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
