The Divinity of Jesus
THE BIBLE AND THE MASS PART V
Jesus is God. This is the main doctrine of Christianity as far as I'm concerned, one of the hills I would die for. It is a topic that I can't possibly do justice to. It deserves a lifetime of meditation, not a short blog entry.
I normally don't like proof-texting. I don't like Bible battles where the winner is the one who can overwhelm his opponent with more Bible verses lobbed like hand grenades at the enemy. However, when pressed on the issue there are some verses I like to quote that at least give the person I'm talking to something to think about.
Exodus 3:13-14- Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’"
God identifies Himself in this passage as the One who is. The Eternal One. This obviously doesn't mention Jesus directly but is important to know when it comes to the next passage.
John 8:57-59- Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
It is so obvious here that Jesus is referring to His divinity that I shake my head in disbelief when people try to deny it. Any Jewish person worth his salt would have known that I AM is the name which God used in conversation with Moses. The Pharisees obviously knew; why else would they wanted to have stoned Jesus? If Jesus were merely saying that He was one with God in purpose, why would the Pharisees have gotten so angry?
Philippians 2:5-11- Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is in the form of God and did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. God is all-powerful and all-knowing- how could God have an equal unless that person was God?
At this point the person who doesn't want to believe that Jesus is God will continue to argue, and I give up on them. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't like to debate people. There are times when you know it is pointless, so why even try? I am at the point in my life where I don't want to climb over people's spiritual carcasses to declare myself victorious. I want to spend the rest of my days trying to live this thing. So I will stop here.
This series of reflections on the Mass has already turned into hardcore apologetics, and I didn't really want to go down that road. I just wanted to give people something to meditate on as they thought about the importance of the Mass. Next time I will be skipping past the Creed, the main points of which I've already covered, and dive into the Eucharistic Prayers.
Jesus is God. This is the main doctrine of Christianity as far as I'm concerned, one of the hills I would die for. It is a topic that I can't possibly do justice to. It deserves a lifetime of meditation, not a short blog entry.
I normally don't like proof-texting. I don't like Bible battles where the winner is the one who can overwhelm his opponent with more Bible verses lobbed like hand grenades at the enemy. However, when pressed on the issue there are some verses I like to quote that at least give the person I'm talking to something to think about.
Exodus 3:13-14- Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’"
God identifies Himself in this passage as the One who is. The Eternal One. This obviously doesn't mention Jesus directly but is important to know when it comes to the next passage.
John 8:57-59- Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
It is so obvious here that Jesus is referring to His divinity that I shake my head in disbelief when people try to deny it. Any Jewish person worth his salt would have known that I AM is the name which God used in conversation with Moses. The Pharisees obviously knew; why else would they wanted to have stoned Jesus? If Jesus were merely saying that He was one with God in purpose, why would the Pharisees have gotten so angry?
Philippians 2:5-11- Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is in the form of God and did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. God is all-powerful and all-knowing- how could God have an equal unless that person was God?
At this point the person who doesn't want to believe that Jesus is God will continue to argue, and I give up on them. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't like to debate people. There are times when you know it is pointless, so why even try? I am at the point in my life where I don't want to climb over people's spiritual carcasses to declare myself victorious. I want to spend the rest of my days trying to live this thing. So I will stop here.
This series of reflections on the Mass has already turned into hardcore apologetics, and I didn't really want to go down that road. I just wanted to give people something to meditate on as they thought about the importance of the Mass. Next time I will be skipping past the Creed, the main points of which I've already covered, and dive into the Eucharistic Prayers.
posted by The Man at 5:23 AM
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