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