The Trinity & Diety Of Christ

tHE trinity and dEity of cHrist Copyright 1985,1993,2001,2007 Crossroads Full Gospel International Ministries All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Short extracts may be used for review purposes. Except otherwise stated, Bible quotes come from the King James Version. 1611 Elizabethan English is updated in some cases to reflect present terminology, without changing the true meaning of the word. Extracts from “The Expositor's Study Bible” are identified as E.S.B. Copyright © 2005 Published by, and the sole property of, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, Baton Rouge, LA, and extracts from the Swaggart Bible Commentary series are identified as S.B.C. Copyright © World Evangelism Press® Extracts from the Amplified Bible are identified as Amp. Old Testament Copyright © 1962, 1964 by Zondervan Corporation. New Testament Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Extracts from the New International Version are identified as N.I.V. Copyright 1973,1978,1984 by The International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Also used: The New Testament: An Expanded Translation (Wuest) translated by Kenneth S. Wuest. Copyright © 1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bracketed comments following some scriptures assist the reader in understanding the intended meaning of these verses We acknowledge the additional works of the various Scholars and Bible Commentaries used in conjunction with the College material. This is not to say that we agree with all their theology, but we certainly value their contribution to the Body of Christ. Published by: Crossroads Publications 10681 Princes Highway Warrnambool Victoria 3280 Australia CONTENTS THE TRINITY & DEITY OF CHRIST.....................................1 THE TRINITY......................................................................1 THE HOLY ONE..................................................................4 THE DIMENSIONAL FACTOR..........................................7 THE PRE-EXISTENT CHRIST.........................................15 tHE trinity & dEity of cHrist THE TRINITY The term “Trinity” is generally acknowledged to have first been used by the church father Tertullian (A.D.145-220), and is derived from the Latin “trinitas.” It is a term that denotes “the specifically Christian doctrine that God is a unity of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The word itself does not occur in the Bible.” 1 There is one true triune God, as we have learned, eternally coexistent in three persons Who constitute the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit. These three dwell together in perfect unity forming one heavenly government called God, and each of the three Divine persons we recognize to be God. “All three Persons of the Godhead are Divine and can be spoken of individually as “God” and collectively as “one God in the sense of unity.” 2 We can confirm the existence of the Trinity from scripture: 1. JOHN 20:17 . . . (Jesus said), “ ‘I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God (God the Father).’ ” This confirms that the Father is God - God the Father. 2. JOHN 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (God the Word). JOHN 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. These verses confirm that the Word is God - God the Word, and that He took on flesh and became all man while still being all God. 1 3. ACTS 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit . . . ACTS 5:4 . . . Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto men but unto God (God the Holy Spirit).” This confirms that the Holy Spirit is God - God the Holy Spirit. There are also many other scriptures which confirm the truth of the Trinity, the triune government of God. “. . .All three Persons of the Godhead are Divine and can be spoken of individually as “God” and collectively as “one God in the sense of unity. . .” Thus there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, yet these three persons still form one God of unity: 1 JOHN 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. MARK 12:29 And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:4) GENESIS 1:26 And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness (the creation of man was preceded by a Divine consultation; as well, the pronouns “Us” and “Our” proclaim the consultation held by the Three Persons of the Divine Trinity, Who were One in the creative work; “image” and “likeness” enable us to have fellowship with God; however, it does not mean we are gods, or can become gods; “in Our Image after Our Likeness” actually refers to true Righteousness and Holiness [Ephesians 4:24]) (E.S.B.): and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea . . . . ” 2 The triune government of God has always been: one in unity, one in desire and one in purpose. Each Divine being in the Trinity is a distinct personality but is identified with the others through the one Divine Nature. These three persons are equally Divine, uncreated and uncaused, eternal and omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. The New Testament teaching of Jesus revealed Yahweh, the Creator - God of the Jews, as Father. “While the existence of one God as a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit involves concepts beyond our understanding, what is most important is that in the coming of the Son, we have a stunning revelation of the fact that God is the Father. This could come only through Jesus. As Christ said, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Mat.11:27; Lk.10:21-22; Jn.14:1-13). In presenting Himself as Son, Jesus presented an aspect of God completely unknown before the Incarnation. He spoke of God as His Father - the One they claimed as their God - saying to the Jewish leaders, “Though you do not know Him, I know Him” (Jn.8:54--55). Only in Jesus do we learn that God is Father. Only in seeking God as Father do we begin to realize the intimacy of the relationship that can exist between the Believer and the Lord.” 3 (underlines added) Israel had known God by many different names but as Father, only in the sense of Creator (Deuteronomy 32:6). His relationship with them was corporate rather than individual (S.B.C. John, pg.16). When Jesus spoke of God as Father, He aroused tremendous hostility in the religious leaders of the day. The awesome God Yahweh was a distant God whose name was too holy to be spoken, let alone identified in the intimate way Jesus did. The revelation of God as triune came very clearly and specifically in the New Testament. “With the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Trinity comes much more into view. . . . The teaching of Jesus is Trinitarian throughout. He spoke of the Father Who sent Him, of Himself as the One Who reveals the Father, and the Spirit as the One by Whom He and the Father work. In fact, the interrelations between Father, Son, 3 and Spirit are emphasized throughout (Jn.14:7, 9-10). He declared with emphasis: “I will pray the Father and He will give you another Counselor (Advocate), to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth” (Jn.14:16-26). There is thus a distinction made between the Persons of the Godhead, and also an identity. The Father Who is God sent the Son, and the Son Who is God sent the Spirit, Who is Himself God. “. . .The teaching of Jesus is Trinitarian throughout. He spoke of the Father Who sent Him, of Himself as the One Who reveals the Father, and the Spirit as the One by Whom He and the Father work. . .” In the Commission given by Christ before His Ascension, instructing His Disciples to go into the whole world with His Message, He made specific reference to Baptism as “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is significant that the Name is One, but within the bounds of the One Name there are three distinct Persons. In fact, the Trinity as triunity could not be more clearly expressed (Mat.28:19). Early Christians knew themselves to be reconciled to God the Father, and that the reconciliation was secured for them by the atoning Work of the Son, and that it was mediated to them as an experience by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Trinity was to them a fact before it became a Doctrine.” 4 (underlines added) THE HOLY ONE God the Word took on flesh through the virgin birth and became a human being called Jesus. He was called the Son of God and the Son of Man, being truly identified with both God and man. He became, without ceasing to be God (God the Word), a perfect sinless man. He stripped Himself of the right to use His Godly power while on earth, including the knowledge He possessed as God the 4 Word, and forsook His heavenly rights as God. Therefore during Jesus’ earthly ministry, God’s miraculous power was released by the faith that Jesus obtained as a man. Jesus possessed the Divine Nature which empowered Him to walk in fellowship with the Father all the days of His earthly life. Indeed He said to His disciple Phillip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), His sacrificial love showing forth the Father’s nature and character. “. . .God the Word took on flesh through the virgin birth and became a human being called Jesus. He was called the Son of God and the Son of Man, being truly identified with both God and man. . .” After Jesus died on the cross, scripture tells us that the place to which He descended was Hades - a place of departed spirits of the dead. But Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:31 reveal that Jesus’ soul was not left in hell (Hades), and neither did His physical body experience corruption. PSALM 16:10 For You (God) will not leave My (Jesus’) soul in hell (Sheol); neither will You (God) suffer Your Holy One (Jesus) to see corruption (decay of His physical body). ACTS 2:31 He (the psalmist) seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul (spirit and soul) was not left in hell (Hades), neither did His flesh see corruption. The prophetic words of Psalm 16:10 were fulfilled when God raised Jesus from the dead. ACTS 2:32 This Jesus has God raised up (speaks of a physical resurrection), whereof we all are witnesses (of the fact). 5 MATTHEW 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The exact location in “the heart of the earth” is not revealed by scripture. Some Christians cannot and do not believe that Jesus went to the lower parts of Hades. They believe that after physical death Jesus did descend into Hades, but only Upper Hades (known as Paradise) not the burning side of hell. Many Christians, however, believe that, after Jesus died on the cross, He descended for three days and nights into Lower Hades, also called Lower Sheol. As stated, the exact location in the heart of the earth is not given. If Jesus did go into Lower Sheol, the forces of darkness could not have touched or harmed Him in any way because He was perfect and sinless. Jesus may have descended into a waiting place in the heart of the earth attached to Hades but devoid of flames. “. . .After Jesus died on the cross, scripture tells us that the place to which He descended was Hades - a place of departed spirits of the dead. . .” Whatever view is adopted, we should all remember that this doctrine is essentially a peripheral one if we adhere to the foundational truths of the Cross (the Atonement), and we should therefore not allow it to become divisive - to cause us to be separated from our brothers and sisters in Christ who hold different views. What we should agree on is that Jesus was sinless before the Cross, on the Cross and after the Cross, and that He was never tainted by sin in any way. We should also agree that what He did at Calvary paid the price to set us free. For this reason we can say it is through the “finished work of the Cross” that our redemption was won. 6 THE DIMENSIONAL FACTOR Background Reading: John 1:1-18 The dictionary meaning of incarnation is “the embodiment of Deity in a human form.” This union of the Divine Identity and the human identity was found in Emmanuel, meaning “God with us”: MATTHEW 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14.) Being Deity and humanity united, Jesus could assume the obligations of human treason, satisfy the claims of justice, and thereby bridge the chasm between God and man. Now the Divine identity of Jesus was God the Word and the human identity of God the Word was Jesus. The way to explain this seemingly inexplicable enigma is to say that Jesus the man was living in one dimension and God the Word was living in another dimension, yet within the same being. “. . .Being Deity and humanity united, Jesus could assume the obligations of human treason, satisfy the claims of justice, and thereby bridge the chasm between God and man. . .” There are actually three planes or dimensions of existence pertaining to life. The first plane is the God-dimension of existence which only God inhabits. The second is the spiritual plane of existence in which all spirit beings, both good and evil, live. The third is the physical plane of existence in which all physical life dwells. This includes the physical body of man. Therefore Emmanuel existed with a twin identity, in three dimensions or planes of existence, as one Being. So Emmanuel lived 7 in three dimensions, as both Jesus the man, a perfect man, and God the Word, the second member of the Trinity. And within the Goddimension, He therefore did not cease to exercise the functions which belonged to Himself as God the Word. Note: The God-dimension is not heaven! The God-dimension is a personal plane of existence from which all life has come, and on which all life relies (Hebrews 1:2-3). From this plane of existence, the Light of God is released into the second and third planes of existence. These two are totally reliant on the first. All things exist because of the creative force that exists in the first plane - that being God. He is that eternal and everlasting force. What was originally created by Him in perfection, however, has been corrupted by the sin of others. Also note that man on earth lives within both the spiritual and physical planes or dimensions, for he is both spiritual - an eternal being - and physical flesh. Only the Trinity - God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit - inhabit the first plane or dimension. These three Beings, Who constitute the holy heavenly Government called God, are omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, uncreated and uncaused. They had no beginning and will have no end, being selfsufficient and in need of nothing. This is in direct contrast to those who dwell on the other two planes or dimensions of existence. These require help from God in order to exist. Almighty God Who lives on the God-plane of existence chose from the beginning of time to create the other two planes, so ultimately all life is dependent upon its Creator, God, for its very existence. “. . .Therefore Emmanuel existed with a twin identity, in three dimensions or planes of existence, as one Being - as both Jesus the man, a perfect man, and God the Word, the second member of the Trinity. . .” 8 Concerning Jesus, His Deity did not add to His humanity, and His humanity did not detract from His Deity. COLOSSIANS 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. JOHN 8:58 Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was (brought into existence) I Am (eternally existent).” He was one Being with two identities, living within the three dimensions of existence, all God and all man, Emmanuel, God with us. It is important to note, however, that the two identities of Jesus, the Divine Identity and the human identity, never merged, even though they remained connected. Although He never ceased to be God, Jesus never functioned as God in His earthly life and ministry. Rather He functioned as a perfect man, filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to do the Father’s will as He activated His faith. ACTS 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. Jesus, functioning in His human nature and thinking with His human mind, could not call upon His Divine power or foreknowledge to assist Him in His earthly walk and ministry. This was why He needed the presence and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit to do that which He (in His human identity) was unable to do. So by the Spirit’s power, Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, prophesied, taught and endured temptation. He needed to depend completely on the Holy Spirit, as man does, while He walked the earth - for it is not man who does these works, but rather the power of the Spirit working through man! This despite His own conscious awareness that He was indeed God (John 8:58). If Jesus had been functioning with the full power of the Divine Nature here on earth, there would have been no need for God to anoint and empower Him with the Holy Spirit (for God the Word is already omnipotent - having all power)! 9 Furthermore, as we see in the Word, Jesus was tempted during His earthly walk: HEBREWS 4:15 For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are (to leave the prescribed will of God), yet without sin. MATTHEW 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. If Jesus was tempted, it means that it was possible for Him to sin, for the Bible writers could not have used the word “tempted” unless this possibility was real, (e.g. Hebrews 4:15, Matthew 4:1). If Jesus had been operating in His identity as God the Word, it would not have been possible for Him to sin, for God cannot sin (and therefore cannot be tempted)! “. . .Jesus, functioning in His human nature and thinking with His human mind, could not call upon His Divine power or foreknowledge to assist Him in His earthly walk and ministry. . .” So within the Divine Identity of Emmanuel, there is no possibility of sin at all, not in any way or to any degree. This is because if God were to sin, He would be contradicting His very own word, i.e. saying one thing and doing another, which of course is impossible for God (James 1:17; Romans 3:4; John 17:17). NUMBERS 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: has He said, and shall He not do it? or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good? However within Christ’s human identity, as with Adam and Eve before the Fall, there existed the potential to sin, i.e. to disobey 10 God. As we have said, Christ possessed this human nature and therefore the potential to sin - to give over to His own human desires. Otherwise the temptations would not have been genuine. As has already been stated, we see His struggle with His own human desire which departed from the will of the Father prior to the crucifixion (Matthew 26:39). Yet He dealt with this divergence in a different way to Adam! Christ went to the Cross with a human nature. To do so, He had to submit completely to the will of the Father. And unlike Adam, He passed the test, that of total obedience, regardless of the cost to self. Whereas Adam chose to self-rule, Jesus chose the Holy Spirit ruled life (as we Christians should also do [Romans 12:1-2]). However, let us be clear - Jesus’ character determined His choices, not His human desires. His character caused Him to desire that which was above His human desire. Therefore His ultimate desire was a holy desire, not a carnal one based on human emotions or logic. His desire was never self-serving, only God serving. We, after the Cross, in the power of the Spirit, are to govern our lives by this holy desire that we are now partakers of through the grace of the Divine Nature. As we have said, the two identities of Emmanuel, the human identity and the Divine Identity, never merged. Otherwise the testing He went through would have been a farce. He would also not have needed the Anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to do the will of the Father and operate in the miraculous (Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18-19). Jesus, though God the Word, functioned as a perfect man during His life and ministry, and identified with man in this regard, being wholly dependent upon the Holy Spirit. His dependence on the Holy Spirit was to be the same as Adam’s, no more and no less. He, like Adam, had to partake of the Divine Nature, even though as God the Word He actually owned it. He did not assume the rights and privileges that were His as an owner of the Divine Nature. Rather He was fully dependent on the Holy Spirit and partook of the energies and graces of the Divine Nature in order to walk in righteousness. This He did to an extent that no other man had ever done. As Jesus the Man, He remained at all times fully God and fully man. He remained omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient as God, but not as man. As a man Jesus was tested, and as a man, conducted His ministry within the 11 limitations of His human identity. The dimensional factor helps us understand how all this was possible. “. . .The two identities of Emmanuel, the human identity and the Divine Identity, never merged. . .” Only God has the Divine Nature in its fullness for He owns it, the Divine Nature being part of Who He is. Adam, through Divine connection, was originally able to partake of the Divine Nature which energized his human nature. This gave him the desire and empowerment to live a Godly life and to serve God. When Adam sinned against God, he and his descendants lost their right to partake of the energies and graces of the Divine Nature. However this right is now restored to those who are “in Christ”: 2 PETER 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and Precious Promises (pertains to the Word of God, which alone holds the answer to every life problem): that by these (Promises) you might be partakers of the Divine Nature (the Divine Nature implanted in the inner being of the believing sinner becomes the source of our new life and actions; it comes to everyone at the moment of being “Born-Again”), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (This presents the Salvation experience of the sinner, and the Sanctification experience of the Saint.) (E.S.B.) The energies and graces of the Divine Nature are given to empower us to undertake and complete all that God has given us to do. Indeed as we yield to the Spirit of Grace, the Divine Nature supplies us with the passion and power we need to do God’s will. We do not own it, God does. But by His grace He causes a Divine connection to take place so that His Divine Nature is imparted to us at regeneration. (Note: This is a positional blessing. The Divine Nature is really expressed in our lives as we yield to the Holy Spirit and partake of its energies and graces.) 12 Note: As human beings we are provided with access to the Divine Nature of God to the extent that we are not owners but rather partakers of it for the purpose of living an abundant life (through obeying God / doing God’s will). The higher purpose involved here was and is to have a total reliance on the Holy Spirit and the power He brings to us to walk in righteousness. Then man walks in His potential and God gains the glory which is rightfully His. This reliance and relationship of dependence and love will continue for all eternity. As God the Word, Emmanuel owned the Divine Nature, which made Him God. But as Jesus the man with a human nature, Emmanuel, like Adam, was connected to the Divine Nature to partake of it, so as to have the desire and power to do God’s will. This was even though “in Him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). This made Him completely reliant on the Holy Spirit during His earthly walk. Christ forsook the privilege of the graces of His very Divine Nature so as to become the second Adam. As the second Adam, He relied on the Holy Spirit to energize His human nature with the grace of the Divine Nature. This was a work of the Holy Spirit through relationship with Jesus the man. The grace of the Divine Nature flowed freely through Jesus the man to order the thinking of his mind and heart. “. . .Man, whether Adam before the Fall or Jesus, needs the graces of the Divine Nature in order to be energized to live according to God’s holy standard and will. . .” Therefore Emmanuel’s human identity consists of Jesus having a human nature and being a partaker of the Divine Nature. Emmanuel’s Divine Identity consists of God the Word as owner of the Divine Nature. The difference is that God (including God the Word) needs no other than Himself, and man, whether Adam before the Fall or Jesus, needs the graces of the Divine Nature in order to be energized to live according to God’s holy standard and will. This is how God created man to live (Acts 17:28) - so that man, being reliant 13 on God and so a partaker of His graces, would not fall but reach the potential he was created to reach, day by day. Let us then read the following article in this light, differentiating between the two identities of Emmanuel. Professor Renald E. Showers wrote of the union of the human and Divine Natures in Jesus Christ in this article entitled “The Hypostatic Union Of Jesus Christ.” The word “hypostatic” refers to the real essence of the person or thing, therefore, as applied here, the real essence of the incarnate Christ within this union of man and God. A portion of this article is quoted as follows: “The Relationship of Christ’s Two Natures in the Hypostatic Union First, the two natures are united without loss of separate identity. Christ’s human nature always remains human, and His divine nature always remains divine. There is no mixture of the attributes of one nature with those of the other. A mixture would cause the human nature to cease being a human nature, the divine nature to cease being a divine nature, and Christ to cease being fully God and fully Man. A mixture would change the real essence of the incarnated Christ. Second, the two natures are united without either losing any of its attributes. When Christ became incarnated, His divine nature did not lose any of its attributes, and He did not take to Himself just a partial human nature. His divine nature remained a complete divine nature, and He took to Himself a complete human nature. Thus, He is fully God and fully Man. If either nature were minus any of its attributes, Christ’s essence would be different than it is. “. . .Although Christ has two complete natures, He remains one person. He is not two persons. The attributes of both natures belong to His person. . .” Third, although Christ has two complete natures, He remains one person. He is not two persons. The attributes of both natures belong to His person. While on earth, Christ performed some 14 functions in the realm of His humanity (He walked from place to place, John 4:3–6) and other functions in the realm of His deity (He held the whole universe together, Colossians 1:17), but in both instances one person was acting. Thus, at the same time this one person could be physically tired and omnipotent, growing in wisdom and omniscient, finite and infinite, limited to one location and omnipresent.” 5 (underlines added) THE PRE-EXISTENT CHRIST The Father has decreed that His Divine Light should come through Christ to the believing sinner to remove all spiritual darkness from his spirit. In this, eternal life comes not as a result of some spiritual energy or dynamic, but through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus eternal life only comes to us through the Divine relationship between the Believer and his Lord. When a sinner opens up to the influential graces of God by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, a conviction of sin and the revelation of Jesus as Saviour will cause the repentant to be wed to Christ, the Light of the world. He was given by God for us and to us so that whosoever would believe on Him and commit their life to Him, not just for now but for eternity, should not remain in spiritual death. Rather they should gain spiritual life by entering into relationship with our Heavenly Father through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, as the scriptures tell us, in the beginning Christ created all things and now revives that which was once dead to God through His great Atonement at Calvary. “. . .In the beginning Christ created all things and now revives that which was once dead to God through His great Atonement at Calvary. . .” In His Incarnation, Jesus Christ was one person with two natures, Divine and human. His Deity did not make Him more than a man, and His humanity did not make Him less than absolute Deity. 15 From eternity past, Christ was in God the Word, and as God the Word is eternal, then so is Christ (Colossians 1:15-17). Indeed, scripture tells us, as Jesus stated, that He had always existed: JOHN 8:58 Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (in essence He said, “Before Abraham was brought into being, I was eternally existent”; He also said, “Abraham was,” “I am”). (E.S.B.) PHILIPPIANS 2:7 But made Himself of no reputation (instead of asserting His Rights to the expression of the Essence of Deity; our Lord waived His Rights to that expression), and took upon Him the form of a servant (a bondslave), and was made in the likeness of men (presents the Lord entering into a new state of Being when He became Man; but Him becoming Man did not exclude His Position of Deity; while in becoming Man, He laid aside the “expression” of Deity, He never lost “possession” of Deity): (E.S.B.) As we can see, Jesus the man, even though He was at the same time God and so called Emmanuel, set aside the expression of His Deity. Therefore Emmanuel did not empty Himself of His Deity, rather only the outward expression of His Deity (His Glory), while becoming a servant and being made “in the likeness of men.” As a servant for mankind, He entered into a new state of being. This new identity, however, did not exclude His possession of Deity. Some wrongly believe that God the Word exchanged His Divine mode of existence for His human mode of existence. This is not correct, for even though He stepped out of eternity to enter the physical earthly realm, He remained omnipresent as God the Word in the plane of existence in which only God dwells. This is very difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Christ, Who had always existed but never expressed Himself in human form, stepped out of eternity, changing not Himself but the expression of Himself. 16 “. . .This is very difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Christ, Who had always existed but never expressed Himself in human form, stepped out of eternity, changing not Himself but the expression of Himself. . .” Christ was and is in God the Word as one person. Therefore as God the Word, the second member of the Trinity, created all that is, Christ also did and so “all things” were “created by Him.” COLOSSIANS 1:16 For by Him (Christ [Colossians 1:13-15]) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible (seen and not seen), whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers (refers to the organization of both holy and fallen angels, the latter serving and being created for God before they fell): all things were created by Him, and for Him “Creation is “for Christ” in the sense that He is the end for which all things exist, the goal toward Whom all things were intended to move. They are meant “to serve His Will, to contribute to His Glory . . their whole being willingly or unwillingly, moves . . ‘to Him’; whether, as His blissful servants, they shall be as it were His Throne; or as His stricken enemies, ‘His footstool.’ ” 6 “ALL CREATION BY HIM The phrase, “For by Him were all things created,” presents the justification of the title given Christ in the preceding phrase, “the firstborn of every creature (Colossians 1:15).” “All things” are absolute and comprehensive, and will admit of no exception. In other words, He created all things. “By Him” is not instrumental (He merely did this) but locative (puts the fact of creation in Him with reference to its sphere and center). In others words, all Creation is within the sphere of His personality, in Him resides the Creative will and the Creative energy, 17 and in that sphere the creative act takes place. It does not deny the instrumentality, meaning that He carried it out, but claims, as well, that He was not merely the instrument that did these things, but that the origination of the creation rests “in Him.” Thus, creation is dependent on Him. “All things” speaks of a definite historical event, which means that the creation took place at some point in time in eternity past.” 7 (scriptural reference added) “The context makes it clear that this title is not given to Him as though He Himself were the first of all created beings; it is emphasized immediately that, far from being part of creation, He is the One by whom the whole creation came into being” 8 “Pre-Existence Pre-existence and eternality are not necessarily the same. This is evident because a human being can exist before a certain event, but that does not mean he is eternal by nature. Thus, when reference is made to the pre-existence of Christ, the emphasis is not necessarily upon His eternality. Instead, it is upon the fact that He existed before His incarnation in human flesh. He existed before He was born of the virgin Mary.” 9 (underlines added) “. . .From eternity past, Christ was in God the Word, and as God the Word is eternal, then so is Christ. . .” Where did Christ come from? He was not created but always was, for before Abraham was, He existed (John 8:58). At the Incarnation He stepped out of eternity and into time and space for us, yet as God the Word He remained in eternity. Christ came from heaven to earth to stand in our place as a sinless offering. He came into the world as One who had lived elsewhere before His coming. Again our Saviour drew aside the veil of eternity and stepped into time and space. “Christ’s existence did not begin when He was conceived in Mary’s womb and born into the world several months later. As an 18 eternal divine being, He had always existed without beginning and end throughout eternity past and Old Testament history. When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature. The Word, who existed with God the Father before the beginning of creation, became flesh and dwelt among people on the earth for more than thirty years (John 1:1–3, 14).” 10 “. . .When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature. . .” Christ is eternal. He was present at creation and throughout all history. But there came a time when His eternal Presence would be “made flesh.” GALATIANS 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law “His Higher Nature. That He was of higher than earthly origin and nature, He repeatedly asserts. “Ye are from beneath,” he says to the Jews (John 8:23), “I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” (compare John 17:16). Therefore, He taught that He, the Son of Man, had “descended out of heaven” (John 3:13), where was His true abode. (Note: He was eternally Christ but He was not eternally the Son of Man. He became the Son of Man when He took on flesh, i.e. the Incarnation of Deity.) This carried with it, of course, an assertion of pre-existence; and this pre-existence is explicitly affirmed: “What then,” He asks, “if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before?” (John 6:62). It is not merely preexistence, however, but eternal pre-existence which He claims for Himself: “And now, Father,” He prays (John 17:5), “glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (compare John 17:24); and again, in the most impressive language possible, He declares (John 8:58 the King 19 James Version): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am,” where He claims for Himself the timeless present of eternity as His mode of existence. In the former of these two last cited passages, the character of His pre-existent life is intimated; in it He shared the Father’s glory from all eternity (“before the world was”); He stood by the Father’s side as a companion in His glory. He came forth, when He descended to earth, therefore, not from heaven only, but from the very side of God (John 8:42; 17:8). Even this, however, does not express the whole truth; He came forth not only from the Father’s side where He had shared in the Father’s glory; He came forth out of the Father’s very being - “I came out from the Father, and am come into the world” (John 16:28; compare 8:42). “The connection described is inherent and essential, and not that of presence or external fellowship” (Westcott). This prepares us for the great assertion: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), from which it is a mere corollary that “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9; compare 8:19; 12:45).” 11 (bracketed note added) JOHN 17:5 And now, O Father, Glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self (proclaims that all True Glory exists only in God; when Christ as God became Man, He divested Himself of that Glory) with the Glory which I had with You before the world was (a request that He would be glorified as Man with the Glory which is Eternally His as God; this prayer was answered at the Resurrection, when He came forth with a Glorified Body). (E.S.B.) JOHN 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am (one with the Father); that they may behold My Glory, which You have given Me (pertains to the exaltation that He will receive at His Resurrection, which was only hours away): for You Loved Me before the foundation of the world (Jesus proclaims His pre-existence with the Father and, therefore, His Deity). (E.S.B.) “It is important to note that, when Christ became incarnated in human flesh, He took on Himself humanity, not deity (John 1:14; 20 Hebrews 2:14–17). In light of this truth and the significance of the designations “the Son of man” and “the Son of God,” we must conclude that He became the Son of man, not the Son of God, when He became incarnated.” 12 (underlines added) “. . .He was eternally Christ but He was not eternally the Son of Man. He became the Son of Man when He took on flesh, i.e. the Incarnation of Deity. . .” From the moment of conception, Christ took on a human body. He had a human mind, will and emotions, all that pertains to being human, while at the same time remaining unchanged in His Divine Nature. He became what He was not - human - while remaining what He was - the eternal, almighty, all-knowing Word of God. We can never speak of Jesus without at the same time speaking of the Eternal Word and Son of God. Jesus is the Eternal Word and Son of the Father. JESUS IS GOD. And on that our salvation depends. If Jesus was a man, somehow just united or connected as Christ to the Word of God, then we cannot be saved. Unless Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, then He can do nothing for us. He would be nothing more than another prophet, as the Muslims teach. Eternity as it relates to God is not so much immeasurable time as the mode of being, the mode of existence of the unchanging and eternal Creator Who is nevertheless revealing Himself as time proceeds. Thus eternity can be viewed as the form of eternal existence of our God. Man was created to be reliant on God, and so able to be a partaker of His graces. By this means, and this means only, he would not fail to reach the potential he was created to reach, day by day (Proverb 3:5-6). However as we know, man did fail to rely on God and trusted in himself, placing his choice above God’s rule or direction. It is the same today. Every time man relies on anything or anyone, including himself, for direction or insight in what to do concerning the important things in life, he fails, and falls into sin. 21 This not only darkens man’s mind, but gives hell a little mortgage on his mind as well. Consequently the debt with its compound interest begins to accrue, crippling the one who has allowed hell’s currency of darkness to invade their mind and life. “. . .From the moment of conception, Christ took on a human body. He had a human mind, will and emotions, all that pertains to being human, while at the same time remaining unchanged in His Divine Nature. . .” In order to become the second Adam, Christ forsook the privilege of the power of His own Divine Nature. He then needed, as a man, to rely on the Holy Spirit to energize His human nature with the grace of the Divine Nature - and this He did. This was a work of the Holy Spirit, functioning through an intimate relationship in which Christ as a man submitted to the Father’s will in all things. In Christ, God’s Divine Nature was expressed. The Cross proved how great and loving this Nature could be. In Christ, because of His sinlessness and reverent submission, the grace of the Divine Nature flowed freely so as to order His thinking in His mind and heart. The Divine Nature, of which Christ was a partaker, also energized His human nature so as to produce in Him the faith needed to do the Father’s will. The graces and energies of the Divine Nature became available to Him through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus worked in, flowed in, and reacted in the power of this very Divine Nature as He submitted to the Father and was led by the Spirit in all He did. In this He showed to us how the first Adam was meant to live and reach his potential. As we have stated, for the purpose of becoming a man, the second Adam, so He could stand in our place as our Kinsman Redeemer at Calvary, Christ had to forsake His heavenly rights as the Word of God. This included the expression of His glory and power. “He was both hidden and manifested - hidden as to His Glory, manifested as to His Person.” (S.B.C. John, Vol.10, pg.229). Indeed 22 God the Word existed on a plane of existence that only God lives in, and in this plane His glory and power was full and absolute. But as Jesus Christ He existed on a plane of existence common to man, without the expression of the glory and power that, as God the Word, He possessed. Therefore, for the purpose of sacrifice, He denied Himself the full expression of His glory and power. Concerning the first Adam, what gave life to the earthly being who was created in the image of God? It was the spirit which God gave to that body of flesh and blood. God gave to the body of Adam a spirit so that he could become a living soul. But God did not have to give a spirit to the physical body of Jesus because Emmanuel already had a life force. He was a Divine Spirit called the Word of God. He was one Divine Spirit Being with two identities. Christ pre-existed before His earthly, physical manifestation because God the Word is one Divine Spirit with two identities that have eternally existed. The expression of His second identity was manifest in human form to this world in the babe and then the man called Jesus Christ. After the Incarnation, within one Divine Spirit Being are now contained two souls, in other words two identities - a Divine identity with a Divine soul, and a human identity with a human soul. Yes one Being, but two identities. Christ’s eternal expression was in God the Word and God the Word’s eternal expression was in Christ. In one dimension, one plane of existence, as Jesus the man (Christ), He laid aside His expression of Deity without losing His possession of Deity. In another dimension, another plane of existence, God the Word remained God the Word. God the Word could never become diminished. Therefore when Christ was manifested in the flesh He became more - He was not only God but became Saviour. 23 “. . .After the Incarnation, within one Divine Spirit Being are now contained two souls, in other words two identities a Divine identity with a Divine soul, and a human identity with a human soul. . .” Christ eternally existed, but His human identity was not manifest until the Incarnation. He always was, but did not need to express Himself in this way until the appointed time - to show His love for His creation and thus to become the Saviour for mankind. Thus when the scriptures speak of an unchanging God, they describe the character and nature of God, rather than the expression of Who He is. MALACHI 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not . . . HEBREWS 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. May you have the victory in Christ. Amen! For further information or teaching material to help you grow in the Christian faith, please visit: CROSSROADS INTERNATIONAL FULL GOSPEL MINISTRIES crossroadsministries.org.au 24 NOTES 25 NOTES 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Harper’s Bible Dictionary S.B.C. I John, Vol.23, pg.169. S.B.C. John, Vol.10, pg.18. S.B.C. Genesis, pg.2. Israel My Glory, Vol.56, No.2. S.B.C. Colossians, pg. 100. S.B.C. Colossians, pg. 101. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians, p. 194. Israel My Glory: Vol.55, Issue 4. Israel My Glory: Vol.55 Issue 4. Dr. James Orr, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Israel My Glory: Vol. 59, Issue 1.