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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. " Hear, O Israel the LORD our God, the LORD is one; And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". (Mark 12,29-30)

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 Cor 8,6). This Lord, of course, is Jesus.

Paul repeats this with a slightly different emphasis, in 1 Tim 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. (1 Tim 2,5)

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. (Cf. Isaiah 61,1-3 & Luke 4,18)

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. (Cf Psalm 110,1 with Matt 22,44-45 & Heb 1,13)

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". (Compare Psalm 2,2,7 with Heb 1,5. See also Rom 4,17)

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 Cor 15,27-28)

JESUS AND THE IMMORTAL GOD

Jesus is not God. God alone has inherent immortality (1 Tim 6,16) ..... and thereforeGod 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 & 3,15 & 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) W

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