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