Originally posted 10/22/24
This is the second in a series of articles about theology. If you haven’t read the first one, click here.
Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.
Seventy-three percent of Evangelicals believe that God created Jesus. Why do Christians believe that God created Jesus? This is a really good question that has many people grappling with what is true. Scripture is pretty clear that Jesus was there from the beginning.
John 1:1-4 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” There is nothing in Scripture that supports God creating Jesus. Scripture does support that Jesus and the Holy Spirit was with God from the beginning.
According to www.gotquestions.org, “The Word in this verse refers to the Son of God before He took on human flesh and came to earth. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” So the Son, later to be called Jesus, already existed in the form of God, a member of the triune Godhead. He was not created because God was not created.”
“Jesus had to be fully human in order to bear the penalty for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). He lived the life we live, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He lived in complete harmony with His heavenly Father (John 8:29) and in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14; John 14:10). No created being could have borne the weight of the world’s sins. All sacrificial animals used before Christ were merely symbols of the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Only God Himself could meet the requirements for an acceptable substitute, and Jesus is God. Those who have faith in Him are guaranteed eternal life (John 3:16–18; 6:37; 10:28).” www.gotquestions.org
Genesis 1:1-2 tells us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
God goes into great detail about how the earth was created. Don’t you think that if God had created Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that he would have mentioned it?
Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Man was not made in His image, he was made in “our” image. Scholars believe this to be evidence of the Trinity giving further evidence that Jesus was always with God.
“The Bible teaches that Jesus was not created but was rather the Creator. “In [Jesus Christ] all things were created: . . . all things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). The doctrine of the eternality of Christ is one of the distinguishing marks of biblical Christianity.” www.gotquestions.org
Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.
Fifty-four percent of Christians believe that Jesus is God. Statistically, that means that forty-six percent of Christians do not believe that Jesus is God. If we do not believe that Jesus is God and part of the Trinity, our belief system falls apart. He must be God to take on the penalty of our sins.
Scripture has many passages about Jesus and his divinity. John 10:30 says, “I and the Father are one.” John 10:33 says, “The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
John 8:58 tells us, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Www.gotquestions.org, “ John reiterates the concept of Jesus’ deity: “The Word [Jesus] was God” and “the Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14). These verses clearly indicate that Jesus is God in the flesh. Acts 20:28 tells us, “Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” Who bought the church with His own blood? Jesus Christ. And this same verse declares that God purchased His church with His own blood. Therefore, Jesus is God.”
“Thomas the disciple declared concerning Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus does not correct him. Titus 2:13 encourages us to wait for the coming of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (see also 2 Peter 1:1). In Hebrews 1:8, the Father declares of Jesus, “But about the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’” The Father refers to Jesus as God, indicating that Jesus is indeed God.”
In Revelation, an angel instructed the apostle John to only worship God (Revelation 19:10). Several times in Scripture Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38). He never rebukes people for worshiping Him. If Jesus were not God, He would have told people to not worship Him, just as the angel in Revelation did. Beyond these, there are many other passages of Scripture that argue for Jesus being God.” www.gotquestions.org
We read in 2Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 John 2:2 tells us, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Jesus is God. If Jesus is not God, the gift of salvation does not work. Only Jesus (God) could stand before God and take on our sins. With Jesus, will receive the pronouncement that our sins forgiven which is accomplished only through the blood of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.
Sixty-seven percent churchgoers believe that the Holy Spirit is not a personal being. However, Scripture just does not support that.
Www.gotquestions.org puts it like this: “The Bible provides many ways to help us understand that the Holy Spirit is truly a person—that is, He is a personal being, rather than an impersonal thing. First, in almost every instance, pronouns used in reference to the Spirit are he and him, not it. In this way, the original Greek of the New Testament is explicit in confirming the person of the Holy Spirit. The word for “Spirit” (pneuma) is grammatically neuter and would naturally take neuter pronouns to have grammatical agreement. Yet, in many cases, masculine pronouns are found (e.g., John 15:26; 16:13–14). There is no other way to understand these ”ungrammatical” pronouns related to the Holy Spirit—He is a personal being, a “He.””
“The Spirit has personal characteristics. He can speak and be grieved and outraged. Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We read in Hebrews 10:29 “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”
“The Holy Spirit also intercedes on our behalf. Romans 8:26-27 tells us, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth or new life before a person has faith in Jesus Christ.
Sixty-three percent of Evangelicals believe this statement is true. The statement is potentially confusing. We do not receive the Holy Spirit until we believe in Jesus. The two events happen at the same time.
The apostle Paul clearly taught that we receive the Holy Spirit the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. First Corinthians 12:13 declares, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Romans 8:9 tells us that if a person does not possess the Holy Spirit, he or she does not belong to Christ: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Ephesians 1:13-14 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation for all those who believe: “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” https://www.gotquestions.org/receive-Holy-Spirit.html
The Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.
Thirty-two percent of people who attend church believe that we can be prompted to do something contrary to God’s Word. I find this statistic a little alarming. Why would a member of the Trinity prompt someone to do something against the word of God, or against God? It really doesn’t make sense to me. Is this just a way for us to sin?
The Holy Spirit will never lead us to anything that Scripture forbids. We are to test the spirits against God’s Word.
Got questions——Pray, especially when you’re unsure of God’s will for your life. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7). If you don’t know what to pray, you can always personalize and pray verses such as, “Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul” (Psalm 143:8) and, “Guide me in Your truth and teach me” (Psalm 25:5).
“The primary way God commands us is through His Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). If Scripture commands something of us, there’s no need to hesitate and wonder if it’s really God’s will for us. He cares so much about us that He already gave a plain and clear guidebook to life – the Bible. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). “The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word” (Psalm 119:9). Likewise, God never contradicts Himself, so He’ll never ask you to do something contradictory to Scripture. He will never ask you to sin. He will never ask you to do something Jesus Christ wouldn’t do. We need to immerse ourselves in the Bible, so we will know which actions meet God’s standards. “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth: meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8).”
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