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
