Send
your comments
This
is a response to the Pasugo
(June 1995 Issue) article, entitled Is
Jesus Christ called ‘God’ in John 1:1?, pp.6-12, authored by Mr.
Bienvenido Santiago. In this
article Mr. Santiago quoted many Trinitarian authors, theologians, and
Greek scholars. One of whom
is Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, a Greek by lineage and an authority in Biblical
Greek. The Author quoted Trinitarian authorities and then tried to refute
them by his own reasoning, by his own logic, by his own
principles, by his own theology, by his own philosophy and
by his own limited understanding of the Scripture against the
teaching on the Deity of Jesus and the reality of the Trinity. This may
have been harsh words but nonetheless the truth!
See
to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of
this world rather than on Christ. (Col.2:8)
We agree
with the Author’s statement that we [i.e., Trinitarians, Christ-is-God,
Orthodox Christians] believe in a different Jesus. It is very sad that the
Author worships another Jesus that is a mere man and trust in the man-made
gospel of their founder.
For
if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we
preached, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received,
or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily
enough. (2 Cor. 11:4)
In this
material we will try to answer the questions the Author raised in his
magazine; but first let me define what we believe--the
Trinity:
The
Father is the true God, the Son is the true God, the Holy Spirit is the
true God. These three are the One God and not three Gods (nor three gods).
The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy
Spirit is not the Father, they are distinct yet they are co-eternal and
co-equal in life, power and glory.
Secondly, The
Deity of Christ:
Jesus is God in
the beginning and He co-existed with God in the beginning, but, as God, He
never had a beginning; He always existed as God. When the fullness of time
came for the fulfillment of the plan of the Godhead to redeem mankind, He
assumed humanity and He hid his glory as an act of humility and total
submission to the Law of God in order to fully meet the just requirements
of redemption--the shedding of the blood of an unblemished (1 Pe.1:19)
sacrificial Lamb.
These two
foundational beliefs are Scriptural, for brevity sake, it will not be
defended anymore as it has been defended in the following articles: (1) The Claims Jesus Made About Himself; (2) Jesus is God, The Bible Says; and, (3) Insights
on the Triunity of God.
In this and
in other Greek versions of the Bible, we do not find the name Jesus Christ
in the first verse of the Fourth Gospel. Yet, proponents of the
Christ-is-God theology so confidently affirm that this verse expressly
supports their belief that one is led to think that this verse explicitly
calls Jesus Christ “God.” (p.6)
The verse,
however, does not warrant such interpretation. While it is true that the Word
or Logos in John 1:1 is about Jesus
Christ nevertheless, it is not
Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ is not a mere word; He is a person, which a word
or logos is not. (p.7)
We can say
with confidence that they will never be able to do it, because nowhere in
that verse is the name of Jesus Christ mentioned and equated with the Word
or with God. (p.11)
They can
use all possible meanings of the clause “the Word was God” and still
not be able to prove that Jesus Christ is called God in John 1:1, simply
because the Word in John 1:1 is
not Christ in a pre-existent state but the Word
of God. (p.11,
emphasis added)
As we have
argued earlier, the Word or the Logos
in John 1:1 embodies God’s plan of creation
and salvation both of which have to do with our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not Jesus Christ but about Jesus
Christ. What was in the beginning was the Word
not Jesus Christ. What was with God in the beginning was the Word
not Jesus Christ. What was predicated by the term God
in John 1:1c was the Word,
not Jesus Christ. (p.12)
ANSWER
The Author
got confused when he took the verse out of context. Of course if someone
would isolate the verse (John 1:1) he could give it any meaning he wants
according to his prejudice. The Bible does not warrant such
interpretation--the Bible explains itself. The second mistake of the
Author is that he took it literally. He failed to see that John
personified the Word as Jesus
Christ. John 1:14 says the “Word became flesh” and that He (the Word)
came from the “Father full of grace and truth,” and John continued,
“grace and truth came from Jesus Christ.” In Revelation 19:13, John
emphatically declared the name of Jesus to be “the Word of God”:
He
[Jesus] is dressed in robe dipped in blood, and his [Jesus’] name is the
Word of God. (Emphasis added)
Dr.
Zodhiates, an authority in Biblical Greek, commented on logos as, “speech that has intelligence behind it.” Dr.
Zodhiates also distinguished the Greek word from lalia
which means “utterance or word.” Thus when John personified the
Word as Jesus, or the Logos as
Jesus, he (John) could have
intended to mean Jesus (Logos) is the final
authority on every word God.
Therefore, John wrote the first verse of the Fourth Gospel to tell us
about Jesus (the person)--what was His nature before He put on the
flesh--God (John 1:1 cf. Philippians 2).
It should
be recalled that logos means
reason. So, here is a biblical text showing that reason or logos, which
existed in the beginning, before the world began, before anything was
created, was also created; it was the first of God’s works. (p.7)
The Word
was with God (John 1:1b) in the beginning because it could not be
expressed to anyone or anything for the simple reason that nothing else
existed then except God. The Word
was God (John 1:1c) because it was God that it reveals, and therefore
it was His expression of Himself. (p.11)
ANSWER
This
reasoning is illogical. Imagine, according to these statements, there was
a time when there was no reason! If there was no reason at that particular
time how could have God planned salvation, much less execute his first
creation--create reason?
But there
are problems with such interpretation, as even some of them came to
realize. One, they would be
forced to admit that there are two Gods.... “How can the Word who they say is God be with
God?” The Word can only be
with one God if it is not that
God.(p.8)
John 1:1
does not prove the pre-existence of Christ. It does not teach the doctrine
of the trinity. It does not equate the term Word
or Logos with the true God.
Nor does it equate the name of Jesus Christ with the term God. (p.12)
ANSWER
The Author
proved that he never understood what he was trying to criticize,
particularly the Trinity. As we have previously mentioned: The
Father is the true God, the Son is the true God, the Holy Spirit is the
true God. These three are the One
God and not three Gods (nor three gods). The Father is not the Son,
the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father, they
are distinct yet they are co-eternal and co-equal in life, power and
glory. As we have shown earlier (see No.1) the Author misunderstood
John 1:1, he never realized that Jesus is the Word
and that Jesus is the Word of God because
John was talking about Jesus Christ Himself!
It
does prove the pre-existence of Jesus (in
the beginning was the Word).
It
does equate the name of Jesus (the Word)
with the true God (the Word was God).
It
does teach the doctrine of the trinity (the
Word was God while at the same time the
Word was with God).
The
Author’s argument is another classic example of “a deceptive
philosophy based on the basic principles of the world.” The Author was
forcing his philosophy to make the Bible say what it does not say. When
God says, “I am that I AM,” no one should dare to question God that He
is not the one He claimed to be. When the Lord says, “I am the God of
Jacob,” nobody dares to argue with him and say that He is the God of
Esau. In this case when the Bible says, “the Word was with God and the
Word was God” no one, not even the angels, should contest that God meant
to say “the Word was with God and the Word was NOT God.”
The Bible
never taught that God became man. The idea of a God incarnate is foreign
to the Bible. Bruce A. Demarest who wrote a book entitled Jesus Christ: the God-Man even admits that “the term
‘incarnation’ (from the Latin, ‘in flesh’) is not a biblical
word.” (p.9)
ANSWER
The Bible
never taught that God literally BECAME MAN, if so He would no longer be
who He is--God; but what the Bible does teach is that He came in the form
of a man: that He had appeared in form of a man in the Old Testament; and
that Jesus, the Logos, came in the flesh as Christ Jesus, the mediator, in the New
Testament. When God came in the flesh He never lost His Deity but He only
added the form of humanity to Himself. Read,
So
Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.... So
Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to
face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:24,30)
See also
Genesis 9-13; 18:1,2; and
35:1-3. God also appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abiju, and the seventy
elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-11). Also to
Gideon (Judges 6:12) and then both to Manaoah and Zorah (Judges
13:6). We need to be reminded though, that in these occasions, God did not
appear in a dream (as in Genesis 28:12; 1 Kings 3:5) nor in his absolute
glory--otherwise they could have died (cf. Exodus 33:7-23 and Isaiah 6).
See also Genesis 22:15 and 1 Corinthians 10:4 and Hebrews 11:24-26 of the
New Testament regarding the pre-existence of Christ.
The term
“incarnation” (coming from Latin) is not in the Bible because the
Bible was originally written in Greek--not Latin! However, the idea of
incarnation is not foreign in the Bible.
This
is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges
that JESUS CHRIST HAS COME IN THE
FLESH is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is
not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard
is coming and even now is already in the world. (1
John 4:2-3, emphasis added.)
Nor does
the Bible ever say that God died for the human race. This is contrary to
what the Bible teaches as one of the attributes of God: immortality. God
is immortal says Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:17.
It is true that salvation is an initiative of God. But He intends
to save man, not by dying for the human race, but by sending Jesus Christ
to redeem the sinners by his blood, i.e., by dying. Thus apostle Jude
declares: “To the only God, our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be
glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for
all time.” (Jude 1:25, Moffat)
(p.9)
If he were
God, how would he die to redeem the sinners? That he dies proves that he
[Jesus] is not God. For God, being immortal, does not die. (p.9)
ANSWER
Once more
the Author proved that he never understood what he was criticizing, as we
have previously stated about the Deity of Christ: Jesus
is God in the beginning and He co-existed with God in the beginning, but,
as God, He never had a beginning; He always existed as God. When the
fullness of time came for the fulfillment of the plan of the Godhead to
redeem mankind, He assumed humanity and He hid his glory as an act of
humility and total submission to the Law of God in order to
fully meet the just requirements of redemption--the shedding of the blood
of an unblemished (1 Pe.1:19) sacrificial Lamb. Christ-is-God
theology never taught God had to die to save mankind. Christ-is-God
theology teaches that God-man Jesus had to die and shed his blood to
purchase (Acts 20:28) and redeem mankind. When God-man Jesus died it does
not follow that God died because only his physical body died. For example:
when a man dies, doesn’t he give up his spirit? (Yes.) When a man’s
body decompose, does his spirit decompose also? (No.) When Jesus died, it
was his body that died and gave up its spirit. When Jesus died in the
body, “he went and preached to the spirits in prison.” (1 Pe.3:19)
His death
proved that He was a man--that’s true! His death also completed His role
in the salvation of mankind (“For Christ died for sins once for all,”
[1Pe.3:18]), that is why He is called the Savior (Tit.2:13) alongside God
the Father, the only Savior (Is.43:11). On the other hand, His death cannot
prove He was not God because, He was able to raise His life again--just as
He promised (John 10:17,18)--because as God, He can never die. Death has
no hold on Him (Rev.1:18).
Existence
of the trinity is first assumed in order to interpret the verse, and then
the verse is used in order to
defend the doctrine of the trinity. For this reason alone, we can dismiss
a trinitarian interpretation as unscriptural. (p.10)
ANSWER
Although
the word "Trinity" was never literally said in the Bible, it is
nevertheless, implied: Genesis
1:26; 11:7; Matthew 3:16,17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 1:7;
Hebrews 1:8; Acts 5:3,4. (For
more scriptural evidences re-garding the Trinity, avail of the article: Insights
on the Triunity of God.
John did
not and would not call Jesus Christ “God” in John 1:1, because
elsewhere he narrated the incident where Jesus Christ affirmed in no
uncertain terms that the Father is the only true God: “These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come;... And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God,...” (Jn. 17:1,3) (p.12)
ANSWER
We already
showed (in No. 1) that John called Jesus the Word
and that Jesus is also called the Word
of God in Revelation
19:13 which was written also by John.
However, it is important to note that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah
also called Jesus God (Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Zechariah 2:10,11).
And in the New Testament, Thomas, Paul and Peter also called Jesus God (John
20:28-29 Romans 9:5 Titus 2:13-14 [cf.
Hosea 13:4] 2 Peter 1:1). God, the Father, also called the Son, God:
But
about the Son he says, “Your
throne, O God, will last for ever and ever.... therefore God,
your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the
oil of joy. He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the
foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” (Hebrews
1:8-10, c.f. Psalms 45:6,7)
That is
what the Doctrine of the Trinity is all about: The Father is the true God,
the Son is the true God, the
Holy Spirit is the true God. These
three are the One God and not three Gods (nor three gods). The Father
is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not
the Father, they are distinct yet they are co-eternal and co-equal in
life, power and glory. (See Insights
on the Triunity of God)
John did
not and would not identify or equate Jesus with the true God in John 1:1,
because elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel, he reported Christ to have said
unequivocally that he is man: “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that
hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God” (cf.
Jn.8:40). Not only did Christ teach that he is a man, he also
distinguishes himself from God. He confessed that God is greater than he
is: “if ye love me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the
Father: for my Father is greater than I..” (Jn.14:28) (p.12)
ANSWER
The
scriptural references above do not prove that Jesus is not God because
Jesus also made Divine claims, He holds Divine office, and He accepts
worship (see the article The Claims Jesus Made About Himself and Jesus is God, the Bible Says). For example: when I
say, “my father is greater than I,” or when I say, “my boss is
greater than I.” It does not follow that my boss or my father is human
and I am not; all three of us are human. My father and my boss is greater
than I in what respect? In authority. My father or my boss is equal to
myself in what respect? In nature and in being. Then why did Jesus said
what He said in Jn.14:28? Philippians has the answer:
Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a
man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him
to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, emphasis added)
We
must remember that NATURE and IMAGE are different. The nature of Jesus
is God while man is in the image of God. Nature
is character, type, sort, kind;
essence, constitution, quality; disposition, structure. While image is picture, reflection,
double, counterpart, statue, figure. Jesus has the ESSENCE of God. But
He is subordinate in authority because of His role in redemption--He
became a man and was born under the Law. Difficult to comprehend? But
that’s the truth!...Read your Bible.
"No one can come
to Jesus unless the Father has enabled him."
(John 10:65)
Back
to the top
[ Back ]
____________________
Scripture
taken from the The HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.
Spiros
Zodhiates, Was Christ God? (1966; reprinted ed., USA: Spiros Zodhiates, 1994),
pp. 50, 52.
