Shalom! My name is Adam Pastor

Welcome to ADONI MESSIAH which means
"My Lord Messiah" -
a fitting epithet to who Jesus (or Yeshua) is!

Here, I attempt to present the Apostolic Truths according to the Scriptures, that there is
One GOD, the Father, namely, YAHWEH,
and One Lord, GOD's only begotten Son,
Yeshua the Messiah.

And that one day YAHWEH will send His Son back to Earth to inaugurate the Everlasting Kingdom of GOD



Enjoy!


Friday, August 01, 2008

There Could Only Be One Jesus

Last month, I came across Mr. Afamefuna's post; where he attempts to present Jesus Christ as Almighty GOD.

The usual arguments are used; but most shocking is the fact that Mr. Afamefuna attempts to show that Jesus Christ himself claimed to be Almighty GOD!!

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

Powered By Blogger