Jesus: God Almighty or Just An Anointed Man?
Here’s the post one of our readers shared:
Greetings Genessa Torsy
Oneness or Trinity: Which is it?
Answer: NEITHER!!
Sadly, both Oneness and trinity doctrines try to make Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah our Lord, into Almighty GOD!! And both doctrines state that you must believe that the Lord Jesus is Almighty GOD to be saved!! In this regard, both doctrines do err and are scripturally wrong. IMHO! Both doctrines appeared hundreds of years after the ascension of Christ. Both doctrines try to explain how Jesus can be both God and man at the same time!! The Godman!!
But the original faith which was once delivered unto the saints [Jude 3] did not suffer from this problem. The original faith has always been that there is solely ONE GOD, the Father. And Jesus of Nazareth, is the one man, the one human being whom Almighty GOD raised from the dead, made him, both Lord and Christ, and exalted him to His right hand. Hence, Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord Jesus Christ, a man approved of Almighty GOD, who is currently at the right hand of the ONE GOD in the heavens.
Whom we await for his return.
(1 Cor 8:4) ... there is none other God but one.
(1 Cor 8:6) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
(1 Tim 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
(1 Th 1:9-10) For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Hundreds of years after the pure, true, apostolic faith was propagated;
Greek, Hellenistic and pagan philosophy/doctrines changed the human Jesus into a demigod then into a godman.
And in response, both the doctrines of the trinity and Oneness tried to solve this self-inflicted problem!
The solution therefore, is to return to the pure faith and doctrine as taught in the Scriptures:that there is solely ONE GOD, the Father.
And there is solely one man, one human, whom the ONE GOD has made
"Lord of all", the man Messiah Jesus.
And indeed the day is coming where ...
(Phil 2:11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Whom we await for his return.
(1 Cor 8:4) ... there is none other God but one.
(1 Cor 8:6) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
(1 Tim 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
(1 Th 1:9-10) For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Hundreds of years after the pure, true, apostolic faith was propagated;
Greek, Hellenistic and pagan philosophy/doctrines changed the human Jesus into a demigod then into a godman.
And in response, both the doctrines of the trinity and Oneness tried to solve this self-inflicted problem!
The solution therefore, is to return to the pure faith and doctrine as taught in the Scriptures:that there is solely ONE GOD, the Father.
And there is solely one man, one human, whom the ONE GOD has made
"Lord of all", the man Messiah Jesus.
And indeed the day is coming where ...
(Phil 2:11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Here’s Just a Few Notes On Why I Believe that Jesus is God Almighty, Manifest in the Flesh:
Dear Brother,
I admire your passion and belief in the oneness of God. I do differ with you, however, in the belief of who that God is. You see, there can be no doubt that Jesus is the Almighty God incarnate.
So that you can better understand why I believe this, I’ve jotted down a few questions for you:
1) First, what shall we do with John 8:19? “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”
2) What shall we do with John 14:7? “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” Neither you nor I can say the same about our fathers. If you have seen me, you have not seen my father. If I have seen you, I might see a man who looks similar to his father but I have not seen your father. Jesus was trying to explain to his followers who he truly was.
3) What shall we do with the bold statement of Jesus in John 10:30, saying “I and my Father are one.” In this sense, the flesh is terming its Creator as its father.
4) What shall we do with John 14:8-9? “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” Jesus is asking in disbelief. In essence, he is asking ‘You mean you’ve seen the works that I do and you don’t know that I am Almighty God?’ In the next few verses, Jesus even expounds on the works being done as not having been done by a fleshly person but by deity. He says, “whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Essentially, he is saying, I will perform the miraculous if you call on the name of Jesus because I want you to see that this is God Almighty at work.
5) What shall we do with Isaiah 9:6? “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” How is it that this baby Jesus, born in a stable, is called the Everlasting Father and the Mighty God by Isaiah and yet you say that Jesus was just a man and was not God or the Father of Creation? Hmm, I think your disagreement is not with me or with oneness believers. It is with Isaiah and Jesus so far.
6) What shall we do with the entire first chapter of John?
Verse 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here, we find that the Word is God the Creator of all things.
Word=God the Creator or Father of Creation
Verse 3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” There isn’t another creator. The Word is it!
Verse 4: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” So the Word is the Light!
Verse 6: We learn here about John the Baptist. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light…” So John bears witness of the Light…who is the Creator! Who does John introduce? Jesus!
Verse 10: The scripture begins describing this Light, who is the Word from verse 1: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him [Creator], and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” The Creator came to his own—to live amongst his creation—and they rejected him…sounds strangely reminiscent of Calvary, right?
Verse 14: This scripture reveals that the Word, which is the Creator, which is the Light….is Jesus Christ.
Word = Creator = Father = Light = Jesus
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Notice, the Word or Almighty God became flesh. Only by becoming flesh could we see the glory, grace, and truth of who God is. The term ‘begotten’ is often misunderstood. Yes, it can mean giving birth to but it also means created by. The flesh was a created vessel, made specifically for God to indwell.
Verse 18: “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Let us understand this passage:
* No one has seen the spirit of God. Why? As John 4:24 says, “God is spirit.” Spirits cannot be seen as they lack properties such as flesh and blood.
* Jesus became the vehicle through which we could see God. He was ‘declared’ by the bodily presence. Declare does not just mean to state or say something; it also means to “make manifest or visible” or “to reveal.” Check your dictionary!
* Otherwise, if God were not manifest in the flesh, how could Acts 20:28 be true? The text says that God “hath purchased [the Church] with his own blood.” Where could a spirit get blood from?
7) Moving on in our study here. What shall we do with John the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus in John 1:30, “This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.” How could Jesus be before John?
John’s mother, Elizabeth, was pregnant and gave birth to John before Mary gave birth to Jesus so, physically, John came before Jesus….but supernaturally, Jesus was before all flesh as the Creator!
As Jesus stated in John 8:23, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.” If he was simply a human being…how could he not be of this world. The word ‘of’ means to come from.
Furthermore, God in the Old Testament was known as the ‘I Am.’ You can see Exodus 3:14 for an example. Jesus repeatedly identified himself as the ‘I Am’ in the New Testament.
For instance, in John 8:24, Jesus said, “if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
Bible scholars often add “he” after the words “I am” to assist with readability; this is why the word “he” is italicized in these versions. This means that the original translation would have read, “If ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.”
John 8:28 is another example. Our versions state “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he.”
The words “that” and “he” are italicized, meaning they were added for readability. What the phrase actually states is “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know I AM.” In essence, when Jesus gave His life on the cross and was ascended up into glory, then they would understand He was God Almighty.
The examples go on and on. But I would be remiss not to add this conversation between Jesus and the Jews who were asking who he truly was.
In John 8:56-58, Jesus says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.”
Why didn’t Jesus say, “Before Abraham was, I was?” Because He is eternal God…He always IS!
7) Having discussed John 1, now what shall we do with the prophecies foretelling of Jesus’ birth? What shall we do with Isaiah 9:6?
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
This infant, born in a stable, is called the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father. Apparently, those who do not believe that Jesus is the Eternal and Only God are not disagreeing with me or with other oneness believers. They are simply disagreeing with Isaiah and Jesus himself. How much simpler can God say it?
8) Final question: What shall we do with 1 Timothy 3:16?
Scholars denote that when Timothy referenced “God,” he was certainly speaking of the same God referred to in the Old Testament.
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
That sounds an awful lot like my Jesus! I’m so glad that I know Him!
Isn’t it time we lifted Him up in praise as the God he truly is and won the lost?
Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
* He was lifted up on a cross from the earth once so that His blood could redeem us.
* Now, it’s time to lift Him up with our belief and our praise as God—rather than man—so that our world can be turned upside down and brought back into reconciliation with Him!
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