Sunday, March 4, 2012

Jesus: True God and True Man

The nature of Christ has been debated by Theologians since the beginning of the Church. Heresies started because of this debate. One of the powerful and unbiblical heresy is called Arianism, adapted by the Iglesia ni Cristo and Jehovah's Witness. Arianism triumphed because it is more easily understood. Arianism is almost close to Islam, both believe that Jesus was only a man and not God. However Arianism is full of error. Many saints and doctors of the Church have took on the battle and answered by using the Scriptures.


Jesus: The Word Incarnate

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was GodHe was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
                                                                                                                 -John 1: 1-3 and 14
         Jesus is called as the Word, Logos (λόγος). John tells us Christ's first nature, Christ's divine nature. St. John summarizes the Incarnation in a sentence, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Who is this Word that became Incarnate? This is Jesus, the Living Word. Jesus was never created. He was with God even before the creation. When we speak of the "birth" of Jesus, we don't mean that He was created. We mean that He came and took the form of man, His second nature. 
        Jesus was with God before the Father created the world. "In the beginning was the Word..." This means that Jesus was already present prior to the creation of the world. 
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
-Genesis 1:26 
Who is God talking to? We know that God created us in His image, not in the image of angels. Does this mean there are gods? No, clearly God is talking with the Word (Logos) and the Holy Spirit. 

This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
-Genesis 5:1 
 This conversation shows us that Jesus and the Holy Spirit existed before the creation. 

Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. -Romans 9:5
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. -John 17:5 
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. -Colossians 1:17

Jesus: God Incarnate

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -John 1:1



    This verse doesn't need any explanation because this was already written literally. Jesus is the Living Word. And the Word is God.


"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" -John 8:58
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" -Exodus 3:14


    Jesus says He is the "I AM." The words "I Am." are the words God used when Moses asked Him what was His name. This means that Jesus is God. 


    One of the many titles Jesus has is Immanuel (Emmanuel). This is from a prophecy by the Prophet Isaiah. Immanuel (Emmanuel) means "God with us". Clearly Jesus is God who dwelt with us.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. -Isaiah 7:14
   We are reminded about this prophecy in Matthew's Gospel. This clearly shows that Jesus is God who dwelt among us.
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." -Matthew 1:23
 Isaiah gives us more titles for Jesus. One of the particular title is "Mighty God". Jesus is God and not only another ordinary man who was born in a Manger in the 1st Century.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6


Jesus: Coming into humanity


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 a 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! -Philippians 2:6-8


St. Paul clearly summarizes the life of Jesus. Philippians 2:6 says that was God, His 1st nature. However when he came into the world, he did not took advantage of it and did it the easy way. He, because of His great love, humbled Himself and died to save us. He did the will of the Father in order to fulfill the Holy Scriptures. 
    Even the Jews believed that Jesus was God, and that is why they tried to kill Him. They called Him "equal to God" and "Claimed to be God". Are these Arians in the side with the Jews because they both can't grasped the reality that Jesus is God.


For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. -John 5:18
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." -John 10:33
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."-John 1:18 
What does that verse mean? Obviously there are no gods, but only one. Jesus is God that descended from Heaven. 
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" -Colossians 2:9
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" -John 20:28
But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom." -Hebrews 1:8
The angels clearly addresses this to Jesus because of the words, "about the Son".




Equal with the Father


    Jesus is not greater nor lesser than the Father, but equal with the Father. Jesus and God are one, both in nature and love for His sheep. Jesus is one with the Father, as well as the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. Meaning that Jesus is also God. There is only one God, not two or three. God is revealed to us in three persons.


Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. -John 14:10

But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." -John 10:38 

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. -John14:11

"I and the Father are one." -John 10:30

"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped," -Philippians 2:6


However, these heretics just doesn't want to listen to the Holy Scriptures. They prefer their false doctrines and false beliefs.

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