Jesus is the incarnate true, and living God, Creator of all things.

May 17, 2020 Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Did Jesus claim to be the Son of God? | Ibrahim Ministries International

He was not created by the Father. He did not exist in the Father, and then brought out of the Father. He was not made from the essence of the Father. He is not the angel Michael transfigured. Jesus is God. He is the incarnate eternal Son, the Word of God made flesh, and the second person of the Trinity. The Son has always been, is, and always will be.

Luke 22:63-65, “63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, 64 and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?” 65 And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming.”

How can the men be committing blasphemy by saying many other things against Jesus Christ, unless He is in fact God? This one section of scripture proves that Jesus Christ is God. If this is not enough for you, there are more.

Hebrews 1:6-10, “6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.” 7 And of the angels He says, “WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.”8 But of the Son He says, “YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. 9 “YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.” 10 And, “YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;”

Was Paul a liar, was he wrong, was God’s word wrong, or are you wrong? Paul preached that Jesus is God, not a part of God, not a smaller god, but actually the God of all creation. God the Father in this section of scripture calls Jesus God. Was God a liar, was He wrong, or are you wrong? Why would God share the worship of His angels with a creature? He wouldn’t. When He commands His angels to worship the Son, they are worshiping God. Exodus 34:14, “for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”

John 20:26-29, “26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

The beloved Apostle of Christ recorded that Thomas called Jesus his Lord, and God. Why would God say this in His word if it weren’t true? Jesus can’t be both God, and not God at the same time, but He can be both God, and man at the same time.

2 Peter 1:1, “1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”

How else do you explain his greeting here at the beginning of his epistle? Again, this is not just Peter writing this, but it is God using Peter to write God’s own word.

Titus 2:11-15, “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. 15 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

Lest you claim this is a translation problem, “Ἐπεφάνη γὰρ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ σωτήριος πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις παιδεύουσα ἡμᾶς, ἵνα ἀρνησάμενοι τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ τὰς κοσμικὰς ἐπιθυμίας σωφρόνως καὶ δικαίως καὶ εὐσεβῶς ζήσωμεν ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι, προσδεχόμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἵνα λυτρώσηται ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀνομίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἑαυτῷ λαὸν περιούσιον, ζηλωτὴν καλῶν ἔργων.” Ταῦτα λάλει καὶ παρακάλει καὶ ἔλεγχε μετὰ πάσης ἐπιταγῆς· μηδείς σου περιφρονείτω.”

Theou(God) kai(and) soteros(savior) Hemon(of us) Christou Iesou(Christ Jesus)

Matthew 14:32-33, “32 And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God!””

Here Matthew records that Jesus accepted worship. As we already established, only God is to be worshiped. Jesus did not rebuke them like the angels did when men tried to worship them. Whey do you think that is? I’ll tell you. Jesus is God. If you don’t acknowledge the deity of Christ, you are a heretic. If you teach others to believe the lies you believe, you are also a false teacher. A created Jesus is a creature who would be powerless to save us. Jesus is a hypostatic union of deity and humanity.

Matthew 28:8-10, “8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.””

Matthew records Jesus accepting worship again. Your position is untenable. It is obvious error.

Revelation 5:11-14, “11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Jesus is being worshiped along with the Father by the angels, and elders. Do you understand? What argument can be made that will stand against the word of God?

Philippians 3:20-21, “. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

Jesus is omnipotent. Who else is omnipotent besides God? Nobody, that means Jesus is God incarnate!

Colossians 2:2-3, “2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Jesus is also omniscient. Only God is the source of all knowledge. Jesus is God.

Matthew 28:16-20, “16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

Here we not only see that the Son, and the Spirit are equated to the Father, but we also see the omnipresence of Jesus in His own divine nature that was joined to the human nature at the incarnation.

Of course, then there is the coup de grâce of John 1:1-5, 14, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” “14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

It is evident that Jesus is the incarnation of the second Person of the Trinity, and that He is eternal God.

Apologetics · Deity of Christ · God · Islam Muslims quran · Jehovah's witnesses · mormonism · Theology · Trinity · Uncategorized

The Deity of Christ from the Old Testament for our Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, and Muslim friends, part 2.

January 8, 2017 Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Today we are going to pick up where we left off from the last article you can read it here. Earlier we examined Genesis 15:1-2 to see that the Word of the Lord is God. We also connected these verses with John 1:1-18 to see that the Word is Jesus. Today we are going to look at Genesis 15:3-7 which will reinforce our previous assertion that the Word of the Lord is God, Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is God. [The text in the brackets is mine.] The blue text indicates who is doing the action and the red is what is being done.

Genesis 15:3-7 (NASB) ³ And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” ⁴ Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

[If you notice, the person doing the talking is identified as “the word of the Lord.” You can tell he is a person because he is, “saying.” The word of the Lord is speaking to Abram.]

“This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” ⁵ And He took him outside and said,

[Notice the Word is referred to as, “He.” What did He do? He, “took him outside and said…” How can anyone look at these verses and not come to the conclusion that the Word of the Lord is God, and how can they, in light of John 1:1-18 not see that Jesus is the Word and He is God?]

“Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷ And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

If this isn’t enough, I’ll post some more later on. Study the word, to know the Word, and His intent. Knowing Him is knowing God. To know God, and be known by Him, to be His adopted child and heir, is to be saved by this Triune God’s grace according to His sovereign will, regenerating and indwelling by His Spirit, and the justifying work on the cross of His Son.

Apologetics · Deity of Christ · God · Islam Muslims quran · Jehovah's witnesses · mormonism · Theology · Trinity · Uncategorized

The Deity of Christ from the Old Testament for our Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, and Muslim friends.

January 6, 2017February 18, 2022 Bob Snyder1 Comment

lamb

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the same accusation from Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons (LDS), and Muslims. They claim that Jesus is not God, but a god, good man, prophet, teacher, and so on. I think it is great that we can always go to the word of God to let it make the defense. Charles Spurgeon was quoted as saying, “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.” I agree with him.

With that being said let’s take a look at Genesis 15:1-2, and John 1:1-18.

In Genesis 15:1-2 we see that the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision. Now, you don’t hear a vision. You see it. Some people would insist that this is just Abram hearing God speak to him, but this is actually the preincarnate Christ appearing to Abram in a vision, and speaking to him. Abram said, “…O LORD God…” or אֲדֹנָי ’ăḏônây; an emphatic form of âḏôn; or (shortened) אָדֹן ’adon; from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine): — lord, master, owner. Compare also names beginning with “Adoni-”.; the Lord (used as a proper name of God only): — (my) Lord. In this section of God’s word ăḏônây is used in conjunction with יְהוָֹה yhwh; (the) self-being aseity or Eternal; name of God: — the Lord. So essentially he is saying, Adonai YHWH or Sovereign eternal self-being, was being, is being, always is, one and only true God. It is obvious that Abram believed the word of the LORD to be the one true, eternal, and self-being God.

We can look at John 1:1-18 and see who John said the Word of God is. Again, it is obvious that Jesus is the Word.

John 1:1-18 (NASB) ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Witness John
⁶ There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
⁹ There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Made Flesh
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” ¹⁶ For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Jesus is not a god like the Mormons say. He was not Michael the angel transfigured like the Jehovah’s Witnesses would tell you. He was not just a prophet like Muslims claim. If there is any doubt now that Jesus is the Word, and the Word is God, it is not due to lack of evidence. It is due to disbelief. May God grant you true and saving faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord and God.