Author: imikemedia

#4 in a series

QUESTION:  “Is Jesus the same as God?  A friend at work claims that these are two different designations for the same person.  What do you think?”

ANSWER:  This is an important question.  Many sincere people are confused about this matter.  Let’s see what the Bible says:

Continued from last week:

• Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.”  John 8:54
  • Question: According to this passage, Who was giving honor/glory (KJV) and Who was receiving honor/glory?
  • Yes or No: If the Son is the exact same person as the Father then Jesus was glorifying Himself.
  • Question: Since Jesus explicitly said that He wasn’t glorifying Himself, Who was glorifying Him?
  • Question: What does it say about Jesus’ integrity (i.e., sinlessness—Isa. 53:9; Mat. 27:24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5) if He claimed that His Father honored Him, but actually He was only honoring Himself?

• Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and toMy God and your God.’  John 20:17
  • Question: Who would be ascending—the Son or the Father?
  • Question: To Whom would Jesus be ascending?
  • Yes or No: Does the language of this passage imply a distinction between God the Father and God the Son?
  • Question: What are the implications about the Son of God if He told Mary that He was ascending to the Father, when He was actually only returning to Himself?

• Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming backto you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”  John 14:28
  • Question: If the Son of God is the exact same person as the Father God as Oneness Pentecostals claim, how could Jesus say, “My Father is greater than I?”
  • Question: If the Father and Son are only one person and Jesus was just talking about Himself, how could He be greater than Himself?
  • Question/Illustration: If I told you that my father, when he was a young man, was GREATER than I am now as a young man, would you think I was only talking about one person?

• And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46
  • Question: To Whom was Jesus referring when He cried out, “FATHER, into YOUR hands…?” (emphasis mine—mb).
  • Question: Was Jesus crying out to Himself?
  • Question: To Whom was Jesus committing His spirit?
  • Yes or No: If Jesus wasn’t crying out to anyone but Himself, didn’t He use deceptive language when He uttered these words?

No, God the Father and God the Son share the same essence, but they are not the same person.  See “Is God One or Three?” and “Is the Godhead Equal?”

WE BUILD OUR lives day by day, decision by decision.

Both the small and the large choices we make add to the mix as we build our legacy.

You might be tempted to say, “Wait a minute.  I’m not wealthy, so how can I leave a legacy?”

Our legacy is not just what is specified in our will. 

It is the moral influence that we have had on other people.

It is the trail through life that we have left behind us.

Don M. Aycock & Mark Sutton, “Building Your Legacy,” STILL GOD’S MAN, 358

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15

#3 in a series

QUESTION:  “Is Jesus the same as God?  A friend at work claims that these are two different designations for the same person.  What do you think?”

ANSWER:  This is an important question.  Many sincere people are confused about this matter.  Let’s see what the Bible says:

If the Father and the Son is/are the exact same person, then Jesus—at the very least—employed deceptive (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Psa. 92:15; Mal. 3:6; Rom. 3:4; Titus 1:2; Jas. 1:17-18) language throughout the gospel accounts.  Note:

• Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 6:38

  • Yes or No: Did Jesus say He came to earth to do His own will (cf. 4:34)?

  • Question: Specifically Who sent Jesus from heaven (cf. 6:33, 38-39, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58)?
  • Yes or No: Does the text distinguish between the will of Jesus and the will of Him who sent Jesus?
  • Observation: If Jesus is the exact same person as God the Father in all respects, then Jesus a) sent Himself (a person can “go” himself, but he can’t “send” or commission himself—John 1:6, 22, 24; 17:18), and b) He actually lied and came from heaven to do His own will.
  • Question: What are the eternal implications, if in fact, Jesus came to do His own will and not the will of the Father?

• Jesus said, “My Father, who has given them (i.e., sheep—mb, John 10:14-15) to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:29
  • Yes or No: Does the text distinguish between “My Father” and “Me”?
  • Question/Illustration: If I told you that my father has given me a set of new hand tools, would you think that I was only talking about one person or two?
  • Question: According to the passage, Who did the giving and Who did the receiving?
  • Observation: If Jesus is the exact same person as God the Father in all respects, then Jesus mentioned two persons in this passage, when He was really only talking about one person, and was therefore deceptive.
  • NOTE: In the very next verse (John 10:30), Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.”
    • Yes or No: Is Jesus saying that He and the Father are the exact same person?
    • Question: In the context of this chapter, in what sense are Jesus and the Father one?  (Answer:  The two are one in their care for, and protection of, the sheep).
    • Question: In what way(s) can two or more people be “one”?  (Answer:  They can be one in a) mind, attitude, and purpose:  24:3; Acts 4:32; 5:12; 8:6; Rom. 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:2; 4:2; 1 Pet. 3:8, and b) flesh—Gen. 2:24; 4:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:16).

• Jesus said, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9
  • Question: How many individuals or groups of individuals are mentioned in this verse?
  • Yes or No: Jesus tells us that He loved us as He loved Himself.
  • Question: According to this passage, Who loved Jesus?