Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Part of the confusion about the relationship of the Father and the Son arises from likening it to the relationship between a human father and his son, in which the father clearly exists before the son, and is physically greater than the son (at least before the son has grown to adulthood), while God the Father and God the Son are coequal and coeternal.

C. S. Lewis provided an example that clarified this (in part) for me by likening the relationship between the Father and the Son to two books lying on a table (with one on top of the other) that have been in that relationship from eternity past. The book on the bottom is responsible for (or has "begotten") the position of the book on top, but that does not mean that it is more important or "greater" than the other, or has been in that position longer. (While on earth, Jesus referred to the Father as being greater than He was, but that was with respect to Jesus' human nature and existence.)

Of course, where this analogy falls short of being a complete similarity is that, while the books will always be distinct, separate entities, the Father and the Son are two persons of the one Triune God.

Lewis discussed the Trinity (among other Christian beliefs) in his book Mere Christianity, which I highly recommend to any Christian (or non-Christian, for that matter) interested in an explanation of the central concepts of the Christian faith.

November 01 2015 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Shirley H. prayer warrior

Jesus is the human manifestation of the invisible Father, divinely God, humanly visible, begotten for us, as absolute proof of Elohim' s love.

Exodus 33:20 "But my Face, He said, you cannot see, for no human being can see Me and survive..." likewise in Hebrews 11:17, Moses left Egypt like someone who could see the invisible.

Job 9:11 "If He passes me, I do not see Him..." Job 23:8 "If I go east, He is not there; or to the west, I still cannot see Him."

John 1:18 "No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son who is close to the Father's heart, who has made Him known." John 5:37, "Besides, the Father who sent Me bears witness to Me Himself. You never heard His voice, you have never seen His shape,..."

Colossians 1:15 "He is the image of the Unseen God, the first born of all creation, for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth..." speaking of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:4 "The unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the God of this world, so that they cannot see shining the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Genesis 1:1, 1:26; and 3:22, the Elohim, prove that Jesus was present with the Father and the Holy Spirit at the very beginning of time as we know it. John 1:1.

1Timothy 1:17 "To the eternal King, the undying invisible and only God be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

October 03 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Janet Austin Lover of God. Right to the Soul, author

Why is Jesus God? 

We are reminded in Isaiah 55:8 that there will always be a challenge for humans to understand and explain how Jesus can be equal to God, yet also called “His Son.” I believe Jesus is both. 

First, in order to discern the truth, one has to confess their sins, repent, and ask the Holy Spirit to lead them. Also, one needs to combine thoughts (I’ll call it ‘multidimensional thinking’). Here are some examples:

John 1:1, 14 (1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (14) The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Those verses tell us that the WORD of God became flesh…became Jesus. And, as He (Jesus) dwelt among we saw His glory as the one and only SON. With our multidimensional thinking, we can see that Jesus is both God and is the Son. 

Here’s another example of Jesus telling us He is God. John 14:20-21: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." 

Did you notice that Jesus said, “MY” commands? He wouldn’t claim the commands as His if He wasn’t God. Yet as soon as He makes that claim, He says, “The one who loves me will be loved by my Father…” That tells us there are two beings, yet there is ONE. Jesus is BOTH God and the Son. Jesus confirms this in John 10:30: “I and the Father are ONE.” 

Another ‘multidimensional’ thought is found in 1 Corinthians 8:6. It says: Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. Do you see it? The same words repeated for God the Father and for Jesus the Son. They are indeed two, yet ONE. NOTE: that verse gives us the same message as John 1:3.

I’ll end with two more verses: 

Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. 

Acts 20:28b “Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” 

Isn't is amazing that Jesus is indeed God! 

BTW, if anyone has a better term for ‘multidimensional thinking,’ please share. Maybe the term multifaceted works for some of you.

May 04 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report