Is Jesus Divine?

June 10, 2020 by  
Filed under Faith, Faith Articles

By Warren Mueller –

In John 14:28, Jesus says “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” The divinity of Jesus is sometimes questioned based on the meaning of “the Father is greater than I.” These meanings were the subject of a debate about the divinity of Jesus known as Arianism. Arius was an elder in the church of Alexandria who lived between 250-336AD. Arius wrote that the Son “is a perfect creature, yet not as one among other creatures; a begotten being yet not as one among other beings.” From this it appears that Arius thought that Jesus was a special creature compared to humans. A key controversial concept about Jesus being a creature versus God revolves around the term “begotten.”

John 3:34-37 says that Jesus is one sent from God who speaks the words of God and has been given the spirit of God without limit. The Father has given Jesus authority over everything such that Jesus has the power to reconcile sinful men to God. The prophets spoke the words of God and were considered to be filled by the spirit of God while doing so but nowhere does the Bible say that anyone received the spirit of God without limit.  This implies that Jesus has all of the spirit of God which would not be possible for a creature to attain.  Also, the Jews were offended by Jesus and considered it blasphemy when he claimed the power to forgive sins as this was something only God could do (Luke 5:22-24 NIV).

In John 10:30 Jesus claims to be “one” with the Father. The Jews present pick up stones to kill Jesus because they clearly understood that Jesus claimed to be God. In verses 33-38, Jesus says he is the Son of God; that he has been sent by the Father and that the miracles he performs prove that “the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” He says that even though there are other humans that are sons of God, he clearly distinguishes himself as unique which further enrages them because they understand him to say that he is God.

Jesus knew his purpose was to die on the cross; that he and the Father would be glorified by his death; that the power of the devil or prince of the world would be broken by his death and that the Father accepts and honors those who follow Jesus.  Jesus is God and offered him-self as a sin sacrifice once for mankind. If Jesus is a creature, he would have to make innumerable offerings as did the Jewish priests. Hebrews 10:10 says that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

In John 14:10, Jesus is astounded by Philip’s request for Jesus to show the Father to the disciples.  He tells Philip that “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  So how can you say, Show us the Father?”   He then again says that the Father is living in him and that he says and does precisely what the Father is doing.  This only makes sense if Jesus and the Father are one God.

Christians worshipped Jesus as God for over two hundred years before Arius questioned his divinity. The evidence for Arianism is limited to verses that use the words “begotten” and that the Father is “greater” than Jesus. There are multiple meanings for the Greek words “begotten” and “greater” that can support either view so we must look to other verses in the Bible to help us decide the best meanings of these words. There are many verses in the Bible that support the view that Jesus is God while there are none that clearly support the idea that Jesus is a creature so it is apparent that the Arian view is false. Therefore, Jesus must have meant that, while Jesus was on earth, he was lesser in position not different in essence with the Father.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”  (Phillipians 2:5-8 NIV).

The Divine

May 7, 2019 by  
Filed under Christian Life, Family Focus

By Norma Vera –

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch  over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-11 KJV).

Placide Clappeau a French wine merchant wrote the song “O Holy Night” in 1847. The lyrics of his chorus ask us to fall on our knees and acknowledge this great event (Christ’s birth): “Fall on your knees, O hear the angels voices, O Night Divine, O night when Christ was born!”

In his book Then Sang My Soul, Robert Morgan said, “How odd it was that a wine merchant, a penniless Parisian, and liberal clergyman should give Christianity one of its holiest hymns about the birth of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.”

God’s wisdom is full of the unexpected, whether it is lowly shepherds receiving the Angel’s announcement of the birth of Christ, or a French wine merchant writing a holy song.

Before the angels sang, it was just an ordinary night, nothing special or remarkable about it. What made it divine was the visitation. It is always His visitation that changes the ordinary into extraordinary and the common man to a vessel of honor.

The Three Pillars of Faith

March 21, 2024 by  
Filed under For Him

By Richard Wines 

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God’” (Psalm 14:1 NAS).  How do I know God exists?  This is an important question.  If I’m to influence the world and overcome doubt, my reason for believing needs to be stronger than a warm feeling in my heart.  The Bible says that only fools deny God, but at the same time many intellectuals that I admire are atheists.  How do respond to their attacks?

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The Thing Trap

November 15, 2023 by  
Filed under Family Focus

By Sarah Onderdonk 

Overcoming Unhealthy Give & Take

I received a special gift once. I remember reaching deep into a cake-size blue box and working through clouds of white tissue paper. My fingers landed on cold metal. I remember audibly taking in some air as I retrieved a lovely antique silver box covered in textured swirls and bygone metal loops. I touched my hand to my heart and said “It’s just beautiful… thank you.” To which the gift giver quietly but purposefully relayed a condition around which the gift could be kept.

So I had just opened and accepted a gift that was not really a gift. But a strange loan of sorts. I could feel the blood swoosh from my feet to my head as I contemplated the deeper meaning behind the gift and what it said about the giver's feelings toward me.

Many years have passed and the sting of that incident has faded. What’s more, this unusual present would ultimately become one of life’s most special gifts. Because it would begin for me an uncomfortable but spiritually essential journey to a place of discernment about the things in life that really matter.

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Refreshing Our Perspective on Prayer

October 24, 2023 by  
Filed under Family Focus

By Sarah Onderdonk  

desensitize vb:  to make insensitive or non-reactive to a sensitizing agent (1)  
Familiarity with things can desensitize us.  I used to be fearful of the highway commute from my suburban Texas home to downtown Dallas where I attend seminary. You could shoot a Dirty Harry movie on stretches of Dallas roadway and years spent cruising around lazy-river-like suburban roads with the kids had not prepared me for a 75-mile round trip alongside commuters who drive like they're going after blinking Pac Man fruit.  After, ahem, a number of years now spent in slow pursuit of my degree, the fangs of the highway commute have sanded down a bit. Today, it's just a long drive in a car and, to be honest, some days it might seem like I'm going after the fruit. You see, I've been desensitized to the fear because it is now familiar to me.

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