Calling Jesus God in...

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Another that might interest you.

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Warm regards,

Bro. Williams
============================================================


>Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995 04:18:48 -0400
>From: BibAnsMan@aol.com
>To: B-GREEK@virginia.edu
>Subject: Re: Calling Jesus God in...
>X-UIDL: 812427241.109
>
>Sorry, the previous E-mail got away before I finished it.  This is the
>finished version.
>
>I would beg to differ with you on the statement,  
>
><<No NT writer clearly equates Jesus with God, and this on account of a
>monotheistic belief...>>
>
>There are many New Testament passages where the Greek clearly points out
>Jesus as God.  When many are taken individually, and especially as they are
>taken together, they make a profound statement.  The writers of Scripture
>knew what they were doing.  They did not make a mistake in writing so many
>passages which makes it appear that Jesus is God.
>
>What about passages like Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 where the Granville-Sharp
>rule says the single article with two nouns names the two as the same person.
> Also, what about the popular  "ego eimi" in John 8:24, 58 and other
>passages.  Nowhere else does anyone use ego eimi without a predicate on the
>other side except Jesus Christ.  This is equivalent to Exodus 3:14, "I am who
>I am."  
>
>There is no confusion in the minds of these writers.  They weren't being
>ambiguious.  They weren't heretical for not clearing up their language and
>coming so close to calling Jesus God.  No, rather they knew exactly what they
>were doing.  They knew who Jesus was.  Regarding John 1:1, there is a 3 point
>outline below. 
>
>I. THE TERM LOGOS
>
>John MacArthur has a very good tape on this topic.  You can call 800/55-GRACE
>and ask for tape #1295.  If you wish a more in-depth look, ask for tapes 1502
>and 1503. 
>
>The term for the "word" is Logos.  It is used by John in a very dramatic way
>to begin His gospel.
>It was also a point of identification with his readers, both Jews and
>Gentiles.  To the Jew, the Word of God was a very important concept.  The Jew
>constantly heard in the Old Testament, "The Lord says...,"  "And God
>spoke...,"  "The Word of the Lord came...," etc.
>
>The Jew in John's day would be very familiar with the Word of God.  He was
>familiar with how God was speaking.  God revealed Himself through speaking.
> The power of God, the will of God, the mind of God, the purpose of God, the
>design of God, the plan of God were all revealed in the Old Testament through
>the Word of God. 
>
>What John was saying to the Jew was, "That will, mind, purpose, design, plan,
>power or God has come to you.  If you want to know the plan of God, the will
>of God, etc. look, He's here."  John goes on to reveal that He was the one
>who brought the universe in existence (John 1:3) and revealed God to men
>(John 1:18 where he uses eksegeomai from which we get exegesis--Jesus is the
>exegesis of the Father, He is the very explanation or expression of God).
>
>"Logos" was also uniquely common to the Greeks. To them, the Logos was a
>non-personalized force proceeding from a god, whatever god that may be.  They
>say that the Word of God is that impersonal force that brings all things into
>existence.  Heraclytis wrote about the impersonal Logos.  The Stoics write
>about this as some kind of power or force, a totally impersonal force without
>a person.  Paul Tillich calls it that "basic cause." That force brought
>things into existence.  It created whatever exists.  It sustains whatever is.
> Filo calls it "the power of creation, the tiller by which God stirs all
>things, the intermediary between the world and God, the priest between man
>and God."  So the Greek knew about the Logos.
>
>And John is saying, "You Greeks have thought, talked, philosophized about
>this Logos.  I submit to you, He is here."  And to the Jew, he is saying,
>"This one is God, the eternal One. The One who created all things.  He is the
>power, will, mind, purpose, design,  and plan of God."
>
>II. JOHN 1:1 INTERPRETATION OF THEOS (GOD) WITHOUT THE ARTICLE
>
>There are those who do not see the Word being declared to be God, but rather
>they say He is "a god."  They say this because there is no article before the
>final "theos" (God) in John 1:1.  But as you will see, this is all quite
>normal in Greek.
>
>I go through John 1:1 in Greek class every year.  There, I present seven
>exegetical observations from the Greek text that show the Word to be God, not
>merely "a god."  This is bolstered by the context which declares the Word to
>be the creator of all things, etc.
>
>1. The proximity of the previous "theos" (God).  The word order in the Greek
>is reversed from the normal word order in the final clause, bringing God in
>close proximity to the previous God with the article.  The latter "theos" is
>explained in context to be the same as the previous "theos" (God).   If  John
>had intended to write that the Word was "a god," he would not have put them
>right next to each other.  In the original manuscripts, there wasn't any
>punctuation or spaces between the words (lit., "THEONTHEOS...").
>
>2. The impossibility of putting an article before nouns on both sides of a
>copulative phrase.  When you put an article before nouns on both sides of a
>linking verb in Greek, you are saying that the totality of the one is the
>other, and vise-versa.  This would make God out to be nothing else besides
>the Second Person of the Trinity.  But God is more than this, He is also the
>Father and the Holy Spirit.  For an in-depth discussion of this, see
>Robertson's Grammar, pages 767ff.    See John 4:24 and 1 John 4:8 where the
>article on one side is missing also (cf. Robertson's Word Pictures, Volume
>IV, p. 223 on 2 Corinthians 3:17; cf. also his Grammar, p. 767f.)
>
>3. The Word was "pros ton theon" (face to face with God).  This is a very
>strong phrase showing how the Word was on a level with God, face to face.
>
>4. The "kai" (and) in John 1:1 is an epexegetical kai.  Kai can be translated
>a number of different ways ("and, also, indeed, even" just to name a few).
> John especially uses kai to continue and further explain the previous
>clauses or sentences.  This is an epexegetical use.  In John 1:1, John is
>building on each of the previous thoughts to a climax.  "In the beginning was
>the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  A.T. Robertson
>has an excellent section on kai in his Grammar, p. 1179-1183. 
>
>5. It is common for Koine Greek writers to reference the first use of a given
>person with the article, then often without the article on subsequent uses in
>the same passage.  So where God has the article in the second clause of John
>1:1, it doesn't in the third, but refers to the same God, not "a god" that is
>different.
>
>6. John 1:12 references God without the article in Greek.  "To as many as
>believed in Him, He gave the right to become children of God..."  It is
>interesting to note how many cults and the like try to interpret the latter
>reference in John 1:1 of God to be "a god" because it doesn't have the
>article, but then proceed to interpret John 1:12 as "God" unquestionably!
> The point is that both in the passage refer to God the Father Himself.
>
>Finally, in conclusion here, John meant to write that Jesus, the Word (cf.
>John 1:14) was God.  He wouldn't have written John 1:1ff. so confusing if he
>didn't mean this.  There are so many things that make it clear that John was
>saying Jesus was God here.  If he didn't mean this, then he really made a lot
>of mistakes to confuse his readers.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Was Jesus God?  To answer the question, we need to look carefully at the
>evidence of Scripture.
>
>III. The Deity of Jesus Christ
>
>There is one God according to Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11;
>44:8; 45:5-6, 14, 21-22; 46:9).  Isaiah quotes God as saying that He knows of
>no other God, so there must not be any.  God also says, "He. Before Me there
>was no God formed, And there will be none after Me" (Isaiah 43:10).
>
>Jesus is indeed God (John 1:1,14; Colossians 1:15-19; 2:9; Titus 2:13;
>Hebrews 2:8; Isaiah 9:6; etc.).  Not only are there many more verse to show
>this, but the incommunicable attributes of God can be clearly seen in Jesus
>Christ.  Incommunicable attributes are those qualities of God that no other
>creature can possess.  If any one can be shown to have these qualities, the
>would be God.
>
>Jesus possesses the incommunicable attributes of  God.  Dr. Marc Mueller has
>established five categories that show Jesus as God.  Much of the following is
>his material from the Master's Seminary Syllabus, Theology 605.
>
>1) Explicit claims (John 1:1; 8:58; John 20:28; Philippians 2:6; Revelation
>23:13; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20; Hebrews 1:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16;
>John 1:18; Acts 20:28); Colossians 2:9).
>
>2) Divine Names (Isaiah 42:8; Psalm 83:18; Joel 2:32; Romans 10:11-14; Romans
>9:33; 1 Peter 2:6-8; Philippians 2:9; see Isaiah 6:1ff. compared to John
>12:41).
>
>3) Incommunicable Attributes 
>   a) eternality (Revelation 22:13; 1:8; Isaiah 48:12; Hebrews 7:3,23-24;
>Isaiah 9;6)
>   b) omnipresent (Matthew 18:20; 28:20)
>   c) omniscience (John 21:17; 16:30; Revelation 2:23, 24; Matthew 11:23,27;
>17:27; 26:33-34; Luke 19:30-34)
>   d) omnipotence (Revelation 1:8; Philippians 3:21; Matthew 28:18)
>   e) Immutability (Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8)
>   f) Aseity--necessary self existence (John 5:26; 10:17-18)
>
>4) Incommunicable works
>   a) creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2)
>   b) providence (Luke 10:22; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3)
>   c) life (John 5:19-29; Philippians 3:21)
>   d) reception of worship (John 5:23; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:8-14;
>Philippians 2:9-11)
>
>Conclusions
>  1. Jesus Christ Himself taught His own deity
>  2. The Jews clearly perceived that He taught His deity.
>  3. The N.T. Apostles all believed in and affirmed the deity of Jesus.
>  4. All of the evidence of N.T. theology confirms the deity of Jesus Christ
>according to the categories listed above.
>  5. Without understanding the deity of Christ, it is impossible to have true
>salvation (John 8:24).
>  
>Again, this represents my understanding of Scripture as it presents John 1:1
>and the deity of Christ.  There are other teachers answering pagers that will
>disagree with these conclusions.  You must examine carefully the Scriptural
>evidence to decide what you believe the Bible says about these things.
>
>If I can assist you further, please feel free to ask.
>
>Grace to you,
>
>Jim 
>
>