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 Cor. 8:6
- Paul says there is one God, the Father.
Eph. 4:6
- There is one God and Father of us all.
The same
person in the Old Testament is called "Yahweh" (translated LORD).
Deut. 5:6-7-
I am the LORD your God ... you shall have no other gods besides me.
Deut. 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 Sam. 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.
Eph. 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 Cor. 11:3
The head of Christ is God.
1 Cor 3:23
You are Christ's and Christ is God's.
1 Cor. 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
I Tim 2:5
There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the
man
Christ Jesus
Heb 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.
Rom. 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 Tim 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.
Col 1:15
Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
2 Cor. 4:4
Christ is the likeness of God.
Heb 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 12:44-4
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 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.
Matt. 27:46
My God why have you forsaken me.
2 Cor.11:31
God and Father of the Lord Jesus.
Eph. 1:3
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus.
Heb. 5:7
Jesus offered up prayers.
Luke 6:12
All night in prayer to God.
Matt.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 Heb 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 :-
(a) because he is the Son
of God
(b) because he is the image and likeness
of God
(c) because he is God's representative
(d) because, as Son of God, we worship
him to the glory of his Father
(Phil. 2:9-11).
The word
"elohim" or "god" is sometimes used of:
angels
Ps.
97:7 and Heb. 1:6; Ps. 8,5 and Heb. 2:7
human
judges
Ex. 21:6 and 22:8 & 9;
1 Sam. 2:25
Moses
Ex.
4:16 and :1
The
Children of Israel
Ps
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. (Heb. 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
Matt. 16:16
- You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Luke 3:22
(and Matt. :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
Matt. 12:18
- Behold my servant whom I have chosen.
Phil. 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.
Heb. 10:7
& 9 - I come to do your will, O God.
13. JESUS
IS INFERIOR TO GOD
(a) In authority
- John 5:19, John 5:30, John 8:28, John 14:10, 1 Cor. 15:24-28;
Matt. 20:23.
(b) In knowledge
- Matt. 24:36, Mark 13:23, Acts 1:7.
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.
Phil. 2:9 - God has exalted
him and bestowed on him the name above
every other name.
Matt. 28:18
- All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me.
Eph. 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 14:10
The Father who dwells in me does the works.
John 2:21
The temple of his body.
John 1:38
The Father is in me and I am in the Father.
Col. 1:19
In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Col. 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 Cor. 6:16
We are the temple of the living God.
Eph. 3:19
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Eph. 2:22
A dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
1 Cor. 3:16
You are God's temple and God's Spirit dwells in you.
16. JESUS
DOES NOT HAVE INHERENT IMMORTALITY.
1 Tim. 6:16
God alone (the Father) has immortality
Jesus was
mortal. He died Phil. :7-8, Heb. 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,
Rom. 6:9,
Rev. 1:18
His immortality
is a gift from his Father John 5:26
17. THE
FATHER AND THE SON ARE DIFFERENT IN NATURE.
Num. 23:19
God is not a man ... nor a son of man. (Also 1 Sam 15:29, Hos. 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 Phil. 2:7, Heb. 2:14
Jesus is the
son of man Luke 19:10, John 8:28
Jesus is still
a man Acts 17:31, 1 Tim. 2:5
Jesus is NOT
a spirit Luke 24:39
Jesus was
tempted Heb. 2:18, Heb. 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.
Heb. 7:25
We draw near to God through Jesus.
19. JESUS
IS OUR INTERCESSOR WITH GOD ..... NOT GOD HIMSELF
Heb. 7:25
Jesus makes intercession for us.
Heb. 8:24
Jesus has entered heaven to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Heb. 9:14
Christ offered himself to God to purify our consciences from sin.
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