Key Words…
Submitted by Andy on October 31 1999 at 13:00:50
In reply to Christ the Creator Submitted by Dirk Gently on October 31 1999 at 01:20:37
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Good Morning, Dirk, I think the key words in my contention are "begotten" and "firstborn". John 3:16 tells us that Jesus is the "only begotten Son", yet, are we not all, by virtue of our belief in Him called "children of God"? To me, that puts to rest the question of who did the creating, and that Jesus is a separate person from God. This might look like quibbling, but I think it's important to say that the man Jesus did not exist before the Incarnation of the Word. One way of putting it is to say that the Son is begotten of the Father without mother before time, and was born in time of a mother without father. (I'll get into that "eternally begotten" thing in another post, probably tomorrow evening. Colossians 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. As for Jesus existing as a man, I certainly agree with you. He became human when God spoke the "word" into Mary's womb, and she became pregnant with the "Word of God", whom we all know is Jesus. I must quickly point out, however, that this was not a creation, but a transformation, since Jesus already existed at the time Mary became pregnant. I believe the first word in the Bible, "In" means "Through", and could have been worded, "Through Jesus…" as meaningfully as, "In the beginning…" I did some research on the word "arm" throughout the scripture and in many cases, I believe the "arm" of the Lord is referring to Jesus. It certainly seems to describe Him quite well. I can't list all of them here, but I can cite the scripture references. Exodus 6:6, 15:16, Deuteronomy 4:34, 5:15 7:19, 9:29, 11:2, 26:8, 1 Kings 8:42, 2 Kings 17:36, 2 Chronicles 6:32, Job 35:9, 40:9, Psalms 44:3, 77:15, 89:10, 13 98:1, 136:12, Isaiah 30:30, 33:2, 40:10, 48:14, 51:5, 9, 52:10, 53:1, 59:16, 62:8, 63:5, 12, Jeremiah 21:5, 27:5, 32:17, 21, Ezekiel 20:33-34. Luke 1:51, John 12:38 and Acts 13:17. In His eternal love, Andy |