1. Matt 1:23 gives us the word "Immanuel" as a name for
Jesus. Most significantly, the Apostle Matthew gives us
the meaning of this word, an apostolic definition, if you
will ----------- God with us.
This single sentence should end the controversry, but, of course,
people will choose to follow their bias.
Matthew did not come up with it JD; he only
repeats the words of the prophet Isaiah (Is 9:6,7) and since
the Holy Spirit is also God according to your trinitarian belief -
what are you trying to say here?
2. Secondly, Col 1:19-20 tells us that Christ
reconciled all thing UNTO HIMSELF. If Christ were only the
representative of God, there would be no value in having drawn
all thing, on the earth and in the heaves unto Himself. This
passage makes sense only as one admits to the deity of the incarnate
Christ -- we should not forget that the act of reconciliation
was performed in the body of His flesh.
Read it again and focus on Vs.19; Christ is
reconciling all things to the Father - this is not about
HIMSELF.
3. John 17:5 establishes the fact that the Son shared the
glory of the Father before the foundations of the
world, estalishing His evternity as the Son.
John also writes "in the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God -
which
establishes his eternity as the Word of
God.
4. In view of the fact that "Only begotten" is a term
that actually means "only unique" and has nothing to do with the
birth or appointment of Christ, there is no biblical hint that
Christ became the Son of God. He is, therefore,
the eternal Son, never becoming -- always being.
The word "begotten" means just what it says
JD. It is also used in Gen 5:4; Lev 18:11, Deu 23:8, John 1:14
and Acts 13:33. The meaning in these verses is plain. It is a
mystery to me why you would want to change it to "unique" unless it
is to conform to some doctrine outside the scope of God's Word and
the faith ONCE delivered to the saints.
5. John - chapter one - teaches us that the Logos and the
Jesus, the Son, are one and the same: "He was in the
world (incarnation !!) and the world was made by Him and the
world did not know Him."
What makes you think John 1 :10
references the "incarnation"? John had just said "he is the
light who gives light to every man" and long before any incarnation
it is written "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my
path"
Jesus is the Word spoken through the
prophets and rejected by God's covenant people.
6. Matt 16:16 has Peter confessing that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God," a wonderful statement
that looses its vaule if it means "thou are the Christ , the Holy
Representative of the living God."
Christ? Means "anointed one"
JD.
Hoping to help.
jd
