The Divinity of Christ

Last Bible study, we went through the Godhead, and we were showing that there is not a Trinity. Today, we want to cover the topic of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Is Christ, or was Christ, God? Is he God today? Was he a created being? We're going to take a look at that topic, but before we get into that thoroughly, we're going to do a little review to see how much you remember. I've given you a handout today that covers some of the questions that we'll be going over in this review. Let me quickly launch into this.

These are scriptures that show that there is a plurality in God. In other words, there's more than one. Genesis 1, 26. God said, let us make man an hour image. So, let us, that's plural, make man an hour, that's plural. Genesis 3, 22. The Lord God said, behold, a man has become like one of us. So, again, a plurality. Genesis 11, 6 through 7. The Lord said, indeed, the people are one, and they all have one language.

This is what they begin to do. Now, nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let us go down there and confound their language. And again, we see the plural, us. And so, you know, highlighting these words, in case you missed them. As you can see, us, our, us, us. Other scriptures, Genesis 19, 24. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord.

So, we have one Lord, using the Hebrew word Yahweh, who rains fire down, but it comes from the Lord in heaven, or Yahweh, in heaven. So, obviously, two Lords being spoken of here. One in heaven, and as it says here, from the Lord, who is in heaven. In Psalm 45, verses 6 and 7, you're thrown, O God. And again, here's the Hebrew word, a, the ween. It's forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom.

You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God. Now, here we're talking about God, but then it says, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. So, here we have one God who is anointed by another God. So, there's obviously more than one being discussed or being talked about here. And again, highlighting the relevant parts of the verse here. Isaiah 6, 8, also I heard the voice of the Lord, in this case Adonai, saying, whom shall I send?

And who will go for us? And again, we have the plural, us. And then I said, here I am, send me. It's Isaiah. And again, we have us used. Remember the word, Eloene? The definition of it here is plural. The word itself is a plural word. It's plural in number. And it is translated, such as rulers, judges, either as divine representative at sacred places or as reflecting divine majesty and power. Divine ones, superhuman beings, including God-angels, sons of God, sons of God-angels, gods, you and so on. And this is taken from the abridged, brown, driver, Briggs, Hebrew, English, lexicon. Now, the main thing to focus on here is that the word, Eloene, is a plural word.

Now, we used to say a united plural word, and I'm not quite sure what that ever meant. It's just simply a plural word. It's not singular, but plural. Plural in number. Now, remember we also covered in our previous Bible study the plurality of majesty concepts. Some try to explain away the fact that God says, let us make man an hour image and that type of language.

So how did they do it? Well, let me quote here the great mystery by Nacy. The plural of majesty was a thing unknown to Moses and the prophets. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, David, and all the other kings throughout the law of prophets in the Haggaiographa, that's the writings, speak in the singular, not as modern kings in the plural. They do not say we, but I command, as in Genesis 41, Daniel 3, 29, Ezra 1, 2, compounding this area, Unitarians, we won't say anything about that, but Unitarians, attempt to explain even the plural word, Eloam, away as a form of a plural of majesty, forgetting that the use of the royal we is limited to direct discourse and commands and not narratives or descriptions.

Now, I sometimes use the word we. I'll talk to my wife and I'll say, we need to get supper ready.

Now, she'll say, what do you mean, we, white men?

In that case, it means, why don't you get supper ready? But you don't find that the expression we is used that way in the Bible. So that's what the plurality of majesty concept is all about. Notice also, quoting the Trinity, evidence and issues by Robert Morley, the concept plurality of majesty is a hoax that was popularized by the Jewish scholar Genesis, or just Genesis, I should say, in the 19th century. Using the plural of majesty to explain this and other passages away commits the fundamental mistake of reading modern interpretation back into Scripture.

So a lot of people do that. If we're not careful, we can do the same thing. We can take our understanding today in society of something and read it back into what occurred in the Bible and think that's exactly what was happening back then. And we have to watch doing that.

Okay, so this is the review sheet, and this is what I gave you, and the handouts that I gave you. And we're asked to provide a list of Old Testament scriptures that show the plurality of the Godhead.

I thought that since this was a review sheet, it would be good for you to have that. And if you didn't take notes, this will at least give you some fundamental scriptures that you can go and mark your Bibles with.

Explain Deuteronomy 6.4. Hebrew for one is a cod, not counting the number of gods, but the greatness of the gods. As Genesis 2, 24 says, two can become one. Adam and Eve became one flesh. Moses did not use the word yakid, which means just one. 1 John 5, 7-8, and we covered that, showing that the words added in heaven through on earth were added, or not in the original. They are an effort to try to prove the Trinity. And so they were added. Some people use Matthew 28-19 to say that it proves a Trinity, but the Greek word for in is ace, meaning, better translated, into. So we're baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's not identifying persons, but you and I are baptized into the family of God, and we're baptized. What is the plurality of majesty? Explain how this is used to define God. The term is used for kings and leaders who speak in the first person plural, even though they are singular. No example in the Scripture of this being used of God. This developed later to explain scriptures of plurality.

To find the Hebrew word hakad can mean multiples working together as one, translated few together, people. We could be talking about we are one nation under God. There can be millions of people in that nation, but we're one nation, so it's one used in that way.

The word hakad is a very limiting word. It means only one. I have one Bible up here. There's only one up here. There's one microphone. There's one computer. There's only one. But we're one congregation. That's the other word.

We probably have 90 to 100 people here today, but we're one congregation. The Hebrew word Eloween, the word for God that is plural, implies plurality in the Godhead.

Give a brief history of the development of the Trinity. You might remember Arius, Athanasus, Cappadocian brothers, Council of Constantinople, and 381 AD. All of these contributed. So, that brings us now to what we're going to be covering today with that review.

We're going to cover the divinity of Christ.

Here is the fundamental belief that the United Church of God has. This is quoted from the Constitution 2.1.1.

We believe in one God, the Father, eternally existing, who is a spirit, a personal being of supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power, and authority.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word, has eternally existed. We believe in the Holy Spirit as a spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the spirit of life eternal. Now, that's not the complete quote, as you can see with the dot-dot-dots, but it gives you the overview of what we're talking about. So, we believe in one God, the Father. So, there's only one Father who is God. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the power of God. Now, what we find over the years is that we have striven to preserve the truth of God. And this is one reason why United started, was the fundamental desire to preserve the truth of God, God's way.

We know that Christ taught the disciples. The disciples taught the church. The truth was preserved down through the ages. And, you know, some of the early leaders of the Bible wrote it down, and we have it here in the scriptures, and it's been preserved through the ages. Coming down to our day-to-day, almost all of us here, any who came in the church in the 60s, 50s, 40s, 70s, 80s, learned or were taught the truth through Herbert Armstrong. And we have examples of the plain truth magazine and a picture of Mr. Armstrong. And, you know, it's been, what is it, 23 years now since he died, January the 16th, 1986.

This is an article that was written, that was published back at that time, Is Jesus God? And the article proved that Jesus was God. Was Jesus dead? Another article that went through and touched on the topic. The divinity of Jesus Christ. If you want to know what the United Church of God believes, the teaching of the church has been consistent. Jesus is God, and He pre-existed His human life. So He is God, and He, you know, He and the One that we know as the Father have existed from eternity. You know, they've always existed.

Now, this will give you the overview of the class, not only the class, but this will give you an overview of what we're going to be discussing today. We're going to look at some of the various ideas about the nature of God in Christ. We'll find there are five of them today. We're going to analyze the divinity of Christ as explained in the New Testament, and we'll study in detail John 1 in Psalm 110.

So, as it says, which choice will we make? Either Christ, the Word of God, belongs to the divine realm, which was the domain of God alone, or He belonged to the fragile created order. Arius placed Him in the fragile created order. Remember, Arius came along and said that Christ was a created being. And so, you know, that was His position.

Athanasius placed Him in the divine realm. He said that He was God.

The Trinity was developed to defeat the arguments of Arius. So, they came up with the idea of the Trinity to try to knock down what Arius was teaching, but it had no basis in Scripture.

It's not taught in the Scripture. This is from the history of God by Karen Armstrong. This isn't our idea, but I mean, we understand that, but it gives this is from the history concerning that period. He belonged to the divine realm, or the fragile created order. So, when you saw the slide before choice, you know, you've got two choices here. He was either created, or He belongs to the divine realm. So, which? Okay, the summary from the Old Testament. There are numerous references to the oneness of God in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, quite frequently, it talks about God being one.

There are numerous references to the plurality of God in the Old Testament.

Now, you see, this seems like a contradiction. In one place, it'll say, God is one. In another place, it uses the plurality of God. It talks about more than one God, or uses us, or our, you know, this type of thing. This causes some confusion in the understanding, in understanding God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. We must admit that we don't have all knowledge in this matter, but we have enough to know what the Bible teaches. The most fitting explanation is the term refers to a composite unity.

Christ references this when He said, My Father and I are one. Remember back in John 17, about verse 11, Christ said, My Father and I are one. But He was talking about the Father and Himself. One was in heaven, He was on the earth, but they were one. Well, they were one in unity, in harmony, in purpose, direction.

Now, there are five views of the nature and origin of Christ. And so, we want to cover these very quickly and expose you to this, so that you realize that there are many ideas out there. And quite frankly, we've run into almost every one of these views today.

I know of people who believe that Christ was a created being, and that they think He was created. So, there are those who have this idea. Number one is the Trinity. Number two is the Unitarian view. Number three is Christ is a created being, Arianism from Arius.

Christ is the angel of God, or of Yahweh. And Christ is God, a separate being, and the Godhead. Now, quickly, if you had to make a choice, which one of those would you accept?

I hope you accept number five. We will be going through these quickly. Unitarian view.

You've got the Father, Peter. You've got the Son. And then you've got the Spirit. And somehow, they're three in one. They're like a... the best way I could describe it, they're like a bowl of jelly. And you shake it, and you know, a glob comes over here.

The glob is represented by the Father. Then you reshake it, and the Son's over here, or drop it, and the Spirit's down here. How can you have three in one? But this is the Trinity idea. Contrary to the scriptures, cannot be supported from the Bible.

The idea developed in the fourth century because of an argument from Arius, and guess who they looked to to explain the Trinity? They went to the Greeks, the Greek philosophers, and guess who was chosen in this age to try to explain the philosophy to the Church? Well, he was also a Greek. However, his name was Stavarnides. And you'll find that the idea, one way of explaining the Trinity, which was the way Dr. Stavarnides did, was strictly Greek philosophy. You don't need the Bible to understand the Greek philosophy of the Trinity.

They do it by deductive reasoning and supposedly logic, and they don't take any non-questions. You may have heard that term used. Somebody asked a question, and Dr. Stavarnides would say, well, that's a non-question. Whereas you thought it was a question, he would say it's a non-question.

Karen Armstronger book, The History of God, explains the confusion that resulted from the early explanation. Later, the Cappadocian brothers provided more understanding, which led to the adoption of the Nicene Creed. So what you have to realize, there were about three centuries that went by, and the church did not teach, although there were some who were teaching it. But as a whole, adopting it and accepting it, it was not until we come down toward the end of the fourth century, or third century, I should say here, when they actually came up with the Creed. The Holy Spirit is not a person, therefore there cannot be a trinity. In order to have a trinity, the Spirit has to be a third person, and the Spirit is not a person, so there is no trinity. Just that one fact alone. Now the Unitarian view. The basic reasoning is God is one, therefore Christ cannot be God. Based on Deuteronomy 6.4, here O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Based on this conclusion, Christ must have been a created being, or God cloned him, one or the other. So he's created or he's cloned. He did not exist prior to his human birth, so he came into existence at his human birth.

Webster's definition of a Unitarian, a person who denies the doctrine of the trinity, believing in the teaching, but denying the divinity of Christ, holding that God is a singular being. So in this case, they would say there is only one God, period. And that would be it.

Now you'll find that one of the trouble that the Catholic Church ran into later on when they tried to spread the gospel to the Gentiles is that the Gentiles accuse them of practicing polytheism.

Why? Because they taught a trinity. And so they said, well, God is three and one.

Now, here you've got three and you accuse us of worshiping multiple gods.

And so that was a problem they had. The Old Testament has many examples of the plurality in reference to God. Continuing with this view, Adam and Eve are called one, Hebrew word, a hakad, but they were two separate beings. Christ said that He and the Father are one, but they are two separate beings. And Christ prayed that we all might be one, but we do not become one person. See, we may be one, but we're not one person.

Okay, now the third idea is Christ as a created being.

Also called Arianism after its first proponent, Arius.

Today, few accept this idea, but it is the teaching of the Jehovah Witnesses. So you want to know where we and the Jehovah Witnesses differ. Here's one place. We differ in a lot of places, but this is fundamental, our differences.

There are various twists to the teaching. Christ was created prior to Genesis 1. Christ was created at the time of Genesis. Christ was created at the time of His human birth. So various ones have various ideas as to when was He created.

This teaching denies the divinity of Christ and relegates Him to the created order, a little higher than the angels, but not on the same level with God. There are numerous scriptures that declare Jesus Christ to be God, yet there is no scripture that describes His creation.

There's nowhere in the Bible you find it talks about His creation. Christ has eternally existed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Christ created all things and nothing was created without Him.

Therefore, Christ could not have been created if He created all things. He didn't create Himself. 2. Colossians 2.6.

In Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead.

Now, we will come back to this later, I think.

I've got some additional notes here, but I've got the slides numbered, and there are no numbers on them, so I'm not quite sure where I'm supposed to jump in on that. Christ as the angel of Yahweh.

This is similar to belief in Christ as a creative being in that it also requires a creation. It just says that He is a super-duper angel. This view is based on the scripture that refers to the angel of Yahweh.

The explanation describes Christ as a supernatural or super-angel prior to His human birth. So, it was nothing more than an angel. In Genesis 16, verses 7 through 13, Hagar has an experience with a being who is called the angel of the Lord.

She refers to this being as the Lord. Verse 7 refers to the angel of the Lord appear to her, but in verse 13 it refers to Him as being the Lord. She says, I have seen the Lord.

That's one scripture you can refer to. Jacob wrestled with a man, prevailed. It is stated that he saw God face to face in Genesis 32.30. Yet, no man has ever seen God.

In Hosea, we are told that Jacob, in his strength, he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed.

So, how can the one who became Christ be God and be referred to as an angel? But we will see.

Hebrew word for angel and messenger is the same. If you look in the Old Testament, you see many times it translated messenger of God. An angel, it is the word malek. 111 times is translated angel. 98 times is translated messenger. An ambassador four times. This is in the Old Testament. Christ is called the messenger, malek, of the covenant in Malachi 3.1.

It was up to the translators as to which word they chose, angel or messenger. Let's go back to that, Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. While we're looking at this, it says, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Okay, here is a prophecy of John the Baptist, and he's going to come before me. Whoever is talking here in the Old Testament is the one who's going to come.

And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. So here it's translated messenger. Christ is the messenger of Yahweh, or Yaveh, but he is not an angel who was created. He is God's messenger. The context must determine which is the correct translation. So you have to tell by the context.

The teaching that Christ was an angel, Yahweh, denies the divinity of Christ and puts him in the created order as a super angel. Now, Christ as God, when all the evidence is considered, the most logical conclusion is that Christ was who he said he was, God in the flesh.

Remember, he is called Emmanuel. You know what Emmanuel means? God with us. So, you know, he is God. Before Abraham, he was, he said, I am. Before the foundation of the world, he existed with the Father. No one is seeing God, but Yahweh and Elohim were seen, and the Word was Christ. Now, what we want to do here is to go through the 12 proofs that Christ is God, and therefore, eternal. And these are the things that you really need to remember. So, how do we know that Christ is God, and therefore, as God would be eternal?

Well, John 1, verses 1-3, and Revelation 19, verse 13. So, let's notice John 1. In the beginning was the Word. So, wherever, or I shouldn't say wherever, but whenever the beginning was, the Word existed. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. So, whoever this Word is, He dwelt with God, and the Word was God. So, He's dwelling with God, and He is God. He was in the very beginning, or in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made.

Then Revelation 19, verse 13, He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. Now, some scriptures we don't have here, we need to realize that in the first century, there were also many false ideas being promulgated or being taught about who Jesus Christ was. If you'll just turn in your Bibles back to 1 John 2, verses 18 and 19, 1 John 2, 18 and 19, you'll find little children, it's the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now, many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it's the last hour. So, there were many who had come, who were there, who were against Christ. They were anti-Christ. And they went out from us. So, at one time, they had been with us, but they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they'd been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out from us that they might be manifest, that none of them were of us. So, there have been those who've gone out from us, who've not been of us, as it says. Now, in chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, notice 1 John 4, 1 through 3, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone into the world. But this, you know, or by this, you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.

Now, you remember a while back when I was going through the book of Colossians, especially, I mentioned about the doctrine that this refers to, docetaism, or docetics.

These were people who believed that Jesus Christ, when He came to this earth, was actually not in the flesh. He was not a human being. He was not made flesh and dwelled among us. They believed that He only appeared as flesh. He only appeared like, you know, God did in the Old Testament, where He could appear and boom! He would disappear. So, they just thought that was the way. That was one docetic idea. The other was that Jesus, or the Christ, I should say, that would be from heaven, came and resided in the Jesus, the human man, and before His crucifixion, the Christ left and went back to God, and it was the Jesus who was crucified, only the man. I mean, they bifurcate Him, and they've got two separate beings there. Now, let's notice going on in verse 3, every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. This was a false teaching in the first century that had to be combated by the apostles, and this they did. Now, in 2 John, verse 7, many deceivers are gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

And, brethren, there were many at that time who were teaching this, and down through the ages there have been many ideas that have come up concerning who Christ was. This was being taught in the first century. Now, notice it underlines here, the Word was God. So, very clearly says the Word was God. And then it talks about He was called the Word of God. Number two. Remember, we're looking at the 12 proofs Christ is God and therefore eternal.

Titus 2, verses 11 through 13, point number two here. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, the question is, does great God refer to Christ? Great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous of good works.

Now, how many of you remember Granville Sharpe's rule? I'm disappointed. As many times as I've mentioned Granville Sharpe's rule.

Well, we'll mention it again here. The great God, notice, and Savior Jesus Christ.

So, let's take a look at Greek grammar. The Granville Sharpe rule, a Greek grammar, when two nouns, God and Savior, you know, two nouns here, are joined by Kai, that's the word, and, and the first noun has the article, and the second does not. So, the article would be, and, and the great God and Savior, not the Savior, but and Savior, Jesus Christ, the second does not, then the two nouns refer to the same thing.

That's a rule in Greek. They refer to the same thing. Hence, great God and Savior both refer to Christ Jesus. So, Titus chapter 1 verses 11 and 12 clearly show that Jesus Christ is called God and our Savior.

As we see here, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I don't expect you to remember Granville Sharp, but just remember, and you can sort of draw an arrow or do a loop over, those two refer to the same thing.

Point three, third point, John 2028, and after eight days, his disciples were again inside.

Thomas with them, and Jesus came, and Jesus came, the doors being shut, stood in the midst, and said, please, peace to you. Then he said to Thomas, reach out your fingers here. Look at my hands, reach your hands here. Put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God.

Now, Christ did not tell Thomas, how dare you call me God? You know I'm not God. Why should you call me God? No, he called him my Lord and my God. And so, he is definitely God. My Lord and my God.

Number three is John 8, 57, 58. Then the Jews said to him, you're not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Remember, he said Abraham was delighted to see his day. And Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.

Now, in the Old Testament, God is referred to as the Great. I am. I am there, in Hebrew, refers to the one who's always existed, the one who exists, and will always exist. And so, he says, before Abraham was, I was there. I was the I am. John 17, 5, And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. So, Jesus Christ was a glorified being before he came to this earth. And he's asking the Father to glorify him again.

Now, Philippians chapter 2 talks about how he divested himself of his divinity, or glory, living on a spirit level, came to the earth and took on the form of a human being. So, you could tie that in with it. So, it says, before Abraham was, I am.

And I had with you before the world was. Again, just to hit the high points here.

Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So, notice he is referred to as the Mighty God, also the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts performs this. Now, this is quoted in the New Testament, referring to Christ. So, obviously, it does refer to Christ.

Now, when it says Everlasting Father here, that trips some people up. Some of these refer to his responsibilities and duties and titles in conjunction with Israel in dealing with them. He's the Prince of Peace, bringing peace to this earth and to human beings. He was like a father to Israel. He was also like a husband to Israel. He's referred to as being wonderful and counselor, but he's also referred to as the Mighty God. So, you know, he is God.

God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Now, in Micah 5 and verse 2, But you, Bethlehem, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me one of the ruler, or one to-be ruler, in Israel, whose going forths are from old and from everlasting. So, here you find that Jesus Christ is described here as, Out of you shall come forth to me the one who will be ruler in Israel, whose going forths are from old and from everlasting.

So, obviously, a reference to Christ and that he was from everlasting.

Now, point 7 here, Titus chapter 3 verses 4 through 6 says, But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Isaiah 43 verse 11 says, I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior.

So, we have a reference here in the Old Testament.

We know that the God who is the one that we would call the spokesman in the Old Testament, the Word, the one who dealt with Israel, is the one who became Jesus Christ. And he says, I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Savior.

And then chapter 45 verse 21, There is no other God beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me.

So, we find that Jesus Christ is also our Savior.

And, you know, as it talks about, you know, in the Old Testament and both the New Testament.

How can somebody be our Savior, save us from our sins, his life, you know, substitute for ours unless he were God?

You can't just kill an angel and say, okay, this angel's life is worthy of the sins of all mankind. You can't kill a created being and do the same thing. He had to likewise be God.

Now, in John chapter 1 and verse 18, John chapter 1 verse 18, we read here, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who's in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

Now, in John 5, 37, it says, the Father himself who sent me has testified of me. You've neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. So, you begin to put some of these scriptures together. No one has seen God at any time.

Who was it they saw in the Old Testament?

Who gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and the people heard his voice?

Who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets?

Who wrestled with Jacob? Who appeared to Hagar? Now, you can go on and on and on, you're quoting incidents in the Old Testament, where God appeared to people. And yet, it says, you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. 1 John 4, 12, no one has seen God at any time.

Now, it says, no one neither heard his voice nor seen his form. No one has seen God at any time. So, basically, what you come up with is that the God who appeared in the Old Testament as the spokesman and who dealt with Israel and with God's servants was the one who became Jesus Christ later on. Hebrews 1, verse 8, It says, But to the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Now, how much plainer can you get? Your throne, O God, talking about the Son. To the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

Now, this is taken from Psalm 45, verses 6 and 7. Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. So, here we have an Old Testament scripture that is quoted in the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 1, it's quoted there by the writer of Hebrews to show and prove that Christ was the Son of God. So, O God, says, Your throne is for ever and ever. So, if His throne is for ever and ever, He's going to have to live for ever and ever to be able to sit on that throne. If I say something about a royal ruler today, I can maybe say, Queen Elizabeth has ruled for 50 years. Well, that means that she's ruled for 50 years. If you say a ruler has ruled for 100 years, he's ruled for 100. So, when you say God's throne is there for ever and ever, it means what it says. Here's a being who is going to be there for ever. Your throne, O God, is for ever. Now, Psalm 110 verse 1 and 5, the Lord said to my Lord, okay, here is one Lord saying to David's Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And the Lord, Hebrew word, Yahweh, is at your right hand. And again, we have two beings being spoken of here. Luke 20, 41 through 44. When the Jews tried to trip him up, the lawyers, remember, he said to them, how can they say that Christ is the son of David?

Now, David himself said in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, David calls him Lord. How is he then his son? So how can he be his son and be his Lord? Anybody answer that? But I think all of us should be able to answer that. He was his Lord. He was the God who was dealing with David, but he was willing to come to this earth to vest himself again of the trappings of being a spirit being. He was a sperm cell put into a woman, Mary, born of her, and through her, he became a descendant of David. So therefore, in the flesh, he was a descendant of David, but in the Old Testament, in dealing with David, he was his Lord. That's very clear when you put all that together. So you find here the Lord. The Lord said to my Lord.

Now we come to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, 15 through 17. He is the image of the invisible God, talking about Christ, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things. So if he created everything visible and invisible, that means he created all the angels, everything we can see in the physical realm. And he is before all. So he existed before all this creation. And in him all things consist. They exist. For by him all things were created. Let's back up here a moment. Because, let's go over to the book of Colossians. I wanted to comment about this. In the book of Colossians chapter 2 verse, well, yeah, chapter 2, you find in chapter 2, they were beginning to worship angels. Verse 18, let no one cheat you of your reward through delight in false humility and worship of angels intruding into those things which he is not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

So there was another false teaching that was being promulgated. You might remember when we went through this, we covered that this was a Gnostic teaching that believed that Christ was a created being and that he was part of what was called the Pleroma. He was part of the Pleroma. And he was a created being, just like all of the angels. And the Gnostics believed that in order to get to God, you had to go through a series of angels. They were on different levels. There were eight levels of them. And so you started with the lowest, and you went up to the highest, and they prayed to angels. And you might remember, I remarked to you how even in the church back in the 80s, actually, we found a group of people who were doing the same thing. They were praying to angels, and they get up in the morning, and they take a piece of paper. They prayed, and they'd ask their angel to show them what was going to happen to them that day. And something would take their hand and start writing on a piece of paper. They were dealing with demons, and they didn't realize it, but they thought they were praying to angels. I went back and just copied some of those notes. But I had...let me just review this for you. Notice Colossians 2 verse 9 first.

For in Him, that is, in Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

So all the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in Jesus Christ bodily while He was in the flesh. He was God in the flesh. The Greek word there is for fullness is pleroma. The Greek word pleroma. Now, chapter 1 verse 19. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.

Now, with that in mind, one of the most common teachings was that of docisism, that is, the teaching that Jesus and the Christ are not the same person. Many of the Gnostics believed that Christ was a spiritual being who entered into the man Jesus, but withdrew just before the crucifixion. It was only Jesus who died on the cross and not Christ. Christ went back to God, but then Jesus was resurrected.

Now, if you do the math, Father, Spirit, Christ, Jesus, that's four. So, what do you do with that? Well, I don't think they stop and think about that. They think that Christ went back and wasn't crucified. It was just the Jesus. Therefore, He was resurrected. You got four beings.

Nowhere in the Bible do you ever find that being talked about. That was just a false idea.

Notice here the new Bible dictionary talking about fullness, pleroma. The exegesis of the euze in chapter 2, verse 9, is undoubtedly the fullness of the deity, the totality of the Godhead which dwelt in Christ. This meaning may be decisive in settling the correct interpretation of chapter 1, verse 19. God in His fullness, the entirety of God's attributes, His full divinity, which was pleased to dwell in Christ. So you find that this is what pleroma meant. It says, recall that the collage in church was being threatened by insipid Gnostics in an effort to explain the presence of sin in the universe. This movement taught that the material universe was created by a kind of lesser God and not the highest existence of the deity. That God being so righteous would never get down in the dirt. You know, take dirt and create a man. I mean, He couldn't do that. They taught that God was a pleroma. Now this is their definition, the Gnostic definition, a fullness with whom a succession of lesser beings called aeons emanated. The spiritual purity of these beings diminished with each lower order of the existence. So the closer they were to God, the more righteous. The further away they got, the less righteous. They were finally an aeon far enough removed from the origin of deity created the material universe. The Gnostics taught that Christ was the only one of these aeons. If Paul then said that Christ is the creator of such a universe, some might therefore believe that surely He could not sustain any relationship to the new creation. So Paul must say that Christ is supreme in redemption as well as in creation. And so what Colossians says is that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him, meaning simply that He truly was God in the flesh, as the Bible says. Now, point number 12, 1 Timothy 3.16, without controversy, great is the mystery of Godly. Thus, God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. So notice, God was manifest in the flesh. He was God in the flesh.

So here is a chart showing you the strengths of what we've just gone through.

Certainty of certain texts that show that Christ was God. Then others that are very probable, but they're not as absolutely certain, and then those that are probable.

And so, you know, that's just a different way of taking a look at this.

John chapter 1, we want to cover here quickly. You notice, in the beginning was the word, and we find here, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and we're all familiar with John chapter 1, verse 1.

We're highlighting the Greek words here. Logos, up at the top, up with or beside, altos, and tone and theo.

Now notice, if you were to diagram John 1-1, I don't know if diagramming is still taught in school, but if you were to diagram chapter 1 and verse 1, the word was subject verb. The word was in beginning.

So this is how you would diagram it. In the beginning, the word was.

So in the beginning, the word was. Now, next phrase, word was, the word was with God.

With the God. So here you have the word in the beginning, the word was you, and then you go on, the word was with God, or the God, and the word was God.

The word was God. So the word was in the beginning, the word was with God, and the word was God. So when you diagram it, word was God. You know, you have the object, word was in the beginning, and the word was with. So very clearly, John 1-1 shows Christ's pre-existence. The word pros, used in John 1, verses 1 and 2, means towards, denoting, direction, toward a thing, position, state, and so on. Used of close proximity. So the word was with God, looking toward a thing. John 1-18, no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten son, and the margin says the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. The Greek word for only begotten means single of its kind only. When Christ came to the earth, he was, and he still is, the only one who had existed forever on the God level, who came to the earth and was born as a son. You and I all start from the earth, and we will in the resurrection be born. We go back the other way into the family of God. He came from the family of God to the earth. Robertson on John 1-18, but the best old Greek manuscripts, the Alpha, the B, the C, L, read, God only begotten, which is undoubtedly the true text. Probably some scribe changed it to, and here changed the old, to obliviate the blunt statement of deity of Christ to make it like 3.16. So you find in John chapter 1, it basically says, the only begotten instead of son, the only begotten God. Not son, but God.

So again, another reference to the fact that he is God. Here we have the divinity of Christ, and we've already covered this, but this gives a little more information. These are the words that are highlighted on the right side, and they're highlighted on the left side. If you don't read Hebrew, you won't understand them. The word Yaveh, the word Adonai. Yaveh is the one that's translated eternal. You have a living God.

Adonai means Lord.

Bollinger's Companion Bible, many of you have the Companion Bible, says this, out of the extreme but mistaken reverence for the ineffable name Jehovah, the ancient custodians of the sacred text, that's the Jews, substituted in many places Adonai.

So instead of having Yaveh, they put Adonai in its place. These in the AV and RV are all printed Lord, marking the word with an asterisk in addition to the note and the margin to inform the reader of the fact. The official list is given in the Masurah, and it quotes the addition contains 134 places. There were 134 places that the Jews changed the word because they felt it was too sacred to pronounce. They substituted the word Adonai. And so in many of those cases, you get a mistaken understanding of the Scripture. Psalm 110 verse 5 is one of those places, is one of the 134 locations where Yaveh was replaced with Adonai. In addition, there are 15 extraordinary points and 18 immendations in the text. Psalm 110 in the New Testament. Psalm 110 is the most quoted portion of Scripture from the Old Testament. This is quoted more than anything else in the New Testament. The New Testament leaves little doubt that the references the references to Jesus Christ, not to David or Abraham. Psalm 110 is quoted by Jesus in all of these places, by Peter, by Stephen, and by Paul.

So you can see that it's quoted multiple times.

If Jesus were not fully God, then how do you explain? How can Jesus be the exact representation of the nature of God? How can Jesus, the Christ, dwell in you?

If He's not God, because God dwells in us. So if He's not God, how can He dwell in us? How can He be our only Lord and Master? Jude 4. Why was Jesus worshiped when He says to worship God only? How can Paul state that He was equal with God? He didn't think equality with God, something to be grasped at, if you remember the Scripture.

So, in summary here, we've looked at the various ideas about the nature of God. We've analyzed the divinity of Christ as explained in the New Testament. We've studied in detail John 1 and Psalm 110. Next time, it says tomorrow, but next time we have Bible study, we will go through the subject of the Holy Spirit. Is it a person or is it the power of God?