Tagged: Deity of Christ

A survey of Roman Catholicism

Jesus with lambThe Roman Catholic Church traces its beginning to the apostle Peter, claiming he is the rock upon whom Jesus built His church (Matt. 16:18). As the first pope, Peter is followed by an unbroken line of successors stretching to Pope Francis today. Non-Catholics establish the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church at A.D. 590 with Gregory I, who consolidated the power of the bishopric in Rome.

In any case, the Catholic Church is the world’s largest Christian church, with 1.2 billion members. The Catholic hierarchy includes cardinals and bishops and is led by the bishop of Rome, also known as the pope.

The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one true church divinely founded by Jesus Christ. In addition, it teaches that its bishops are the successors of Jesus’ apostles, and that the pope, as the successor to the head of the apostles (Peter), has supreme authority over the church.

Categories of Catholics

While the Catholic Church claims to be the one true church, Catholics worldwide hold to a diversity of beliefs. Researcher Ken Samples has concluded that there are six primary categories of Roman Catholics:

Ultratraditional Catholics defend historical Catholicism and are critical of recent changes such as those coming out of Vatican II in the 1960s.

Traditional Catholics resist liberalism and modernism within the church, yet they generally accept the reforms of Vatican II.

Liberal Catholics celebrate human reason over the authority of the church; they also question the infallibility of the pope, church councils, and the Bible

Charismatic/evangelical Catholics emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the importance of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit-filled life.

Cultural Catholics are “womb-to-tomb” Catholics – born, baptized, married, and buried in the church. However, they essentially go through the motions of their faith without much regard for its meaning.

Popular folk Catholics predominate Central and South America. They combine elements of animistic or nature-culture religion with traditional medieval Catholicism (Christian Research Journal, Winter 1993).

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Does God have a body?

GODMormons teach that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones. And Jehovah’s Witnesses say Jehovah has a “spiritual body” that prevents Him from being omnipresent.

While these unbiblical views from our LDS and JW friends are not surprising, it may come as a shock to hear that some leaders of the Christian Word-Faith movement hold a similar view – and quote the Bible to support it

A case in point: Kenneth Copeland and Isaiah 40:12.

Copeland, perhaps more than any other prosperity preacher, has gone into great detail about God’s alleged bodily existence.

In a letter responding to an inquiry on the subject, Copeland lists a number of God’s bodily attributes, including back parts, a heart, hands, a finger, nostrils, a mouth with lips and a tongue, feet, eyes and eyelids, a voice, breath, ears, hair, head, face, arms, and loins.

Further, says Copeland, he wears clothes, eats, sits on His throne, and walks. Copeland has made the outrageous claim that God lives on a planet, of which the earth is an exact copy, only smaller. Says the televangelist: Earth is “a copy of the mother planet.”

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One like the Son of Man – Revelation 14:14

Previously: The harvest and the vintage – Revelation 14:14-20

The scripture

Rev. 14:14 – Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. (HCSB)

One like the Son of Man

Seated on the cloud is “One like the Son of Man.” He wears a gold crown on His head and wields a sharp sickle in His hand. There is little doubt that this is Jesus, who calls Himself the Son of Man more than 80 times in the Gospels. The name is not exclusive to Jesus in scripture. For example, the Lord calls Ezekiel “son of man” more than 90 times, and the angel Gabriel once refers to Daniel by the same moniker. But there is no doubt that in specific contexts “Son of Man” refers to the second person of the Godhead.

Jesus with lambThe Son of Man clearly is a divine being in Dan. 7:13, and Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man who will come on the clouds of heaven (Matt. 26:64) is sufficient testimony to convict Him of blasphemy and condemn Him to death in the eyes of Caiaphas. It’s important for us to understand that in preferring to call Himself “Son of Man” rather than “Son of God,” Jesus is communicating His incarnation. He is neither denying His deity nor exalting His humanity; rather, He is demonstrating that He is one person with two natures: divine and human.

As Ron Rhodes writes, “First of all, even if the phrase ‘Son of Man’ is a reference to Jesus’ humanity, it is not a denial of His deity. By becoming a man, Jesus did not cease being God. The incarnation of Christ did not involve the subtraction of deity, but the addition of humanity. Jesus clearly claimed to be God on many occasions (Matthew 16:16, 17; John 8:58; 10:30). But in addition to being divine, He was also human (see Philippians 2:6-8). He had two natures (divine and human) conjoined in one person” (found at http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/son-of-man.html).

The name “Son of Man” is found almost exclusively in the mouth of Christ in the New Testament. The apostles and other writers avoid the term, with a couple of exceptions. In Acts 7:55 Stephen exclaims, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” And, of course, in Rev. 14:14 John sees “One like the Son of Man” seated on a white cloud.

The early church fathers are of the opinion that Jesus uses the expression “Son of Man” out of humility and to demonstrate His humanity. Others think He adopts the title so as not to offend His enemies until His hour is at hand. Then, associating this lowly title with Dan. 7:13 and tying it to His deity forces the hands of both His accusers and followers to acknowledge Him as Messiah or reject Him as a pretender. At last, this title is “capable of being applied so as to cover His Messianic claims – to include everything that had been foretold of the representative man, the second Adam, the suffering servant of Jehovah, the Messianic king” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Son of Man”).

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Was Jesus created?

In Jesus’ letter to the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22) He identifies Himself as “the Beginning of God’s creation” (ESV). Does this mean that Jesus is the first being God created, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim? Of course not. This self-description in no way implies that Jesus is a created being or came into existence at any time. He is the eternal Son of God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word translated “Beginning” is arche, which carries the idea of “originator” or “active cause.” Paul instructed the Colossian church to share his letter with the church at Laodicea (Col. 4:16). If his instructions were obeyed, then believers in Laodicea would have been familiar with Paul’s description of Christ as Creator: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [Greek prototokos, pre-eminent; not protoktisis, first-created] over all creation; because by Him everything was created … all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:15-16). Further, in Col. 2:9, Paul says of Christ, “For in Him the entire fullness of God’s nature [or the deity] dwells bodily.”

John records in his Gospel, “All things were created through [or by] Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created” (John 1:3). Jesus existed before Abraham and referred to Himself as “I AM,” the unique designation for Yahweh, the one true, living, and eternal God (John 8:58). The Jews sought to kill Him because, they said, He claimed equality with God (John 5:17; see also John 10:30-33). In His high priestly prayer, Jesus tells the Father He desires to partake once again of the glory that He shared with the Father before the world existed — a glory reserved for God alone (John 17:5; Isa. 42:8, 48:11).

There is no doubt Jesus is clear about who He is. As He stands before Caiaphas the high priest, He is asked point blank, “By the living God I place You under oath: tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God!” Jesus answers with a Jewish idiom: “You have said it … But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man [a reference to Dan. 7:13 and a clear claim of deity] seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:63-64).  In the closing verses of Revelation, He calls Himself “the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13).

The bottom line: Jesus never came into existence; He has always existed. He was never created; He is the Creator.

10 Biblical Truths Denied by Jehovah’s Witnesses

Every Christian should reject the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s (Jehovah’s Witnesses’) claim to be the only true church because it denies 10 key Biblical truths.

1. The Trinity.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “The clergy’s God is plainly not Jehovah but the ancient deity, hoary with the iniquity of the ages – Baal, the Devil Himself” (Charles Taze Russell, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 7, p. 410).
  • “The obvious conclusion is, therefore, that Satan is the originator of the trinity doctrine” (Let God Be True, p. 101).

The Bible says:

  • There is one true and living God who exists as three distinct co-equal, co-eternal persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The divine persons of the Trinity are specifically mentioned in John 14:26, 15:26; 2 Corinthians 13:13; and 1 Peter 1:2). In addition, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each is referred to as deity in Scripture (John 1:1-3, 10, 14, 10:30; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:13; 1 Peter 1:2).
  • The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are described as deity using similar terms: Omniscient (Matt. 9:4; Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 2:10); God (John 10:30; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Peter 1:2); Lord (Luke 2:11; Rom. 10:12; 2 Cor. 3:17); almighty (Gen. 17:1; Rom. 15:19; Rev. 1:8); truth (John 7:28; 1 John 5:6; Rev. 3:7);  eternal (Ps. 90:2; Micah 5:2; Heb. 9:14);  powerful (Jer. 32:17; Matt. 28:18; Luke 1:35; Rom. 15:19; Heb. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:5).

2. The deity of Christ.

The Watch Tower says:

  • Jesus is the first creation of Jehovah; Jesus then made all “other” things (see Col. 1:16 in the New World Translation).
  • “… the Bible plainly states that in his prehuman existence, Jesus was a created spirit being, just as angels were spirit beings created by God…. The fact is that Jesus is not God and never claimed to be” (Should You Believe in the Trinity? pp. 14, 20).
  • “… the true Scriptures speak of God’s Son, the Word, as ‘a god.’  He is a ‘mighty god,’ but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah”  (The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 47).

The Bible says:

  • Jesus is the virgin-born Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-23; Luke 1:35). He is eternal God, the Creator, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit (John 1:1-3, 10, 14; 10:30; Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:1-3).

3. The personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “… The holy spirit is the invisible active force of Almighty God that moves his servants to do his will” (Let God Be True, p. 108).
  • “The Scriptures themselves unite to show that God’s holy spirit is not a person but is God’s active force by which he accomplishes his purpose and executes his will” (Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 1543).
  • “As for the ‘Holy Spirit,’ the so-called ‘third Person of the Trinity,’ we have already seen that it is not a person, but God’s active force”  (The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, p. 24).

The Bible says:

  • The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune Godhead (Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19-20). He is described, not as a force, but as a person. Jesus never refers to the Holy Spirit as an “it.”  Further, scripture tells us the Spirit is a divine person because He testifies (John 15:26), guides (John 16:13), leads (Acts 8:29), commands (Acts 16:6-7), appoints (Acts 20:28), intercedes (Rom. 8:26) and speaks (Rev. 2:7). He can be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31-32), lied to (Acts 5:3-4), grieved (Eph. 4:30) and insulted (Heb. 10:29).
  • The Holy Spirit is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son (Acts 5:3-4).

4. Christ’s sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “Jesus died as a ‘ransom sacrifice’ to buy back what Adam lost: the right to perfect life on earth” (10 Questions & Answers on Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 7).
  • Jesus died, not on a cross, but on an “upright pole, stake or post” (www.watchtower.org).

The Bible says:

  • Jesus died on a cross (Matt. 27:32, 40, 42; John 19:19, 25, 31; 1 Cor. 1:17-18; Gal. 6:12, 14; Eph. 2:16; Phil. 2:8; Col. 1:20, 2:14; Heb. 12:2).
  • Christ’s death on the cross paid our sin debt and purchased our salvation so that everlasting life is received by grace through faith in Jesus (John 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 4:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

5. Christ’s bodily resurrection.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “This firstborn from the dead was raised from the grave, not a human creature, but a spirit” (Let God Be True, p. 276).
  • “At death, Jesus’ human body was ‘disposed’ of by God’s power, and Michael [Jesus in his pre-earthly state] rose from the dead as the ‘resurrected Jesus Christ.’ Since angels are invisible, Jesus fabricated physical bodies resembling His original body to convince His disciples that He had risen from the dead. Since 1914, when Jesus’ ‘invisible presence’ on earth began, He has been reigning from heaven, awaiting the future battle of Armageddon in which He will rid the earth of human governments and set up ‘Paradise’ under ‘Jehovah’s Kingdom government arrangement’” (10 Questions & Answers on Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 4).

The Bible says:

  • Jesus rose physically from the dead, and our future resurrection depends on it (Matt. 12:38-40; 28:5-10; Luke 24:39-43; John 20:19-29; Rom. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:4-8, 12-26; 1 Peter 1:18-21).

6. Christ’s physical and visible return.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “Since 1914, when Jesus’ ‘invisible presence’ on earth began, He has been reigning from heaven, awaiting the future battle of Armageddon in which He will rid the earth of human governments and set up ‘Paradise’ under ‘Jehovah’s Kingdom government arrangement’” (10 Questions & Answers on Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 4).
  • “Christ Jesus returns, not again as a human, but as a glorious spirit person” (Let God Be True, p. 196).
  • “Some wrongfully expect a literal fulfillment of the symbolic statements of the Bible. Such hope to see the glorified Jesus coming seated on a white cloud where every human eye will see him … Since no earthly men have ever seen the Father … neither will they see the glorified Son” (Let God Be True, p. 186).

The Bible says:

  • Jesus is coming back physically and visibly one day (Matt. 24:29-31; John 14:3; Acts 1:9-11; Titus 2:13; Rev. 19:11-16).

7. Salvation by grace through faith.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “The four requirements for salvation are: 1) taking in knowledge of Jehovah God and of Jesus Christ; 2) obeying God’s laws and conforming one’s life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible; 3) belonging to and serving with God’s one true channel and organization (that is, the Watchtower Society); and 4) being loyal to God’s organization” (10 Questions & Answers on Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 7).
  • “Salvation is earned through a combination of faith plus good works. True Christians can have no assurance of eternal life. They must work toward perfection throughout this life, and then throughout Christ’s 1,000-year reign on earth. Next they must pass the final test of Satan (during which Satan is released from the pit to tempt all faithful Witnesses one last time) before God will grant them eternal life. If they fail at any point they are at risk of annihilation (eternal destruction)” (10 Questions & Answers on Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 7).

The Bible says:

  • Christ’s death at Calvary paid our sin debt and purchased our salvation so that everlasting life is received by grace through faith in Jesus (John 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 4:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
  • Believers are eternally secure based on the finished work of Christ at Calvary and the faithfulness of God (John 5:24; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:28-39; Heb. 7:25; 10:14; 1 Peter 1:1-5).
  • All who receive Christ by faith enter immediately and everlastingly into Christ’s kingdom (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 10:9-10, 13).

8. Consciousness of the soul after death.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “… the claim of religionists that man has an immortal soul and therefore differs from the beast is not Scriptural” (Let God Be True, p. 68).

The Bible says:

  • There is conscious existence after death (Luke 16:19-31).
  • Hell is a place of everlasting conscious existence, where the unbeliever is forever separated from God (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 14:9-11; 20:10). Heaven also is a place of everlasting conscious existence, and the believer’s soul/spirit goes there upon death (2 Cor. 5:8).

9. Everlasting punishment for unbelievers in hell.

The Watch Tower says:

  • “The doctrine of a burning hell where the wicked are tortured eternally after death cannot be true, mainly for four reasons: (1) Because it is wholly unscriptural; (2) it is unreasonable; (3) it is contrary to God’s love; and (4) it is repugnant to justice”  (Let God Be True, p. 99).
  • “Would a loving God really torment people forever? … The wicked, of course, are not literally tormented because, as we have seen, when a person is dead he is completely out of existence…. And it is also a lie, which the Devil spread, that the souls of the wicked are tormented …” (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, pp. 81, 88-89).

The Bible says:

  • Hell is a place of everlasting conscious existence, where the unbeliever is forever separated from God (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 14:9-11; 20:10-15).

10. Heaven as the destination for all believers.

The Watch Tower says:

  • Only 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses will be in heaven. “So this ‘congregation of God’ is made up of all Christians on earth who have the hope of heavenly life. In all, only 144,000 persons finally make up the ‘congregation of God.’ Today, only a few of these, a remnant, are still on the earth. Christians who hope to live forever on earth look for spiritual guidance from members of this ‘congregation of the living God’” (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, pp. 125-26).
  • “Many millions that have lived in centuries past and who were not Jehovah’s Witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life. Many now living may yet take a stand for truth and righteousness before ‘the great tribulation,’ and they will gain salvation” (www.watchtower.org).

The Bible says:

  • All believers have God’s promise of a home in heaven, will go there instantly upon physical death, and will return with Christ to earth one day (John 14:1-3; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 19:11-16).
  • There is no opportunity for salvation beyond the grave (Luke 16:19-31; Heb. 9:27).

Copyright 2009 by Rob Phillips