I do not know all the things of God and certainly this doctrine has nothing to do with insulting God and bringing him down from His supreme position as Creator and Master of All.
I got people telling me He is not God and was just a man which includes a whole lot more than the JWs. This doctrine was not about the diety of Jesus Christ.
During the time He performed His earthly ministry, He had drained Himself (Phil 2) of all godly power.
Jesus called Himself a man many places in the Scriptures and some translations say mere man.
But Jesus is the LORD, He is God Almighty and while I cannot explain the composition of God confidently, there is real powerful lesson in seeing what I see as a clear false doctrine. Of course Jesus was born of a virgin, correctly a miracle in its own right.
But the Scripture says He drained himself of godly power.
He came in same flesh and blood as us.
Think about when it was time to begin His ministry, He was baptized by John and received the Holy Ghost at that time. He then went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, His period of testing and preparation, where He was with the Satan and the wild beasts.
The temptations took place, He overcame, it says in Luke, that the Devil left Him for a season.
Then and only then DID HE WALK out in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Jesus then walked into the synagogue opened the scroll and read the passage from ISA 61 about why He was there. He then performed His first miracle casting out a demon and did many more afterwards.
Saying Jesus walked with His deity and godly is wrong.
That does not give glory to God for the suffering Jesus endured in His flesh. He learned obedience by the things He suffered. If Jesus had godly power, what was the big deal about overcoming sin?
Hebrew 2:14-15
says He knows how to bring help to us because He went thru the exact same thing we go thru. Since we are not Gods there is a message of comfort and hope in that.
When the church teaches He was both fully God and fully man — at the same time of His ministry — they undermine what Jesus did at the cross. He overcame sin in the flesh.
That is why He came. He defeated it.
An all powerful God did not need to come and defeat sin in His godly power, He could have just spoken the words and and it would happen.
Jesus showed us the way.
We follow Him.
I am in no way saying Jesus is not God.
There is no faith we can walk in the power of the Spirit like Jesus did, if jesus walked with godly power because we are not gods.
But we do the works He did, the very same way. We go thru the furnace of testing and come out with power of the Holy Spirit doing the will of the Father just as Jesus did, dead to His flesh.
The mystery of godliness is great.
1 Tim 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
I am not here to convince people, I don’t want followers so people can comment all they want and disagree so long as they remain civil.
I listen and will continue to seek truth, correction and more light as I prove myself worthy of handling it with my God. Thank you for your input and sincereity in provding it. While I may not have said it in the most political correct way,
I believe this is a big lie of Satan that diminishes the work that Jesus accomplished in the flesh and pricks the belief of His followers such that they believe they cannot walk as Jesus walked and overcome sin in their lives.
That is where this lie leads in my understanding and I see it throughout the church that we have given up overcoming sin and say it is not even possible because Jesus did it while walking with His godly powers and we of course have no hope in following in those footsteps.
1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
Here is a cut and paste of a partial comment someone else (not me) gave on facebook that was arguing Jesus was not God. I show them because they are relevant to the discussion of how He walked prior to be resurrected. Jesus said, “…me a man” who told you the truth I heard from GOD (Jn 8:40) John the Baptist said Jesus was a man (Jn 1:30,33). Peter said Jesus was a man (Acts 2:22), Paul said Jesus is a man many times (Acts 17:31 for one). Here are just some of the verses that say that Jesus was and is a man, and they never say the God-man or any such thing: Jn 1:30, 33, 8:40, Acts 2:22, 17:31, Rom 5:15,5:17, 5:19, 1 Cor. 15:21, 15:45, 15:47, 15:49, 1 Tim 2:5.
The whole weight of Scripture shows Jesus is God.
In fact I see the KING mentioned in the prophets showing us this was Jesus speaking to Isaiah and Jeremiah among others. I am in greater awe of what Jesus did understanding how He walked this earth and endured the suffering He did for my wicked sinful self.
Here are a number of verses, I referenced that speak more to this mystery and speak to the man, the flesh and blood of Jesus, who overcame sin and the devil unlike the first Adam who failed. We are to strive to put on the divine nature of Christ who walked filled with the Holy Spirit. That is my aim and while not dismissing the wonderful forgiveness we have as His children, we are to strive for perfection. Our walk is overcoming as the Lord showed us the way and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us which was what led Him when He came in the flesh.
ReplyDeleteJohn 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God
John 1:30-33 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Note: Jesus got the Holy Spirit when Baptized by John. We see it right here. The power came after He endured temptation in his 40 day testing period, which is symbolic for all us, then Jesus walked out and we see in Luke 4 with the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
ACTS 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know
ACTS 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Romans 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh
1 Cor 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead
1 Cor 15:45-47 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
If our God would be the SEA then Jesus would be a fjord, which runs out from the sea, when you have seen the fjord, then you have seen the sea, because the fjord is a part of the sea and the same as the sea but still not the sea.
ReplyDeleteWe are not here to point who is wrong or who could be a wrong that is boring, we are to share what we see and each one can take what they can manage to receive.
I believe that man is MADE in the image of God, but man is not image of God. That is a difference. God is spirit and will never be as a man in any way, but man is MADE in the image of God. Not even Jesus when He was in the flesh was image of God but image of MAN to show man how God want him to be and to show to the man Fathers Glory in same body.