BIBLE DIGEST -Number 5
(Revised) November 1993
GOD THE FATHER AND HIS SON
by Allon Maxwell
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1. THE ONLY TRUE GOD There is only one person in the Bible who is called "the only true God". That person is the one Jesus calls his Father. John 17:3 Jesus calls his Father "the only true God". 1 Corinthians 8:6 Paul says there is one God, the Father. Ephesians 4:6 There is one God and Father of us all. The same person in the Old Testament is called "Yahweh" (translated LORD). Deuteronomy 5:6-7 I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods besides me. Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD. 2. JESUS IS NOT THE ONE CALLED LORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. The clear distinction between the LORD and Jesus and the relationship between them is prophesied in such verses as: 2 Samuel 7:14 (the LORD says) I will be his father, and he shall be my son. Psalm 110:1 The LORD (the Father) says to my lord (Jesus), sit at my right hand. The first prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus who is both Son of God and son of David. Luke 1:32- 35. The fulfilment of the second prophecy is found in Mark 16:19 Jesus ... was taken into heaven and sat down at God's right hand. Acts 7:55-56 Stephen saw Jesus in heaven at the right hand of God. Ephesians 1:20 The Father has made Jesus sit at his right hand. 3. THE FATHER (WHO IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD) AND JESUS (THE SON OF THAT GOD) ….. ARE TWO ..... NOT ONE. John 10:15 The Father knows me, and I know the Father. John 5:30 I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. John 8:16-18 It is not I alone who judge, but I and he who sent me, I bear witness to myself and the Father who sent me bears witness to me. Luke 22:42 Father not my will, but thine, be done. John 14:24 The word which you hear is not mine but the Father's. 4. JESUS IS NOT EQUAL TO HIS FATHER. John 14:28 The Father is greater than I. 1 Corinthians 11:3 The head of Christ is God. 1 Corinthians 3:23 You are Christ's and Christ is God's. 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 Jesus will always be subject to the Father. John 5:19 The Son can do nothing of himself. John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own authority. John 8:28 I do nothing on my own authority. 5. JESUS IS GOD'S REPRESENTATIVE NOT GOD HIMSELF. John 5:43 I have come in my Father's name 1 Timothy 2:5 There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus Hebrews 1:2 God has spoken to us by his Son. 6. JESUS IS GOD'S SON .... NOT GOD HIMSELF. John 3:16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Romans 8:32 God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. 1 John 4:10 God loved us and sent his son to be the expiation of our sins. 7. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF GOD NOT GOD HIMSELF. John 1:18 No man has ever seen God. John 5:37 You have never seen his form. 1 Timothy 6:16 Whom no man has ever seen or can see. But Jesus is an exact likeness of his Father. Consequently, even though no one has ever seen God himself, to see Jesus is to see exactly what God is like. Colossians 1:15 Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 2 Corinthians 4:4 Christ is the likeness of God. Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is the express image of God (an exact representation - NASB). John 8:19 If you knew me you would know my Father also. John 12:44-45 He who believes in me believes in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. John 14:9 He who has seen me has seen the Father. 8. WHEN JESUS SAYS, "I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE". He does NOT mean that they are one person or one God. Rather, they are united in a common purpose. The Bible uses similar language of a marriage in which two become one in God's sight. In the same way, believers are one with Jesus and one with each other. John 14:20 and John 17:21-23. 9. JESUS WORSHIPS AND PRAYS TO HIS FATHER. (showing that He is lower in status than the God he worships.) John 20:17 To my God and your God. Matthew 27:46 My God why have you forsaken me. 2 Corinthians 11:31 God and Father of the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 1:3 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus. Hebrews 5:7 Jesus offered up prayers. Luke 6:12 All night in prayer to God. Matthew 11:25 I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth. John 11:41 Father I thank you that you have heard me. 10. WHY IS JESUS GIVEN THE TITLE "GOD"? There are a few verses where Jesus is called "God", e.g.: John 20:28, Isaiah 9:6; Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8 However, we have already seen that the Father is the only true God. It is also clear that Jesus is a second person. He is not his own Father, neither is he "the only true God". In the verses where Jesus is called God, the word must therefore mean something different to what it means when it is used about the Father. It is used of Jesus in a secondary sense:
The word "elohim" or "god" is sometimes used of: * Angels Psalm 97:7 and Hebrews 1:6, Psalm 8:5 and Hebrews 2:7 * Human judges Exodus 21:6 and Exodus 22:8-9, 1 Samuel 2:25 * Moses Exodus 4:16 * The Children of Israel Psalm 82:6 and John 10:34-36 In these cases, the word "God" is used of these people because they were God's representatives through whom God was speaking and through whom men dealt with God. In the same way God now speaks to us through his Son. To deal with Jesus is to deal with the God in whose name he speaks. Hebrews 1:2, John 14:6. 11. JESUS IS "THE SON OF GOD" - NOT "GOD THE SON" The first title is used many times in the Bible. The second is never used anywhere in the Bible. Luke 1:32 Son of the Most High Luke 1:35 Son of God Matthew 16:16 You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Luke 3:22 and Matthew 3:17 You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Luke 9:35 This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him. 12. JESUS IS GOD'S SERVANT Matthew 12:18 Behold my servant whom I have chosen. Philippians 2:7-8 The form of a servant. John 4:34 My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to do his work. Hebrews 10:7 & 9 I come to do your will, O God. 13. JESUS IS INFERIOR TO GOD
14. THE AUTHORITY WHICH JESUS HAS, IS NOT INHERENT. IT IS GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS FATHER. John 5:23 All are to honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. Philippians 2:9 - God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name. Matthew 28:18 - All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. Ephesians 1:20-21 - The Father made Jesus sit at his right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name. 15. JESUS IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD There are a number of references which speak about God being in Jesus. These do not mean that Jesus is God, but rather that the man, Jesus, has become a temple in which God lives. John 2:21 The temple of his body. John 14:10 The Father who dwells in me does the works. John 14:11 The Father is in me, and I am in the Father. Colossians 1:19 In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Colossians 2:9 In him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily. These references mean simply that the body of Jesus is the temple of God, in exactly the same way that our bodies also are the temple of God. John 17:21 Even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. John 17:23 I in them and you in me. John 14:23 We will come to him and make our home with him. 2 Corinthians 6:16 We are the temple of the living God. Ephesians 3:19 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 2:22 A dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16 You are God's temple and God's Spirit dwells in you. 16. JESUS DOES NOT HAVE INHERENT IMMORTALITY. 1 Timothy 6:15-16 God alone (the Father) has immortality. Jesus was mortal. He died Philippians 2:7-8, Hebrews 2:14-18. His Father raised him from the dead Acts 3:15 His resurrection resulted in a change from mortality to immortality. Acts 13:34, Romans 6:9, Revelation 1:18 His immortality is a gift from his Father John 5:26 17. THE FATHER AND THE SON ARE DIFFERENT IN NATURE. God is not a man nor a son of man. Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hosea 11:9 John 4:24 God is spirit. James 1:13 God cannot be tempted with evil. Although Jesus is the Son of God, in those four things he is different to his Father. Jesus was born a man Philippians 2:7, Hebrews 2:14 Jesus is the son of man Luke 19:10, John 8:28 Jesus is still a man Acts 17:31, 1 Timothy 2:5 Jesus is NOT a spirit Luke 24:39 Jesus was tempted Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15, Luke 4:1-13 All of these differences show clearly that there is a difference in nature between "the only true God" and His Son. 18. JESUS IS THE WAY TO GOD, NOT GOD HIMSELF John 14:6 No one comes to the Father but by me. Hebrews 7:25 We draw near to God through Jesus. 19. JESUS IS OUR INTERCESSOR WITH GOD, NOT GOD HIMSELF Hebrews 7:25 Jesus makes intercession for us. Hebrews 9:24 Jesus has entered heaven to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Hebrews 9:14 Christ offered himself to God to purify our consciences from sin. |