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FAQ # 207
QUESTION 207 : Did Jesus have two spirits:
1. the eternal divine spirit of God 2. the human spirit of a man? (bible.ca)
No. For the flesh to function on earth it has to have
a spirit (soul) to maneuver it or it is dead. When God incarnated himself
into a Human being, he didn’t borrow another human being and co-habituated
with them. But rather, the spirit that functioned his body was no other
than God the Father who is spirit – singular. For instance, I put on a
jacket, the elbow moves up and down by me moving my hands. Say the Jack
represents the body and me the spirit (soul). Me (Spirit) getting out
of the Jacket (body), causes the Jacket (body) to become motionless (dead).
In a sense, I'm what give the Jacket (body) motion (life). "The body
without the spirit is dead" (James 2:26). Now, what God did was come
into the earth and put on his own Jacket. That is, Jesus Christ is God
the Father who is spirit clothed in Flesh. Unlike some devils that come
into your Jacket unwelcome, while you're in it.
Jesus is one spirit clothe in Flesh, just as you are
one spirit clothe in flesh. The only difference is that the spirit in
Jesus is 'God the Father', who is spirit (John 4:24), which makes Jesus
God in the Flesh. Take this illustration, the small circle is the spirit
of a human (soul) and the big circle is The one Divine Spirit, God the
Father.
[(o)] – You
[0]
– Jesus
[o0] – Not Jesus, or two spirits in one flesh
(human spirit and eternal divine spirit).
What makes you human is your flesh, what made Jesus
(GOD) Human is his flesh; thus making him the perfect sacrifice for you
and I. Not that "The Father went into the Son [an already human being],"
but rather, the Father is enfleshed as the Son - "he saith…a body
hast thou prepared me" (Heb 10:5). He is the Spirit that descended
(John 6:51) from above, manifest as Christ and went back above. No other
spirit was in the flesh called Jesus but God himself, which made God a
human for his duration on earth as Jesus Christ. That’s why the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily (Col 2:9).
"According to these verses of Scripture, Jesus is not a part of God,
but all of God is resident in Him. If there were several persons in the
Godhead, according to Colossians 2:9 they would all be resident in the
bodily form of Jesus" (David. B). This latter error would look like
this:
[000] – Not Jesus
and even blasphemous, though attest by the later doctrine of Perichoresis.
Three spirits in one flesh (Father, Son and Holy Ghost).
The said person later said, “To say the distinction
is merely between spirit and flesh is as ridiculous as a person walking
around calling himself "we" in reference to his human spirit
and body. To say the distinction is between spirit and flesh is misleading
because flesh cannot pray or talk or think.”
In a sense he is right but more so wrong, what the
flesh does that seems like thinking, is behave instinctively – the need
and pull to have sex with whomever it sees, eat regardless if it means
killing or finding some other ingenuity, don’t listen to God because it
regard not God but its desires is God and other things we do instinctively.
Many things we think we do were merely done instinctively, the devil knows
this and often initiates it. If we thought about some of the things we
do, we would not do them. Even prayer is sometimes instinctive – crying
out to God. When an animal is wounded, it howls in pain, but for what
reason it cannot answer? It was built there instinctively in its flesh
so as to get aid from its mother or kind and even release tension; similar
to a baby crying. So to say the flesh doesn’t have a will or somewhat
“thinks,” is misleading, for if that weren’t the case we would be the
most moral of persons on the outside. Therefore, in us, there is a struggle
with the divine will to obey God or obey the flesh, which repeatedly proved
the flesh the victor. God took on the challenge and enfleshed himself,
or become human, not only to prove that he can be victorious over it,
but also to free us who are unable to overcome it (Heb 2:14-15). That’s
why the scripture taught us, “we have not an high priest [CHRIST] which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are” (Heb 4:15). That’s why he prayed, he orated
what the flesh was pulling on – “not my will,” “glorify me from” this
fallen Adamic flesh; something we need glorification from. That’s why
he fed, he knew what it means to be hungry. That’s why he forgives sins,
he knew what it meant to have devils tempting and tormenting. That’s why
he came, that’s why he paid the price, that’s why he redeemed us where
the Law or our own efforts couldn’t. No wonder they call him the savior.
He had always sent saviors (Neh 9:27) but they couldn’t do what he could.
So he finally came himself and knew what it meant to be in a fallen Adamic
flesh surrounded by devils. He finally could be touched by what we felt
and thus wiped our slate clean, “forgive them; for they know not what
they do” (Luke 23:34).
Part 2
In addition to the above, Pastor Douglas Joseph brought a very serious
point to the forefront and further confirms that the Apostolic Orthodoxy
is correct as against the Trinitarian Orthodoxy. He wrote:
“Key to an understanding of crucial differences between
Oneness theology and Trinitarian theology is an examination of various
concepts of distinction and consequent uses of words like distinction,
relationship, and similar terms.
Often Trinitarian authors seek to deny Oneness proponents
the freedom to observe any distinction between the Deity manifested in
Jesus Christ and His humanity. Examples are found in The Gospel According
to Oneness Pentecostalism by Mike Barden (self-published via the Internet)
and Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity by Gregory A. Boyd (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1992). Barden alleges of Oneness:
“Any relationship between the Father and the Son is
between Jesus' deity and Jesus' humanity (in other words, when Jesus prays,
He's really talking to Himself). Otherwise, there is no real distinction
or relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because
‘God is one’; any personal relationship between these ‘modes’ of God is
not real, but only apparent.”
Such attacks are arguments against a straw man. Oneness
proponents do not hold that there can be no distinction observed between
the Deity manifested in Jesus Christ and His humanity. Rather, as stated
by UPCI author David Bernard (in An Answer to a Critic, a review of Gregory
Boyd’s above mentioned work), “a distinction between the Father and the
Son (not of eternal personhood, but relative to the Incarnation) is at
the very core of Oneness theology.” The scriptural distinction between
the Father and the Son is held by Oneness believers as obvious and very
real (not “faked” or “apparent”).
The distinction denied by Oneness adherents is the
Trinitarian concept that seeks to intellectually separate one divine nature
(or one divine being) into three distinct divine beings, or three centers
of divine consciousness. Orthodox Trinitarianism sets forth that there
are three eternal—and eternally distinct—persons, and that the role, rank
and power of deity is ascribed to each. Oneness believers find fundamental
incongruity between true monotheism (God is one, having a basic essence
that is indivisible) and orthodox Trinitarian theology.
The Oneness view sees 1) the Father as the eternal
God, and 2) the Son is Deity only because He is indwelt by the Father
(the Son is the Father incarnated in flesh). The Son is Deity, but not
because He possesses some second or third divine nature that is distinct
from the Father.
Orthodox Trinitarianism—having both the Son and the
Holy Spirit as persons eternally distinct from the Father, and each eternally
possessing their own divine nature, and their divine natures being eternally
distinct from the Father—postulates (whether deliberately or ancillary)
1) the Father as an eternal God, 2) the Son as an eternal God, and 3)
the Holy Spirit as an eternal God. The Son possesses both human nature
and divine nature, and His divinity is supposedly distinct from the Father.
A major flaw is present in Trinitarianism: Accepted
are three distinct, divine natures, among which one distinguishes based
on which distinct person is in possession of his own particular divine
nature.
When writing in defense of their own stance, Trinitarians
accept that a pre-existing divine person and His own human manifestation
can be viewed as one person. I.E. The divine Son (“God the Son”), who
supposedly pre-existed the human Son, was incarnated in the human Son,
and yet there was only one Son. Yet when attacking the Oneness, Trinitarians
do not allow for the fact that a divine person and His own human manifestation
can be viewed as one person. I.E. The Father, who pre-existed the human
Son, was incarnated in the human Son, and yet there was only one person:
Jesus Christ.
To avoid their serious inconsistency, Trinitarians
should either grant to both sides the latitude to view a pre-existing
divine person and His own human manifestation as one person, or concede
that neither side can make such a claim.
If such a claim is not sound, then the Trinity is not
three distinct persons, but four: God the Father, God the Son, God the
Holy Spirit, and the human Son, who must be viewed as a person distinct
from God the Son.
If such a claim is sound, then Trinitarians must admit
that the Oneness position—that God the Father and His own fleshly manifestation
are to be viewed as one person—is a plausible doctrine. The only remaining
question is: Who was incarnated in the Son at the Incarnation? Was the
Son manifested in the Son? Or was the Father manifested in the Son? The
scriptures clearly reveal that God the Father was manifested in the Son.
The easiest way for Trinitarians to understand how
Oneness adherents view the Godhead (and the distinction between the Father
and the Son), is for them to try to grasp how Trinitarians contend that
the (so-called) “God the Son” and Jesus Christ (the man) are viewed as
one person instead of two. It is then but a simple step for a Trinitarian
to realize he or she has been viewing the Incarnation incorrectly—as a
divine Son incarnated in a human Son, instead of the divine Father incarnated
in the human Son.”
{Source: Pastor Douglas Joseph}
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