Deity of Christ – WORD MINISTRY

How does Apostle John prove the deity of Christ in his gospel account? Part 2 (23)

Posted on June 23, 2020April 8, 2020 by Eusebio Tanicala

Question #23 – How does Apostle John prove the deity of Christ in his gospel account? This is the second of a series.

Answer: There are several ways the Apostle John proves the deity of Christ. First, by directly stating that Christ is God which he does in John 1:1-13. Question # 23 is a continuation of Question # 22. Again, remember to insist that the proposition when studying the Deity of Christ is: “Resolved that Christ is God before He became flesh.” Always remember that angels could become man or take the fashion of human beings so that they could appear to the human eyes. There were many appearances of angels seen in the form of man. Satan became a snake in flesh and bones at the Garden of Eden. Satan can become an angel of light when he wants to, so that he could deceive man. In our study about the Deity and Humanity of Christ, it is a wonder why some people could not accept that Christ who by nature is spirit could become man. And yet readily submit to the truth that Satan who is by nature spirit cherub did become a flesh and bones snake. Or flesh and bones dragon.

Again, closely observe the actions and attributes assigned to Christ and ask yourself as you read the suggested passages Is this Christ in the flesh or His Godhood nature the one acting?

John 2:24; 2:25; 4:39; 7:15; John 16:30; 17:10 and 21:17 – Christ knows all things. This complete knowledge or omniscience is assigned to Christ as deity. Ang pagka-Dios Niya ito. Not his humanity. Be careful in this area of the two natures of Christ. There are times an attribute is given that points to His deity, his pagka-Dios. Also, there are times that an attribute points to his humanity, His pagka-tao. Do not dwell on one nature only. When John says, like in 8:40, that Christ is man speaking the truth, He is man indeed. But when John says, “the Word was God” that attribute should also be accepted. When Thomas says to Christ in strong belief, “My Lord and my God” that should be a welcome expression of faith.

To deny Christ’s omniscience, one would cite Matt. 24:36 that only the Father knows the coming back to this world of the Son of Man. This is an example where the humanity of Jesus is referred to. His humanity is limited in knowledge.

John 1:4; 6:33; 6:35, 41; 6:48-51; 6:58 – Christ is the living bread and gives spiritual life. Man is dead because of sin. A dead tree cannot by itself produce its own life and produce shoots to grow and mature as branches. Likewise, man cannot by himself produce spiritual life. Only a miracle can make a dead stump of a tree to come to life. And only a miracle of God can make a spiritually dead person come to life again. This was Christ’s mission on earth – be a living bread to an spiritually dead humanity.

John 3:13; 3:31; 6:38; 6:42; 7:47; John 8:23; 8:42; 12:49; John 13:3; 16:27-30. Comes down from heaven. The original habitation of Christ is heaven. He inhabited heaven before the creation of the cosmos. Before He became man, as stated in John 1:14, Christ was in heaven. In that existence in heaven, Christ was truly God. Because of God’s love for mankind, the Triune God decided that the Second Person of the Godhead (Christ) shall become Man to save mankind. So by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary conceived a human body (Matt. 1:20; Heb. 10:5) and in that human body, Deity indwelt (Colossians 2:9). That is a mystery says 1 Tim. 3:16: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” This information has to be received by faith.

John 3:16-17; 5:36-44; 7:16 & 29; 7:33; 8:19-21; John 10:36; 12:49; 17:3. Christ is sent by the Father. Salvation is the work of the Triune God. Salvation is not the sole work of Christ. God desires all men to be saved says 1 Tim. 2:3-4, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” God is holy and for mankind to enjoy God’s fellowship, mankind should be holy. But man has become unholy through disobedience and man cannot become holy by his own effort. Man has to suffer the penalty of sin. God’s holiness demands justice. It was the Triune God that hatched the plan of salvation. The Second Person has to become Man, the Second Adam, to take up flesh in the likeness of sinful man. As an ordinary human being, Christ did not commit any sin. However, He was falsely accused on the following major points: (a) In the eyes of Jewish leaders He was an ordinary human, but he claimed equality with God (the Father) which was a blasphemy, (b) Christ said “destroy this temple and I will reconstruct it in three days” which the Jewish leaders felt Christ was referring to the material temple and that was blasphemy, (c) He claimed to be King of the Jews and that was sedition since only the Roman Emperor is King in every corner of the Roman Empire, (d) He also attacked the Priesthood, the Sadducees, the Scribes and the Pharisees in Matt. 23, and (d) In two occasions he chased out the money changers from the Temple yard which act challenged the authority of the Sadducees and Herodians in controlling the business in the Temple yard which Christ accused the authorities of making the Temple a den of thieves.

John 6:62; John 17:5; John 3:13; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11 – Christ ascended back to heaven. Christ’s death paid for the penalty of humankind. His death also ushered in the inclusion of the Gentiles into a covenant with God and eventually caused the change of the Sinaitic Covenant. Christ instituted the New Covenant. Mission having been accomplished, Christ ascended back to heaven and sat on His throne in heaven.

All the above citations prove that Christ is not man only. He is Deity and at a certain appointed time, He became flesh and dwelt among humankind.

Another stop here. Please continue studying with us about the deity of Christ.

How does Apostle John prove the deity of Christ in his gospel account? Part 3 (24)

Posted on June 10, 2020April 8, 2020 by Eusebio Tanicala

Question #24 – How does Apostle John prove the deity of Christ in his gospel account?

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Answer: This is a sequel to Question #23. We shall not give long explanations following the passages submitted. We are sure that you know how to expand and adjust your explanations when you study with your friend or relative on this subject matter.

John 1:18; 3:32; John 6:46; 7:29; 8:32; 8:38 – Christ has seen the Father. It is Christ’s deity that is referred to as having seen the spirit nature and glorious form of the Father in heaven. Not his humanity. Man’s ordinary nature and ability cannot see the glorious nature and form of God in heaven. God is spirit and God in his heavenly abode is intensely glorious which the physical naked eye cannot peer into. Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians says that what he heard when he was transported out of his body into Paradise are things “which man may not utter.” They are extra ordinarily out of this world!!!

John 3:32; 8:26-27; 15:15; John 8:40; 15:15; Christ has heard the Father. This act of hearing the instructions and commandments for mankind was done before Christ became flesh. So this period spoken of refers to an existence before Christ became flesh in 1 A.D..

John 8:57-58, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” The verb tense referring to Abraham is past tense “was.” Calculation has that Abraham was born about the year 2135 before Christ became flesh in 1 A.D.. The expression “I Am” which is in the present tense, refers to a timeless existence since it has reference or comparison with the time of Abraham. It means that Christ in His spirit nature has been in existence before the birth of Abraham. To me, Christ is the Yahweh God who visited Abraham in Genesis 18. Two angels appearing as man appeared with Christ. So this event in Genesis 18 agrees with John 8:57-58 that Abraham has already seen Christ. “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, He saw it and was glad.” Note the past tense of the verbs used: rejoiced, saw. Events that had happened! Christ became the Rock that followed the more than one million in the wilderness supplying water for a period of 40 years. Christ could have been that Angel of Yahweh who appeared as Man that could be held concretely and wrestled with. Read Genesis 32:24-32.

John 9:38; Matt. 2:2; Matt. 4:10; Mk. 5:2:6; Lk. 24:52; Heb. 1:6 – Christ was worshipped and only the true God should be worshipped. If Christ did not have Deity nature, and if He were human only, it would be blasphemous to allow Himself to be worshipped while he was in this world.

John 5:19; 10:30; 10:38; 14:9-11; 17:11; 17:22 – Christ is one with the Father. When we cite 10:30, some friends point to Christ’s joint job of shepherding the spiritual flock as basis of their oneness. Other Bible students use this verse to mean that Christ is one and the same person as the Father. It does not mean “one and the same person.” The unity with the Father is not limited to shepherding. It also includes doing the same work in verses 37-38, plus his authority from the Father doing the same work. Add further the same glory which Christ had before He became flesh which was resumed when He went back to heaven.

John 16:15; 17:10 – What is possessed by the Father is possessed by the Son and vice versa. This possession is not limited to material possessions. It should extend to worship. And worship is the highest honor we could give the true God. So John 5:23 confirms that the possession of honor, respect and worship are possessed by the Father and the Son. The excellent attributes assigned to the Father are also assigned to the Son in their Deity. So the church fathers in Church History, in their struggle in defining the Deity of Christ, finally came to the conclusion through this summative statement: “What the Father is the Son is, what the Son is the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit is the Father is.” The three are co-creators, co-inhabitants of heaven, co-saviors of mankind, co-possessors of the same essence of Deity, co-glory in heaven.

We break here. The following lesson will depart for a while from the Book of John, but will resume in a future lesson. Maraming salamat.

Apostle Paul Proves Deity of Christ. Part 1 (22)

Posted on May 27, 2020April 15, 2021 by Eusebio Tanicala

Question #22 – How does the Apostle John prove the deity of Christ in his gospel account in relation to the position of some Bible students who say that Christ is man only?

Answer – There are several ways how the Apostle John proves the deity of Christ. We go into the text of the Gospel of John and notice several passages. In the very first lines of John’s account, directly he states that the Word who is Christ is God. But in the verses we submit below, he employs different ways like events before the creation in Genesis 1:1. He also employs Christ’s personal presence and actions before He became flesh. This is the first of a series.

Suggestion: When you study the deity of Christ based on the Gospel of John, state your proposition like this: “Resolved that Christ is God before He became flesh.” Because in John 1:14 we read that the Word (referring to Christ) became flesh. Stating the proposition like this will avoid the strategy of the opposing side by beclouding the issue. Their position is that Man is not God, and vice versa, God is not man. However, you can insist that God can become man if He wants to. Angels can become man when situations warrant by their being servants of God and coming down to earth to deliver a message to humankind. Satan can become a snake or dragon when he wants to. Satan can become an angel of light if he wants to. Christ became a Rock that supplied water for 40 years during the Exodus from Egypt to Canaan says Apostle Paul in 1Cor. 10:1- 4. High probability that Yahweh in Genesis 18 who appeared to Abraham and Sarah in the form of a male person is very strong. That could be the period referred to in John 8:56-58. It is best to study privately or one on one and let your friend himself read the passages.

Observe the attributes and actions assigned to Christ if these were acts of mere human being in the flesh after Christ became flesh in 1 A.D..

Read John 1:1-2, 10 – This refers to a moment or a duration before the time of Genesis 1:1. Christ is the Word. He is called Word because normally, communication is by word of mouth and later on through the written word. A word or a group of words encapsulates an idea, an information, a message. Christ, even before becoming flesh in the year 1 Anno Domini (A.D.) of the Christian Era, had been communicating ideas and information to mankind. This Word who is Christ has been with (in the company of God the Father) God. Note the preposition “with” which means in the company of, beside, or in the presence of another. Beware of the Tagalog term “sumasa” because it could be illustrated as “inside” or “within.” Stick to the Greek preposition “pros” and its English translation “with” which means kasama. The preposition in the Greek is not “EN” which could be in the locative case (location). Then Apostle John directly states that the Word (Christ) is God (Theos). The form of the word Theos has the first letter as Theta. This Greek letter Theta is written one way. The word Theos who is the companion of the Word, who is the Father, is written Theos, and when Theos refers to the Word, the Greek text is Theos also. So both Theos should be written in capital letter G in the English translation. Christ, the Word, was in the beginning before creation of the cosmos and He was there during the creation of the cosmos. He was the creator. That was before He became flesh. Christ’s name in the beginning was Word. And Christ’s name in Revelation, now that He is seated on His throne in heaven, is Word. Please read Rev. 19:13.

Christ was the creator of the material world. Is Christ who was born in 1 A.D. the creator spoken of in John 1:1-3? Certainly not his humanity. Was Christ who was born in 1 A.D. with God in the beginning before the world was created? Again, the answer is No. It is like asking, “Was Satan a dragon before entering the Garden of Eden?”

John 1:14 – The Word (Christ) became flesh. This point in time refers to the year 1 A.D. when the spirit person of the Word (Christ) descended from above, from heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit, a body, a fetus was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And the spirit person of the Christ (Word) lodged into that flesh body. This agrees with Hebrews 10:5, where it says, “a body You have prepared for Me.” The fusion of spirit person and flesh person is one of its kind that is why 1 Tim. 3:16 says it is a “mystery.” We don’t have any illustration or demonstration in the material world how this is possible. So let’s receive it by faith.

John 1:15 and John 1:30 – “He was before me,” says John the Baptist. The phrase “before me” refers to time, not referring to location or being in front of John. In point of time, Christ the Word existed before the time John the Baptist was born. What existed before John was born was the spirit person of the Word. We should insist that if Christ is flesh person, man only, then Christ the Word, would mean He existed as human in heaven before He became flesh. And that is not the meaning of this passage we are studying. Did Christ in the flesh predate the birth of John the Baptist? No, because John was born about 6 months before Christ was born as a baby in 1 A.D..

John 1:18 – No one has seen God . . . only the Son has seen God because the Son has been with the Father in a close fellowship or close relationship from eternity. “Bosom” does not suggest physical form or material existence. This expression is an idiom. It means fellowship or a close relationship. What cannot be seen by the naked eyes of man is the glorious nature of God. The appearance of Christ in the transfiguration in Matthew 17 witnessed by Peter, James, and John was a limited glory. The appearance of Christ to Saul who became Apostle Paul in Acts 9 was more glorious than the transfiguration appearance because Saul was knocked down to the ground and he became physically exhausted. A higher degree of God’s glory is illustrated in Exodus 12:12-18. Moses stayed on Mount Sinai 40 days and 40 nights. When he came down, the physical face of Moses had absorbed God’s glory so that Moses’ face glowed with intense light which made the naked eyes of the people painful in looking directly at the face of Moses. Perhaps the intensity of that light that glowed from the face of Moses was like that of metal welding fire that is painful to the naked eyes. Moses had to put a cover on his face. See 2 Cor. 3:7. If I would illustrate it through electric bulb wattage, the transfiguration wattage would be 500 watts, the appearance to Saul was 1000 watts. Moses’ face was 5000 watts. Maybe the wattage of God’s natural glory in heaven could be the strength of a hydrogen bomb. Which is why the Bible says no one in our material, physical nature’s eye could see God’s glory and live. Man has to graduate into the highest spiritual level in order to possess a quality that is enabled to see the extremely glorious glow of Deity in heaven. This explains the need to put on the celestial body discussed in 1 Cor. 15 before we ascend to the heavens to surround the glorious throne.

Is the humanity of Christ that was born of Mary in 1 A.D. the one that saw God and was at the bosom of the Father before the Word became flesh? No, not His humanity. It is the Deity of Christ that was in close fellowship with the Father in heaven.

We stop here and we will continue this thread in the next series.