Deity of Christ

Okay, this is just a little session that we're going to do on some basic questions regarding the Godhead. According to the Bible, we teach that there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. Now a lot of people are somewhat confused about that concept. How can we say that there are three who are one? And so, some of the objections that are raised about it are from the following passages. One of them is Matthew chapter 19 and verse 7, where Christ was talking to the rich young ruler who said, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And he said, no one is good but God. And so, the objection comes back, if Christ told the rich young ruler, no one is good but God, or why do you call me good, for no one is good but God, then is that an affirmation, a statement of Christ saying that He's not God? Absolutely not. It's actually an affirmation that Christ is God. What He was telling the rich young ruler is that if you call me good and none is good but God, then you must be acknowledging that I am God, because I cannot be good without being God. Concerning man, the scripture says there is none good, no, not one. And since God is good and the rich young ruler called Jesus God, then the rich young ruler is acknowledging by that designation, if he is willing to call Jesus God, he is saying, oh good, that Jesus is God. Now, to demonstrate the authority that Jesus was divine is expressed in the rest of the verse. He said, keep the commandments, and he says, all of these I've done from my youth up. Well, then he asked, what do I like yet? Well, Jesus then tells him, go and sell everything that you have and give to the poor, and then you shall enter into life. Now, how was he able to tell him that? Because he was God, because he was able to look into the man's heart to see what his real affections were, and then give him the remedy to get rid of that and express the authority by which he could enter into the kingdom of heaven, which demonstrated that Jesus was in fact God. So that handles the first objection. Next is a text from first Corinthians chapter 11, and the verse is 3, that says basically, the head of every woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. If Jesus Christ is God, how can God be the head of God? Well, this goes back to the fact that there are three in one, and what the Bible is demonstrating is the hierarchical order of each person in the Godhead, meaning that the Father, as Jesus said in John 14 and verse 58, is greater than I am, but Jesus is greater in authority than the Holy Spirit. So it's not a question of their essence in terms of their divinity, it is a question of their authority in terms of the way that it is structured. For example, you have a man and a woman who come together and they are one, but there is an authority structure there that God recognizes when He said Adam was first formed and then Eve, thereby giving Adam some authority in terms of his functional role, and if that is the case and they are one, they are two separate beings, but they are one. And so, when the Bible says that the man is the head of the woman and yet they are one, we are not to understand them as the same person. And likewise, is that true for God? Christ and the Father are not the same in terms of being the same individual, but they are one, just like a man and his wife are one, and not the same individual. They have a different sphere of authority. The Father is greater than the Son, and thus the Father sends the Son. The Son doesn't send the Father. The fact that He is sent by the Father demonstrates the authority of the Father over the Son. And because the Holy Spirit receives the communication from the Son that He received from the Father, the Son is greater than the Father. And that's John 16, 13, and that is the order. Now, that addresses 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. Then we have the fact that, let's see, what other text do we have regarding those things? 1 Timothy, yeah, chapter 2 and verse 5, where the Bible says there is one God and one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. So, if Jesus is God, how is He called a man? Now, we understand that from the beginning, the Bible says, that is according to the Gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5, the Scripture says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a bondservant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So, Jesus being the Word, came to be in the flesh, as the Scripture says, the Word was made flesh. It didn't say the Word was made. It says the Word, which existed in the beginning with God, was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, He was equal with God, but He gave up some aspect of His divine glory and essence to become man by taking on a body, and thus He was God in the flesh, and we are not to therefore assume that He was any less. Now, here's how then is He called a man when He ascends back? Some have argued that Jesus Christ took His physical body back to heaven. I do not believe that that is the case. When He ascended back, I believe that Jesus is no longer in that physical body. Now, He rose in that body, for sure, we're not denying that, but I do not believe that He ascended back, because the glory of God was not contained within a physical body, in terms of prior to Jesus's incarnation. So, what we have is the Bible speaks of the corporate man in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 16 and 17. The Scripture says, for though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him after the flesh no more. And so, Jesus was born in the flesh, He was put to death in the flesh, but He was made alive in the Spirit. Now, that had nothing to do with His physical body. Those are two states or spheres of His existence or operation. He operated in the realm of the flesh when He was born under the law. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, made under the Torah, to redeem those who were under the law. When Jesus died, the Scripture says, when He had this conversation with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, they talked about His decease, which is the word Exodus, which He would make in Jerusalem, meaning that He was going to begin a journey out of the law into which He had come, into the world in which He had come, and enter into a new world, which is expressed in His dying and rising with Christ. He was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, but made alive according to the seed of the resurrection by the Holy Spirit. So, He's now in the realm of the flesh. What's happened is, you've had Jesus coming as the last Adam, and now He is the man from heaven, but not a physical man. He is now a corporate man, just like Adam was a federal head or corporate man. As the Scripture says, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all are made alive. Now, where are all made alive in Christ? Not in His flesh, but in His resurrection from the dead. That's why He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He was talking about what would be the case after His death. That's why when Jesus came into the world, it says that the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is as of the only begotten of the Father. That being the case, when He rose from the dead, He was that house. You know, He told them in John 2, He says, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Bible says He spoke of the temple of His body. Now, as He tabernacled in the flesh, that was one body, but when He rose in the Spirit, the Bible says, behold, I lay in Zion, a cheap cornerstone, and he who believes on Him shall not be ashamed. He is that foundation that no man can lay other than Jesus Christ, and that no man can be saved in other than Jesus Christ. And He also said that He was the foundation upon which everything else was built. And because of that, He is now the new temple, which is what Revelation 21, 22 says, as well as John chapter 4, 20 through 24, God is a spirit, they who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. And so, He's a part of that new temple, which is the Lamb and the Father of Revelation 22, but that's a spiritual temple, that is a spiritual body. And so, it is the corporate man of the heavens now. Just as the scripture says, we have borne the image of the one or the man made of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one, of the heavenly man. So, Christ is now a corporate man out of the heavens. And when the scripture speaks of that, it says, you have put off the old man, which was corrupt according to its deceitful lust. That's not a physical man and have put on the new man. So, it is through Christ, the new man, who is the mediator of the new covenant. And hence, there is one God and one mediator between man and God, the corporate man, Christ Jesus. And that's what first Timothy 2 and 5 means. It has nothing to do with Jesus' biological flesh. It isn't even talking about His incorruptibility, which has nothing to with biological flesh, by the way. And yes, the next one is about Christ being the first, being the beginning of the creation. From Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14, it says, and to the angels of the church of the Laodiceans write these things, says the amen, the faithful in true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. And how can Jesus be the beginning of the creation when He is supposed to be God? Well, the beginning of the creation doesn't mean the beginning of the created, and that's the error that is being made. That's the mistaken notion that people have, that He is the beginning of the created. He's not the beginning of the created. He is the beginning of the creation. Now, that's not even talking about the creation of Genesis 1, which, as the Scripture says, in the beginning, God Elohim made the heavens and the earth. And in John 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him, nothing was made that was made. Now, just think about that. If Jesus was created, it would mean that He did not exist. But if nothing was made without Him, nothing that was made without Him, then it would mean that Jesus, who did not exist, had to create Himself in order to exist so He could be the beginning of the creation. How much sense does that make? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. When the Bible speaks of the beginning of the creation of God, it's not speaking of the material creation. It's not speaking of what happened in Genesis. It's speaking of the creation that is spoken of in the Old Covenant, where the Scripture says that this shall be written for a generation to come. And that is Psalm 102. I think I want to look at it as well. And verse 18, Psalm 102 and verse 18, where it says this will be written for the generation to come that a people yet to be created. Now, have we seen God create any new people physically on this earth since Genesis? No. So what did He mean? By a new creation, He meant that Israel had to be reborn. And they're not reborn in the flesh. As Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he is old? Does he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? No, that's not the way it takes place. But He is born of water and of the Spirit. That's a spiritual birth. Now, who was the first born from the dead? Jesus is the first fruits from the dead. And that began a new creation. As we said, He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. So He's the first born in the realm of the Spirit. He's not the first one to be raised from the dead, physical death, but He is the first one to be raised in the realm of the Spirit. That's the realm where you do not die. And so, from that perspective, He is the beginning of the creation. That's Colossians 1 verse 15 and verse 18. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead. The word first born from the dead, or that phrase, is a positive. It renames the subject who is the beginning. So who is the beginning? And then it renames it the first born from the dead. So the beginning is the first born from the dead. That's the beginning of the creation, of the new creation. Hence, the Bible says, therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. If you're not in Christ, you're not a new creation. Christ is the first born, the first fruits from the dead. Therefore, He is the beginning of the new creation. That's not His creation in Genesis. He was never created. He created all things. Nothing existed without Him. He was the agent through which the world was created. And therefore, the passage is teaching that. And then the final point that we want to look at is regarding the statement concerning Moses. God said, Moses, you will be as God. You will be Elohim. Does that mean that Moses became God? And since Psalm 82 says you are gods, does that mean that they became God? No. Generally, when the term Elohim is used, the context will bear out how it's being used, because it can be used for the Most High God, the true and living God, and it can be used for men. In the context of Psalm 82.6, it is a context of judgment, and it's those rulers in Israel who were unjustly judging. And God compares His righteous judgment with the unrighteous judgment of Israel. And there's probably a historical context with Psalm 82.6, and I'm going to look that up and see if I can identify the actual context for the unjust judging of Israel. But now here's the other part of that. When Jesus used the term in John 10 and verse 34, He had been teaching that He was the Son of God. In essence, God manifested in the flesh, and the Jews, many of them rejected Him. And so He raised that statement. He says, have I not said, you are gods? And He says, if He called them gods, and the scripture cannot be broken, why are you getting all upset? Because I said, I am God. And then He tells them, if you don't believe Me, believe the works, that I am in the Father, and the Father's in Me. The works testify of Me. Well, they couldn't deny His miracles, and He demonstrated that by raising Lazarus from the dead. And they simply couldn't deny His miracles, and they know that man couldn't do those miracles. As Nicodemus said, no one can do the miracles which you do, except God be with him, except He was God. And therefore, Jesus' miracles testify to the fact that He was God. And those Jews who were the Pharisees and the rulers, etc., were being unjust gods, unjust rulers, Elohim, as Psalm 82 said. And that's why Jesus quoted that text in that context, where He was talking to these Jews who were unjustly judging Him, because they wouldn't even consider His works that they understood could not be done by a man. And that is what is meant by Elohim. And so, that wraps up basically all the questions that were asked in that little scenario, and it demonstrates why Jesus is divine. Thank you for watching this. If you have any questions or comments, shoot them to me, and we'll look forward to being with you in our next recording. Thank you.