Philosophical and scriptural proofs that Jesus Christ is God
Dec 22, 2013 6:22:20 GMT
Post by Colossians on Dec 22, 2013 6:22:20 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCRIPTURAL PROOFS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS GOD
With regard to the 1st commandment and rightful glory
If Christ were not God, then to worship Him would be to break the first commandment.
The sense of the first commandment is not simply that God must be worshipped more than others, but that God alone must be worshipped.
Therefore given that the Holy Spirit draws us to worship Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
___
At Acts 12 we read that King Herod, upon being glorified by the people as one who spoke as God, was immediately struck dead by the Lord because “he gave not God the glory” .
Contrasting, Thomas the disciple declared to Jesus’ face: “my Lord and my God” , and although Jesus did not seek to repeal any of Thomas’ declaration, He (Jesus) was not struck dead.
We understand by this that Jesus Christ is God.
___
Isaiah reveals of God:
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another” Is 42:8.
Given then that God has given His glory to Jesus Christ, we understand from this that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to the 3rd commandment
There are not two ways to blaspheme, but only one: it is to take God's name in vain.
Therefore because we know intuitively that to take the name of Jesus Christ in vain is to blaspheme, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to the constancy of God
Jesus told us to pray that God lead us away from temptation.
If then Christ were not God, God would be contradicting Himself in His having exulted Christ to the degree that He has, for He would then be tempting us to worship idols.
Therefore because we know that God would never tempt us to worship one other than Himself, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to common perception
It is commonly held in all cultures that a son is ultimately equal with his father (attested to by the fact that one’s son carries one’s surname into future generations).
More particularly, a son becomes equal to his father by demonstrating his unequivocal submission to his father’s will. In this sense no human son has ever really become equal to his father, although the ideal is still there nonetheless as, we might say, the ‘theoretical template’.
There is, however, one Son who has demonstrated perfect submission to his Father, thus demonstrating that He is equal with his Father.
Given then that that Father is God, the Son of whom we speak is necessarily also God.
It is, after all, simply a matter of “like Father, like Son”.
With regard to the perception of the Jews
Subsumed within the section immediately above, is the perception of the Jews at the time of Jesus.
Specifically, when Jesus said He was God’s Son, He knew this would be taken with ramification that He was equal to God, which is in fact how it was taken.
Given then that He added no qualification to the effect that He did not believe a son to be equal to his father, we understand His declaration that He was God’s Son to be tacit declaration that He was God.
With regard to the legal status of the Jews
To be born a Jew, particularly in biblical times when Jews were indeed Jews, was ostensibly an advantage, for it was they to whom the oracles of God were committed (see Rom 3:2).
Therefore, if any of us had been so born, it would have been our ‘God-given right’, moreover our obligation, to agree with the lawyers in the camp of Israel.
Thus Jesus commanded His disciples to observe all that they who sat in the seat of Moses observed: what the lawyers in the camp of Israel decided, was spiritual law, absolutely and without question.
Therefore we would have been obligatorily in agreement with the Jews in Jesus’ time that His saying He was God’s Son was equivalent to saying He was God, and thus according to law would have been justified in committing Him to death.
With regard to substance
Just as Adam (man) can only beget Adam (man), so too God can only beget God.
To suggest that God begets something inferior to God, is to suggest that God is inferior to Himself.
According to the specific philosophical axiom which states that two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.
1. Is God more righteous than Jesus? No.
2. Is God more holy than Jesus? No.
3. Is God more wise than Jesus? No.
4. Is God more desirable than Jesus? No.
Therefore Jesus is God.
___
Jesus said: “there is none good but God” .
Given then that we know that Jesus is good, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to God-specific functionality
At Col 1:14-18 Jesus is declared to have created everything in existence. It is also declared that it is by Him that all things consist.
One wonders what God was doing while this was going on.
One also wonders why God didn’t want anything Jesus made, made for God, for it is also said in that passage that everything that Jesus made, He made for Himself.
Given then that God never misses out on anything, we conclude that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to rank
At Revelation 7:17 we are told that Jesus Christ permeates (is in the “midst of” ) the throne of God.
Given that a throne is identified by who it is that sits on it, we understand by this that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to power
The bible declares Jesus Christ to be the power of God (1 Cor 1:24).
Given then that God minus His power is not God, then God minus Jesus is not God.
Therefore Jesus = God.
Therefore Jesus is God.
With regard to eternal state
In His prayer at Gethsemane, Jesus relates that His glory was coextensive with the Father’s glory, before the world began (John 17:5).
Therefore Jesus Christ is God.
___
Jesus declared: “before Abraham was, I am” ("before Abraham existed, I existed as the same ‘I’ who exists now").
Therefore Jesus Christ is God.
___
At Col 2:9 we read that in Christ currently dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” .
Given then that Christ is no more in corporeal form, this “bodily” rather indicates the full and exhaustive representation and encapsulation of God from every conceivable metaphorical, spiritual, and abstract angle.
Given that it is axiomatic to both Christianity and the general phenomenon that is ‘person’, as well as that which is forced by the law of non-contradiction, that only the actual person of God can fully represent and encapsulate God, we understand from Col 2:9 that Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
___
At Rev 22:13 Jesus Christ tells us that He is “the Alpha and the Omega” .
Given then that there can be, by definition, only one person who is “the Alpha” and “the Omega”, and that that person must be God, we understand from this that Jesus Christ is God.
Amen.
________________________________________________________________
PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCRIPTURAL PROOFS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS GOD
With regard to the 1st commandment and rightful glory
If Christ were not God, then to worship Him would be to break the first commandment.
The sense of the first commandment is not simply that God must be worshipped more than others, but that God alone must be worshipped.
Therefore given that the Holy Spirit draws us to worship Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
___
At Acts 12 we read that King Herod, upon being glorified by the people as one who spoke as God, was immediately struck dead by the Lord because “he gave not God the glory” .
Contrasting, Thomas the disciple declared to Jesus’ face: “my Lord and my God” , and although Jesus did not seek to repeal any of Thomas’ declaration, He (Jesus) was not struck dead.
We understand by this that Jesus Christ is God.
___
Isaiah reveals of God:
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another” Is 42:8.
Given then that God has given His glory to Jesus Christ, we understand from this that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to the 3rd commandment
There are not two ways to blaspheme, but only one: it is to take God's name in vain.
Therefore because we know intuitively that to take the name of Jesus Christ in vain is to blaspheme, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to the constancy of God
Jesus told us to pray that God lead us away from temptation.
If then Christ were not God, God would be contradicting Himself in His having exulted Christ to the degree that He has, for He would then be tempting us to worship idols.
Therefore because we know that God would never tempt us to worship one other than Himself, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to common perception
It is commonly held in all cultures that a son is ultimately equal with his father (attested to by the fact that one’s son carries one’s surname into future generations).
More particularly, a son becomes equal to his father by demonstrating his unequivocal submission to his father’s will. In this sense no human son has ever really become equal to his father, although the ideal is still there nonetheless as, we might say, the ‘theoretical template’.
There is, however, one Son who has demonstrated perfect submission to his Father, thus demonstrating that He is equal with his Father.
Given then that that Father is God, the Son of whom we speak is necessarily also God.
It is, after all, simply a matter of “like Father, like Son”.
With regard to the perception of the Jews
Subsumed within the section immediately above, is the perception of the Jews at the time of Jesus.
Specifically, when Jesus said He was God’s Son, He knew this would be taken with ramification that He was equal to God, which is in fact how it was taken.
Given then that He added no qualification to the effect that He did not believe a son to be equal to his father, we understand His declaration that He was God’s Son to be tacit declaration that He was God.
With regard to the legal status of the Jews
To be born a Jew, particularly in biblical times when Jews were indeed Jews, was ostensibly an advantage, for it was they to whom the oracles of God were committed (see Rom 3:2).
Therefore, if any of us had been so born, it would have been our ‘God-given right’, moreover our obligation, to agree with the lawyers in the camp of Israel.
Thus Jesus commanded His disciples to observe all that they who sat in the seat of Moses observed: what the lawyers in the camp of Israel decided, was spiritual law, absolutely and without question.
Therefore we would have been obligatorily in agreement with the Jews in Jesus’ time that His saying He was God’s Son was equivalent to saying He was God, and thus according to law would have been justified in committing Him to death.
With regard to substance
Just as Adam (man) can only beget Adam (man), so too God can only beget God.
To suggest that God begets something inferior to God, is to suggest that God is inferior to Himself.
According to the specific philosophical axiom which states that two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.
1. Is God more righteous than Jesus? No.
2. Is God more holy than Jesus? No.
3. Is God more wise than Jesus? No.
4. Is God more desirable than Jesus? No.
Therefore Jesus is God.
___
Jesus said: “there is none good but God” .
Given then that we know that Jesus is good, Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
With regard to God-specific functionality
At Col 1:14-18 Jesus is declared to have created everything in existence. It is also declared that it is by Him that all things consist.
One wonders what God was doing while this was going on.
One also wonders why God didn’t want anything Jesus made, made for God, for it is also said in that passage that everything that Jesus made, He made for Himself.
Given then that God never misses out on anything, we conclude that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to rank
At Revelation 7:17 we are told that Jesus Christ permeates (is in the “midst of” ) the throne of God.
Given that a throne is identified by who it is that sits on it, we understand by this that Jesus Christ is God.
With regard to power
The bible declares Jesus Christ to be the power of God (1 Cor 1:24).
Given then that God minus His power is not God, then God minus Jesus is not God.
Therefore Jesus = God.
Therefore Jesus is God.
With regard to eternal state
In His prayer at Gethsemane, Jesus relates that His glory was coextensive with the Father’s glory, before the world began (John 17:5).
Therefore Jesus Christ is God.
___
Jesus declared: “before Abraham was, I am” ("before Abraham existed, I existed as the same ‘I’ who exists now").
Therefore Jesus Christ is God.
___
At Col 2:9 we read that in Christ currently dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” .
Given then that Christ is no more in corporeal form, this “bodily” rather indicates the full and exhaustive representation and encapsulation of God from every conceivable metaphorical, spiritual, and abstract angle.
Given that it is axiomatic to both Christianity and the general phenomenon that is ‘person’, as well as that which is forced by the law of non-contradiction, that only the actual person of God can fully represent and encapsulate God, we understand from Col 2:9 that Jesus Christ is necessarily God.
___
At Rev 22:13 Jesus Christ tells us that He is “the Alpha and the Omega” .
Given then that there can be, by definition, only one person who is “the Alpha” and “the Omega”, and that that person must be God, we understand from this that Jesus Christ is God.
Amen.