A Couple Stands For The Truth

Greg 

My sister and her husband, after affirming that Yahweh, the Father, is the one true God – as Jesus taught (John 17:3) - and that Jesus is the Son of God, but not God the Son, had an unpleasant experience with the pastor of the fellowship they were meeting with. The pastor denounced the book “Christ Before Creeds” (which espouses a unitarian theology) that had become a topic of discussion, and he tossed around the ignominious “heretic” label in a sermon, and then he emailed a copy of his sermon to my sister and her husband.  My sister informed me of this unfortunate turn of events, then sent me a screenshot of a Facebook post in which this pastor went on a rant about “orthodoxy” and what his church stands for, and what it won’t stand for.  It appeared to be an episode of grandstanding, but maybe I am wrong - I don’t know his heart.  He may have thought he was doing right, and I’ll leave it at that.  I ask God to be merciful to this man.  I have certainly needed his mercy in my own life.  

I admire the courage of my sister and my brother-in-law for not backing down.   My sister told me she is not mad at anyone, and she expressed love for the people that have opposed them, but she thinks it is best for her family to move on.  They wanted the pastor to know why they now believe what they do, so they sent him the following response by email.  They gave me permission to share it: 
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Thank you for advising us to read Scripture and not derive our theology from anywhere else.  We appreciate your zeal.

John 8:24
“I told you that you would die in your sins: If you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Who did Jesus say he was? Let it be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Jesus called himself many things: Lord, Messiah, Teacher, Son of Man, Son of God, Bridegroom, Servant, a Prophet, the Stone and Cornerstone, the Bread of Life, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, King, Son of David. Other people called Jesus the Messiah, Son of God, Lord, Elijah, John the Baptist, Teacher or Rabbi, a Prophet, Son of David, the Word of God, my lord and my god.

God said of Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”, in several instances throughout the gospels.

-When Jesus was asked if he was the Messiah he answered: “I am” in Mark 16:61-62.
-Jesus told the woman at the well: “I who speak to thee am the Messiah” in John 4:25-26.
-In Luke 4:18-21 Jesus said that he was anointed by God to proclaim good news to the poor.
-In Matthew 26:63-68 the high priest said: “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God”, and Jesus replied, “You’ve said it.”
Matthew 27:11 and Mark 15:2: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied “You’ve said it.”
When Jesus was asked if he was the Messiah and if he was the Son of God he replied “I am” or “You’ve said it”, every time.

When they implied that Jesus was claiming to be God he replied: “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’ because I said I am the Son of God?” in John 10:36.

When the Jews said “Only God can forgive sins!”, Jesus replied: “the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth.”  In fact, he told his disciples THEY had authority to forgive sins in John 20:22.

When the young man called Jesus the Good Teacher, Jesus replied:  “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.”

​When Jesus commanded the sea to be still the disciples said: “Truly you are the Son of God!”

In Matthew 27:43, when Jesus was dying on the cross, the people said: “He trusts in God: let God deliver him now if He wants to, for he said ‘I am God’s Son.’”  NO ONE was saying: “Well if he’s God then let him save himself, he said he was God!”

Matthew 27:54: “Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

Jesus never claimed to be God in any way shape or form, and when people implied that he did say that, he denied it!  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:6: “Do not go beyond what is written.”

James 1:13: God cannot be tempted by evil YET Hebrews 4:14 says Jesus was tempted in every way we are.

God cannot die, yet Jesus died.  Scripture says nothing about Jesus’ “human nature” dying, it just said Jesus died.  Which would include all of him.

God is perfect, yet in Hebrews 2:10 (we read that) the pioneer of their salvation (Jesus) was made perfect through what he suffered.
The reason why Jesus called himself the Son of Man was because he was referencing Daniel 7:  “And I saw one like a son of man (or human being) coming with the clouds of heaven.  And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before Him.  To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.”  Daniel 7:13-14. In verse 27 it says “The kingship and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.”  This was the Good News Jesus was proclaiming! The kingdom of God was at hand!

In the Old Testament the Messiah was spoken of as early as Genesis chapter 3.  This is how Jesus could say to the Jews: “Before Abraham was, I am he.” (ego eimi in Greek)

So who did Jesus claim to be while on earth?  The human Son of God. Son of God does not mean that he was God, only that he was the Son of God.  Adam in the list of genealogies was listed as “Adam, the son of God.”  This is why Paul spoke of Adam as “a type of Him who was to come.”  For this reason Jesus is referred to as the “Second Adam.”  These are the only two human men to ever exist without a biological human father.

Messiah means “anointed one.” The kings in the Old Testament and the priests were all anointed. Jesus is called THE Messiah because he is the only one to hold both positions; he is our King and Priest.

Colossians 1:15-20: Jesus is called the image of the invisible God. Just as we are to bear the image of Christ (by acting in his character), the only perfect human being was the image of the Father’s character.  This is how Jesus could say “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”  Just as we pray, “Lord, let them see Jesus in me.”  Jesus prayed “may they be one as You and I are one.  May they be one in us.”

“For in him (Jesus) all things were created.” Notice it says in him and through him. Not BY him. Jesus was said to have been “the lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world” in Revelation 13:8. He wasn’t in actuality, but that was always the plan. This is how God created the world “through” Jesus.

Colossians 1:19: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him.”  Paul said to the Ephesians “Being rooted and established in love… that you may be filled with the fullness of God.” Colossians was not saying Jesus is God, but that God was directing Jesus.

In Hebrews 1 Paul asks: “For to which of the angels did God ever say “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”? He also says (in verse 10): “In the beginning Lord you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” Continuing in his letter, Paul says just 6 verses later: “It is not to the angels that he subjected the WORLD TO COME ABOUT WHICH WE ARE SPEAKING.”  God has given Jesus the authority and power to create the world to come! Jesus told his disciples “I am going to prepare a place for you.” It is not even saying that Jesus created the present heavens and earth at all.

John 1:1: In the order of the original Greek: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was the word.” This is written just as Lady Wisdom is said to have been separate from God, but we know God is wisdom Himself. “Logos” just means “word, utterance, speech.” This makes perfect sense because we know “God SAID let there be light and there was light.” Everything was made by God’s word. The first 8 English Bibles (before the KJV) translated verse 2 as “It was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through it, and without it not one thing came into being. In it was life; and the life was the light of men.” The first 8 English Bible translators understood John 1 to be talking about God’s utterance and so spoke of it as an “it.” The KJV changed it to “him” just as they changed 1 John 5:8 from “The water the spirit and the blood” to “testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.”

With this understanding when we read the next verses it makes perfect sense. John 1:14 “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” It's true! Jesus is the Word of God now, for “...in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son.” God used to speak through His prophets, now He is speaking through Jesus. The Scriptures are not confusing if we do not cancel any of it out to fit our own theology.

Philippians 2:6-8: “Who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant, and being found in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  The Greek word used for form is “morphe” which simply means appearance, which in the Scripture itself clarifies.  Remember, Jesus was called the “image of God”, this is just stating the truth in another way.  Unlike Adam, who grasped at being like God, Christ, the Last Adam, “emptied himself” of all his reputation and things due to him as the true child of the King.   He lived in the same fashion as other men.  He humbled himself to the word and will of God.  He did not “toot his own horn”, but instead called himself “the son of man”, which, in the Aramaic language he spoke, meant “a man.”  He trusted in God and became obedient, even to a horrible and shameful death on a cross.  The Philippian church was having problems. There was “selfish ambition” (1:15; 2:3) and “vain conceit” (2:3).  So, Paul wrote a letter to the believers that, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

Now as for Genesis saying “Let us make man in our image.”  It was not foreshadowing a time when we’d know about a Trinity since the idea is nowhere found in Scripture. God was speaking to His divine council.  Angels are also said to be “sons of God” unlike animals.  Now, God made us but He was talking to His council, like a racecar driver who’s doing all the driving says “Let us win this race!”  In 1 Kings 22:19 God was sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven were to His right and to His left, “and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’” He was speaking to His angels when He said “Let us go confound their language” and when He said, “Look they have become like one of us knowing good from evil.”  For surely the angels knew good and evil or how else would Satan have deceived and lied to Eve?

“My LORD said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” In Hebrew it says: “YHWH said to my adonee.” Adonee is NEVER used to talk about God only the human lords. With this in mind we can see why Thomas declared “My lord and my god!” to Jesus and Jesus didn’t rebuke him.  Thomas wasn’t calling him YHWH, he was calling Jesus his lord and master. “For there are many gods and many lords” - god is just a title which means master.  Jesus is certainly our Master and Lord.

Our family is not denying any Bible truths, only man-made doctrines and creeds. The “orthodox” (traditional) understanding isn’t always right.  History has definitely shown the majority ideology isn’t. Jesus said to them “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.”  Lastly, the antichrist is the one who denies Jesus has come in real flesh (as a human).  Not one who denies Jesus’ supposed half god half man status.

As for our family there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
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- Tom and Megan Talley