Tag Archive | bible

Is the HOLY SPIRIT also GOD?

The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to work in our hearts, and to reprove the world of sin. He fills the christian hearts with his presence, and he is a big aid for us to live holy lives and to enable us to be good disciples who spread the true word of God to others. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand the scriptures and the deep things of God, and he also gives us spiritual gifts so that we can build up ourselves and others in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is described as a person who has a will, who hears, speaks, has feelings, wisdom, and who has a relationship with us. The Bible came about thanks to holy men of God who wrote down the message of God through inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, REPENT, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST.

If the Holy Spirit is exactly synonymous with either God/the Father/Jesus Christ, then we must ask ourselves why those names are not used instead? The Holy Spirit seems to be different from the Father and Jesus Christ, but also the same as though share the same source. Only the trinity could solve something like this, because if 1) God the Father, 2) God the son and 3) God the Holy Spirit, are different persons in the same godhead (and there is only one God), then it all makes sense. We could also visualize that only the Father and Jesus Christ are in the godhead, with the Holy Spirit as another manifestation of them, which boils down to the almost the same thing. When the Holy Spirit is operating on earth, then it’s God operating.

It might feel like a burden to understand exactly how the persons in the godhead work in their divine state and in the trinity, but we don’t have to understand exactly how they interact with each other in order to be saved. We only have to accept that these persons/manifestations are in our only God and that they are each called God – 1 pile of sand can be divided into 3 piles of sand, and back again. God can be in several different locations at the same time, and the Holy Spirit can be in each of us christians at the same time. Neither do we have to understand exactly how a car engine works in order to drive, even if it’s for our benefit if we have some knowledge about it – like; where it’s placed, what the purpose is, how to make maintenance, what the indications are that something is wrong, etc. At least we know that the inventor/manufacturer knows how it works, and he knows it in great detail and has it all under control.

There is a theory put forth in some of the apocrypha/lost books which suggests that demons/evil spirits have a source in the fallen angels that we can read about in Genesis (the sons of God), och who came down to earth to produce gigantic babies (nephilim) together with certain females. When the fallen angels eventually died, they are said to have left evil spirits of themselves which could trouble human beings – which we have some examples of in the Bible. If this is true, and if the Holy Spirit works in a similar way (naturally with a source in God), then this could explain why Jesus had to be glorified and leave the earth before the Holy Spirit could make an entrance and fill our hearts. If demons/evil spirits can be called Satan (precisely for being manifestations of Satan), the Holy Spirit could be called God for the same reason – because he is a manifestation of God. This, however, is only speculation about the invisible and spiritual world, and it’s not something that is essential for our salvation to know about – as long as we worship the only true God. It’s for instance utterly important to accept that Jesus is the IAM, and the word that was with God and who was GOD and lived among us in flesh. Read more about the trinity here.

If Jesus and the Holy Spirit are synonymous, then it would not make sense to have different names for the very same person, and it would be difficult to understand why Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as another Comforter (helper) who can’t make his entrance into this world unless Jesus makes an exit. The Holy Spirit is not referred to as “it” (as some kind of a neutral force) but the pronoun “he” is used. The Holy Spirit will testify of Jesus and glorify him, and if Jesus is not God it would have been more logical to let the Holy Spirit glorify GOD. Especially since we can read in Isaiah 42:8 that God doesn’t share his glory with anyone. The Holy Spirit will speak what he hears, and this is another indication of that he is separate from the one who tells him what to speak. If the Holy Spirit is the same as the Father, it’s strange that we can read that he will proceed from the Father, because that makes them separate:

John 16:⁵But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?⁶But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for IF I GO NOT AWAY; THE COMFORTER WILL NOT COME UNTO YOU; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me;¹⁰Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;¹¹Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.¹²I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.¹³Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.¹⁴He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.¹⁵All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

John 15:²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

Apg. 1: 1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,²Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:³To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:⁴And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.⁵For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.—⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

GOD created the heavens and the earth, but the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the waters. They seem separate:

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Our fellowship is with the Father and the son, according to John, but Paul says our fellowship is with the Spirit. They are both right as usual:

1 John 1:³That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Phil. 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,²Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind

If the Holy Spirit is only some kind of “force” or “power” and not God itself, then it’s odd that the Holy Spirit can be more offended if someone offends it, than Jesus Christ if someone offends him, considering that Jesus is a real person. So here, again, we can see that there is a difference between Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, because the punishment differs if someone blasphemes them. Moreover, we can grieve the Holy Spirit, which shows he has emotions.

Luke 12:¹⁰And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.

Matt. 12:³¹Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.³²And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Eph. 4:²⁹Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.³⁰And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Isaiah 63:¹⁰But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

When we read the story about Jesus baptism, we can see that a voice from heaven is heard saying “Thou art my beloved Son”, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove. These things occur at the same time, and it was God the Father who spoke from heaven, to God Jesus Christ on earth, at the same time as God the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove. All three persons in the godhead are in action at the same time:

Mark 1:⁹And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.¹⁰And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:¹¹And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Holy Spirit can bear witness that we are the children of God, and he also helps our infirmities and makes intercessions for us. He that searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, and the Spirit chooses to adhere to the will of God – showing they are separate but still the same:

Rom. 8:¹⁶The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God

Rom. 8:²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.²⁷And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

We are to keep the word of JESUS and if we obey him, he and his Father will come to us and abode with us. How do they accomplish this – being in all of us christians – unless they do this through the Holy Spirit? Jesus Christ can be in us, but naturally not in fleshly form. We are encouraged to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and if the Holy Spirit is inside us and acts as a divine Helper, it results in that our bodies are his temple:

John 14:²³Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

2 Cor. 13:⁵Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Eph. 5:¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit

1 Cor. 6:¹⁹What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Here we can learn more about the Holy Spirit and that he is different from God but yet the same. The Spirit searches all things including the deep things of GOD – as though they were separate. Each christian can get the Holy Spirit at the same time as God remains in his heaven:

1 Cor. 2:⁸Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.¹⁰But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.¹¹For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.¹³Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.¹⁴But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.¹⁵But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

The Lord is Spirit, says Paul, and the Lord could be God the Father or Jesus. They are both called Lord of Lords. It appears there are three Lords in the godhead, and of course that’s quite possible.

2 Cor. 3:¹⁷Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit is the one to give us gifts of the Spirit, and who make it possible for us to speak with different tongues and to prophesy. The gifts are given as “he will”, showing again that he has a will. If the Holy Spirit is synonymous with God (and not one of three persons in God), then why didn’t Paul simply say that GOD gives us these gifts? Just to confuse us? “The same Spirit...”, “the same Lord…“and “the same God”. Sounds like they are different again, but yet the same.

Acts 2:⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

1 Cor. 12:³Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.⁴Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.⁵And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.⁶And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;⁹To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;¹⁰To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Ananias and his wife chose to let Satan fill their hearts, and this resulted in lying to the holy Spirit, which is the same as lying to GOD. By their actions they tempted the Spirit of God. If there is only one God with no dimensions or different persons, one wonders why Luke didn’t choose to write “God” in all those places concerning him. Why alter between “God” and “the holy Spirit“? Probably because they are different and yet members of the same God:

Apg. 5:³But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?⁴Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.—⁹Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Peter says that the Holy Spirit is the one who moved holy men of God to write the scriptures, och Paul says that the scripture is given by inspiration of GOD. They seem to be the same:

2 Peter 1:²¹For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Tim. 3:¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

The Holy Spirit can speak and give instructions.

Acts 8:²⁹Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

Acts 11:¹¹And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.¹²And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:

Acts 13:²As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

We have a free will and we are not forced to obey the Holy Spirit, but if we are attentive for how the Holy Spirit wants to guide us, we can say that he encourages us and hinders us from doing certain things. Then the starting point is that we have made a decision to adhere to the Holy Spirit instead of our flesh. The Holy Spirit can “forbid” us to do something, but we must decide whether to obey or disobey.

Acts 7:⁵¹Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Acts 16:⁶Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia

Below we can see that 1) the holy Ghost 2) the spirit of the FATHER, 3) JESUS, who will be speaking through us in times of trouble and persecution. So which one is it? Or is it all three as in the trinity?

Mark 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the HOLY GHOST.

Matt. 10:¹⁹But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.²⁰For it is not ye that speak, but THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER which speaketh in you.

Luke 21:¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:¹⁵For I WILL GIVE YOU A MOUTH and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Jesus and the spirit…

2 Cor. 3:¹⁶Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.¹⁷Now THE LORD IS THAT SPIRIT and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Hebr. 9:¹⁴How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We are apparently told to baptize in three names, and what is the reason for this if God is one and the same and with no distinct persons in the godhead?

Matt. 28:¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

1 John 5:⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Godhead Strong’s 2320 theotés

Colossians 2:⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

(Acts 17:29 and Rom. 1:20 do not use this Greek word, but 2304 and 2305 respectively)

We are wonderfully made by God who fashioned us – so not born sinful

Aug6

We are WONDERFULLY MADE!

It certainly looks like the idea that we are born with a sinful nature is a hoax, and you can read more about it here and here. IF we were born with an original sin, then we would have great excuses for our trespasses before the Lord, but the Bible says that we will have none.

Sinning is something we DO and nothing that we can INHERIT, so babies are totally innocent since they are not aware of the law and unable to break it.

Zecharia 12:1 The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and FORMETH THE SPIRIT OF MAN WITHIN HIM.

Romans 9:¹¹(For the children being not yet born, NEITHER HAVING DONE ANY GOOD OR EVIL, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Mark 10:¹⁴But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.¹⁵Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God AS A LITTLE CHILD, he shall not enter therein.

Isaiah 7:¹⁶For BEFORE THE CHILD SHALL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL, AND CHOOSE THE GOOD, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Isaiah 44:²⁴Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that FORMED THEE FROM THE WOMB, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself

Isaiah 42:⁵Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and SPIRIT to them that walk therein

Job. 31:¹⁴What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?¹⁵Did not HE THAT MADE ME IN THE WOMB make him? and DID NOT ONE FASHION US IN THE WOMB?

Ps. 100:³Know ye that the Lord he is God: IT IS HE THAT HATH MADE US, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Ps. 139:¹³For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.¹⁴I will praise thee; for I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.¹⁵My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.¹⁶Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Ps. 119:⁷³Thy hands have made me and FASHIONED ME: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

1 Cor. 11:⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as HE IS THE IMAGE AND GLORY OF GOD: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Ja. 3:⁹Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, WHICH ARE MADE AFTER THE SIMILTUDE OF GOD.

Ecclesiastes 7:²⁹Lo, this only have I found, that GOD HATH MADE MAN UPRIGHT; but THEY they have sought out many inventions.

Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

Rom. 2:¹²For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;¹³(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.)¹⁴For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, DO BY NATURE THE THINGS CONTAINED IN THE LAW, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:¹⁵Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another😉¹⁶In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

The TRINITY – Jesus in the Godhead, who shared the glory with the Father

Jun5

The Bible teaches that Jesus is God

These are just some of the evidence for that Jesus is God who once came in the form of flesh to live as man here on earth. Between Genesis and Revelations there are numerous verses which tell us about the deity of Jesus – for instance prophesies in the old testament which prophesy about the upcoming Messiah and savior Jesus Christ (and NOTHING existed before him) who shares the glory with God the Father, despite that the Bible also says that God alone created the earth and doesn’t share his glory with anyone. If we refuse to accept that our King Jesus is the one he says he is – equal with God the Father, one with God the Father and has always coexisted with God the Father – then we are left with a long list of Bible inconsistencies that are impossible to get around. God the Father is usually called just GOD (in English), and he calls his son GOD in Hebr. 1.

John 17:²¹That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.²²And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one

The context for John 10:30 “I and the Father are one” is totally different from the context of John 17:21-22. In the latter verses it’s about having the same goal/approach/attitude, whereas John 10 is about being one with God as in the same authority and spirit. This is especially obvious when we consider that the jews picked up stones to stone Jesus to death for blasphemy when he claimed to be one with God. Why would they do this unless they felt Jesus was truly guilty of this crime? There is no Jewish death penalty for stating that we are to share the same goal as God, but there is a death penalty for claiming to be of the same authority as God and to be equal with him.

God the Father ONLY does wondrous things, but Jesus does too…

Ps. 72:¹⁸Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who ONLY doeth wondrous things.

John 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

The First and The Last – both God the Father AND God Jesus Christ

The first words of the Book of Revelation begin “The revelation of Jesus Christ” and the last things that Jesus says are “I, JESUS have sent mine angel to testify unto you all these things”. We can clearly see that both God the Father and Jesus Christ used the names/terms “I am the first and the last” and “alpha and omega”. Either Jesus is not God and only wants to confuse us by constantly taking God’s name on himself, letting himself be worshiped, making himself equal with God, not correcting people who call him God, etc, OR he really IS God. Only the latter option eliminates Bible contradictions.

Isa 44:⁶Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isa. 48:¹⁰Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.¹¹For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.¹²Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.¹³Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

Rev. 1:⁵And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,⁶And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.⁷Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.⁸I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.⁹I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,¹¹Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.¹²And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;¹³And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.¹⁴His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;¹⁵And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.¹⁶And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.¹⁷And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:¹⁸I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Rev 21:⁵And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.⁶And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev 22:¹²And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.¹³I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.—¹⁶I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Rev. 22:⁸And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.⁹Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Rev. 19:⁹And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.¹⁰And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Acts. 10:²⁵And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.²⁶But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.

Both God the Father AND God the son are the Lord of Lords

Isaiah 42:⁸I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Deut. 10:¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward

Ps. 136:³O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Phil. 2:¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1 Tim. 6:¹⁴That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:¹⁵Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords

Rev. 17:¹⁴These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Rev. 19:¹³And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.—¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.¹⁶And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

Who raised Jesus from the dead?

GOD raised him from the dead

Acts 10:³⁹And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:⁴⁰Him GOD raised up the third day, and shewed him openly

Acts 2:²³Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:²⁴Whom GOD hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.—32 This Jesus hath GOD raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

Acts. 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Acts. 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom GOD raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Acts.5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Acts. 13:23 Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus—33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead

1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

2 Corinthians 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also BY JESUS, and shall present us with you.

The HOLY SPIRIT (who dwells in us) raised him from the dead

Romans 8:11 But if THE SPIRIT of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

JESUS raised himself up from the dead

John 10:¹⁷Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.¹⁸No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

The Holy Spirit is given by God: Isaiah 48:16, 63:11, Acts 5:32, 15:8, 1 Cor. 2:12, 2 Cor. 1:22, 3:3, 5:5 Gal. 3:5, 4:6, 1 Thess. 4:8, 1 John 3:24

The Holy Spirit is given by Jesus: Zechariah 12:10, Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, John 3:34, John 15:26, John 16:7, John 20:22

If the Holy Spirit is said to be given by GOD, and also by JESUS, could this mean that Jesus is GOD? Yes!

We are cursed if we trust in man instead of the Lord, yet we are told to put our trust in the son

Jer. 17:⁵Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.—⁷Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

Psa 2:¹²Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

If this verse is not about Jesus Christ – WHO is it about?

Isaiah 9: ⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

God the Father created everything all by himself – and the son Jesus Christ too…

Prov 30:⁴Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?

Psalm 8:³When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?⁵For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.⁶Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet

Isaiah 45:¹⁸For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²The same was in the beginning with God.³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men.⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.⁹That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.—¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.¹⁵John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.¹⁶And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.¹⁷For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.¹⁸No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 17:⁵And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

John 8:40, 58 I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!

Hebr. 1:²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;—¹⁰And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

Hebr. 2:⁶But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?⁷Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:⁸Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.⁹But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Col. 1:¹³Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:¹⁴In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:¹⁵Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:¹⁷And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

There is only ONE that you shall worship, and JESUS allowed himself to be worshiped

It would have been so easy to quench the idea that Jesus is God by showing Jesus correcting those who worshiped him, but not once did he do that. John was corrected by the angel who he bowed down to in Revelations, and Cornelius was immediately corrected by Peter when he was worshiped in Acts. To Jesus will every knee bow and every tongue confess:

Isaiah 45:²¹Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.²²Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.²³I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Zech. 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Phi 2:⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Acts. 4:¹⁰Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.¹¹This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.¹²Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Daniel 7:¹³I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

John 9:35-39 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe’; and he WORSHIPED HIM.

Hebr. 1:⁶And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.—⁸But unto the Son he saith, THY THRONE; O GOD, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

God doesn’t share his glory with anyone, but shares it with Jesus

Isaiah 42:⁵Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein—⁸I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Isaiah 48:¹¹For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

Matthew 16:²⁷For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.²⁸Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

John 5:²¹For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.²²For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:²³That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

John 17:⁵And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Phil. 2:⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Col. 2:⁸Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

Hebr. 2:⁷Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands

30 pieces of silver

Zech 11:10And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.¹¹And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.¹²And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.¹³And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord—¹⁷Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Matt 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Jesus is God!

John 20:²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.²⁶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.²⁷Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.²⁹Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Mark 2:⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.⁶But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,⁷Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

Do read this article about; if we can also be called gods

Criticising a stone-thrower often means throwing stones ourselves

May27

Thanks to Britt Williams for the below

Quoting Jesus’ words in John 8:7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…”, in a futile attempt to correct others for exposing sin, error, and reproving men for disobeying the Bible, is a gross misapplication of Scripture for two glaring reasons:

1. It is brazen hypocrisy. If we define correcting men with the Word of God as “casting stones” then we dare not invoke John 8:7 to correct the “stone-thrower” else we be guilty of “throwing stones” ourselves. It is akin to erroneously interpreting and applying Matt 7:1’s, “judge not” without making a judgment, which of course, is impossible. If a man believes others cannot judge or correct with God’s Word, he must refrain himself, which is demonstrably impossible. We all judge and we all correct according to what we deem the Word of God teaches, the question is, “are our judgments in accordance with God’s Word or not?”

2. Correcting someone with the Word of God, even telling someone they are lost and in danger of hell-fire, is not remotely comparable to literally executing someone by stoning. Jesus’ was not teaching that confronting and reproving others for sin was wrong, in fact, HE CORRECTED THE WOMAN AND TOLD HER TO STOP SINNING. The religious hypocrites Jesus confronted in John 8 wanted to kill the adulteress, not save her. Confronting sin and correcting others with God’s Word, according to the Scriptures, is essential to love (Lev 19:17; Rev 3:19) and is an effort to save, not destroy. Hence, exposing sin and error is not hateful, but loving. Those who suggest otherwise are, at best, spiritually blind, carnal, and Biblically illiterate. Generally, such people have an agenda, namely, they sympathize with and defend sin and error because they are in sin and error

Demons BELIEVE and tremble – faith without deeds is dead

May26

Faith alone is not enough for salvation

When Paul told the Philippian jailor in Acts. 16 that he must BELIEVE to be saved, he didn’t have an empty faith in mind but a faith that is the same as “loving God with all your heart and all your soul”. If we truly believe in Jesus and love him with all of our heart, then we would like to obey him and this is what saving faith means. We can read that Paul and Silas afterwards spoke with this jailor and those with him in his house, and at that point they likely explained the meaning of a prosperous life together with our savior Jesus Christ – who is son of God and God in flesh.

Acts. 16:²⁷And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.—²⁹Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?³¹And they said, BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.³³And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.-—21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

What demons (devils/evil spirits) believe

James makes it clear that also demons (devils/evil spirits) believe (see verse further down below) so a faith without deeds is dead, which means that we can’t be saved without works. It’s true that angels and demons can’t be saved in the same way as human beings because they are messengers of God, but once upon a time Satan and 1/3 of his angels were expelled from heaven due to their behavior – and not due to lack of faith in the only true God. The point James is making is that demons don’t have good fruit to go with their faith, and he also gives examples of various DEEDS one is expected to do as a truly saved person. James is not impressed with a person who says he believes in God, unless the same person shows good fruit to go with his faith.

If you think you’re saved if you only

believe in Jesus Christ
believe he is the son of God
believe he is the Holy One of God
believe he is the Messiah (the Christ)
believe he is from Nazareth
believe he has power over heaven and earth, and tremble by this awareness
believe he is able to punish you for your actions
believe there is ONE God only
believe the first christians (like Paul, Silas, Luke, etc) were true servants of God and individuals who showed mankind the way of salvation (which they constantly claimed to be through Jesus Christ only)
fall down before Jesus
confess out loud that Jesus is the son of God and the promised Messiah
have good Bible knowledge

then you must keep in mind that also demons/devils also accomplish all those things on that list, as the below verses will show:

James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Mat. 8:²⁸And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.²⁹And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Mark 1:²³And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,²⁴ Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Yeshua of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

Mark 3:¹¹ And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

Mark 5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Yeshua, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.⁸For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Luke 4:³³And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,³⁴Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.³⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

Luke 4:⁴¹ And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Messiah the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.

Luke 8:²⁷And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.²⁹(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)³⁰And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.

Acts. 16:¹⁶And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:¹⁷The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.¹⁸And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Matt. 4:⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Read more about James 2, and faith/works, in this blog article

The only true God in John 17:3 does not exclude Jesus

May13

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3)

If Jesus must be excluded if God is “the only true…God”, then why is not Jesus excluded elsewhere where God is said to be “the only” something? And why is GOD not excluded when JESUS is said to be “the only....” something? If you check the verses below you will see examples of where either God or Jesus is called “the only”, and yet most antitrinitarians have no problem including the other one. It’s only when it comes to John 17:3 where they for some reason do NOT want to include Jesus, and we already know the reason. If they did, they have to let go of a beloved verse which they have always viewed as proof for that Jesus isn’t God, and now they are left with nothing.

God…

Is the only one who is God – John 17:3, Is. 43:10, Is. 45:18, Ps. 86:10 (yet JESUS is too 1 Hebr. 1:8, 1 John 5:20, John 20:28)
Is the only one who is Lord (despotes, Strong’s 1203) – Jude 4 (yet JESUS is too 2 Pet. 2:1)
Is the only one who is King of Kings – 1 Tim. 6.15 (yet JESUS is too Rev. 17:14, Rev. 19.16)
Is the only one who is Lord of Lords – 1 Tim. 6.15 (yet JESUS is too Rev. 17:14, Rev. 19.16)
Is the only one to be exalted on that day – Is. 2:11, 17 compare also with Ps. 118:16 (yet JESUS is too Acts. 2:33, Acts 5:31, Phil 2:9)
Is the only one who is immortal – 1 Tim. 6.16 (yet JESUS is too Hebr. 1:8-12)
Is the only one who is Savior – Is. 43:11, Is. 45:21-22 (yet JESUS is too Titus 2:13, 2 Pet. 1:1, Acts. 13:23, Acts. 4:12, 1 Tim. 1:15)
Is the only one who make wonders/miracles – Ps. 72:18, Ps. 136:4 (yet JESUS too Matt. 4:23, 8:27, Acts. 4:10)
Is the only Creator and NO ONE was with him – Is. 25:24, Neh. 9:6 (yet JESUS is too Hebr. 1:10, Col 1:16-17)
Is the only one who we should worship – Rev. 14:7, Matt. 4:10, Neh. 9:6 (yet JESUS too Matt. 28:9, 28:17)
Is the only one who has Glory and who doesn’t share his glory with anyone – Is. 42:8, Is. 48:11 (yet JESUS too Phil. 2:9-13)

Jesus…

Is the only one who is Lord – 1 Cor. 8:6 (yet GOD too Deut. 10:17, Is. 42:8)
Is the only one who is Holy – Rev. 15:3-4 (yet GOD too Ex. 5:11, Is. 57:15)

The fear of accepting that Jesus is GOD in flesh

Antitrinitarians often cite John. 17:3 as an attempt to deny the deity of Jesus, by suggesting that Jesus would never call his Father “the only true God” had he been God himself because there is only ONE God. It’s absolutely true that God is ONE, but why not ONE Godhead? Why cannot three persons be in the same trinity? Can God not be in any way he wants? Can God not be in a burning bush at the same time as he is in heaven, and at the same time as he oversees every single step that all people on earth make during the same second? Can he not be on every continent at the same time? Jesus can be on the right side of God, just like he is in the midst of a group who gathers together in his name.

Matthew 18:¹⁹Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

I’d like to believe that Jesus is present in our midst (albeit not in flesh) when two or more are gathered together in his name. Does this mean that he is unable to also be in the midst of other groups of people who gather together in his name somewhere else on earth – if they happen to gather together at the same time? Must we sit there with the hope that he is not already fully booked and unable to attend our meetings because his schedule is full and he is busy elsewhere? I’d like to believe that none of the persons in the Godhead have any problems at all to be in several places at the same time, and consequently Jesus doesn’t have any problems with sitting at the right hand side of God (the Father) despite being God himself. One pile of sand can be divided into three piles of sand, and our Lord can likewise be split apart should he want to. The persons in the Godhead are not divided in essence but they can split apart and act independently, but in unity, within the trinity.

Gal. 4:⁴But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,⁵To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

What would be a better way for Jesus to phrase himself? Should he have said: “…that they might know thee the only true God, and myself Jesus Christ – the second only true God”? That would make it sound there were several true Gods, and there would be a risk that the people around him would misunderstand him, be confused and even enraged – way too soon in history because it wasn’t time for his death just yet. Jesus only wanted to show them that there is indeed ONE true God, and that is the one that he communicates with just like the people around him. Did he communicate with himself? No, he communicated with another person in the same Godhead. Jesus constantly prayed to God the Father (often called just GOD), and the last time was when he was on the cross. As God in FLESH Jesus communicated with God the Father in the same way as all other people – by praying – but he of course has a very special relationship since he shares the same Godhead. When Jesus was not in flesh (Jesus has always been with the Father from eternity past) but in spirit, he didn’t communicate through prayers. Since Jesus is both God and man, he would properly say that his Father is the only true God. Are there other true Gods? Of course not. There is only ONE. He was not denying His own divinity but affirming the truth that God is one, as the scriptures properly say.

“But Jesus is speaking about this “only true God” in third person and that should mean that Jesus himself couldn’t be God“? It’s true that he referred to God in third person but he also refers to himself in third person! If Jesus cannot be God due to referring to God in third person, then neither can he be Jesus Christ by the same logic.

Jesus is not only God, but the son of God. He isn’t Joseph’s true son, so he must be someone else’s true son, and he is God the Father’s son (or sprung from the trinity). But it was also Jesus own decision to be born on earth, as he has always been a part of the trinity. I personally believe that when Jesus was born on earth, he behaved just like all other babies, and I don’t believe he had wisdom enough to know he was God at the age of 3 weeks, 3 months, etc. I don’t believe he knew he was God as a baby, because he was just a baby and behaved like babies normally do. As soon as he grew up and had the capacity to reason, he knew he was divine, and again, it was his own decision to be born as a man (first baby) on earth for our sake. His mission was to spread the gospel and die as a sin offering for all mankind, and he is also called son of man. As a man on earth, he too communicated with God (the Father). Jesus was also one of us.

Phil. 2:⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

GOD is the true God

Jer. 10:10But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

God the Father is the one true God

Joh. 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent

Jesus Christ is the true God – 1 John 5:20

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

The most natural way to read “this” or “this one” above (or in similar statements) is to make it refer to the most previous person mentioned, which would here be Jeus Kristus. Or else John should have clarified exactly who he was referring to, if the most natural way of reading his text is supposed to be avoided. God is not a God of confusion. Take note of John’s way of starting out his letter in 1 John 1:1, where he states that the eternal life (Jesus) was with the Father – which is repeated in 1 John 15:19-20. Jesus is also the true light. It doesn’t make sense, if monotheism is true, to have two separate persons/Gods who both are called the eternal life, the true light, IAM, alpha and omega, the Lord of Lords, Savior, Creator, etc, and who on top of all are being worshiped. Either Jesus is God, or we have a God Senior and a God Junior, which is polytheism.

Ps. 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 Joh. 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

1 Joh. 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.—22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John. 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Joh. 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Joh. 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Evangelical scholar Robert M. Bowman Jr. about John. 5:20:

Three considerations favor the Son. First, the closest antecedent for “this one” is Jesus Christ (“in his Son Jesus Christ. This one…”). Second, in 1:2 the “eternal life” is Jesus Christ (who was “with the Father”), an apparent example ofinclusio (repetition of a theme or idea at the beginning and end of a text). Third, the confession form “This one is…” (houtos estin) strongly favors Jesus Christ, rather than the Father, as the subject, since John uses this language repeatedly with regard to Christ (John 1:30, 33, 34; 4:29, 42; 6:14, 42, 50, 58; 7:18, 25, 26, 40, 41; 1 John 5:6; of the man born blind, John 9:8, 9, 19, 20; of the disciple, John 21:24; of the anti-Christ, 1 John 2:22; 2 John 1:7), but not once for the Father. John has just used this formula for Christ earlier in the same chapter (1 John 5:6). (Robert M. Bowman, The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity: An Outline Study, Part IV. The Son, Jesus Christ, Is God; *)

Dr. Robert A. Morey:

“That there may be a few rare exceptions to a general rule does not mean that one should approach a text of Scripture with the a priori assumption that it will be an exception to the normal rules of grammar.Instead, we should approach a text with the a priori assumption that the normal rules of grammar and syntax will apply unless there are cleargrammatical reasons to depart from those rules. “Please notice that we said ‘grammatical’–not ‘theological’–reasons. Just because the grammar of a text leads to an idea which contradicts what you believe, this does not give you the right to throw grammar to the wind. Theology cannot overthrow or ignore the grammar of the sacred text. It can only bow before it…”

“The Greek text of 1 John 5:20 is simple and straightforward. John used houtos fifty-five times in his writings. Thus, we are not talking about a rare usage of a rare word. There are plenty of places in John’s writings where houtos was used in the same kind of construction as found in 1 John 5:20 and no one has any problem with houtos referring back to the antecedent… Why then all the hysteria over whether houtos refers to Jesus in 1 John 5:20? Obviously, it is not the grammar or syntax of the Greek that causes people to question whether houtos refers to Jesus Christ per se. It is that it refers to Him as God. That is the real issue. “If the text read, ‘Iesou Christo. houtos estin zoe Aionios (‘Jesus Christ. This is Eternal Life’), there would be no controversy whatsoever.Houtos would be seen as referring to ‘Iesou Christo. But once you add ho alethinos theos to the phrase, then the controversy begins.”

“The evidence for Jesus being called ‘the true God’ and ‘Eternal Life’ is quite strong:

1. The general rule on pronouns is that it modifies the immediate antecedent. This means Jesus Christ…

2) While John elsewhere refers to Jesus as ‘Eternal Life’ (1 John 1:2), the Father is never called ‘Eternal Life.’ More importantly, in the immediate context, since Jesus is ‘eternal life,’ then to have Him in your heart is to have eternal life (1 John 5:11-12). In John’s writings, refers to zoe Aionios ‘Eternal Life’ Jesus.

3) John applies the adjective alethinos ‘true’ to Jesus many times…

4) That the Father is called ‘true God’ in John 17:3 and the Son is called ‘true God’ in 1 John 5:20 is no more a contradiction than the fact that they are both called the ‘true One’ (1 John 5:20; cf. Rev. 3:7).

5) The interpretation that ‘the true God’ refers to the Father leads to a meaningless tautology. Lenski explains: In the first place, if houtos has as its antecedent ‘the real God’ (the Father), then the statement is a tautology; John would say: ‘This real God is the real God.’ He would say it after having twice said: we know the real God and are in the real God.” (Morey, The Trinity: Evidence and Issues [World Bible Publishers, Inc., Iowa Falls, IA 1996], Part IV: The New Testament Evidence, Chapt. 17. God the Son, pp. 354-357) ”

A common objection to the most obvious understanding of 1 Joh. 5:20 – where houtos refers to the last person spoken of – is to present a verse where it’s NOT possible to read the verse in such a way. If such a verse could be found, the idea is that we are then exempt from reading ANY verse in the Bible according to the ordinary pattern if we don’t really want to – and particularly John 5:20 which is the “problematic verse” that must be “solved”. Such verses are not easy to find, but 1 John 2:22 is at least one example, and voilá – this discovery is used to find legitimate reasons to override the implications of John 5:20. So instead this verse is read in such a way that it agrees with the preferred doctrine, which is “there is no way that Jesus is God”. Not due to grammatical reasons, but due to one’s own personal views (just like Dr. Robert A. Morey warns about). This is not an honest way to read the Bible, and it’s nothing but cherry-picking.

On top of this, there is a major difference between the two verses. Houtos must not refer to the last person spoken about but then this must be made clear in the context! To clarify who is the Antichrist, John adds the information (in caps below) that he who denies the Father and the Son is the Antichrist. No matter what language we speak, we would normally want listeners/readers to understand what we say, and if there is a chance that someone might misunderstand us we would rather want to express ourselves in such a way that misunderstandings can be avoided. If we want to deviate from the most common way to use houtos, extra clarification is needed.

1 John 2:²²Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He [houtos] is antichrist, THAT DENIETH THE FATHER AND THE SON.

Jesus is covered in GLORY and yet the Bible says God doesn’t share his glory with anyone…

Isaiah 42:⁸I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Also Jesus is called true God and Lord

1 John 5:²⁰And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the TRUE GOD, and eternal life. (more literally:…he is the true God)

Jude 4:⁴For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our ONLY Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Rom. 9:⁵of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed GOD. Amen. (NKJV)

Hebr. 1:⁸But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.⁹Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

John. 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and MY GOD.29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Lord of Lords – there is only ONE – and yet both God the Father and Jesus Christ are called Lord of Lords

Other lords but God are mentioned in the Bible (like 26:13) and it’s not uncommon for a servant to call his master “lord”, but the Bible also says there is one particular LORD who is LORD OF LORDS, and he ALONE is LORD.

Isaiah 37:²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou ONLY.

Deuteronomy 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

Psalm 136:3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

1 Tim. 6:¹⁴That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:¹⁵Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;¹⁶Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 19:¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.¹²His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.¹³And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.¹⁶And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

Matt. 22:⁴²Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.⁴³He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,⁴⁴The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?⁴⁵If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?⁴⁶And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

God the Father is the ONLY savior, and Jesus Christ as well, and both created the earth – ALONE

Isaiah 43:¹¹I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

Titus. 2:¹³Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our SAVIOUR Jesus Christ;¹⁴Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Isaiah 44:²⁴Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

According to John 1:3 and Col. 1:16-17 Jesus made all things, and absolutely NOTHING was before him. So God the Father could not have been before him since he is definitely something! Is God a liar?

Col. 1:¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:¹⁷And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Col. 2:⁸Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

There is only ONE God hat we shall worship, and JESUS allowed himself to be worshiped

It would have been so easy to quench the idea that Jesus is not God by showing Jesus correcting those who worshiped him, but not once did he do that. To Jesus will every knee bow and every tongue confess:

Isaiah 45:²¹Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.²²Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.²³I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Zech. 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Acts. 4:¹⁰Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.¹¹This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.¹²Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Saved as by fire as per 1 Cor. 3:15? Yes, but NOT if we sin!

May12

If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Cor 3:15)

This verse does not say that we can be saved in our sins, and notice that sins are not even mentioned in the context. This is a warning to christians (not sinners) who might not always build their lives on a proper foundation, and sometimes also lack the proper motivation for doing good works.

There are christians who are satisfied by with having a “fire insurance” – an insurance that gives them the right to at least be exempted from hell, as long as they believe in Jesus Christ. They are content with this type of insurance because this means they can still get away with sinning once in a while, and the only thing they would ever risk amounts to reduced rewards in heaven. They might think it’s worth it because heaven is always heaven, and with this type of insurance they can both have their sins and their salvation too. You might exclaim that “true christians wouldn’t reason in that way!”, but isn’t it true that also christians can choose to sin? And isn’t it likely that they might give in for sins more readily if they are being told they won’t end up in hell for it? The tragic thing is that we do NOT have an unconditional fire insurance. We risk to be cut off the vine and thrown in the fire if we lack fruit (John. 15), and we will not reap eternal life in heaven if we break the commandments and sin. If we love Jesus, we obey him (John. 14:15).

The context in 1 Cor. 3:15 shows that it concerns believing christians and their building material and building methods. Sin is nowhere mentioned, and it’s not even needed to be mentioned since we already know from the rest of the Bible that sins separate us from God unless we repent. Nothing unholy shall enter heaven, and sins evidently make us unholy. We can read that the foundation that we build upon must be JESUS CHRIST (and not ourselves, a philosophy, a pastor, a church, a dear friend, money, high status, tradition or someone/something else). It’s the motives in our hearts that will be judged by God. He can see what ground we are building on, and the reasoning in our hearts. Our motive should be to spread the gospel about Jesus Christ in order to see people saved.

Paul is addressing “brethren”, but he is warning these brethren. He also lists a few sins that would make us carnal, and if we are carnal we are not saved:

1 C0r. 3:³For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Rom. 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Speaking about christians, Paul says that they shall receive “his own reward” according to their LABOR. This indicates these christians at least do some work, which means they produce some good fruit. That is a good thing because we know that lukewarm christians are not saved. We will reap the reward of eternal life if we show our faith with good works, and we will also be rewarded individually depending on our works.

1 Cor. ⁸Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.⁹For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Revelation 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Galatians 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Rom. 6:¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Paul warns christians that they must take heed on the way they build their lives, and every man’s work shall one day be made manifest. Do we work in order to get a popular position in the society, or because we want to go with the flow? What are our true reasons?

1 Cor.3:¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;¹³Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Paul says “IF any man’s work abide“, meaning it’s not certain it will. It’s still “work”, but will it abide? It depends on the motives. If it abides, the man shall receive both eternal life and individual gratification, but if the work does not abide but burned he will be saved but as by fire. If the man would be sinning on the other hand, he would not even be saved as through fire, but he wouldn’t even be able to enter the kingdom at all. This story is about christians who WORK, in combination with their motives for doing so. Paul ends with a warning to christians that if they defile the temple of God, which they all are, they will be DESTROYED.

1 Cor. 3:¹⁴IF any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.¹⁵IF any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.¹⁶Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?¹⁷If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Read also the next chapter which is also about the intent of the heart.

1 Cor. 4:⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Three chapters later Paul lists sins that will prevent us from entering the kingdom of God, and christians are not exempted:

1 Kor. 6:⁹Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,¹⁰Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

We can unfortunately be the cause for that a brother stumbles/falls/is offended, by the way we are living our lives:

1 Kor. 8:¹²But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.¹³Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. (“stumble” NKJV)

Easter is not pagan, and it’s PASSOVER in most countries

Mar29

Good Friday (“Långfredag” in Swedish = “Long Friday”) is connected to EASTER, but just because we choose to call one day of the week FRIDAY and the particular Friday connected to Easter “Good Friday”, it doesn’t mean that we celebrate or worship the Norse god Freya by doing so. I feel so much joy to think about EASTER (and Christmas, and Pentecost), and the fact that so many secular countries still maintain an Easter celebration with so much focus on Jesus Christ, despite that our Lord is very much removed from secular homes most of the time. Easter provides a great opportunity to make even atheists think about Jesus Christ – who died on the cross one day for about 2000 years ago – because he is the reason for this particular day whether they like it or not.

After Good Friday we celebrate Påsk which is “Easter” in English, and Påsk derives from the Hebrew name Pesach (in Greek it’s called Pascha) which means Passover. PASSOVER is something which is Biblical, is it not? Surely then, it’s not a sin to commemorate Jesus Christ through the Passover? The first Passover concerned the passover LAMB which had to shed its blood for the Israelites (who applied the blood on the door post) prior to the departure to the promised land – and it’s a picture/prophesy of Jesus Christ.

Ex. 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.14 And this day shall be unto you for a MEMORIAL; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

John 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

1 Cor. 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Hebr. 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

Every year there will be thousands of children asking their parents questions such as “Why do we call this day Långfredag?” “Why do we celebrate Påsk?” “Why did this Jesus have to die for us on the cross?”, and their parents will try to answer their questions even if they are agnostics! What an excellent way to bring Jesus into our homes! You can even see Jesus-films on TV, and if you listen to the radio you will sooner or later hear someone talking about Påsk and why we celebrate it. This is actually free “evangelism”poured out right into people’s living rooms, and to me it’s a puzzle why some christians would like to stop all this from happening.

Maybe this is not a big deal in countries like America where it’s still common to be confessing christians and where you talk about Jesus in Church or at home, but over here this particular holiday weekend (together with Christmas and Pentecost) might be the only chance some families have to hear about the gospel.

Every year there will be some well-meaning christians who warn others about Easter because it’s supposedly pagan, but they are confused about the name “Easter” (it’s not called Easter in most countries) and they don’t seem to think about the negative outcome related to their fight to eliminate Påsk/Passover from people’s homes. Remove this Easter holiday (and Christmas and Pentecost), and Jesus will soon be a very forgotten person for even more people. Is this really what we want? Instead of spending time warning about Easter, try to spend your time spreading the gospel about Jesus Christ! It’s of course no obligation to celebrate Påsk together with decorations of chickens, hens, rabbits, eggs, or whatever the man-made traditions might be.

Easter is allegedly derived from the Babylonian goddess Astarte (equivalent to the Assyrian goddess Ishtar), and this idea comes from an oft-cited 19^th-century book, The Two Babylons, by the Scots reverend Alexander Hislop. However, “Easter” doesn’t derive from paganism.

Do read this article from Christianity Today about the background of Easter and this article from Jonathan Sarfati about yet more details concerning Easter.

Excerpts from the links:

Hislop’s research is very shoddy in many places (Hislop is refuted in A Case Study in Poor Methodology). He tries to see paganism everywhere, on even the flimsiest grounds. In this case, he imagines a connection between Easter and Astarte purely on the basis of sound similarity, with not the slightest trace of linguistic connection or any borrowing. By this spurious method, one could connect the Potomac river with the Greek ποταμός (potamos), although there is no connection between the native American and Greek words. In reality, the word Easter is really Anglo-Saxon (sometimes Ester), not Babylonian. It was the common word for both Passover and Easter.

An example of the word meaning the Jewish Passover comes from a 1563 homily: ‘Easter, a great, and solemne feast among the Jewes.’ Anglo-Saxon itself is a Germanic language, and this is the genuine origin of the term Easter. Germans likewise used the word Oster or Ostern for both Passover and our Easter. E.g. when the Reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) first translated the Bible into German (1545), he used a number of German words relating to this, such as Osterfest (Passover/Easter), Osterlamm (Passover lamb). E.g. compare Luke 22:1, 7. Even in modern German, the ‘das jüdische Osterfest’ means the Jewish Passover. In turn, this word comes from Ost, or the sunrising, i.e. East. In turn, this is likely to come from the old German word auferstehen / auferstanden / Auferstehung meaning rising from the dead/resurrection. Luther used these words as well, e.g. throughout 1 Corinthians 15. So the pagan derivation of Easter is conspiratorial fantasy. The word is Anglo-Saxon, and derived from the Germanic Oster meaning Passover, and is related to the words for Resurrection.

Tyndale was also responsible for introducing the word ‘Ester’ into the English Bible. John Wycliffe, who produced the first English Bible in 1382, had translated from the Latin, and left the word pascha basically untranslated and called it pask or paske. Luther occasionally did likewise, using the transliterated form passah. For example, in Lev. 23:5, he rendered ‘the LORD’s Passover’ as ‘des Herrn Passah’, and in Ex. 12:27, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord’ was ‘Es ist das Passahopfer des Herrn’. But when Tyndale prepared the new Testament, he followed Luther’s more common practice and used the most common word in his native language. That is, while Luther most often used Oster and its cognates, Tyndale used Ester and its cognates. Note, if the Hislop pagan derivation theory were correct, it would imply that the godly Tyndale and Luther before him were really calling Jesus the ‘Astarte Lamb’ or ‘Ishtar Lamb’.

But when Tyndale translated the Old Testament, he thought that it was anachronistic to use the word Easter for the Jewish feast. This is because, as above, the derivation of Easter comes from the resurrection, which had yet to happen. So Tyndale went back to the root of pesach, i.e. pasach, meaning ‘to pass over’, and coined the new term Passover.

So it is due to Tyndale, not to paganism, that some English Bibles have two different words, Easter and Passover, to translate a single Hebrew/Greek term. As the KJV was essentially the 5^th revision of the Tyndale Bible, and retains about 90% of its wording, it keeps this feature. But it more consistently applied Tyndale’s logic to retain Easter only for Acts 12:4, where the Christian resurrection celebration was in view not just the Jewish feast. For all other occurrences, the KJV translators used Tyndale’s new word ‘passover’. But this obscured the traditional meaning of Easter that included the Jewish Passover. Modern translations generally use only one word, Passover, to translate pesach/pascha.

The penal substitution theory is not Biblical – youtube film about the atonement of Christ

Mar15

Do check Jesse Morell’s film about “The vicarious atonement”, and do read the text under it. The penal substitution theory is not what the Bible describes and it’s actually a rather modern theory since it was birthed by Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) AD). It’s better to say “Jesus died as a sin offering for the remission of sins”, instead of “Jesus paid four our sins, was punished instead of us and took the wrath of God instead of us”. The last suggestion might lead to a reformed (calvinistic) type of thinking in order to save this unbiblical doctrine.

“Paul said, “God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Tim. 4:10). “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Heb. 4:2). The atonement does not automatically or unconditionally save anyone; rather, it saves those who meet the conditions of repentance and faith. “

“The fallaciousness of such a statement would be repeated if a person said, “Public schools do not exist to make education available to the public, but to actually educate students.” The truth is that public schools exist to do both. They exist to make education available to all while making it actual for those who have enrolled. In fact, education could not become actual unless it was first made available.”

“In the same way, Christ came to make salvation available to all, but salvation only becomes actual for those who are converted.”

“The Penal Substitutionary atonement does ultimately necessitate either universalism or limited atonement.”

“If Jesus took the penalty that our sins deserved, it would be unjust for us to be punished. But then we are saved by justice, not grace. We could demand salvation instead of beg for it. If Jesus paid our debt, there is nothing left for God to forgive. So salvation would be void of any forgiveness. But the Bible says that Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins, that through His atonement there is forgiveness. His death, therefore, could not have been the punishment of our sins. Jesus taught us to pray for God to forgive us our debt. His death therefore could not have been the payment of our debt. This is why Calvinists like Albert Barnes and Jonathan Edwards rejected the Penal view of the atonement because it is void of any grace or forgiveness in our justification.”

“The Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. The Greek word remission means to remit penalty. That means through the atonement our penalty is remitted. The atonement itself, therefore, could not have been the penalty that we deserved. The penalty that we deserve is eternal hell, that is the penalty of the law, not crucifixion or physical death. Jesus did not suffer eternal hell, therefore He did not take our literal penalty.”

“In forgiveness, God turns from His wrath. Forgiveness is not the satisfaction of His wrath. “

The pharisees REJECTED the counsel of God, and God’s will can be thwarted (Luke 7:30)

Mar11

God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but people DO perish

God certainly doesn’t want anyone to perish, but things don’t always turn out the way God wants. God COULD of course force every single person to repent and get life in abundance but he preferred to create us as human beings in his own image (he actually said “our” image referring to the trinity) and with a free will which means that we have a personal responsibility for our own actions.

Ez. 18:²³Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Ez. 33:¹¹Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

2 Peter 3:⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Deuteronomy 8:20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; BECAUSE ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

We can REJECT the will of God

Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

The pharisees and the layers REJECTED the counsel of God according to Luke.

Luke 7:²⁹And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.³⁰But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the COUNSEL of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. (KJV)

Luke 7:³⁰But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. (NKJV)

As you can see NKJV translate the same word with THE WILL of God, and also the KJV translators chose to translate the Greek original word with “the will” in the below verse:

Acts. 13:³⁶For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: (KJV)

“Counsel” and “will” are here translated from the Greek word boulén as in boulé (Strongs 1012) from boulomai, and it means counsel, decree, plan, motives, decision and/or purpose.

Below are the cases where this word is used in the KJV, starting with Acts. 20:27–31. Paul warns his disciples, the elders of the church in Ephesus who were naturally christians, that they must TAKE HEED unto themselves and to all the church which God had purchased with his blood. Acts 20:27–31 gives us the following information:

Individuals (the church or the body of Christ consists of individuals) can be lost despite being purchased with the blood of Jesus.
Despite that certain christians have been made overseers of a church by the Holy Ghost (who always leads us on the right path) there is still a risk that the individuals in the church will be lost, indicating that people don’t always adhere to the Holy Spirit.
Grievous wolves shall enter the body of Christ also from among themselves, with the aim to draw away disciples from the true church of God to themselves. This shows that some christians will at one point leave the sound teachings in the church and instead start to speak perverted things and deceive others who might also leave the true church. This is a lot more than a mere risk since Paul says that he KNOWS that this will happen, likely because he knows how man’s heart works.
False preachers who speak perverted things can apparently make christian believe in these twisted claims and some of them will become disciples of these false preachers and hence lose their salvation. The flock shall not be spared even though it was a true flock of God.
By taking heed and be careful we can affect the future and reduce the harm.
If people were chosen for salvation and damnation before the beginning of the world, Paul would be wasting his time by warning every one for night and day with tears – for three years! Paul should have known that no warnings or tears in the world can change God’s decrees which he made before he even created us, if such decrees were made. If God predestined certain people to be saved and others to be lost, then Paul has no business crying over those who God has chosen to damn, and those who are predestined to be saved will be saved regardless of Paul’s intense efforts. So Paul would actually be guilty of trying to thwart God’s plans by his constant warnings, pleadings and crying for people who already have their future written in stone. This speaks heavily against the reformed type of thinking.
We can affect the future with our prayers.

Acts 20:²⁷For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.²⁸Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.²⁹For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.³⁰Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.³¹Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Jesus showed himself to Paul and selected him to be doing his work by spreading the gospel (which Paul accepted), so would Jesus want people to listen to Paul? Yes, of course. Yes, here is one example among many that a certain centurion did not listen to Paul’s advice, even if what Paul said didn’t concern the gospel but their own physical safety.

Acts 27:¹¹Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.¹²And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.—⁴²And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.⁴³But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:

Here is the famous Ephesian 1:11. (See more here.) Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus, and as saints they of course were IN JESUS and wonderful promises were tied to them since they had obtained an inheritance by choosing to be God’s children. The counsel of God’s own will might here concern his will that those who are in Jesus (naturally by their own choice) and endure to the end shall be adopted as children and inherit his kingdom. The conditions are that we believe, trust in Jesus and remain as saints. If 100% of all things under the sun always happen according to God’s will, then of course every murder, abortion, rape and divorce must also be according to God’s will, and every time people rebel against him. Clearly that is nothing but absurd, and Satan would simply be acting as God’s right arm.

Eph. 1:1 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:—¹¹In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:¹²That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.—¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,¹⁹And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power

Only God is good, but here is an example of another “good” man (the same word) and that is Joseph. He can’t compare himself with the Creator, but he was still good and just:

Luke 23:⁵⁰And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:⁵¹(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

Jesus was delivered by the counsel and foreknowledge of God. God the Father did not force anyone to betray or kill Jesus, but he knew someone would, and his death was also predestined to happen. There are numerous ways in which Jesus could die for us so Judas betrayal was not necessary at all, but he was first in line. Those hands who crucified Jesus were WICKED, which means that God certainly didn’t approve of what they did, and let’s not forget that it was Satan who entered Judas when Judas rose up to betray Jesus. God allowed it to happen of course, but he didn’t predestine Juda’s betrayal.

Acts 2:²²Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:²³Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

What God determined before to be done was to offer up his son to die for us, and we can also read that Jesus actually gave up his own life and that no one took it from him. He did not determine that Judas must betray him. Read more about Judas severe sin here.

Acts 4:²⁷For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,²⁸For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

If Jesus is the son of God and the many miracles he performed too, then it would be unwise to try to fight it back, which was the advice of Gamaliel. A Messiah is a Messiah no matter what we do.

Acts. 5:³⁷After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.³⁸And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

And a couple of more examples with boulé

1 Corinthians 4:⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Hebr. 6:¹⁷Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:¹⁸That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us

We are being wise if we do the things the Lord says we should do.

Luke: 6:⁴⁶And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

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Tag Archive | bible

Is the HOLY SPIRIT also GOD?

We are wonderfully made by God who fashioned us – so not born sinful

The TRINITY – Jesus in the Godhead, who shared the glory with the Father

Criticising a stone-thrower often means throwing stones ourselves

Demons BELIEVE and tremble – faith without deeds is dead

The only true God in John 17:3 does not exclude Jesus

Saved as by fire as per 1 Cor. 3:15? Yes, but NOT if we sin!

Easter is not pagan, and it’s PASSOVER in most countries

The penal substitution theory is not Biblical – youtube film about the atonement of Christ

The pharisees REJECTED the counsel of God, and God’s will can be thwarted (Luke 7:30)

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