Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 2

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

There are at least six ways that Jesus claimed to be God.  First, Jesus Claimed to Be Yahweh, or the God of the Old Testament.  I will draw heavily from Norman Geisler’s Volume 2 of his Systematic Theology series, so when you see quotes, that is where they are from.

So how did Jesus claim to be Yahweh?  First, let’s look at the background of the Old Testament usage of “Yahweh.”

Yahweh (YHWH) or Jehovah is the special name given by God for Himself in the Old Testament. It is the name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, when God said, “I am who I am.” While other titles for God may be used of men (adonai [Lord] in Genesis 18:12) or false gods (elohim[gods] in Deuteronomy 6:14), Yahweh is only used to refer to the one true God. No other person or thing was to be worshiped or served (Ex. 20:5), and His name and glory were not to be given to another. Isaiah wrote, “Thus saith Jehovah … I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God” (Isa. 44:6 ASV), and, “I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images” (42:8 ASV).

So, the name of God in the Old Testament was exclusive to him.  He did not share it with anyone else.  How, then, did Jesus refer to himself?

Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5—this is an obvious claim for Christ’s deity, for Jehovah of the Old Testament said, “My glory will I not give to another” [Isa. 42:8 NKJV]).

Jesus also declared, “I am the First and the Last” (Rev. 1:17)—precisely the words used by Jehovah in Isaiah 44:6.

He said, “I am the good shepherd,” (John 10:11), and the Old Testament said, “Jehovah is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1 ASV).

Further, Jesus claimed to be the judge of all men (John 5:27ff.; Matt. 25:31ff.), and Joel quotes Jehovah as saying, “There I will sit to judge all the nations on every side” (Joel 3:12).

Likewise, Jesus spoke of Himself as the “bridegroom” (Matt. 25:1f.) while the Old Testament identifies Jehovah in this way (Isa. 62:5; Hosea 2:16).

While the psalmist declares, “Jehovah is my light” (Ps. 27:1 asv), Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Perhaps the strongest claim Jesus made to be Jehovah is in John 8:58, where He says, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” This statement claims not only existence before Abraham, but equality with the “I am” of Exodus 3:14. The Jews around Him clearly understood His meaning and picked up stones to kill Him for blaspheming (cf. John 10:31–33). The same claim is also made in Mark 14:62 and John 18:5–6.

Again and again and again, Jesus compared himself to Yahweh, the one and only God of Israel.  If we stopped here, this would be strong evidence that Jesus thought of himself as God, but we are only through the first of six sets of evidence.  Stay tuned for more!!

Cross, Mormonism

Why Do Mormons Hide the Cross? Part 2

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In the previous post I spoke about the LDS Church’s aversion to the use of the cross.  Their explanation for this decision is, in my opinion, rather lacking.  I have often wondered if their view of the atonement has any effect upon their decision.  One of the primary differences between LDS and Christian theology surrounds exactly where Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins.  As Christians, we believe the cross played a central role in the atonement.  We approach it with wonder and reverence for it was the instrument by which God chose to redeem mankind.  However, in LDS theology the atonement has been partially removed from the cross and placed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Some LDS leaders have even gone so far as to assert the Garden of Gethsemane was the principal place of suffering in the atonement.  Here are some quotes by LDS leaders.

“We speak of the passion of Jesus Christ. A great many people have an idea that when he was on the cross, and nails were driven into his hands and feet, that was his great suffering. His great suffering was before he ever was placed upon the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the blood oozed from the pores of his body.”  – President Joseph Fielding Smith

“It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him.”  – The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 14)

“His [deep] suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took upon Himself all the sins of all other mortals…” – James E. Foust, Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice

“…that he suffer the pains of all men, which he did, principally, in Gethsemane, the scene of his great agony.” – Marion G. Romney, The Resurrection of Jesus, Ensign May 1982, 6

Could the LDS aversion to the cross be tied to their view of the atonement?  Why the focus so much on the Garden of Gethsemane?  Nowhere in The Bible does it say the atonement took place principally in Gethsemane.  In fact, when The Bible talks about the atonement it almost always speaks directly of the cross.  In my opinion, the overt focus on the Garden is not only unbiblical it also diverts one’s attention away from the most important part of Christ’s gift to mankind… His work on the cross.  May we always approach it with awe, reverence and wonder!

All praise be to our Savior, God and King Jesus Christ!!

Darrell

Cross, Mormonism

Why Do Mormons Hide the Cross? Part 1

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In LDS chapels you will typically find paintings commissioned of Mormon artists and in their Temples you will find different symbols, from sunstones to inverted stars.  However, one of the items you will never find displayed is a cross.  On the LDS Church website they provide the following explanation for the absence of the cross.

“As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also remember with reverence the suffering of the Savior. But because the Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith.”

While I respect this explanation, I find it in stark contrast to what The Bible has to say about the cross.  As Christians we rejoice in the cross of our Savior.  For upon it He paid the price for our sins, provided a path to God and made all things new.  Through it He became the mediator of a New Covenant.  The cross represents new life and is the tool by which Christ closed the gap between God and man.  Without His sacrifice upon the cross mankind would be doomed.  The New Testament speaks repeatedly about the wonder and redemptive power of the cross.  Here are few passages which speak of the cross.

 1 Cor 1:18  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Galations 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Ephesians 2:16  “…and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

Colossians 1:20  “…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Colossians 2:14  “…having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:15  “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Given the way The Bible speaks of the cross, one can see why Christians display it as a symbol of our faith.  We turn to it with awe and reverence realizing the magnificent sacrifice of our Lord, God and Savior.  I continually marvel at the love of Christ displayed upon the cross as expressed in Romans 5:8.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I cannot understand why the LDS Church shys away from the cross yet readily displays pagan symbols upon their Temples… the sun, moon, beehive, hand grip, and inverted stars.  Most of these symbols were carried over into Mormonism from the masons and have occultic significance.  Many amateur Mormon apologists make the argument some of these symbols were adopted into occultic worship after they were placed on the temple.  That is a debatable point but has nothing to do with my argument.  I am simply asking why it is alright to place a symbol which is not even mentioned in scripture upon the temple but it is not okay to place the cross?  The cross is spoken of repeatedly in scripture with awe and reverence yet the pagan symbols are strangely absent from scripture.  There seems to be some disconnect here and their explanation is rather lacking.

Further to my point, some of the past LDS leaders have spoken rather disparagingly about the use of the cross as a symbol of Christianity.  Past LDS prophet Joseph Fielding Smith had this to say.

“We may be definitely sure that if our Lord had been killed with a dagger or with a sword, it would have been very strange indeed if religious people of this day would have graced such a weapon by wearing it and adoring it because it was by such a means that our Lord was put to death.”  Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 4, pp. 17-18.

The problem with Mr. Smith’s criticism…  the cross is spoken of repeatedly by the apostles of Jesus Christ with awe and reverence.  It is the means by which God Himself chose to redeem mankind.  Personally, I am fine with using it as a symbol of my faith and will choose to stay away from the sunstone, moon and inverted star.

In my next post I will talk about how the LDS Church takes the emphasis off of the cross and places it in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Darrell

Theology

Does God Need Anything?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Christians believe that God is completely self-sufficient, that he is complete within himself.  There is nothing that God needs that he doesn’t already have.  The quote below, from A. W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy,  summarizes the point extremely well.

To admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine Being.  Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator.  God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself.  His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself.

Practically speaking, it is a serious error to think that humanity is somehow providing God assistance that he needs to accomplish his tasks.  God may use human beings to complete certain tasks, but he never needs them.  He allows them to participate with him in the affairs of the world, but only out of his good pleasure.  Whenever humans start to think they are indispensable to God, a prideful fall is sure to follow.

Free Will, Human Nature, Salvation, Theology

Can Man Choose God On His Own?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

No.  The Bible seems to clearly teach that God must call on man before man will respond.  Original sin has caused man to reject God without God’s intervention.  Jesus said, ““This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him” (John 6:65).  The Psalmist said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5).  God must initiate salvation because man cannot.

So does God intervene to convict all men of their sins and call them toward him?  Yes, he does.  All men are given the chance to accept or reject God because God calls all men.  According to 2 Pet. 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  According to 1 Tim. 2:3-4, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

God will freely offer the gift of salvation to everyone, but each person must decide to accept or reject this free gift.  God must call us first, as we are incapable of inclining our wills toward God on our own.

Historical footnote: The belief that mankind is born innocent of original sin and can freely choose God without God first initiating salvation is called Pelagianism.  This heresy was condemned by the Council of Carthage (A.D. 416-418).

Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 1

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

A foundational issue for Christianity is the question of whether Jesus claimed to be God and whether his disciples understood him to be claiming he was God.  This series of posts will examine the first question and we will follow this series with the question of the disciples.

Here are the topics we will cover:

  1. Jesus Claimed to Be Yahweh.
  2. Jesus Claimed to Be Equal with God.
  3. Jesus Claimed to Be Messiah-God.
  4. Jesus Claimed to Be God by Accepting Worship.
  5. Jesus Claimed to Have Equal Authority with God.
  6. Jesus Claimed to Be God by Requesting Prayer in His Name.

We will cover passages that expound upon each of the above claims and try to build a solid basis for the deity of Jesus.

Why is this topic important?  Because it is a central teaching of Christianity, and if it is not true, then Christianity is false.  But worse than that, the deity of Christ is one of the key elements of our salvation.  If Jesus is not God, then we have no reconciliation with God.  If a mere man died on the cross and was resurrected, then our sins are not forgiven and we will perish.

The gospel that the early church taught, in its simplest form, was the deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Without the deity of Jesus, there is no gospel.

I hope you’ll follow this series and be astounded at all the ways the NT claims Jesus is God.  It should be eye-opening!

Human Nature, Philosophy

More Ways Humans Differ from Other Animals

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

I have written on this topic before, but it’s so important that when I come across more information, I feel compelled to write about it.

Recently I was reading a book by Hugh Ross (More Than a Theory) and he listed off several stark contrasts between man and all other animals:

  1. awareness of right and wrong (conscience)
  2. awareness of mortality and concerns about what lies beyond death
  3. hunger for hope, purpose, and destiny
  4. compulsion to discover and create
  5. capacity for analysis, mathematics, and meditation
  6. capacity to recognize beauty, truth, logic, and absolutes
  7. propensity to worship and communicate with a deity

The gulf between man and the other animals is indeed massive.  Those of us who recognize this gulf encourage men to reach even greater heights, while those of us who think that man and animal are basically the same tend to excuse every kind of animal-like behavior in man.  After all, those people claim, we are born to act like animals, so why expect more?  (There is a schizophrenic third view that claims men are nothing but complex animals, but still expects men to rise above it.  This view is incoherent to me.)

Of course, the person that philosophically excuses men from animal-like behavior – who believes men are literally animals, and nothing more – quickly abandons that view when someone behaves like an animal toward them.  In that case, all we hear is how the perpetrator should have behaved better and should have controlled themselves.  It’s funny how vain philosophy collapses when it bumps up against reality.

Salvation

Can I Be Saved By a Simple Prayer?

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The Bible unequivocally teaches that faith in God is what saves.  So the question before us is whether speaking a “sinner’s prayer” constitutes saving faith.

All people possess intellect, will, and emotions – the ability to think, choose, and feel.  When the Bible refers to faith, it seems to teach that faith involves all aspects of a person.  In other words, a person’s intellect, will, and emotions must all be involved for faith to be salvific.

Let’s look at intellect first.  Based on the NT, there seem to be six propositions that a person must intellectually believe to be saved:

  1. Existence of God
  2. Necessity of Grace
  3. Human Sinfulness
  4. Christ’s Deity
  5. Christ’s Atoning Death
  6. Christ’s Bodily Resurrection

Each of these doctrines must be intellectually held by a person to be saved.  But believing in these truths with the intellect is not enough.

Billy Graham once said:

The word believe means more than just intellectual faith, because the Bible says, ‘The devils also believe.’  The devil is a fundamentalist, and he is orthodox.  He believes in Christ.  He believes in the Bible.   Intellectually, he believes in the dogma.  He believes in the creeds.  But the devil has never been saved and he is not going to heaven.  You may be able to recite theology, but I tell you that is not enough.

Saving faith also encompasses the will and emotions.  The NT seems to teach at least six ways that our will and emotions must be involved in our faith.

First, true faith involves trust in God.  Trust is the confident expectation that God will do what he says he will do.  Trusting God involves an act of the will that is beyond mere intellectual assent.

Second, true faith involves the willingness to fully commit ourselves to Christ as the means of delivering us.  Saving faith involves a true commitment to the gospel.

Third, true faith involves our obeying God’s command to believe in His Son.  If we have saving faith, we will obey God’s command to believe in His Son.  If we truly understand who God is and what He has done for us, our intellectual knowledge is accompanied by obedience to God’s command to turn to Him.   The demons do not obey the gospel and have forever turned their back on God.  Though they know who God is, they disobey Him.  Likewise, unsaved people have no will to obey God.

Fourth, true faith involves love of God, which is the greatest command.  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37).  You cannot have a saving relationship with God unless you love Him.  Love of God is willing the ultimate good.  God is the ultimate good. This is not merely a feeling of warmth toward God, but a robust passion and desire for Him that manifests in all our actions.

Fifth, true faith involves childlike trust entailing humility.  There is no room for arrogance in saving faith.  Demons exhibit no humility toward God, whereas believers realize that humility is the only reasonable response because God is completely responsible for their salvation.  Dr. Gary Inrig explained humility this way:

If I try to make myself as small as I can, I’ll never become humble. Humility comes when I stand as tall as I can, and look at all of my strengths, and the reality about me, but I put myself alongside Jesus Christ. And it’s there, when I humble myself before Him, and realize the awesomeness of who he is, and I accept God’s estimate of myself, and I stop being fooled about myself, and I stop being impressed with myself, that I begin to learn humility.

Sixth, true faith involves repentance.  Faith implies the kind of commitment to and trust in Christ that will make an actual change in one’s life.  True repentance is a real change of mind about our sin and about who Christ is – our Savior.  Repentance is life-altering as well.  Therefore, faith and repentance are inseparable in the same way that the command to “come here” cannot be fulfilled without “leaving there.”  True faith and repentance, regarding one’s salvation, involve embracing right and rejecting wrong – one cannot be exercised without the other.

So, is a simple prayer enough to save?  If that simple prayer is being spoken by a person whose faith is intellectual, trusting, committed, obedient, loving, humble, and repentant, then the answer is “yes.”  If not, then that prayer may be a significant step, but until the person has truly applied all of his personhood to his faith, it has not saved him.

Free Will, Philosophy, Theology

Can God Be Sovereign and Man Be Free at the Same Time?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Yes.  There is absolutely nothing contradictory about an infinite God being in control of every little electron in the universe, but creating creatures in that same universe who have a special power of free will.  God can accomplish everything he wants to accomplish in human affairs through human free will.

While he commands volcanoes to erupt and water to flow as inanimate objects, he commands humans as free creatures.  He works in coordination with human freedom, not without it or against it.

Philosophers refer to this as primary and secondary causation.  God is the primary cause, and he uses the secondary cause of human free will to accomplish his purposes.

It’s ironic to me that some of my 5-point Calvinist friends say that allowing man to choose takes away from the glory of God.

The reality is that claiming God cannot create free creatures and still bring his plans to fruition is really the position that takes away from God’s glory.

Smoke that in your theological pipe for a minute.

Mormonism, Theology, Trinity

Why Is the Trinity Important?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Because it is the best synthesis of all biblical data on the nature of God.  All other views deny or ignore major swaths of Scripture.

For example, on one of our blog posts, there is a thread where Darrell presented numerous passages to a Mormon about the oneness and unity of God.  Instead of dealing with these passages the Mormon writer chose to ignore the passages and continuously point out other passages in the Bible that stress the plurality of God.

In Mormon theology, there are countless gods, and all human beings may one day become gods themselves.  So, of course, Mormons have to dodge and duck all of the passages in the Bible that speak on the oneness of God.  They ignore biblical data in order to accommodate their theology.  Their theology is more important than the data in the Bible.

The Trinity realizes a unity and plurality in God that makes sense of all the biblical data.  There are three persons (plurality) in one nature (unity).

All of the passages that emphasize the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are recognized.  All of the passages that recognize the unity of God are recognized.  Both of these truths are held, and neither is denied.

Is your theology more important than what the Bible actually says?

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