Bible Questions?

Jesus would then be the image of the invisible god, no? The Son of God of one essence but distinct from the Father and from the Holy Spirit.

It also says that he was in "the very nature of God". I thought only God had the nature of God, or am I missing something?

 

If Jesus made himself nothing, then who is he? He followed God's will perfectly which makes him an extension of God. Jesus had freewill, but he denied it to follow God's will so he is part of God.

 

Jesus is more than an angel.

4Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:4)

 

I like the "emptied himself" even more than "made himself nothing".

It signals Christ's extreme humbleness during his entrance into this world. He was a baby, born in a cave amongst animals and shepheards came to see him. He was a Hebrew who were thought pretty low of, and frmo a labourer family. When Christ says we feed him when we feed the poor, he could have literally been talking about himself.

 

Weren't angels created to serve humans (not only God) anyways too?

 

I do think that scripture is saying that Jesus is someone special and that Jesus makes the invisible, visible, but does that mean he's God?

You're right, only God would have that nature. Although, can't humans display the nature of God? Expressions of love, given the power to heal and forgive sins? Humans throughout the Bible were given many powers to perform miracle but they were attributed to God in the end. Why is it different for Jesus?

 

Jesus is more than an Angel according to that verse. So since he is better than the Angels, but was named the Son of God, then who is he exactly?

 

They were.

I just don't understand how Jesus could be God. It's hard to understand.

Why didn't Jesus just say he was God is the question I ask myself.

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What do you make of the claims in this video? How would you dissect them? Interested in your take on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0xLeTTPiI"]YouTube- The Angel of the LORD and the Hebrew law of agency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqxz6BRUJI"]YouTube- The Angel of the LORD and the Hebrew law of agency pt. 2

Why when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees he referenced scripture that said we are all gods instead of saying he was God?

John 10:31-36 (New International Version) - Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

Psalm 82:6 (New International Version) - "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High."

 

yes, we can display qualities of god (like love) and all love is from god, but that is the point. We do not have life or anything else except from god. Jesus wasn't "like" God, he was what God is...God.

 

He is the embodiment of everything that God is? The word made flesh and walked among us? So then that would mean, clearly, that Jesus is God but in another essence?

The only way to life is through the Son, which is the father?

P.S. Thanks Trevor, I hope that my replies as of late weren't offensive or interrogative. I never mean it to be; I'm just very interested in other viewpoints and like to get to the bottom of things... Not saying that you don't (you definitely do), but it's a shared experience.

 

To understand who Jesus is we first need to understand who Jehovah is. Before the universe was created Jehovah was all that existed and he was infinite. Then he spoke and the universe was created and began to expand. Now the universe is 13 billion light years across and all within Jehovah. So how can our punny little finite brains even begin to concieve of him? Luckily he sent Jesus the logos or message that we might know him. So when God said "let there be light" those words were Jesus. All that we can ever hope to understand about God can be found in Jesus. To us Jesus is God. Jesus isn't the messenger. He's the message.

 

That was very nicely articulated.

Referring to Jesus as a message sent from God and connecting that to the big bang and how the big bang is inside God really connected it for me.

Thank you.



Make way for the king

 

Make way for the king indeed! Thanks.

 

Well this is where it starts to get heady. They share one essence/nature. They are God, undivided and one. Together with the Holy Spirit. "The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" are not three different names for different parts of God but one name for God. Christ is unique in that he assumed a human nature as well for his Incarnation--like us in every way except sin. Like you said, Jesus is the embodiment of god in flesh. He is god in the flesh. Jesus the person in history is the fullness Revelation of God.

Yes, and no. Yes to Pt. 1 the only way to life is through the Son, but no--unlike in The Shack, the Son is not the Father. they are distinct persons.

No problem. I didn't feel that way

PS haven't had a chance to look at those videos

 

He is equal to the least. The universe in every form a Holy encounter.

 

Another biblical demonstration of Jesus as God comes from English abolitionist and philanthropist Granville Sharp who noticed the following Greek idiom, which is now called Granville Sharp's rule: whenever two nouns that are personal, singular, and not proper names are connected in a TSKS pattern (The—Substantive—Kai—Substantive, where 'kai' is Greek for 'and') then both nouns refer to the same person. Obviously this idiom does not apply to proper names—the phrase "The Pope and Mr. Gorbachev" refers to two separate people. Passages like Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 fit this pattern.
Therefore, when Paul says:[Titus 2:13] "The great God and savior, Jesus Christ" he is grammatically identifying Jesus Christ as the great God. It is not accurate to object that proper nouns are used in this phrase. Although God is capitalized in English in Greek grammar it is not a proper noun, and while 'Jesus Christ' here is a proper noun it is the word 'savior' that is in the TSKS construction.
In his review of over 1,000 years of Greek literature, Christopher Wordsworth confirmed that early church Fathers had this same understanding of the text. He writes, "I have observed…some hundreds of instances of the 'The great God and savior';[Titus 2:13] and no fewer than several thousand of the form 'The God and savior'"[2 Pet. 1:1] and in every case (when it could be determined) they spoke "only of one person." This Greek idiom shows that both the New Testament authors and the early church Fathers considered Jesus to be God. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity#Jesus_as_God

 

Since angels were created before human there's a chance they were created for something other than serving humans.

 

Since God is a spirit and Jesus and all the other angels are spirits doesn't in of its self mean that they all have a similar nature? So yes, Jesus is what God is a spirit but that doesn't make him God any more than it makes the other angels God.

 

Pretty Good, only I'd like to say that Jesus is only the image of God like a reflection of God in a mirror and by looking at Jesus we can see God but that does not make Jesus God, anymore than an image of you in a mirror is you.

 

Titus 2:13:

RS reads: “Awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Similar wording is found in NE, TEV, JB.) However, NW reads: “while we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestation of the great God and of the Savior of us, Christ Jesus.” (NAB has a similar rendering.)

Which translation agrees with Titus 1:4, which refers to “God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior”? Although the Scriptures also refer to God as being a Savior, this text clearly differentiates between him and Christ Jesus, the one through whom God provides salvation.

Some argue that Titus 2:13 indicates that Christ is both God and Savior. Interestingly, RS, NE, TEV, JB render Titus 2:13 in a way that might be construed as allowing for that view, but they do not follow the same rule in their translation of 2 Thessalonians 1:12. Henry Alford, in The Greek Testament, states: “I would submit that [a rendering that clearly differentiates God and Christ, at Titus 2:13] satisfies all the grammatical requirements of the sentence: that it is both structurally and contextually more probable, and more agreeable to the Apostle’s way of writing.”—(Boston, 1877), Vol. III, p. 421.


Also you mention 2 Peter 1:1 a couple times but no mention of the very next verse 2 Peter 1:2 that seems to contradict what you are saying about Jesus and God being the same person.