This is simply not true! In all that the Lord Jesus the Messiah claimed and did; he never once asserted that he was indeed GOD! NEVER!! NO NOT ONCE!!
I felt I had to reply to his post and present my case.
His site has
comment moderation enabled; whereby Mr. Afamefuna must first approve my post
before it becomes public.
For reasons known only to himself he has
not done so. So my post was never published!! :-( :-(
Well,
personally, I spent quite some time writing that reply; so I am saddened he
hasn't at least published it for others to judge;
therefore I will reproduce
it in its entirety here.
Here is the link to his post:-
YESHUAH
HA-MASHIYACH LIVES FOREVER: There Could Only Be One Jesus
And here
is my response. Enjoy!! :-
Greetings
Without a shadow of a doubt,
Jesus of Nazareth is
the Messiah, the Son of the Living GOD.
[Matt 16.16, John 20.31]
And
everything Jesus said and claimed was in line with the words that GOD his Father
gave him to speak.
[John 12.48-50]
Jesus died for our sins and around 20
verses in the NT make it very clear that GOD Almighty raised him from the dead.
However, as fantastic and wondrous [John 7.46]
as Jesus' GOD-given words
were,
Jesus never ever claimed to be Almighty GOD! No not once!
That is why, Ilona Afamefuna, you weren't able to supply such a claim,
in all the verses you quoted;
because Jesus Christ never ever made such a
claim.
1) You state: Jesus Claimed To Be God
a) John 5.17-18
In these verses there is no claim from Jesus
that he is GOD!!
Rather, his accusers accused him of making
himself equal with GOD; a notion which Jesus refutes straightaway beginning
with:
(John 5:19) Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the
Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise.
Think about that! What kind of GOD can do nothing of
himself? These are not the words of deity! These are the words of a man,
a human being, totally dependent on Almighty GOD.
And so are the rest of the
words of John 5.19ff.
b) John 10:30-42
Jesus indeed made a
wonderful claim to be one with his Father.
In fact, later on in his
ministry, Jesus prayed that we be one even as he and the Father are one!
[John 17.11,21-23]
So again, there is no explicit claim from Jesus, of
him being GOD Himself.
The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy. They
accused him of being a man who "makest himself God." Note this is their
words. Not Jesus'.
What was Jesus' response? :-
Jesus answered them,
Is it not written in your law, I said,
Ye are gods? If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou
blasphemest; because I said,
I am the Son of God?
Have a look
at Psalm 82. If Jesus was indeed Almighty GOD, why would he even use this
psalm???
Of all the verses in Scripture that present the awesomeness, deity
and identity of the ONE GOD; Jesus rather uses a text in Scripture, which speaks
of human beings who judge for and represent the ONE GOD (in this case,
not with integrity); and because they represent GOD, they themselves are
called " elohim/god " !!
Thus, scripturally men/humans can be called
" elohim/god " in a representative sense!!
(See also Exo 4.16, 7.1, 21.6,
22.8,9.28).
What does that tell you about Jesus' usage of Psa 82.6?? Yet
even here, Jesus doesn't claim that he is "God".
He claims to be the Son
of GOD, the one whom the ONE GOD, the Father, hath sanctified, and sent into the
world.
Again, Jesus does not say that he is Almighty GOD!!!
2) You state: Only God Could Receive Worship
a) That actually is not the case at all.
The Hebrew word for
worship, shachah; is actually used in ref. to men more than it is used in
ref. to GOD Almighty. Its Greek equivalent is the word, proskuneo.
Men are worshipped in Scripture in a different sense. It is
called civil worship.
It is the obeisance/reverence offered to
dignitaries such as prophets, patriarchs and especially kings.
This usage is shown
throughout Scripture. It is the kind of worship that men such as Joseph,
Moses, Saul, David, Elisha received.
So how much more, Messiah
Jesus, our Prophet, Priest and King, can receive such worship!!
And
so he did, as shown in the Gospels (no such example however, in the Book of
Revelation. That is, proskuneo is not used in ref. to Jesus at all
in the Book of Revelation. Hmmm! See also Rev 3.9)
It was simply the
custom of the people to bow down before
a man of GOD, a prophet.
And when
people recognized Jesus as such, they performed that custom.
This is
totally different from worshiping Almighty GOD.
So, you are indeed
scripturally wrong in asserting that men do not receive worship.
Scripturally they do, civil worship. Translated in our bibles
as do/make obeisance/reverence.
(Sadly, this is where the
confusion comes from; because when the same words are used in ref. to Jesus they
translate it as "worship"; and in our western minds, we assume one meaning of
the word, "worship").
So yes, Jesus of Nazareth was indeed worshiped.
But not AS GOD but rather AS a man of GOD, AS That Prophet of Deut 18,
AS the Lord Messiah, AS the King of the Jews, AS the Son of GOD!
Amen!
For more details, I have listed many examples of this worship
given to men in:
The
Worship of Christ
See also Can
we "worship" Jesus Christ?
b) John 9:35-38
That is my point.
And the point of John the Apostle [John 20.31], again & again.
That
Jesus is the Son of GOD. There is only ONE GOD, the Father.
[1 Cor 8.4,6]
Jesus therefore is His Son, His human Son!
Jesus therefore, is the
Son of GOD not GOD.
He is the Son of the Father. [2 John 3]
Again, Jesus does not say ...
"Dost thou believe on God? ... it is
he that talketh with thee." Does he???
Rather, Jesus reveals to
the man that he is indeed the Son of GOD.
"Son of GOD" is equivalent to and is
the synonym of
"the Messiah" AKA "the King of the Jews"
(See John 1.49)
So of course, the man who was blind but now has "his eyes opened";
gladly falls before his King and gives him, due obeisance. Because Jesus is
the Messiah, the Son of GOD, the King of the Jews.
Note: like you even
said, the man was cast out because he confessed that Jesus was from
God! Not that he was GOD himself!!
May GOD continue to
"open our eyes" so that we can see Him for who He is, and see His Son for who
he is; seeing that His Son stated:
(John 17:3) And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent.
c) Concerning Titus 2.13
The Greek text is
better translated:
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope,
and the
appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
e.g. NASB, ASV, etc
Now compare that with Matt 16.27 & Luke 9.26.
Quite a different meaning, do you not agree?
Also men are called
"saviours" in Scripture
[Judg 3.9,15; 2 King 13.5; Isa 19.20, Neh 9.27; Obad
21]
because GOD our Savior uses them to save;
and this is most ultimately
shown in the case of Jesus of Nazareth whom GOD raised up to be a Savior
[Acts 5.31, 13.23].
The man Christ Jesus was commissioned by GOD
Almighty to be
the Messiah, the Savior of the world
[John 4.42, 1 John
4.14].
3) You state: Incredible Miracles That Proved That
Jesus Is GOD
a) In a verse, your claim can simply be answered by
this:
(John 14:10) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
In
actuality, it is the Father that does the works!
Jesus of himself can do
NOTHING!
[John 5.19,30; 8.28]
It is Almighty GOD who works through
him.
Jesus performed miracles just as the prophets and Moses before
him performed miracles.
By the power of GOD Himself.
And just as
that neither made Moses nor the prophets, GOD Almighty; neither does it make
Jesus Christ, GOD Almighty!
See also:
(Acts 2:22) Ye men of Israel,
hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by/through him in the
midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
(Acts 10:38) How God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was
with him.
GOD performed miracles and wonders and signs through
Jesus; Almighty GOD was with him;
compare:
(Mat 9:8) But when the
multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such
power/authority unto men.
(Luke 7:16) And there came a fear on
all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among
us; and, That God hath visited his people.
Jesus was not GOD and
neither was Peter. Yet Peter walked on water! [Matt 14.29]
How? By
the power of Almighty GOD.
Let's not stop there ... read on: (Mat 14:33)
Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying,
Of a
truth thou art the Son of God.
Get it? After seeing what GOD did
through this man, they are even more convinced that Jesus is who he claimed
to be!
The Son of GOD!! And so they worshiped him as such!
Jesus commanded the sea storm according to the words that GOD had given
him to speak.
[John 12.48-50, 14.10]
All the miracles and signs
performed indeed prove that Jesus is indeed GOD's Son, a man approved of GOD
... as ye yourselves also know [Acts 2.22]
Again, no claim by Jesus
that he is Almighty GOD.
b) Concerning Lazarus.
Again,
this should prove that Jesus is indeed not GOD.
Firstly, listen to Martha:
(John 11:21-22) Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died. 22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
Firstly, an omnipotent
GOD does not need to be in a specific location to perform something does he?
Martha obviously didn't think that Jesus was therefore omnipotent.
And
secondly, note her words: whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it
thee.
Come now, Ilona Afamefuna! Surely you can see that Martha
didn't believe Jesus was GOD.
There is solely ONE GOD. So, rather, Martha
believed that even now, after Lazarus had been dead 4 days, even now; if Jesus
asks GOD Almighty his Father, GOD would grant Jesus' request and Lazarus would
be raised from the dead.
Why did Martha believe this? (John 11:27) She
saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of
God, which should come into the world.
She believed this because she
believed that Jesus was indeed GOD's Son, and as such, could simply ask GOD his
Father, and the miracle would be performed.
Ilona Afamefuna, please see
that!!
Now note Jesus' words (and also note, that GOD has no need to
pray!) :-
(John 11:41-42) ... And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and
said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that
thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it,
that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
These words sound
familiar. Compare:
(1 Ki 18:36) And it came to pass at the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and
said, YAHWEH God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all
these things at thy word.
Just as Elijah before him, Jesus prayed
that GOD would perform the miracle, so that the people would believe that GOD
had sent him and that he does all things according to GOD's words.
(Also
remember Elijah raised the dead, and he was not GOD!)
And because of the
resurrection of Lazarus, many went on to believe just as Martha believed; that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Again, no claim by Jesus that he is
Almighty GOD.
c) Concerning the words that Jesus spoke e.g. John
11.25-26, 14.6, etc
Again, Jesus spoke the words that GOD gave him to
speak. That is why he spoke in the fashion that he did.
Way back in the time
of Moses, GOD promised:
(Deu 18:15) YAHWEH thy God will raise up unto
thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him
ye shall hearken;
(Deu 18:18-19) I will raise them up a Prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak
in my name, I will require it of him.
Jesus is That Prophet [John
6.14, Acts 3.22-23, 7.37]
And therefore Jesus spoke the very words that GOD
gave him to speak.
Therefore Jesus said:
(John 12:48-50) He that
rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I
have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his
commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
Father said unto me, so I speak.
It cannot be stated much clearer
than that. Jesus spoke GOD's words because he is "That Prophet" that was to
come as promised by GOD to Moses.
Compare:
(John 4:25-26) The woman
saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is
come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am he.
(John 4:29) Come, see a man, which told me all
things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
(John 4:40-42) So when
the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with
them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his
own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy
saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the
Christ, the Saviour of the world.
(John 7:16-18) Jesus answered
them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own
glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no
unrighteousness is in him.
Jesus never ever spoke of himself, much
less claim to be GOD Almighty.
Rather he is GOD's promised Prophet, GOD's
mouthpiece!
4) Other Incredible Claims Of Jesus
In conclusion then, in all that you have said, Ilona Afamefuna, you have
not given one verse where Jesus claimed to be GOD. That is not surprising
because there is no such verse.
The Lord Jesus is indeed the Messiah,
the Son of GOD and seeing that he is indeed who he claimed to be, therefore:
A) He claimed to be able to give everlasting life.
because GOD Almighty gave it to him to give to others
(John 5:26)
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself;
(John 6:57) As the living Father hath sent me, and
I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
(John 17:2) As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
(1 John 5:11-12)
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life.
B) He claimed to be able to forgive
sins
Jesus forgave sins by the authority given him by GOD.
So rather, he claimed to have GOD-given authority to forgive sins.
And
he also gave that same authority to his disciples (does that make them, GOD?) :-
(Mat 9:6-8) But that ye may know that the Son of man hath
power
[AUTHORITY; Gk: exousia] on earth to forgive
[Gk: aphiemi]
sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed,
and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to his house. 8 But when
the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God,
which had
given such power [Same word: Gk: exousia] unto men.
(John
20:22-23) And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit
[same word
as "forgive"; Gk: aphiemi],
they are remitted
[Gk: aphiemi] unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they
are retained.
C) He claimed that he would die and come back to
life
Because according to Scriptures such as Psalm 16; Jesus
believed his GOD, that GOD would not let him see corruption; that GOD Almighty
would raise him from the dead.
And around 20 NT verses clearly state
that GOD Almighty fulfilled His promise, by raising Christ from the dead.
In
other words, Christ believed the promises of GOD and had faith in his GOD.
Let us do likewise. Amen!
Dear Ilona Afamefuna,
for more
info on this wondrous subject;
I recommend this video:
The Human Jesus
Take a couple of
hours to watch it; be "Berean" in your viewing of it and over the points made in
this post; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
