BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 47
August 1994
JESUS AND THE GOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
By Allon
Maxwell
|
JESUS AND THE
GOD OF MOSES The New
Testament God is the same ONE LORD who is the God of Moses. Jesus says so. In defining the
supreme priority of obedience to God, He repeats the words of Moses. Thus Jesus
draws our attention to the same ONE TRUE GOD, who is the God of the Old
Testament. This God is THE LORD. There is no other. JESUS AND THE
GOD WHO IS HIS FATHER It should come
as no surprise, therefore, to discover that the New Testament relationship
between Jesus and His father, is exactly that promised and prophesied in the
Old Testament. For the New
Testament writers, Jesus is certainly not God. He is someone else. He is
God's Son. The God to whom
Jesus directs our worship and obedience, is the ONE GOD who Jesus calls both His
God and our God. (John 20:17) It is this ONE
GOD who Jesus prays to as THE ONLY TRUE GOD, calling upon Him as Father. (John 17:3). Thus He makes
it clear, without any possibility of misunderstanding, that He himself is not
the ONLY TRUE GOD. JESUS AND THE
GOD OF PAUL Paul draws us a
very clear distinction between God and Jesus. There is, Paul
also says, but ONE GOD, the Father. There is, Paul
says, another who is NOT God, but Lord. (1
Corinthians 8:6). This Lord, of course, is Jesus. Paul repeats
this with a slightly different emphasis, in 1
Timothy 2:5. There he again refers to the One who he calls the ONLY
GOD. Jesus, Paul
says, is not this ONE God, but the human mediator between the
ONLY God and all other men. JESUS AND THE
NEW TESTAMENT GOD WHO KEEPS HIS PROMISES The God of the
New Testament is revealed as the keeper of ancient promises, made to Eve, to
Abraham, and to David. He is revealed
as the God who confirms the words of His servants the prophets. (Isaiah 44:26). Jesus is not
this God. He is someone else. The New Testament declares Him to be the human
descendant of Eve, Abraham and David. He is the MAN who was born in
fulfillment of all those promises and prophecies. Jesus is not
God. He is the servant of God, upon whom the Anointing of the Spirit of God
rests. He is the Messiah, anointed to bear the Good Tidings, the Gospel of
Salvation. Jesus is not
God. He is the "Lord" of whom David spoke, the human descendant of
David, who has been exalted to the position of chief deputy to the LORD .....
the "right hand man" of God. Jesus is not
God. He was not yet in existence when God spoke in the present tense to
guarantee a future certainty , "You are my Son, today I have begotten you".
JESUS AND THE
GOD WHO IS THE SOURCE OF HIS AUTHORITY Jesus is not
God. He claimed no authority of His own, for the words that He spoke. He was
sent by another higher authority. That higher authority is God.
What He says is by commandment from His Father. (John 12:44-50) JESUS AND THE
GOD WHO IS THE SOURCE OF HIS MIRACLES Jesus is not
God. He claimed no power of His own to perform miracles. (John 5:19). It was, He said, God who did
the works. (John 14:10) The works were
His Fathers confirmation of the authority granted to Jesus to speak for God,
as God's agent. (John 5:30-43). One of the
clearest indications that Jesus exercised no power of His own, is seen in the
miracle of the raising of Lazarus. It was God who
raised Lazarus. It was Jesus who prayed, but it was God who performed the
work, in answer to the prayer of His Son. (John
11:40-43) That miracle
was God's declaration that He had indeed sent Jesus to speak for Him; and it
was God's response to Martha's belief in Jesus, not as God, but as the Son of
God and the Messiah. (John 11:27) Jesus now has
ALL power and all authority in Heaven and Earth. However, even now, that
authority and power is not inherent, but derived. It has been given to Him. (Matthew 28:19) And Jesus
remains eternally subject to the God who is His Father. (1 Corinthians 15:27-28) JESUS AND THE
IMMORTAL GOD Jesus is not
God. God alone has inherent immortality (1
Timothy 6:16) ..... and therefore God cannot die. But Jesus was born mortal and Jesus did die; and it is not Jesus Himself, but
the immortal living God who raised Him from the dead. (Acts 2:24 & Acts 3:15 & Acts 4:10). The immortality which Jesus now
has, is a gift from God, just as it will be for all others who inherit
eternity. JESUS AND THE
GOD OF THE CHURCH In Matthew 16:13-17, Jesus makes the claim for
Himself that He is: *
The Son of Man. (The human
descendant of those other men to whom God made promises). *
The Christ (The Messiah of the Old
Testament, anointed to rule over His people as a king, and Intercede for them
as a priest). *
The Son of the living God. (The
human Son of the self-existent
creator). In declaring
this doctrine to be the foundation stone on which His church is built, He
very clearly separates His identity and His status from that of the God who
is His Father. THESE FACTS are
the foundation stone of true Christian faith. BUILDING ON THE
RIGHT FOUNDATION In thus
identifying Himself, Jesus has made it clear that He is not a Trinitarian!
...... And the foundation on which the Church is being built, is NOT the
doctrine of the Trinity! Jesus is no
pre-existent being now merely pretending to be a man, nor is he a part of a
tri-une God. The New Testament simply DOES NOT use such language about Him. This is
important. It was Jesus who said that knowing the Father as the ONLY TRUE
GOD, and Jesus as the SON sent by God, was the source of Eternal Life. (John 17:1-3). However we must
be careful about all this. Salvation is NOT by correct theology alone! When
Jesus said this about knowing the FATHER as the only true God, He did not
mean merely knowing about God! It is, after all, certainly
possible to know who God is without loving Him for what
He is! What Jesus has
in mind, is knowing God as Jesus has revealed Him ...... knowing God personally,
as Jesus does ...... loving all that God is, as Jesus does ...... loving God
and Jesus, both, enough to obey , as Jesus does. (John 14:15) The real issue
is not simply that some do not love Jesus, just because they are wrong about
who He is. (Although that is certainly important in its own right). I am convinced
that the real problem is that most are wrong about who Jesus is because
they do not love either Him or His Father enough , either to want to
know who He really is, or to be willing to obey God when they do know. However, the
confused "Greek philosophical logic" of Trinitarian teaching, does
cloud the essential issues of true faith in Jesus. To make Him an infinite
pre-existent being, with an eternal mind, and with two natures, divine and
human, combined somehow in one body, is to elevate His obedience to God far
beyond all hope of human emulation. If victory over
sin requires a two natured "God-man" to achieve it, then it lies
beyond human reach, and continued failure is all that we can expect. The real Good
News tells us that a REAL man, made exactly like all other men, has
demonstrated that men CAN live in a way that pleases God. When men choose to
love God as the man Jesus does, they will be able to believe that victory is
possible, and they will obey. (John 14:15) |