves that Christ as a man was the "form of God",simply enough.And that the humiliation in view from Philippians happened as a rich man who deserved only to BE served becoming poor for us by "serving",as a sinless man who didn't deserve to die choosing to die for us.As opposed to a pre-existing deity becoming a man for us.
Would you agree that "serve and give his life" from Matthew would easily correlate with " taking the form of a servant" and "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death" from Philippians?Hmm..sounds exactly the same.Would this not then prove that Christ was the "form of God" in fact AS the "Son of man" since Matthew says that it is that MAN,as opposed to a pre-existing God in heaven,who "served and gave his life" as the REAL humiliation in view in Matthew and Philippians?Wouldn't this all go back to Christ being rich and sinless AS A HUMAN BEING who was king and Lord,yet serving and dying for others as if he weren't Lord of them,as if he weren't even sinless?(since it is only sin that leads to death!)Wouldn't all this seem to suggest rather explicitly that Christ as a man was the Son of God,as opposed to Christ as a man was a only a nature that God took on? As opposed to Christ as Son of God actually BEING God?Again,if I'm right about Matthew 20:28 correlating with Philippians 2,then it is proven with zero doubt that Christ was in the form of God as a man and not as the second person of a trinity.And also NOT as Michael the archangel or the Angel of the Lord..that has to be imported INTO all the texts in question.If you choose to argue that Christ is called "son of man" in Matthew 20:28 only AFTER his humiliation in Philippians,then how could you possibly prove this when the humiliation and abasement is precisely communicated as a rich sinless man serving and humbling himself unto death as if he were poor,as if he were criminal,as if he inherited sin like other men?If what I just proposed is the humiliation in view,then why must another be imposed?
Conclusion:
Christ was in the "form of God" AS the "Son of man" who was very rich as heir,king and Lord.Yahushua CHOSE to serve and die for others,and that is the only humiliation communicated anywhere.He was a rich man who became poor for us.Not a rich God who became man for us.God or Archangel becoming man for us has to be imported and imposed.The humbling and absement from Philippians is defined as his taking on sin,serving,and suffering in correlating texts.He did this from the starting point of a rich man who knew zero sin,who didn't deserve to serve,suffer,or die.He deserved to be served,to never have to die,and zero suffering as the kind of man he really was(rich,sinless,perfect,Lord).Simple as that.
Scripture # 2:
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I think "Son of man" correlates with "form of God" in Philippians.Because,clearly,Christ was born as a man with God as his father.Christ was the Son of God AS a man.Children are the images of their father. Also, "came to serve"(from Matthew) correlates with "made himself nothing and took the form of a servant"(from Philippians).In addition,"gave his life as a ransom for many" from Matthew correlates with "humbled himself to the point of death" from Philippians.If I am right that Matthew 20:28 correlates with Philippians 2,then this proves that Christ as a man was the "form of God",simply enough.And that the humiliation in view from Philippians happened as a rich man who deserved only to BE served becoming poor for us by "serving",as a sinless man who didn't deserve to die choosing to die for us.As opposed to a pre-existing deity becoming a man for us.
Would you agree that "serve and give his life" from Matthew would easily correlate with " taking the form of a servant" and "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death" from Philippians?Hmm..sounds exactly the same.Would this not then prove that Christ was the "form of God" in fact AS the "Son of man" since Matthew says that it is that MAN,as opposed to a pre-existing God in heaven,who "served and gave his life" as the REAL humiliation in view in Matthew and Philippians?Wouldn't this all go back to Christ being rich and sinless AS A HUMAN BEING who was king and Lord,yet serving and dying for others as if he weren't Lord of them,as if he weren't even sinless?(since it is only sin that leads to death!)Wouldn't all this seem to suggest rather explicitly that Christ as a man was the Son of God,as opposed to Christ as a man was a only a nature that God took on? As opposed to Christ as Son of God actually BEING God?Again,if I'm right about Matthew 20:28 correlating with Philippians 2,then it is proven with zero doubt that Christ was in the form of God as a man and not as the second person of a trinity.And also NOT as Michael the archangel or the Angel of the Lord..that has to be imported INTO all the texts in question.If you choose to argue that Christ is called "son of man" in Matthew 20:28 only AFTER his humiliation in Philippians,then how could you possibly prove this when the humiliation and abasement is precisely communicated as a rich sinless man serving and humbling himself unto death as if he were poor,as if he were criminal,as if he inherited sin like other men?If what I just proposed is the humiliation in view,then why must another be imposed?
Conclusion:
Christ was in the "form of God" AS the "Son of man" who was very rich as heir,king and Lord.Yahushua CHOSE to serve and die for others,and that is the only humiliation communicated anywhere.He was a rich man who became poor for us.Not a rich God who became man for us.God or Archangel becoming man for us has to be imported and imposed.The humbling and absement from Philippians is defined as his taking on sin,serving,and suffering in correlating texts.He did this from the starting point of a rich man who knew zero sin,who didn't deserve to serve,suffer,or die.He deserved to be served,to never have to die,and zero suffering as the kind of man he really was(rich,sinless,perfect,Lord).Simple as that.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
2 Corinthians 8:9 & Phil. 2:5-8:Rightly dividing the word of truth
This is the first of a few blogs that will be exploring how other texts in the bible interpret Philippians 2:5-8 FOR us,making it simple to understand that a "hypostatic union" is not only improbable,but imo,impossible if I am right that the texts I will be using positively correlate with Philippians 2.This first blog(with an attached video)in the series deals with 2 Corinthians 8:9 in relation to Philippians.I already have a blog on this particular correlation if you'd like to read it here:
1st blog on 2 Cor. 8:9 in relation to Phil. 2
I wanted to simplify it as much as I could for a video.First,let us just look at the texts.
Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,(in the form of God would be a better interpretation,sorry)did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Now you will usually be able to get trinitarians and Arians to admit this correlates explicitly with Philippians 2.However,that would cause a real problem for them.Because they would then have to admit,according to their own interpretation of Philippians,that Christ's "richness" entailed his "pre-existent deity as the second person of a triune God" or as "pre-existing spirit creature."However,2 Corinthians here says that WE,through Christ's poverty "might become rich."To say "well Christ's richness meant as deity,but ours means as children of God" would be positively absurd.Yes,our "richness" within this text is compared to Christ's.So question is..what was the richness in Corinthians,which correlates with "form of God" in Philippians?If it's something we can have,apparently it is that we are "children of God,fellow heirs with Christ" destined for glory.(Rom. 8:16,17)Is that not what Christ also was?Could that not define Christ's "richness?"A child and heir of God,born of God, destined for glory.Absolutely.
As for the "poverty" of Christ in Corinthians,this would correlate with "making himself nothing, taking the form of a servant" from Philippians.How was this accomplished?Well,we've already established that "richness",if it does in fact correlate with "form of God" in Philippians,CANNOT be Christ as true God because we too can have the same richness.So working from that starting point,"taking the form of a servant" and "poverty" would be,not that deity took on human form but that the Son of God as a rich man who was heir to a kingdom,who deserved nothing less than to be served as well as a remarkable exaltation,instead humbled himself all the way to an ignominious,gut-wrenching fate on a cross!He served others humbly ,even dying for them,even though he was king and Lord of them.Yes,though he was rich,he became poor for us!
As James Dunn notes in "Christology in the Making"
"When Paul elsewhere speaks of "grace"(gracious gift,or gracious act)in connection with what Christ has done he was always thinking of his death and resurrection.(see esp. Rom. 5:15,21;Gal. 2:20;Eph. 1:6).Nowhere else does he talk of Christ's "gracious act" as his becoming man."p. 121
In review:
If Christ's "richness" was as "pre-existent deity",then *why and how* are we said to be rich within the same,I repeat same, passage?If you insist on interpreting "richness" differently for Christ than for us,essentially,then on what logical exegetical basis would this make sense within the very same passage?Do you believe(or not) that Christ's "richness" in 2 Corinthians 8:9 correlates with his being in the "form of God" in Philippians?If so,then when scripture is allowed to interpret itself,*how* is "richness" defined if we too can have it?Rich as true God?Or rich as children of God/heirs/future kings?Was Christ a child of God?Was he heir and king?Would it not then make sense that he was rich THAT way,as opposed to "rich" as the "2nd person of a triune essence in heaven"?Within 2 Corinthians 8:9,the "grace of Christ" was his "becoming poor",which would explicitly correlate with "made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being found in the likeness of men" from Philippians 2.Agreed? Wouldn't this suggest that, in correlation with 2 Corinthians 8:9, that Philippians 2:5-8 would then be that Christ as a *rich man who was a child of God*(as opposed to a rich pre-existing "true God")humbling himself even to death at the cross,as opposed to God becoming a man?Since the bible always,I repeat always, defines the grace of Christ as his death and resurrection,and never as God becoming a man?
1st blog on 2 Cor. 8:9 in relation to Phil. 2
I wanted to simplify it as much as I could for a video.First,let us just look at the texts.
Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,(in the form of God would be a better interpretation,sorry)did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Now you will usually be able to get trinitarians and Arians to admit this correlates explicitly with Philippians 2.However,that would cause a real problem for them.Because they would then have to admit,according to their own interpretation of Philippians,that Christ's "richness" entailed his "pre-existent deity as the second person of a triune God" or as "pre-existing spirit creature."However,2 Corinthians here says that WE,through Christ's poverty "might become rich."To say "well Christ's richness meant as deity,but ours means as children of God" would be positively absurd.Yes,our "richness" within this text is compared to Christ's.So question is..what was the richness in Corinthians,which correlates with "form of God" in Philippians?If it's something we can have,apparently it is that we are "children of God,fellow heirs with Christ" destined for glory.(Rom. 8:16,17)Is that not what Christ also was?Could that not define Christ's "richness?"A child and heir of God,born of God, destined for glory.Absolutely.
As for the "poverty" of Christ in Corinthians,this would correlate with "making himself nothing, taking the form of a servant" from Philippians.How was this accomplished?Well,we've already established that "richness",if it does in fact correlate with "form of God" in Philippians,CANNOT be Christ as true God because we too can have the same richness.So working from that starting point,"taking the form of a servant" and "poverty" would be,not that deity took on human form but that the Son of God as a rich man who was heir to a kingdom,who deserved nothing less than to be served as well as a remarkable exaltation,instead humbled himself all the way to an ignominious,gut-wrenching fate on a cross!He served others humbly ,even dying for them,even though he was king and Lord of them.Yes,though he was rich,he became poor for us!
As James Dunn notes in "Christology in the Making"
"When Paul elsewhere speaks of "grace"(gracious gift,or gracious act)in connection with what Christ has done he was always thinking of his death and resurrection.(see esp. Rom. 5:15,21;Gal. 2:20;Eph. 1:6).Nowhere else does he talk of Christ's "gracious act" as his becoming man."p. 121
In review:
If Christ's "richness" was as "pre-existent deity",then *why and how* are we said to be rich within the same,I repeat same, passage?If you insist on interpreting "richness" differently for Christ than for us,essentially,then on what logical exegetical basis would this make sense within the very same passage?Do you believe(or not) that Christ's "richness" in 2 Corinthians 8:9 correlates with his being in the "form of God" in Philippians?If so,then when scripture is allowed to interpret itself,*how* is "richness" defined if we too can have it?Rich as true God?Or rich as children of God/heirs/future kings?Was Christ a child of God?Was he heir and king?Would it not then make sense that he was rich THAT way,as opposed to "rich" as the "2nd person of a triune essence in heaven"?Within 2 Corinthians 8:9,the "grace of Christ" was his "becoming poor",which would explicitly correlate with "made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being found in the likeness of men" from Philippians 2.Agreed? Wouldn't this suggest that, in correlation with 2 Corinthians 8:9, that Philippians 2:5-8 would then be that Christ as a *rich man who was a child of God*(as opposed to a rich pre-existing "true God")humbling himself even to death at the cross,as opposed to God becoming a man?Since the bible always,I repeat always, defines the grace of Christ as his death and resurrection,and never as God becoming a man?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Philippians 2:5-11 and 2 Corinthians 8:9
Because I already wrote sort of an extensive blog on these Philippians scriptures,I will make this one brief.It will not be nearly as thorough as the other so I recommend reading the other one in addition to this one to address any further concerns or questions that you may have.You can find it here:
Does Philippians 2:4-11 prove that God became a man?
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name
The point I desire to make in this blog is these texts' explicit correlation with 2 Corinthians 8:9.This will simplify and make very concise,easy,and clear the intent of the Philippians passages.So let's examine:
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Even trinitarians understand how this correlates with and sheds light upon Philippians 2:5-11.Yet amazingly enough,they still think Christ's "richness" was his "divine identity as the second person of a triune God."Notice this text,however,says that *we too* become rich.Howso?
Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
So being "rich" means being in God's grace and favor,through Christ.My guess would be that this would be as our being his son or daughter,close to him and full of his spirit.As heirs and recipients of an unimaginable imperishable glory,possessing an invaluable relationship with the creator of the universe.Is that not what Yahushua had as the Last Adam before he humbled himself at the cross?So basically there's no reason to read into Christ's "richness" deity equal to his own God's as the second person of three in some mysterious "essence."To do so would be eisegesis.Now that I've covered what Christ's "richness" *really* was(the same kind we can obtain),let's also let scripture define what his grace and poverty was.
Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
and verse 17: For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
From Christ's humbling himself like a good for nothing criminal/slave at the cross for the life and salvation of faithful mankind,we are able to experience the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."It is the "poverty" he experienced by his humiliation at the cross as opposed to the "poverty" he experienced supposedly gaining a "man nature"(according to trinitarians) that is clearly in view,that makes our own "richness" possible!Take note that the texts don't say anything about God humbling himself unto death(That's impossible.Nor is it possible for a "nature" or a "body" devoid of a person to die.),but rather a "man" doing so."Godman" has to be read INTO the texts as an ultimately unwarranted inference.
To make all this even more clear,examine:
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
So the grace of God WAS Christ's "poverty", defined here as Christ's "giving himself for me" and "dying."Notice,once again,that Christ's "poverty"(which correlates explicitly with his humiliation communicated in Philippians 2) is not defined as God becoming a man.But rather as the Last Adam,the sinless and blemishless image of God,being treated as if he deserved utter humiliation,an ignominious fate,a grotesque painful death at the cross.He clearly did NOT deserve this.Yes,his being found in the likeness of men simply meant that he had to die like sinful men though that is not what he was.He was a rich and sinless man,full of his father's spirit,grace,and love.However,despite this,"God made him(Yahushua) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2 Corinthians 5:21)This is how Yahushua humbled himself to be like (sinful)men even though he was the sinless Last Adam.Though Phil 2:7 in the ESV bible says "born in the likeness of men",it could just as well read "being made like men",which reiterates the previous point in the same verse in my opinion,which was that he "made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant."Howso,again?By becoming sin for us and humbling himself so graciously.Men inherited sin from Adam which leads to death.Yahushua had no sin yet became sin for us.Even the first Adam had God's image,so should it be any wonder the Last faithful and true one had the "form of God?"(Phil. 2:6)Form is synonymous with image.(Genesis 1.27; 5.3,2 Corinthians 4.4; Col 1.15)
In summary,the humiliation in view in Philippians should be seen not as God becoming a man to die at the cross but as a very rich man becoming poor for our sake.A sinless heir and king becoming sin for us.
Does Philippians 2:4-11 prove that God became a man?
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name
The point I desire to make in this blog is these texts' explicit correlation with 2 Corinthians 8:9.This will simplify and make very concise,easy,and clear the intent of the Philippians passages.So let's examine:
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Even trinitarians understand how this correlates with and sheds light upon Philippians 2:5-11.Yet amazingly enough,they still think Christ's "richness" was his "divine identity as the second person of a triune God."Notice this text,however,says that *we too* become rich.Howso?
Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
So being "rich" means being in God's grace and favor,through Christ.My guess would be that this would be as our being his son or daughter,close to him and full of his spirit.As heirs and recipients of an unimaginable imperishable glory,possessing an invaluable relationship with the creator of the universe.Is that not what Yahushua had as the Last Adam before he humbled himself at the cross?So basically there's no reason to read into Christ's "richness" deity equal to his own God's as the second person of three in some mysterious "essence."To do so would be eisegesis.Now that I've covered what Christ's "richness" *really* was(the same kind we can obtain),let's also let scripture define what his grace and poverty was.
Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
and verse 17: For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
From Christ's humbling himself like a good for nothing criminal/slave at the cross for the life and salvation of faithful mankind,we are able to experience the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."It is the "poverty" he experienced by his humiliation at the cross as opposed to the "poverty" he experienced supposedly gaining a "man nature"(according to trinitarians) that is clearly in view,that makes our own "richness" possible!Take note that the texts don't say anything about God humbling himself unto death(That's impossible.Nor is it possible for a "nature" or a "body" devoid of a person to die.),but rather a "man" doing so."Godman" has to be read INTO the texts as an ultimately unwarranted inference.
To make all this even more clear,examine:
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
So the grace of God WAS Christ's "poverty", defined here as Christ's "giving himself for me" and "dying."Notice,once again,that Christ's "poverty"(which correlates explicitly with his humiliation communicated in Philippians 2) is not defined as God becoming a man.But rather as the Last Adam,the sinless and blemishless image of God,being treated as if he deserved utter humiliation,an ignominious fate,a grotesque painful death at the cross.He clearly did NOT deserve this.Yes,his being found in the likeness of men simply meant that he had to die like sinful men though that is not what he was.He was a rich and sinless man,full of his father's spirit,grace,and love.However,despite this,"God made him(Yahushua) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2 Corinthians 5:21)This is how Yahushua humbled himself to be like (sinful)men even though he was the sinless Last Adam.Though Phil 2:7 in the ESV bible says "born in the likeness of men",it could just as well read "being made like men",which reiterates the previous point in the same verse in my opinion,which was that he "made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant."Howso,again?By becoming sin for us and humbling himself so graciously.Men inherited sin from Adam which leads to death.Yahushua had no sin yet became sin for us.Even the first Adam had God's image,so should it be any wonder the Last faithful and true one had the "form of God?"(Phil. 2:6)Form is synonymous with image.(Genesis 1.27; 5.3,2 Corinthians 4.4; Col 1.15)
In summary,the humiliation in view in Philippians should be seen not as God becoming a man to die at the cross but as a very rich man becoming poor for our sake.A sinless heir and king becoming sin for us.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Incarnation(a Christology issue)
1 John 4:12:No one has ever seen God.
When mankind fell,God couldn't be reached directly by them without some sort of cleansing or mediation.He couldn't literally dwell amongst them any longer or even be seen by them without their perishing.The ground was cursed,as was humankind and animals etc. after sin entered the picture because of God's perfect justice.Sin deserves recompense.The wages of sin is ultimately death,understandably.God,however,remains holy,perfectly pure and inherently incorruptible,immortal,and benevolent.He is not to be compared to a man in that he could never die or be tempted or suffer corruption as man can.Make no mistake..the milk of the word makes it clear that God CANNOT be seen by men currently except IN those he inhabits by spirit as he speaks and works through them.Yes people can "see" God in those he inhabits. As they deliver his word and speak in his name.As they fulfill his word and demonstrate his wisdom,like Yeshua did far above all others who ever had.
Let's examine with great care and contemplation,seriously and soberly,precisely what occurs when one of the greatest servants and prophets of Yahweh's ever,Moses,wants to see God face to face:
Exodus 33:17 And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “This thing, too, of which you have spoken, I shall do, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.” 18 At this he said: “Cause me to see, please, your glory.” 19 But he said: “I myself shall cause all my goodness to pass before your face, and I will declare the name of Jehovah before you; and I will favor the one whom I may favor, and I will show mercy to the one to whom I may show mercy.” 20 And he added: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”21 And Jehovah said further: “Here is a place with me, and you must station yourself upon the rock. 22 And it has to occur that while my glory is passing by I must place you in a hole in the rock, and I must put my palm over you as a screen until I have passed by. 23 After that I must take my palm away, and you will indeed see my back. But my face may not be seen.”
This is a description of someone so remarkable and glorious that Moses didn't even have to see his full glory to have his own face shine from the encounter.(Ex. 34:29)
It is truths such as these and that this same God created the wonders of the universe and mankind that inspires poetic men like the Psalmists and others to ask questions like these:
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,4 what is man that you are mindful of him,and the son of man that you care for him?
It is precisely because of God's "otherness" and incomprehensibility( in that we're so fallen while he's indescribably holy and to a great extent unknowable by human peabrains) that impelled thoughtful and conscientious men (who recognize our vast inferiority to our maker ) to ask God for some realistic way to reach him.Job said:
"God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together."(Job 9:32,33)
Yes,we naturally feel unworthy to approach God,even to receive eternal life though we have an innate desire for immortality, because of our corruption and fallen state.Yes,even as we do good,bad is in us somewhere.However,God, in his infinite love,affection,consideration,and awesome mercy provided an escape route and even foreordained a mediator and savior to rescue,cleanse,redeem,and reconcile us to him.These words of Job foreshadowed all that God has done for us in Christ!When the full limit of time (Gal. 4:4)had arrived for God's purposes for man to be fulfilled from the beginning to the end of time,Yah sent forth(commissioned)a perfect man born of his spirit through a virgin womb to fulfill what Job longed for and his prophecies from the first book (Gen. 3:15) to the last!
2 Corinthians 5:19: in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation
Jesus was said to be Immanuel,God with us.Trinitarians will automatically,on autopilot,think he's the preexistent Son of God with us.But no,he's the father with us *in* the Son.And it is this Son who is the "incarnation" of God's *word*..of the father himself in a sense.God revealed himself,manifest his personality,wisdom,word and will in Christ so fully that Christ could say to see him was to see the father!
John 14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Make no mistake.I am not advocating modalism or a trinity but rather the bible's clear communication of God in his Son.God revealed in the Last Adam(a perfect sinless man!) by spirit.So Christ wasn't the "incarnation" of a preexistent Son but rather a revelation of God the Father's own self expression and will for mankind,his own love and works and determination to reach us in the way that Job had so desired! As well as the many of us along with Job who recognize a deep seated profound need to reach God in good conscience.(1 Pet. 3:21,Heb. 9:14)God in Christ provided not only a model of his own personality reflected in his beloved for us to hopefully adopt as well but an imputed righteousness to all who exercise faith and love according to the spirit's proddings.God works so exceptionally and fully THROUGH the agency of his beloved Son that Jesus was definitely God with us in many respects!This doesn't make him either that same God(just because God was in him) OR a person of his own God(because God was with him,again.)Finally what Job had hoped for God to make happen,Yahweh has fulfilled for all of us who crave a worthy mediator and blemishless redeemer!
Said of our Messiah:
Colossians 2:9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
because..
Colossians 1:19: For in him all the fullness of God was *pleased to dwell,*
The fullness in Christ was of the father,not the Son.In fact Christ emptied(humbled) himself by fasting and constant prayer,by goodness and faithfulness,so that the father could fill him with that spirit as we're supposed to do.It was the father alone,the God of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,and Jesus that dwelled in Jesus fully with pleasure BY means of his spirit.And this is why Jesus did and said what God would say and do!Even Moses was "God" to Pharaoh because he represented God to Pharaoh and God worked through him quite exceptionally.(Ex. 4:16,7:1)So how much more the Greater Moses,the Last Adam that Moses prefigured be so termed "God" by the monotheistic 1st century faithful Jews and Christians perhaps on occasion.All it meant at that time in history was that Jesus represented God and had power over others,a God given authority.It is through this historical lens we need to look for accuracy in how to determine what it means when others besides the Most High are so termed "God" and not our modern lens of presuppositions gone askew.He was God's Grand and irreplaceable Amen!His Son who he can dramatically pour out his affections and love upon and then through,by making him mediator and Lord,do the same to us!Because,again,we're too unholy to directly reach God.He provided a way,Jesus, through whom he spoke truth and gave us life!(John 14:6)The incarnation of his self expression,character,and revelation.His Son was not the same God,but rather a true man,the Last Adam,born from above as our forerunner to the same kind of adoption and new birth.We're (Christians are) vessels and stones being built up into a spiritual temple for God to inhabit by spirit.Christ made this possible.:)
Examine Jesus' amazing Messianic claim:
Matthew 11:27: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
We have the revelation from Jesus himself that we too can have this intimate knowledge and relationship with God similar to what he has with him!Christ,as the way,truth and life opened up the way for us to be anointed sons and daughters of God,to likewise be beloved children and to receive of the "fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:19: and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is precisely because of Jesus's true humanity,true temptations,true sufferings,and genuine death that God gave him authority to judge.
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment,* because *he is the Son of Man.
This is wonderful because we know we have someone like us(only glorified and exalted beyond what anyone else will ever be) interceeding for us
No one in the presence of Christ thought he was the God of Deut. 6:4.When the crowds saw his miracles they would glorify God for giving such authority to a MAN,the Messiah.It is because Jesus was a man like us that God gave him the authority he has because he can empathize with and understand us like someone who has never been a man ever could.
Why must we go beyond the bible's simple revelations as follows?:
Matthew 9:8:When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had *given* such authority to men.
Matthew 28:18: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been *given* to me.
No these miracles didn't prove he was the God of the Shema, who he confirmed with the scribe in Mark ch. 12(verses 28-34) was his father ALONE,but rather that God was with and in him working fully through him by spirit.As proclaimed in:
Acts 2:22: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know
Jesus doesn't accomplish or know anything without God's spirit working through or bearing witness to him.He doesn't judge..doesn't even know the Revelation(1:1) with out God's granting and allowance.
Acts 17:31 because he(Yahweh) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a *man* whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
So this text proves it is God in Christ judging but it is because of Christ's own sufferings and genuinely being a glorified-beyond-measure true man that he has the gifts he does.:)
Some significant profound texts worthy of serious contemplation and consideration by those inundated in their presuppositions are these that tell us who Christ was.We should take heed and care deeply.
Hebrews 2:16:For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason *he had to be made like his brothers in every way,* in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
I don't know about you but I would never call someone *fully God*(except in that God indwelled him fully just like he can Christians) just like mortal men in every way.In other words,Jesus was a real man,not just a *nature* of one.I think it's blasphemous to say otherwise.I don't personally know how trinitarians in good conscience can say Jesus was a "man nature" as opposed to a real man.If I told you I was God with an added "woman nature" would you say I was a genuine woman?
Hebrews 5:7: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
He wasn't heard because he's God.He was heard because he FEARED GOD.This is a heartfelt declaration of Jesus's own human & poignant reliance upon his creator but also of the fact that reverence in our prayers can equal our own adoption,glorified resurrection,and exaltation.Not equal to Jesus's but nevertheless a gift from above worth seeking with everything we have!Just like Jesus we need to seek,pray,sacrifice,rely,trust,remain faithful and true,earnestly seeking the kingdom prize and God's favor.
More evidence *why* Jesus has been given mediatorship,kingship,and judging privileges:
Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
How awesome is it that because of his own weaknesses,sufferings,death and true state of being a man,though sinless due to prayer and faithfulness and goodness,that Jesus can now intercede for us in sheer empathy and heartfelt care?How moving is it that we have a glorified Lord who was a genuinely mortal man,really tempted,seriously obedient to a God he himself worshipped and served in fear?And that now that One has been given a position second only to Yahweh's at his own God's right hand?Ever interceding,ever loving and caring.Just a moment's consideration of his willingness,eagerness even,to feed the hungry,heal the sick,raise the dead,and feed the sheep would make even a heart of stone melt to the floor.When he walked the earth the kingdom was in everyone's midst indeed!
Is there any reason we should doubt that a God who is the very epitome of love and grace and generosity would fervently desire to gift his Own beloved Son the world?Why would Christ have to be the SAME God who gave him everything he has to be worthy to receive it all?God sustains Christ and lets Christ sustain us.Because he can.
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
The father is automatically an immortal life giver.God gave Jesus the same gift,to be an immortal life giver,upon his resurrection from a genuine death.We cannot live outside nor apart from Christ.He was and is our provision to obtain eternal life from the father through Jesus' agency.For it isn't God nor angels who walk the earth as their main habitat but rather Jesus when he returns and all the sons in him,given to him.The Last Adam and all his faithful followers.Our identity is in him.Our lovely and extraordinary mediator.Who loves us deeply and intercedes for us without hesitation.This was the man who forgave sinners and healed them just because they had faith.We can love and trust and thank him..hopefully forever.This wonderful man prayed:
John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
And how did he love him before the world was founded?As his second person or as an archangel or perhaps some other way?Let's let scriptural authority establish the truth!
1 Peter 1:20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
I know there are many theological *mystery* theories that are read into a plethora of texts.People need to be deprogrammed from the conditioning that God had to become or even wanted to become a man when the easy succint biblical truth is that he foreordained a Son to be the Last Adam.A vessel through whom he could work and make himself,the father, known like never before!This man was an incarnation of God's will,word,self expression,self revelation,person,love,mercy,capacity to redeem and reconcile,care,consideration,you name it.Jesus was and is so full of the father,as opposed to a preexistent son,that we know God because of him more than we ever could have without him.So much like us in every way that God gave him all authority to mediate and judge on behalf of those with whom he could legitimately empathize,having suffered similar ordeals.That,my friends,is the beautiful truth.Jesus was and is the epitome of God working fully through and inhabiting a perfect man,as opposed to the trinitarian definition of a *Godman.*A "nature" nor a "body" with no Jesus the *person* in it could possibly be responsible for our redemption.It's time to throw the trinity philosophies by the wayside and embrace the simple truth.These philosophies lead to more lies and deceptions like the supposed inability to annihilate a soul and even hellfire where these supposedly unkillable souls must have a place to dwell in unimaginable horrors.I honestly believe there could be a truth revolution in regards to these three phenomenally tragic orthodox lies if people would first admit that Jesus *himself* (as opposed to simply a "nature" or "body" with no *Jesus* involved)actually died for the salvation of mankind.Then eyes and minds would light up with revelatory truth and we'd have a Christian movement on our hands.We'd have Muslims,Jehovah's Witnesses,Jews,atheists and others more attracted to the Christian message.One without incomprehensible mysteries that make zero sense.
Purpose statement:
I am not judging anyone's eternal salvation when I expose what I think are their false doctrines.I have no idea who is or isn't genuinely born again and loved (unto salvation)by Yahweh.I am here,simply,to expose the lies,injustices,hypocrisies,and bloodguilt I perceive in the Watchtower organization and much of "Orthodoxy."To bring every thought into captivity to Christ's as I tell what I believe is the truth,promoting justice(and that would include the cessation of gross condemnation of people who think Jesus is Lord and Christ and king without being the same God his own God is,without confessing The Messiah as the second person of a triune Greek substance.MANY have been tortured,banished,killed even, for not being willing to embrace a trinity).I hope everyone will know or come to know that their systems of worship originating from Rome's apostasies(whose origins are ultimately Babylon mysteries) are bloodguilty every bit as badly,if not much more so,than the WT society that they so freely condemn hypocritically.May God free us all from these false religious systems and their unjustified dogmatisms in his Son whose spirit can only guide us into all truth if we love him more than our comfortable heritage and traditions."Christians" shouldn't really be condemning people to a Dante's infinite inferno for confessing 1 Tim. 2:5 ,John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as their creeds instead of some Nicene Hellenization of the much less "mysterious" biblical record.Yes,doctrine is important,and that is why I don't *just* preach "Jesus" and "love" but also what Jesus taught while I expose what I think he would've as well.Again:lies,injustice,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt.We all need to repent daily,seek first the kingdom,& above all love God,Jesus,and people.Let's stop trying to kill people with venomous condemnation to a lake of fire that supposedly never consumes just because they don't believe a philosophical Platonic inference you try to bully them into embracing.I'm perfectly willing to call anyone who says they're a Christian my brother or sister(because I refuse to be so presumptuous as to assume who Jesus would or would not call his brothers and sisters) but they will only call me a heretic who's dead.People need to wake up and start caring.Because WHAT IF me and my unitarian brothers and sisters are loved & approved by Jesus while you trash us and condemn us to your twisted version of gehenna?Fact is if I just make ONE person actually think..if I just plant some little seed anywhere at any time that God can make grow..then I am perfectly content to do so.Even if these blogs do little else than encourage my fellow unitarian brothers and sisters to understand they're not alone and other people "get it"..then I'm also perfectly content with that as well.
When mankind fell,God couldn't be reached directly by them without some sort of cleansing or mediation.He couldn't literally dwell amongst them any longer or even be seen by them without their perishing.The ground was cursed,as was humankind and animals etc. after sin entered the picture because of God's perfect justice.Sin deserves recompense.The wages of sin is ultimately death,understandably.God,however,remains holy,perfectly pure and inherently incorruptible,immortal,and benevolent.He is not to be compared to a man in that he could never die or be tempted or suffer corruption as man can.Make no mistake..the milk of the word makes it clear that God CANNOT be seen by men currently except IN those he inhabits by spirit as he speaks and works through them.Yes people can "see" God in those he inhabits. As they deliver his word and speak in his name.As they fulfill his word and demonstrate his wisdom,like Yeshua did far above all others who ever had.
Let's examine with great care and contemplation,seriously and soberly,precisely what occurs when one of the greatest servants and prophets of Yahweh's ever,Moses,wants to see God face to face:
Exodus 33:17 And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “This thing, too, of which you have spoken, I shall do, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.” 18 At this he said: “Cause me to see, please, your glory.” 19 But he said: “I myself shall cause all my goodness to pass before your face, and I will declare the name of Jehovah before you; and I will favor the one whom I may favor, and I will show mercy to the one to whom I may show mercy.” 20 And he added: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”21 And Jehovah said further: “Here is a place with me, and you must station yourself upon the rock. 22 And it has to occur that while my glory is passing by I must place you in a hole in the rock, and I must put my palm over you as a screen until I have passed by. 23 After that I must take my palm away, and you will indeed see my back. But my face may not be seen.”
This is a description of someone so remarkable and glorious that Moses didn't even have to see his full glory to have his own face shine from the encounter.(Ex. 34:29)
It is truths such as these and that this same God created the wonders of the universe and mankind that inspires poetic men like the Psalmists and others to ask questions like these:
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,4 what is man that you are mindful of him,and the son of man that you care for him?
It is precisely because of God's "otherness" and incomprehensibility( in that we're so fallen while he's indescribably holy and to a great extent unknowable by human peabrains) that impelled thoughtful and conscientious men (who recognize our vast inferiority to our maker ) to ask God for some realistic way to reach him.Job said:
"God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together."(Job 9:32,33)
Yes,we naturally feel unworthy to approach God,even to receive eternal life though we have an innate desire for immortality, because of our corruption and fallen state.Yes,even as we do good,bad is in us somewhere.However,God, in his infinite love,affection,consideration,and awesome mercy provided an escape route and even foreordained a mediator and savior to rescue,cleanse,redeem,and reconcile us to him.These words of Job foreshadowed all that God has done for us in Christ!When the full limit of time (Gal. 4:4)had arrived for God's purposes for man to be fulfilled from the beginning to the end of time,Yah sent forth(commissioned)a perfect man born of his spirit through a virgin womb to fulfill what Job longed for and his prophecies from the first book (Gen. 3:15) to the last!
2 Corinthians 5:19: in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation
Jesus was said to be Immanuel,God with us.Trinitarians will automatically,on autopilot,think he's the preexistent Son of God with us.But no,he's the father with us *in* the Son.And it is this Son who is the "incarnation" of God's *word*..of the father himself in a sense.God revealed himself,manifest his personality,wisdom,word and will in Christ so fully that Christ could say to see him was to see the father!
John 14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Make no mistake.I am not advocating modalism or a trinity but rather the bible's clear communication of God in his Son.God revealed in the Last Adam(a perfect sinless man!) by spirit.So Christ wasn't the "incarnation" of a preexistent Son but rather a revelation of God the Father's own self expression and will for mankind,his own love and works and determination to reach us in the way that Job had so desired! As well as the many of us along with Job who recognize a deep seated profound need to reach God in good conscience.(1 Pet. 3:21,Heb. 9:14)God in Christ provided not only a model of his own personality reflected in his beloved for us to hopefully adopt as well but an imputed righteousness to all who exercise faith and love according to the spirit's proddings.God works so exceptionally and fully THROUGH the agency of his beloved Son that Jesus was definitely God with us in many respects!This doesn't make him either that same God(just because God was in him) OR a person of his own God(because God was with him,again.)Finally what Job had hoped for God to make happen,Yahweh has fulfilled for all of us who crave a worthy mediator and blemishless redeemer!
Said of our Messiah:
Colossians 2:9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
because..
Colossians 1:19: For in him all the fullness of God was *pleased to dwell,*
The fullness in Christ was of the father,not the Son.In fact Christ emptied(humbled) himself by fasting and constant prayer,by goodness and faithfulness,so that the father could fill him with that spirit as we're supposed to do.It was the father alone,the God of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,and Jesus that dwelled in Jesus fully with pleasure BY means of his spirit.And this is why Jesus did and said what God would say and do!Even Moses was "God" to Pharaoh because he represented God to Pharaoh and God worked through him quite exceptionally.(Ex. 4:16,7:1)So how much more the Greater Moses,the Last Adam that Moses prefigured be so termed "God" by the monotheistic 1st century faithful Jews and Christians perhaps on occasion.All it meant at that time in history was that Jesus represented God and had power over others,a God given authority.It is through this historical lens we need to look for accuracy in how to determine what it means when others besides the Most High are so termed "God" and not our modern lens of presuppositions gone askew.He was God's Grand and irreplaceable Amen!His Son who he can dramatically pour out his affections and love upon and then through,by making him mediator and Lord,do the same to us!Because,again,we're too unholy to directly reach God.He provided a way,Jesus, through whom he spoke truth and gave us life!(John 14:6)The incarnation of his self expression,character,and revelation.His Son was not the same God,but rather a true man,the Last Adam,born from above as our forerunner to the same kind of adoption and new birth.We're (Christians are) vessels and stones being built up into a spiritual temple for God to inhabit by spirit.Christ made this possible.:)
Examine Jesus' amazing Messianic claim:
Matthew 11:27: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
We have the revelation from Jesus himself that we too can have this intimate knowledge and relationship with God similar to what he has with him!Christ,as the way,truth and life opened up the way for us to be anointed sons and daughters of God,to likewise be beloved children and to receive of the "fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:19: and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is precisely because of Jesus's true humanity,true temptations,true sufferings,and genuine death that God gave him authority to judge.
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment,* because *he is the Son of Man.
This is wonderful because we know we have someone like us(only glorified and exalted beyond what anyone else will ever be) interceeding for us
No one in the presence of Christ thought he was the God of Deut. 6:4.When the crowds saw his miracles they would glorify God for giving such authority to a MAN,the Messiah.It is because Jesus was a man like us that God gave him the authority he has because he can empathize with and understand us like someone who has never been a man ever could.
Why must we go beyond the bible's simple revelations as follows?:
Matthew 9:8:When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had *given* such authority to men.
Matthew 28:18: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been *given* to me.
No these miracles didn't prove he was the God of the Shema, who he confirmed with the scribe in Mark ch. 12(verses 28-34) was his father ALONE,but rather that God was with and in him working fully through him by spirit.As proclaimed in:
Acts 2:22: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know
Jesus doesn't accomplish or know anything without God's spirit working through or bearing witness to him.He doesn't judge..doesn't even know the Revelation(1:1) with out God's granting and allowance.
Acts 17:31 because he(Yahweh) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a *man* whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
So this text proves it is God in Christ judging but it is because of Christ's own sufferings and genuinely being a glorified-beyond-measure true man that he has the gifts he does.:)
Some significant profound texts worthy of serious contemplation and consideration by those inundated in their presuppositions are these that tell us who Christ was.We should take heed and care deeply.
Hebrews 2:16:For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason *he had to be made like his brothers in every way,* in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
I don't know about you but I would never call someone *fully God*(except in that God indwelled him fully just like he can Christians) just like mortal men in every way.In other words,Jesus was a real man,not just a *nature* of one.I think it's blasphemous to say otherwise.I don't personally know how trinitarians in good conscience can say Jesus was a "man nature" as opposed to a real man.If I told you I was God with an added "woman nature" would you say I was a genuine woman?
Hebrews 5:7: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
He wasn't heard because he's God.He was heard because he FEARED GOD.This is a heartfelt declaration of Jesus's own human & poignant reliance upon his creator but also of the fact that reverence in our prayers can equal our own adoption,glorified resurrection,and exaltation.Not equal to Jesus's but nevertheless a gift from above worth seeking with everything we have!Just like Jesus we need to seek,pray,sacrifice,rely,trust,remain faithful and true,earnestly seeking the kingdom prize and God's favor.
More evidence *why* Jesus has been given mediatorship,kingship,and judging privileges:
Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
How awesome is it that because of his own weaknesses,sufferings,death and true state of being a man,though sinless due to prayer and faithfulness and goodness,that Jesus can now intercede for us in sheer empathy and heartfelt care?How moving is it that we have a glorified Lord who was a genuinely mortal man,really tempted,seriously obedient to a God he himself worshipped and served in fear?And that now that One has been given a position second only to Yahweh's at his own God's right hand?Ever interceding,ever loving and caring.Just a moment's consideration of his willingness,eagerness even,to feed the hungry,heal the sick,raise the dead,and feed the sheep would make even a heart of stone melt to the floor.When he walked the earth the kingdom was in everyone's midst indeed!
Is there any reason we should doubt that a God who is the very epitome of love and grace and generosity would fervently desire to gift his Own beloved Son the world?Why would Christ have to be the SAME God who gave him everything he has to be worthy to receive it all?God sustains Christ and lets Christ sustain us.Because he can.
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
The father is automatically an immortal life giver.God gave Jesus the same gift,to be an immortal life giver,upon his resurrection from a genuine death.We cannot live outside nor apart from Christ.He was and is our provision to obtain eternal life from the father through Jesus' agency.For it isn't God nor angels who walk the earth as their main habitat but rather Jesus when he returns and all the sons in him,given to him.The Last Adam and all his faithful followers.Our identity is in him.Our lovely and extraordinary mediator.Who loves us deeply and intercedes for us without hesitation.This was the man who forgave sinners and healed them just because they had faith.We can love and trust and thank him..hopefully forever.This wonderful man prayed:
John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
And how did he love him before the world was founded?As his second person or as an archangel or perhaps some other way?Let's let scriptural authority establish the truth!
1 Peter 1:20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
I know there are many theological *mystery* theories that are read into a plethora of texts.People need to be deprogrammed from the conditioning that God had to become or even wanted to become a man when the easy succint biblical truth is that he foreordained a Son to be the Last Adam.A vessel through whom he could work and make himself,the father, known like never before!This man was an incarnation of God's will,word,self expression,self revelation,person,love,mercy,capacity to redeem and reconcile,care,consideration,you name it.Jesus was and is so full of the father,as opposed to a preexistent son,that we know God because of him more than we ever could have without him.So much like us in every way that God gave him all authority to mediate and judge on behalf of those with whom he could legitimately empathize,having suffered similar ordeals.That,my friends,is the beautiful truth.Jesus was and is the epitome of God working fully through and inhabiting a perfect man,as opposed to the trinitarian definition of a *Godman.*A "nature" nor a "body" with no Jesus the *person* in it could possibly be responsible for our redemption.It's time to throw the trinity philosophies by the wayside and embrace the simple truth.These philosophies lead to more lies and deceptions like the supposed inability to annihilate a soul and even hellfire where these supposedly unkillable souls must have a place to dwell in unimaginable horrors.I honestly believe there could be a truth revolution in regards to these three phenomenally tragic orthodox lies if people would first admit that Jesus *himself* (as opposed to simply a "nature" or "body" with no *Jesus* involved)actually died for the salvation of mankind.Then eyes and minds would light up with revelatory truth and we'd have a Christian movement on our hands.We'd have Muslims,Jehovah's Witnesses,Jews,atheists and others more attracted to the Christian message.One without incomprehensible mysteries that make zero sense.
Purpose statement:
I am not judging anyone's eternal salvation when I expose what I think are their false doctrines.I have no idea who is or isn't genuinely born again and loved (unto salvation)by Yahweh.I am here,simply,to expose the lies,injustices,hypocrisies,and bloodguilt I perceive in the Watchtower organization and much of "Orthodoxy."To bring every thought into captivity to Christ's as I tell what I believe is the truth,promoting justice(and that would include the cessation of gross condemnation of people who think Jesus is Lord and Christ and king without being the same God his own God is,without confessing The Messiah as the second person of a triune Greek substance.MANY have been tortured,banished,killed even, for not being willing to embrace a trinity).I hope everyone will know or come to know that their systems of worship originating from Rome's apostasies(whose origins are ultimately Babylon mysteries) are bloodguilty every bit as badly,if not much more so,than the WT society that they so freely condemn hypocritically.May God free us all from these false religious systems and their unjustified dogmatisms in his Son whose spirit can only guide us into all truth if we love him more than our comfortable heritage and traditions."Christians" shouldn't really be condemning people to a Dante's infinite inferno for confessing 1 Tim. 2:5 ,John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as their creeds instead of some Nicene Hellenization of the much less "mysterious" biblical record.Yes,doctrine is important,and that is why I don't *just* preach "Jesus" and "love" but also what Jesus taught while I expose what I think he would've as well.Again:lies,injustice,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt.We all need to repent daily,seek first the kingdom,& above all love God,Jesus,and people.Let's stop trying to kill people with venomous condemnation to a lake of fire that supposedly never consumes just because they don't believe a philosophical Platonic inference you try to bully them into embracing.I'm perfectly willing to call anyone who says they're a Christian my brother or sister(because I refuse to be so presumptuous as to assume who Jesus would or would not call his brothers and sisters) but they will only call me a heretic who's dead.People need to wake up and start caring.Because WHAT IF me and my unitarian brothers and sisters are loved & approved by Jesus while you trash us and condemn us to your twisted version of gehenna?Fact is if I just make ONE person actually think..if I just plant some little seed anywhere at any time that God can make grow..then I am perfectly content to do so.Even if these blogs do little else than encourage my fellow unitarian brothers and sisters to understand they're not alone and other people "get it"..then I'm also perfectly content with that as well.
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