Lesson 21 — The Truth About Jesus Christ

1. 1 THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST

THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST

The facts in Lesson Four about God apply to the Lord Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate state as a Spirit-being, for He is one of the three separate and distinct Spirit-beings making the deity or Godhead. Until about 1,900 years ago the second person of the deity had the same kind of Spirit-body, personal soul, and spirit that the Father and the Holy Spirit still have. At that time one of the three divine persons of the Trinity took human form to redeem the world. This is what has made the difference between the members of the Godhead during the last 1,900 years. The following study concerns the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as the manifestation of the invisible God among men:

The Bible declares that the person we now know as Jesus Christ was one of the three divine persons of the deity and that as God He had no beginning. It is this time before He became a man that we refer to as His pre-existence. Technically, there is no such thing as existence before Him as God, but He existed before He became a man. Mic. 5:1-2 speaks of Him as existing from all eternity. John speaks of Him as existing in the very beginning with the Father John 1:1-5. Jesus speaks of Himself as being before Abraham and before the world was created John 8:58John 17:5, 24. Paul speaks of Him as existing before all things and as the Creator and Upholder of all things Colossians 1:15-18Hebrews 1:1-3, 8Hebrews 2:10. God the Father created all things by Him Ephesians 3:9 and the Holy Spirit Genesis 1:2.

II. The Deity of Jesus Christ

1. 1 DIVINE NAMES AND TITLES ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM

   The following list of divine names and titles given to Jesus proves that He is by nature divine and a member of the Godhead. He is called “God” and “Immanuel” Matthew 1:23John 1:1John 20:28Acts 20:28; “Lord” Luke 19:34Acts 2:36; “Lord of All” Acts 10:36; “Lord of Glory” 1 Corinthians 2:8; “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6-7; “Christ the Lord” Luke 2:26; “The Son of God” Matthew 4:3Matthew 14:33Luke 22:70John 1:34Romans 1:4; “His Son” Matthew 22:45John 3:16-18; “My Son” Matthew 3:17; “The Only Begotten Son” John 1:18John 3:16-181 John 4:9; “The First and the Last, Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the Ending” Revelation 22:12, 13; “The Lord” Acts 9:17; “The Son of the Highest” Luke 1:32Mark 14:61; “The Bread of God” John 6:33; “The Holy One of God” Mark 1:24; “Thy Holy Child Jesus” Acts 4:30; “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” Revelation 19:16; “Lord and Saviour” 2 Peter 3:2; and “The Word of God” Revelation 19:13.

These and many other names and titles in Scripture prove the deity of Jesus Christ. Some of these are used hundreds of times in Scripture. We must believe in the divinity of Christ if we are going to believe the Bible.

1. 1 DIVINE ATTRIBUTES ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM

   This is clear from Phil. 2:5-11 where Paul speaks of Christ being in God’s form and that He laid aside this form and limited His attributes and powers as God to become a man. Then after His earthly limitation He had these powers given back to Him, as we shall see in Point VIII, below.

1. 1 DIVINE OFFICES ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM

   He is called “The Creator” John 1:3Colossians 1:16Hebrews 1:1-3; “Mediator” 1 Timothy 2:4-5Hebrews 8:6; “Head of the Church” Ephesians 1:22Colossians 1:16-24; “Saviour” 2 Peter 3:2; “Judge” 2 Timothy 4:1; “Preserver” Hebrews 1:1-3; “Life Giver” John 10:28John 17:2; “Lord and Christ” Acts 2:36; “The Resurrection and the Life” John 11:25.

These and many other offices and works of Christ prove Him to be divine and one with the Father as part of the deity. He is called the fellow and equal to God as to divinity Zechariah 13:7John 5:17-23John 10:30-38John 17:10.

1. 1 DIVINE CHARACTER IS ASCRIBED TO HIM

   All ordinary men are sinners by nature Psalms 51:5Ephesians 3:1-3Romans 5:12-21. Christ is “holy by birth” Luke 1:35; “righteous” Isaiah 53:11Hebrews 1:9; “faithful” Isaiah 11:51 Thessalonians 5:24; “true” John 1:14John 14:6; “just” John 5:30; “guileless” 1 Peter 2:22; “sinless” 2 Corinthians 5:21; “spotless” 1 Peter 1:19; “innocent” Matthew 27:4; “harmless” Hebrews 7:26; “obedient to God” John 15:10Hebrews 5:8-10 and to “His earthly parents” Luke 2:51; “zealots” John 2:17; “meek” Matthew 11:29; “lowly in heart” Matthew 11:29; “merciful” Hebrews 2:17; “patient” Isaiah 53:7; “long-suffering” 1 Timothy 1:16; “compassionate” Matthew 15:32; “benevolent” Acts 10:38; “loving” John 15:13; “self-denying” 2 Corinthians 8:9; “humble” Philippians 2:5-11; “resigned” Luke 22:42; and “forgiving” Luke 23:34.

1. 1 THE WORKS OF GOD ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM John 1:3Colossians 1:15-18Hebrews 1:1-3, 10John 5:19-23Revelation 3:14.

1. 1 DIVINE WORSHIP WAS GIVEN TO HIM Matthew 4:9-10Matthew 14:33Matthew 28:9Luke 24:52John 5:23John 14:14Acts 7:59Romans 10:9-13Hebrews 1:6Philippians 2:10-11Revelation 5:12-14. Angels and men both worship Him, but they both refuse all such worship for themselves Acts 10:25-26Hebrews 1:6Revelation 22:8-9.

1. 1 HIS NAME IS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT OF THE FATHER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT AS BEING ONE OF THE THREE DIVINE PERSONS IN THE DEITY Matthew 28:19John 5:19-23John 14:1, 23John 17:3Romans 1:72 Corinthians 13:141 John 5:7-8Revelation 5:13Revelation 7:10Revelation 20:6.

1. 1 EQUALITY WITH GOD IN DIVINITY IS DEFINITELY STATED John 5:19-29Philippians 2:5-11.

1. 1 DIVINE CHARACTERISTICS ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM John 5:19-29John 14:26Hebrews 1:9.

1. 1 HE IS EXPRESSLY CALLED “GOD” AND “LORD” John 1:1-3John 20:28Acts 2:36Acts 20:28.

III. The Humanity of Jesus Christ

1. 1 HUMAN NAMES ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM: “Rabboni” John 20:16; “Messiah” or “Christ” John 1:41John 4:25Luke 2:26; “Jesus” Matthew 1:21; “Master” Matthew 9:19; “Son of man” Matthew 8:20; “Son of Mary” Mark 6:3; and “Son of Abraham and David” Matthew 1:1; “Seed and Offspring of David” Romans 1:3Revelation 5:5Revelation 22:16; “The Second Man” and “The Last Adam” 1 Corinthians 15:45-47; “The King of the Jews” Matthew 2:2; “Lamb of God” John 1:29; and other names which prove His humanity.

1. 1 HE IS CALLED A “BABE,” A “CHILD,” AND A “MAN” Luke 2:16Isaiah 9:6Acts 17:311 Timothy 2:4-5Romans 5:12-21John 8:40Acts 2:221 Corinthians 15:21, 45.

1. 1 PROPHECY THAT HE WAS TO BE BORN OF A HUMAN MOTHER PROVES HIS HUMANITY Genesis 3:15Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 11:1Isaiah 53:1-12.

1. 1 HISTORY RECORDING HIS CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF A WOMAN PROVES HIS HUMANITY Matthew 1:18-25Matthew 2:2Luke 1:32-35Luke 2:1-52Galatians 4:4.

1. 1 HE HAD FLESH AND BLOOD LIKE ALL OTHER MEN John 1:14Hebrews 2:14-151 John 4:1-6Luke 24:39John 19:34.

1. 1 HE HAD A HUMAN BODY EVEN AFTER THE RESURRECTION Luke 24:39John 20:27.

1. 1 HE HAD HUMAN LIMITATIONS AND PASSIONS LIKE MEN: He “wept” John 11:35; “hungered” Matthew 4:1-11; “thirsted” John 4:7John 19:28; “slept” Matthew 8:24; “grew weary” John 4:6; “sorrowed” Isaiah 53:3-4; “suffered physical agony” Luke 22:44; “craved sympathy” Matthew 26:36-40Luke 22:15-27; “was tempted in all points as men” Hebrews 4:14-16; “suffered physical death” John 19:301 Corinthians 15:3 and endured many human sufferings.

1. 1 HE WAS HUMAN IN ALL THINGS and was subject to physical, mental, and moral conditions of existence as other men Hebrews 2:14-17Hebrews 4:14-16.

1. 1 HE LIVED A NORMAL HUMAN LIFE in total dependence upon God in prayer and faith for daily grace for body, soul, and spirit, as all human beings should do John 5:30-46John 6:57John 7:16John 8:27-29Hebrews 5:7-9Philippians 2:5-10.

1. 1 HE WAS LIMITED IN WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, AND POWER LIKE OTHER MEN AND WAS SUBORDINATE TO THE FATHER, as we shall see in Point VIII, below. In fact, His human nature is denied only by antichrists and demons 1 John 2:18-231 John 4:1-6.

IV. The Union of the Two Natures of Jesus Christ

The above-indicated studies on the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ prove that He was a divine human being. The orthodox theory holds that the two natures of Christ were both complete in themselves yet so organically and indissolubly united that no third nature is formed thereby. It forbids us to divide the person and confound the two natures of Jesus Christ. Being truly divine He is a true representative of God, and being truly human He is a true representative of man.

Christ constantly spoke of Himself as a single person and not as two persons in one. There is no interchange of speech between the two natures as between two persons. The attributes and powers of both natures are ascribed to the one person so that they are operated as part of a single individual. There is no double personality, but one single unit of characteristics of both the human and the divine. Just as any father and mother impart certain traits to the offspring, making a single person with characteristics of both parents, so the human and the divine were united in the one person of Jesus Christ—with one body, soul, and spirit and with one consciousness and one will.

The Fatherhood of God and the motherhood of Mary produced a single personality. After all, it must be remembered that God made man with the same bodily parts as He has in His Spirit-body, only our bodies are earthly and human and His is spiritual and divine. He made man with the same kind of soul with feelings, emotions, passions, desires, and appetites, capable of the same soul-acts as He Himself was, only our soul is finite and His is infinite. He made man with a spirit with all the attributes and powers that He has, capable of the same acts; only our spirits are finite and His is infinite. In other words, man is endowed with exactly the same traits, characteristics, attributes, powers, feelings, and passions as God, only on a finite scale.

With this in mind one can see that the soul and spirit faculties that were born in Jesus Christ by a divine Father and a human mother were exactly the same as in any other being like God; so when Christ acted and used any one attribute or power as a man it was like the exercise of God in the same aspects, only His faculties were perfectly untainted with the Fall and its effects. When Christ acted He was like man before the Fall and not like sinful man since the Fall. Every fallen man when he is recreated in Christ and made a new creature is capable of proper exercise of his faculties in holy and lawful uses. (See Lesson Four, Point II, 8 and 9.)

We may express it this way: man in his unfallen state acted exactly like God in the exercise of his faculties, only his attributes and powers were limited. He was capable of the same powers and acts only on a finite scale. What is finite in man is infinite in God. Holy man when he is energized and acted upon and endued with supernatural powers can exercise his natural attributes and faculties in a supernatural degree or measure, depending upon what extent he is yielded to and energized by the Spirit of God. For example, Christ and the disciples when endued with power from on High were capable of God-action to destroy sin and sickness as much as if God Himself were doing the work without using them as instruments.

It must also be remembered that men when born-again become partakers of the divine nature and to the extent to which that nature controls and works in and through their created faculties they live divine lives and do divine works. In such men the created faculties are liberated from evil acts and evil powers and become acts of divine energy through the Holy Spirit. Just as Christ was perfectly helpless in Himself and acted, spoke, worked, lived, and did all things through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the believer to the extent that he becomes like Christ becomes God-inspired and God-energized and God-operated. (See Point V, 31, for Scriptures of a perfectly divine life in human form.) Thus the Christian fully living in the fullness of God lives a divine-human life in the Holy Spirit by the very presence and power of God in the human soul and spirit.

If we can understand these things, we certainly can understand how God could become so perfectly human and yet remain so perfectly divine as to be a perfect union—God and man in one personality. Whether the divine attributes and powers of God in Christ were limited and to what extent is a great question in Christian circles. Whether He laid them aside entirely for a time, or whether they were possessed by Him and voluntarily limited will always be a point of controversy. However, this much is settled that He was limited in the days of His flesh, as we shall see in Point VIII, below; whether He was limited constitutionally or voluntarily is not the point. It is a fact that if it were done constitutionally it was nevertheless voluntary as stilted in Jn. 10:18; Heb. 10:5-9. He was not forced to do one thing. Everything was a voluntary action on His part. It matters not whether it was constitutional, or whether He still retained all the divine powers and attributes in His person and chose to limit their use for His time of life on Earth; the fact remains that He was limited as a man, and if His choice was so powerful as to do away with all use of them, what is the difference between laying them aside and still retaining them without power to use them?

It was important that He limit Himself as a man to set the right example for man so that he can be inspired to live like God on Earth by the same means Christ used. For all the arguments about His having two personalities, two natures in one personality, human nature without personality, or divine nature without human traits—the fact will always remain that He was both human and divine, and if some cannot understand the how of it, the fact of it can be believed and must be if we want harmony of all Scriptures. One certainty is that His human nature had no separate existence before its union with the divine and is not in itself a separate personality from the divine person who became incarnated in human flesh.

It was not only important that He have two natures, human and divine for the sake of man, but also for the sake of God, to be a true mediator between God and man. His twofold nature gives Him fellowship with both parties and capability of representing both to reconcile both. As God He can uphold the dignity of deity and as man He can be truly sympathetic and meet the needs of man. Because He is God His atonement has infinite value and effect. A further discussion of the dual natures will be given under Point VIII, below.

Many are misled in making Jesus the only person in the Godhead and more than what the Bible says He is and they rob the Father and the Holy Spirit of their own separate personalities and make them less than what the Bible says they are, thus depriving them of their rightful and separate places in the unity of God. It is highly important to know whether there are three persons in the Godhead, so as to give each His rightful place and proper love and worship, and to understand the Bible, so as not to be led astray into many false doctrines that naturally come if we permit ourselves to contort Scripture to suit Bible, or to conform to some human church creed. The following points prove that Jesus Christ is not the Father or the Holy Ghost:

1. 1 The Father was in Heaven all the time that Jesus was on Earth; so the Father could not have been incarnated in Jesus Matthew 5:16, 45Matthew 6:1, 9Matthew 7:21Matthew 16:17Matthew 18:10Matthew 23:9.

1. 1 Jesus said He would confess men “before my Father” and “before the angels” and this He could not do if He were not a separate person from the Father and the angels Matthew 10:32-33Luke 12:8-9Revelation 3:2-5. Such language would permit Him to be the angels as much as it would permit Him to be the Father. The word “before” means “in the presence of,” or “face to face with,” and requires both the Father and the angels to be distinct persons from Jesus. This word could never be used if only one person were involved, any more than it could be in 1,767 similar expressions in Scripture Matthew 14:6Matthew 17:21 Timothy 5:19-201 Timothy 6:13Revelation 4:5-6Revelation 5:8Revelation 7:9, 11Revelation 8:2.

1. 1 Jesus always prayed to the Father and addressed Him as a separate person from Himself Matthew 11:25Matthew 26:39, 42Luke 10:21Luke 22:42Luke 23:34John 11:41John 12:28John 17:1-25. In no place do we read of the Father praying to anyone, but the Son constantly prays to someone else outside of Himself.

1. 1 The Father was outside the body of Jesus protecting Him, so He could not be incarnated in Jesus, or be all of God inside of Jesus as some teach Matthew 2:12-23Matthew 3:16-17Matthew 17:5Luke 22:39-46John 12:27-30.

1. 1 All the Old Testament prophets quoted in the New Testament prove that the Father is a separate person from the Son, for it was the Father who spoke “by the prophets” and “through the Spirit” concerning the Son Hebrews 1:1-3Acts 3:21Romans 1:1-41 Peter 1:1-162 Peter 1:21. Note the speaker and the person spoken of in Mt. 2:15, 23; 4:6; 12:17-21; 22:41; 27:9-11; Lk. 4:16-21; 24:27, 44-46; Jn. 18:9; Acts 2:22-34; 3:13-24; 4:25-31; 7:2-50; 8:32-37; 10:34-43; 13:23-41; Heb. 2:3-9; 5:5-10). Human language means nothing in the Bible if two and three persons are not understood in such statements as these passages.

1. 1 Both Jesus and Satan refer to the Father as a separate person from the Son. “He [one person] shall give his angels charge concerning thee” (Jesus, the Son of the Father, another person, Mt. 4:6).

1. 1 Jesus constantly referred to the Father as a separate person from Himself and as being separated bodily from Him as far as the Heaven is above the Earth Matthew 7:21Matthew 10:32-33Matthew 11:27Matthew 15:13Matthew 16:17, 27Matthew 18:10-35Matthew 20:23Mark 12:32.

1. 1 The New Testament writers called the Father, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but such could never be if He were the Lord Jesus Christ Ephesians 1:3, 17Ephesians 3:141 Peter 1:3Matthew 27:46John 20:17.

1. 1 The phrases “the Son of the Father” (2 Jn. 3), “his Father” Matthew 16:27Revelation 1:6Revelation 14:1, “my Father” John 15:1Revelation 2:27Revelation 3:5, “my God” John 20:17Revelation 3:12, and other like statements made by Jesus of His Father and by others of God being the Father of Jesus could not be true if Jesus were the Father and the only person called God. If Jesus spoke of God the Father as being His Father and His God, then He either lied or told the truth. Such language demands of us to believe in another person who is the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Not once did Jesus or any Bible writer use such terms as “Jesus, the Father,” “the Father Jesus,” “spirit-Jesus,” “Father Jesus,” “one person in the Godhead,” “Jesus only,” and other unscriptural terms used by some people.

1. 1 Jesus in parables illustrates His relationship to the Father as that of a Son and as a separate person from the Father Matthew 21:33-46Luke 20:9-18John 15:1-10. To believe in only one person as being both the Father and Son in these passages is to make Jesus a plain liar. If He said He was “the vine” and the Father was “the husbandman” (Jn. 15) and if God the Father is compared to “a certain householder” and the Son is compared to “his son” and “heir,” then this relationship is the truth and nothing but the truth, thus distinguishing two persons known as “the Father” and “the Son” Matthew 21:33-46Luke 20:9-18.

1. 1 Jesus taught men to go directly to the Father in all prayer and not pray to Him at all: “Ye shall ask me nothing . . . ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” John 14:12-15John 15:16John 16:23-28. What could be clearer than that Jesus is not the Father? If men are commanded to “ask me nothing” but to “ask the Father” instead, then He is not the Father. It is one of the most unreasonable doctrines under the sun to teach that Jesus and His Father are one and the same person and that the body of Jesus is the Son and the inner man of Jesus is the Father. It is ridiculous to ask men to pray to one part of a person in the name of another part of the same person, or to call two parts of one person by different names—one part called the Father, or inner part, and another part called the Son, or the body part. Even worse, for one part to be the authority to go to the other part in prayer, or more ridiculous still, as some people do, to ignore the Father part and pray only to the Son, or body part. If the language of Jesus does not refer to two persons, then we have to conclude that He did not know how to use the human language.

1. 1 On certain occasions Jesus thanked the Father, “looking up to Heaven,” where the Father dwelled Matthew 26:25-27Mark 8:6Mark 14:23. Was Jesus giving thanks to Himself and teaching us by example self-praise and self-worship, or was there a real Father outside of Him who dwelled in Heaven as a separate person?

1. 1 Many statements were made concerning the Father that could not have been true of Jesus: the Father was in Heaven while Jesus was on Earth Matthew 5:1, 48; the Father knew things that Jesus did not know Matthew 10:29-31Mark 13:32Acts 1:7Revelation 1:1; the Father was “good,” but Jesus did not claim any such quality in Himself Matthew 19:17; the Father was on a throne, and Jesus was not Matthew 23:22; Jesus is coming in the glory of the Father and not in His own glory Matthew 16:27; Jesus prayed to the Father and never to Himself Matthew 26:39-42; Jesus prophesied that He would be exalted at the right hand of the Father Matthew 26:64, and later the apostles said He was there Acts 2:33-36Ephesians 1:20Colossians 3:1Hebrews 1:3Hebrews 8:1Hebrews 12:2Romans 8:34. Stephen actually saw Jesus with his own eves on God’s right hand Acts 7:56-59. Jesus committed His spirit to God the Father at death, proving He died, but the Father did not die Luke 23:46. Others saw Jesus as a separate person from the Father Daniel 7:9-14Revelation 5:1-7.

1. 1 Jesus claimed that He was sent by God, that He came from God, and that He was going back to God Matthew 15:24John 3:16-18, 34John 5:30, 36John 6:29-40, 44John 7:16, 28John 8:16-18, 29John 9:4John 10:36John 11:42John 12:45, 49John 15:21John 16:5John 17:3, 8Galatians 4:41 John 4:9. These Scriptures would not make sense if only one person were referred to. The sense in which God sent Jesus is the same sense in which Jesus sent His disciples John 17:18John 20:21 and the same sense in which the Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world John 14:16-17, 26John 15:26John 16:7-15. Being sent does not make the one sent the same person as the one who sends. If so, then the disciples all became Jesus Christ when they were sent by Him. If being sent proves two persons, the sender and the one being sent, then it proves that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are separate persons from each other and from the Father, for both were sent by the Father.

1. 1 Jesus plainly told Peter that His Father in Heaven was not “flesh and blood,” and He told the Samaritan woman His Father and His God was “Spirit” Matthew 16:16-17John 4:24John 19:34. Because Jesus was flesh and blood and did not claim to be “spirit” even in His resurrected state, He could not be the Father Luke 24:39John 19:34Romans 8:3.

1. 1 Peter received a revelation from the Father in Heaven of the Sonship of Jesus Matthew 16:17 and also actually heard the Father’s voice from Heaven say of the Son on Earth, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him” Matthew 17:5. Peter later testified that this voice came from Heaven and that it was not a voice inside of Jesus (through practice of ventriloquism). He said later that it came “from God the Father . . . from the excellent glory . . . from heaven” 2 Peter 1:16-18. John the Baptist also heard this voice from Heaven while Jesus was on Earth Matthew 3:16-17. They did not say Jesus was the Father in Heaven speaking, and they never believed such.

1. 1 The Jews never understood that Jesus claimed to be the Father, but that He claimed to be the Son, thus making Himself equal with God Matthew 26:64Matthew 27:40-43John 5:17-35John 6:45John 8:13-38John 10:34-39John 19:7. If He had claimed to be the Father, the only God, all of God, and the only person of the Godhead, they would have had a just case against Him, for not one of the prophets ever foretold this doctrine, but they did say that God would have a Son as a separate person from Himself.

1. 1 Jesus called the Father “my God” even after the resurrection John 10:17Revelation 3:12Psalms 22:1-10. He could not be His own Father and His own God. If He were the only person in the Godhead, this would be a false statement

1. 1 The angel Gabriel, “the angel of the Lord” (whom some sects say was God Himself) did not know that Jesus was the only person in the Godhead, for he spoke of a God still in Heaven and called Jesus only “the Son of God” and “the Son of the Highest” Matthew 1:18-25Luke 1:19, 27Luke 2:21.

1. 1 All the angels in Heaven were as ignorant as Gabriel, for they praised and gave glory to a “God in the highest,” who was outside of the baby Jesus in the manger Luke 2:8-16. It would not be a sin for us to believe that they, being just from Heaven and having come from the Father in the highest and having more intelligence than any man, knew that there was still a “God in the highest,” who was one person, and that Jesus in the manger on Earth was another person.

1. 1 Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, and Simeon were also ignorant of the theory that the baby Jesus was the Father and all of God, for they talked to and praised a “God” outside of the baby Jesus Luke 1:36-56, 67Luke 2:25.

1. 1 The shepherds also belonged to the ignorant class and were deceived by the angels, if some human doctrines are right, for they said, “The Lord hath made known to us” about the baby Jesus. Jesus was a new-born child and was not big enough to make anything known to the shepherds; so if “the Lord” had made known something to them, then there must be a “Lord” outside of Jesus, who did this Matthew 2:12Luke 2:8-38.

1. 1 Mary and Joseph acted in utmost ignorance that all of God was in the baby Jesus when they brought Him to the temple “to present him to the Lord” Luke 2:23. Who was this “Lord,” or “Jehovah God,” they presented Him to? How could they present the only Lord to Himself?

1. 1 In Lk. 2:40-52 we have some senseless expressions if there is only one person in the Godhead. Jesus whom some say is the only God and Father Himself, says, “I must be about my Father’s business.” Luke said, “The grace of God was upon him . . . Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” What Luke really meant, according to some, was that the grace of Himself was upon Himself and that Jesus the only God and His own Father increased in wisdom and in favor with Himself and with man. Common intelligence rebels against such foolishness. Is it any wonder that the subject of God is so hard to understand if we prefer such nonsense to good sense?

1. 1 Even demons knew that Jesus was not the Father, for they called Him “the Son of God,” thus demonstrating sense enough to know there must be a separate person from the Son if there was a Father who had a Son. They also called Him “Christ,” thus proving they had sense enough to know there had to be someone else to anoint Him and make Him the Christ, or the anointed of God Luke 4:34, 41.

1. 1 John the Baptist knew the Father, but he did not know the Son in the wilderness, for “the word of God,” or of a person called God, came to him in the wilderness while Jesus was still at Nazareth and told him how he would know the Son Luke 3:2John 1:31-34. Shall we believe that the inner man of Jesus was in the wilderness speaking to John while only the body of Jesus was at Nazareth dead? (Death is the separation of the inner man from the body, Jas. 2:26.) Shall we also believe that the Father God and all of God was in the womb of Mary and yet filled John the Baptist at the same time? If John was filled with the Holy Ghost all these years as is clear from Lk. 1:15, if he did not know Jesus, and if he was not filled with Jesus, then Jesus could not be the Holy Ghost. If John knew the Father and not the Son, knew God and not Jesus, then Jesus could not be the Father and the God that John knew. There must have been one person called God that John knew and there must have been another person called Jesus, Who was also Deity, that John did not know, thus proving two persons. If he was filled with the Holy Ghost and knew God as a separate person from the Holy Ghost and did not know Jesus who was still another separate person, then there must be three persons in the Godhead called “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” as plainly stated in 1 Jn. 5:7-8; Mt. 28:19; Eph. 4:4-8; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 8; Rev. 1:4-6.

1. 1 God “gave his only begotten Son,” but He Himself remained in Heaven; so there must be two separate persons referred to in Jn. 3:16-18, 31-36; Mt. 5:45-48; 18:19; etc. If it is true, as some argue, that God the Father is the inner man of Jesus and the Son was the body of Jesus, that God the Father gave Himself and died Himself, and that the Father inside of Jesus could say of Himself, “I created the body you see. I am the Father and this body is my Son,” then the phrase “Son of God” should be understood as body of God; “sons of God” should be bodies of God; “my Son” should be My body; “my sons” should be My bodies; “his Son” should be His body; “his sons” should be His bodies; and “thy sons” should be Thy bodies. It should make sense in every Scripture to substitute “body” for “Son” and “Son” for “body.” Try “”body” for “Son” in Mt. 11:27; Jn. 1:18; 3:16-18, 35-36; 5:21, 25-26; 10:36; Acts 3:13; 8:37; 9:20; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 1:9; 5:10; 8:29; Heb. 1:2; 11:17, and see how ridiculous such an idea is.

If the body of Jesus was the Son of Jesus, and the inner man of Jesus was the Father of Jesus, then how could the Father say to the body, “I am the Son [body] of God?” If the Father inside was talking to the Son outside, then the body could not be the Son. How could the Son [body] be called “Jesus,” as in Mt. 1:21; 8:29; Mk. 1:1; Acts 8:37; 1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Jn. 1:3, 7; 3:23; 5:20; 2 Jn. 3, and “Christ,” as in Mt. 16:16; 22:42; 26:63; Lk. 4:4; Jn. 20:31, if these two names have been the names of the Father from all eternity, as some argue. The Son [body] had a beginning in Mary 1,900 years ago. These names were not the names of God from all eternity, for they were names given to the Son when He was born about 1,900 years ago. Not one time are these names used of either person of the Godhead until Jesus was born and anointed by God the Father.

The word “Jesus” was the human name given to the Son of Mary eight days after He was born Matthew 1:16, 21Luke 1:31-35Luke 2:21. It was and is still a common name like John, James, and other names. Josephus mentions thirteen men who are called Jesus. Several are mentioned in the New Testament Acts 7:45Acts 13:6Colossians 4:11Hebrews 4:8Matthew 1:21. Several in the Old Testament are called “Joshua” and “Jeshua” and hundreds of people throughout history have been called Jesus and Joshua. If the New Testament had been written in Hebrew instead of Greek Jesus would have been called Joshua. The word “Jesus” is not an heavenly or divine name. It is an earthly human name given to the second person of the Godhead when he became a man. Therefore, it is His name as a man and not His name as God.

The word “Christ” literally means “anointed” and is a name applied to Jesus when He became the anointed of God. It is like the word “Jesus,” a name of His humanity, and of His anointing as a man and not His name as God. It is the same as the Hebrew word translated “Messiah” Daniel 9:24-27John 1:41John 4:25. Jesus became the anointed of God or Christ thirty years after He was called Jesus. It was predicted in prophecy that God would make Him the “anointed” Psalms 2:1-12Psalms 143:11-15Isaiah 11:1-2Isaiah 42:1Isaiah 61:1-2. History records that the time He became the “Anointed” of God was at His baptism Matthew 3:16-17Matthew 12:15-20Luke 3:21-22Acts 10:38. Jesus confirmed the time He became God’s “Anointed” Luke 4:16-21. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost and not with oil. He was anointed because He was the Son of the Father and it proves two persons—the one who anointed Him and the one who was anointed. Passages such as Lk. 2:26; Gal. 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:11 should be understood in the same sense as we would say that President George Washington was a surveyor. He was not this when he was president, but since he became president we could speak of any event of his life before he became president as what President Washington did. So it is with Christ. Since He became God’s Christ we can now speak of Christ doing certain things even before He was anointed.

1. 1 The Bible never speaks of the Father dying, but it does say that the Son died Romans 5:10Hebrews 6:6John 3:16-18. The Son died in the same sense that other men die—the inner man left the outer man James 2:26. This proves that the Father and Son were two separate persons.

1. 1 Jesus was “the only begotten of the Father” and “his only begotten Son,” and He had to be a separate person from the Father in order to be begotten by the Father, and the Father had to be a separate person from Jesus in order to beget Him John 1:14, 18John 3:16-18John 3:31-361 John 5:1. No person can beget himself, or be begotten by himself, and no person can be his own father or son. Neither can any person beget part of himself, or be begotten by part of himself.

1. 1 Many statements in the gospel of John prove that Jesus did not claim to be the Father, but He did say that God was His Father and His God John 5:8-45John 10:18-36John 14:28John 20:17Revelation 3:12; that God worked only through Him, and that He could do nothing of Himself John 5:19, 30; that He not only could not, but that He did not do anything of Himself John 5:30John 6:38John 8:28John 12:49-50; that He did only the Father’s will and lived by the Father, as men are to do His will and live by Him John 6:57; and that the work of God was to believe on the one whom the Father had sent John 6:29John 3:2John 5:18John 8:54John 14:1.

He said that His doctrine was not His, but it was the Father’s John 7:16-17John 8:26, 38John 10:18John 12:49-50John 14:10-11John 17:8, 14 and that if anyone would do the will of God he should know that He did not come and speak of Himself, but that He spoke of the Father who had sent Him John 7:16-18.

He claimed that His message was true because He did not speak of Himself, but that He spoke of the Father John 7:18John 5:30-38John 14:10-11; that He spoke only what He had heard from the Father John 8:26-28, 38; that He taught by the Father and that His teaching was not of Himself John 8:28; that He did not please Himself, but He lived to please the Father John 8:29; that He was the “Son” of the house and not the “Father” of it John 8:35-36Hebrews 3:6; and that He had the same relation to the Father that the Jews had to their father the devil John 8:16, 35John 9:4.

He taught that He, Himself, honored the Father as all men should John 8:49; that He did not seek His own glory, but that there was “one” (not Himself, but another, the Father) that honored Him and sought His glory John 8:50, 54John 12:26-28John 14:12-15John 17:1-5, 10; that He and the Father knew each other, but they were not each other John 8:55John 10:15; that the Father loved Him for His unselfishness (it takes two people to love and be loved, Jn. 10:17-18); that He had received commandments from the Father, and they were not His own John 10:18John 12:49-50John 15:10; and that the Father gave Him His disciples John 10:29John 17:1-25. He further claimed that he was equal to the Father as to deity and some things, but not equal in other things Mark 13:32John 5:17-39John 8:13-19, 29John 19:18, 24Acts 1:71 Corinthians 11:3Revelation 1:1; that He was not a “Spirit” being like His Father Luke 24:39John 4:24Philippians 3:21; that He and the Father were in each other (united as one) in the same sense He and the believers were one John 10:38John 14:10-11, 23John 17:11, 212 Corinthians 5:17; and that He was the only way to the Father John 14:6. Such simple language as that in all the above-listed passages cannot be understood except in connection with two separate persons.

1. 1 Jesus said that if He bore witness “of Himself” and if He was the only one that did bare witness, His testimony would not be true and He would not expect men to believe it any more than civil courts would accept only one witness John 5:21-23, 36John 6:38John 7:16-17, 28John 8:13-19, 37John 12:44, 49John 14:10-11John 17:1-25. God repeatedly said in both Testaments that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established” Numbers 35:30Deuteronomy 17:6-7Deuteronomy 19:15Matthew 18:16Luke 24:48Acts 1:8, 22Acts 2:32Acts 5:32Acts 7:58Acts 10:311 Thessalonians 5:19Hebrews 10:28-29Hebrews 12:1Revelation 11:5. Would God make a fixed law to establish truth by two or three separate witnesses and then break His own law and expect men to have confidence in Him? He would have no grounds to punish man for rejection of God’s witness if God were only one person. We not only have to believe that Jesus was only one of two or three separate witnesses as He plainly states, or make Thessalonians untrue, but we have plain Scripture stating that “there are three” that bear witness, “the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Holy Ghost” 1 John 5:7-8.

Jesus continued by saying that He had greater proof or witness than John the Baptist who had two witnesses, the Father and the Holy Ghost John 1:31-34John 5:36. John did not have the miracles to confirm his word as did Jesus, who had the same two witnesses that John had plus the miracles John 2:11, 23John 3:2John 4:54John 5:20, 36John 6:2, 26John 7:31John 9:16John 10:25-37, 41John 11:42-47John 14:10-12John 15:24. When Jesus said, “I am not alone, but I [one person] and the Father [another person] that sent me” and is with me also bear witness, He simply stated that there were more persons in the Godhead than He, thus fulfilling the Word of God concerning more than one witness to establish a fact. He plainly said that the two witnesses in this testimony were the Father and Himself. “I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent me [another person] beareth witness of me” John 8:13-18, 29John 16:32. Again, in Jn. 8:29 He said, “The Father hath not left me alone” and in Jn. 16:32, “every man to his own and leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” What could be more clear in proving two distinct persons, called “the Father” and “the Son,” both of them equally God? On the other hand, what foolish statements these are if Jesus is the only person in the Godhead.

1. 1 In the following eighty separate statements of Scripture by Jesus Christ, He constantly affirmed that He was not the Father and not the only person in the Godhead. The grammar of these passages will not permit us to believe in only one person as being referred to. Jesus is the speaker, but He is not the one spoken of, as is made clear by reading these statements concerning Him and His Father.

If we are not going to believe what God says in His revelation concerning Himself, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, then He is under no further obligation to give another revelation in order to make the subject of God clear to men. If we will not believe one revelation, we would not believe another. If we will believe at all, then let us believe these scriptural facts of human language concerning more than one person in the Godhead. Then we will not have to teach that God is a mystery, that the Trinity cannot be understood, and the other foolish doctrines as expressed by men who refuse to take the plain language used by God in the Bible revealing the Trinity of separate persons in the Godhead, as seen in Mt. 7:21; 10:32-33; 11:27; 15:13; 16:17; 18:10, 19, 35; 19:17; 20:23; 24:36; 25:34; 26:29, 39, 42, 53; Lk. 2:49; Jn. 5:17, 43; 6:32, 65; 8:19, 28, 38, 49, 54; 10:17-18, 25, 29, 30, 32, 37; 12:26-28; 14:7, 12, 20, 21, 28; 15:1, 8, 10, 23; 16:23-26; 18:11; 20:17, 21; Rev. 1:1; 2:27; 3:5, 12; 5:1-7, 13; 7:9, 15-16; 10:6; 11:15; 12:10; 21:22-23; 22:1-5.

1. 1 Jesus said that His Father was “greater than all” and “greater than I” John 10:29John 14:28. He then could not be the Father. Paul also stated that the Father was the “head of Christ” 1 Corinthians 3:231 Corinthians 11:3.

1. 1 God the Father said of Jesus, “my beloved Son” Matthew 3:16-17Matthew 17:5Psalms 2:7. Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Son of God” John 10:38. An angel declared Him to be “the Son of the Highest” and “the Son of God” Luke 1:32-35. Demons said He was “the Son of God” Mark 3:11 and “Son of the most high God” Mark 5:7. Apostles stated repeatedly that Jesus was only “the Son of God” Matthew 14:33Matthew 16:16-17Mark 1:1John 11:27John 20:31Acts 9:20, “the only begotten of the Father” John 1:14, 18John 3:16-18, “his own Son” Romans 8:32, “the Son of the Father” (2 Jn. 3), and “his dear Son” by whom God the Father created all things Colossians 1:13-18. John said, “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” 1 John 4:14; so there must be two separate persons referred to. John the Baptist also bare record “that this was the Son of God” John 1:31-34. Others confessed that Jesus was “the Son of God” Mark 15:39John 1:49Acts 9:37, but not once did God, angels, demons, or men say that He was the Father.

1. 1 Both the Father and the Son talked to each other in audible voices at the same time and place, and both voices were heard by a number of witnesses, so there had to be two persons who had their own separate bodies, voices, minds, etc., to be able to speak to each other in the same sense other persons do Matthew 3:16-17Matthew 17:5John 12:27-302 Peter 1:17.

1. 1 Jesus taught that when men receive Him they also receive the Father, as when men receive Christ’s disciples they also receive Christ Matthew 10:39-41. This does not mean that the Father and the Son were the same person any more than it proves that Christ and the disciples become one person when men receive Christ through them. Separate persons are involved in both statements, as is clear.

1. 1 God the Father is called “he” John 14:16; God the Son is called “he” John 8:23-25; and God the Holy Ghost is called “he” and “another” John 14:16-17, 26John 15:26John 16:7-15, so if personal pronouns are used of each person in making a distinction between them as is done with other persons, there must be three separate persons.

1. 1 Christ is symbolized by “the vine,” and the Father is spoken of as “the husbandman” in Jn. 15:1-16. It is just as intelligent to call any vine its own keeper and both of them one person as to do so here. This figure clearly proves two persons.

1. 1 Jesus taught that He and the Father had the same relationship to each other as did He and His disciples John 15:10. Such relationship proves more than one person. One person could not have such relationship by Himself as is required of separate persons in this passage.

1. 1 The word “both” means “two” and is used of the Father and the Son, thus proving two persons John 15:24.

1. 1 The word “also” is used of the Father and Son, thus proving two separate persons John 5:19, 27John 8:19John 13:32John 14:1.

1. 1 Jesus again speaks of Himself and the Father as “two” persons: “They have not known the Father [one person] nor me” [another person]. Again, “I go my way to him that sent me John 16:3, 5. Then He speaks of Himself and the Spirit as two persons: “If I [one person] go not away the Comforter [another person] will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you” John 14:16-17, 26John 15:26John 16:7-15. Jesus did not say that He would come back as the Holy Ghost, but that He would stay in Heaven and “send him unto you,” as fulfilled in Acts 2:33-36. If those who believe in only one person in the Godhead are not capable of understanding the simplest human language, then their case is hopeless.

1. 1 Jesus used personal pronouns in referring to Himself and the Father John 14:23John 17:1-25 He used the first, second, and third personal pronouns of Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit; and not once do we find Him misusing them John 14:12-17, 23John 15:1-26John 16:7-15John 17:1-25. If they were used rightly, then there must be separate persons in the Godhead. Jn. 17 alone has 162 personal pronouns used by Jesus to and of Himself, of the Father, and of His disciples. He repeatedly calls the true God “Father” and calls Himself “thy Son.” He prayed for the disciples to be “one” as He and the Father were “one,” and this could not refer to “one person” but “one” in unity. Jesus used “I” and “me,” first personal pronouns, in referring to Himself, and “thou,” “thee,” and “thine,” second personal pronouns, in referring to the Father, whom He was addressing. He used “they” and “them” in referring to the disciples for whom He was praying and “we” and “us” when referring to Himself and His Father, proving that He and His Father were more than one person as much as the disciples were.

1. 1 Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth” Matthew 28:18. Somebody had to give Him this power, and He had to be greater than Jesus, or He would not have it to give. The only one Jesus said was “greater than I” is the Father John 14:28. The apostles later confirmed this fact of the Father being greater than Jesus, for they said that the Father was “the head of Christ” 1 Corinthians 1:13, that Jesus had been exalted by the Father above everyone else 1 Corinthians 14:24-28Ephesians 1:20-23Philippians 2:8-11Hebrews 1:1-3Hebrews 12:21 Peter 3:22, and that the Father had made Jesus both “Lord and Christ” Acts 2:33-36, the heir of all things Hebrews 1:2Romans 8:17, the medium of approach to God Hebrews 1:4John 3:16-18Acts 4:121 John 3:231 John 5:13, and the source of redemption to men 1 Corinthians 1:30. These facts prove the Father to be a separate person from the Son.

1. 1 Jesus said that He was the same that He claimed to be “from the beginning” John 8:25. Because He always claimed to be only the Son and not the Father, we can rely upon the fact that He could not be the Father. The statement “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” John 14:9, does not say that He was the Father. The Greek word for “seen” is horao, “to discern,” “to experience,” “perceive,” “comprehend.” Like the English word “seen,” it means here to truly comprehend and not only to see with the eyes, as it is used in Jn. 1:18; 6:46; 8:38; 1 Jn. 3:6; 2 Jn. 11.

No statement in Jn. 14 says that Jesus was the Father in person, but six times this chapter makes it clear that He was not the Father:

(1) “Ye believe in God [one person], believe also in me” John 14:1-2

(2) “In my Father’s house [not my house] are many mansions” John 14:1-2.

(3) “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” John 14:6.

(4) “If ye had known me [Jesus], ye should have known my Father [another person] also” John 14:7.

(5) “He that hath seen [comprehended, experienced] me [one person] hath seen [comprehended, experienced] the Father [another person, Jn. 14:9]. In Jn. 1:18 it is stated that no man had “seen” (fully comprehended) the Father save Christ, who came to reveal and declare God to men. If Christ came truly to demonstrate God, then Jn. 14:9 proves He had succeeded in bringing God to men in actual demonstration of Him by His own life.

(6) “I [one person] am in the Father [another person] and the Father in me. . . . I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. I [Jesus] go to the Father,” so He could not be the Father John 14:10-15. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” is a statement of true representation of another person 1 John 2:61 John 3:3, 71 John 4:171 Corinthians 11:1Philippians 4:92 Corinthians 3:1-3, 18Romans 8:29. One who is truly like Christ as He was like the Father can say, “’He that hath seen me hath seen Jesus Christ.”

VI. The Theory of Eternal Sonship Discussed

The word “Son” in connection with Jesus does not refer to His deity, but to His humanity. As God, Christ had no beginning, was not begotten, was not the firstborn, was not born, and therefore, was not a Son; but as man He had a beginning, was begotten, was the first-born of God, was born, and therefore became the Son of God. If one believed sonship referred to deity, then he would have to believe that this person of deity had a beginning, and was not always God, was not always in existence, and therefore was not an eternal and self-existent Being. It is plainly stated in Mic. 5:2; Jn. 1:1-2; Col. 1:17; Rev. 1:8-18; Jn. 17:5 that He had no beginning as God and that He was as eternal and self-existent as the Father and the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, as man it is plainly stated that He had a beginning. Note the following simple statements of Scripture that as man and as a son He did have a beginning, proving sonship refers to humanity and not to deity.

(1) “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise . . . she was found with child of the Holy Ghost . . . that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:18-25. This proves that God had a Son at the same time Mary did, and neither had a Son before this. This Son was “Emmanuel . . . God with us,” but before the second person of the Godhead came to be with us as man, he could only exist as God. As God the second person of the Godhead is never called the Son of God, but when He became man by becoming the Son of both Mary and God, He is called “The Son of God.”

The only references to His Sonship before He became the Son of Mary and God were in prophecies foretelling this event Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Proverbs 30:4Psalms 2:7, 12Hebrews 1:5-6. That He was “The Son of God” and appeared in the fiery furnace as such in Dan. 3 is not stated anywhere. It was the heathen king that said “the form of the fourth is like the Son of God,” literally, like a Son of God, as in the margin. In this appearance the being was an angel Daniel 3:28 and not the second person of the Godhead who later became man and the Son of Mary and God. To this heathen king any being like an angel would be called a Son of God, because he believed in many gods and offspring of gods. He knew nothing of the true God, much less that He would someday have a Son born of a woman.

(2) “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest . . . The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” Luke 1:31-35. If God or Mary had a Son before this, when was it born? Certainly this was the first time Mary had a son, for she “brought forth her firstborn son: and called his name JESUS” Matthew 1:25. This was also the first time God had a Son, for Mary’s child is also called God’s “first-born” in the same sense He was Mary’s “first-born” Matthew 1:25Psalms 89:27Colossians 1:15Hebrews 1:5-7.

If God had a Son before this, then Jesus is the second-born Son and not “firstborn” and “the only begotten Son” of God, as in Jn. 1:18; 3:16-18, 35-36, and in the passages listed above. Or, if Sonship refers to deity, then He became God’s Son twice; once sometime back in eternity and again when God had a Son by Mary. If He was begotten as God’s Son sometime in the eternal past and His Sonship refers to deity and not to humanity, then who was the mother of this God-Son and when did God have a Son by this other mother? There is no statement in Scripture that Jesus was God’s Son from all eternity. If He were, then there still would have to be a time when He became God’s Son, and if that took place at a certain time and place, He could not have always been God’s Son. Neither would He always have been God, as the Bible declares in Mic. 5:2; Jn. 1:1-2; Heb. 1:8; Rev. 1:8.

To solve all these unanswerable questions of speculation, let us believe the simple statements of Scripture that the person we now know as the Son of God and Mary was not always God’s Son and Mary’s Son, that He was always God and a separate person along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that He became man and the Son of both God and Mary over 1,900 years ago for the purpose of redemption, that it was in God’s plan that one of the three persons of the Godhead should become man and the Son of the one who became the Father by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that it did not become a reality until it actually took place in Mary about 1,900 years ago.

(3) “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord . . . when eight days were accomplished for circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” Luke 2:11-24.

(4) “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” John 1:14. He was the “Word” and “God” and a member of the Godhead from all eternity, but He was not made flesh until God had a Son by Mary.

(5) “God gave his only begotten Son” is taken to prove that God must have had a Son before He gave Him, but this must be understood in connection with other passages. It is certain that the second person of the Godhead had to become a man and the Son of God and Mary before either God or Mary could have a Son; so God giving His Son must refer to the time of the crucifixion when God gave His Son and the Son gave Himself to redeem man “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

This time is stated to be at the crucifixion, for it was then that the sins of the whole world were atoned for and all men were crucified with Him Romans 6:4-6Romans 8:32Galatians 1:4Ephesians 5:251 Timothy 2:61 Peter 2:24. The time then when God gave His Son that men should believe in Him to be saved was the time He gave Himself to save all men, and not at the time he was born. At the time He was born He did not save the world and could not have done so. He had to grow to manhood to die for men. We also read of God giving Christ the headship of the Church, and this was even after the crucifixion Ephesians 1:20-22.

The birth of Christ was necessary for God to have a Son to give to die for the world later. The purpose of the birth was that He might have a Son to give as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. God did not give Him to die at the time He was born, but gave Him to die when He was a man and after He had been the Son of God and Mary for over thirty-three years. Because God now has a Son, His giving the Son can be spoken of even at birth in the same sense that He was called “Christ,” as explained in Point V, 27, above.

(6) “Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” John 7:42Micah 5:1-2Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 11:1-2. The person who was to be God’s Son and Christ was to come from God and man; hence, Sonship refers to humanity, not to deity. AS GOD He could not have been born or brought into existence, but as man He had to be Acts 13:23Romans 1:3Romans 8:3, 28Romans 9:5Galatians 4:4Philippians 1:8-11Colossians 1:15Hebrews 2:14-18Hebrews 7:14Hebrews 10:5-141 John 4:1-61 Peter 2:24.

(7) It is stated in both Testaments that there was a certain day that God was to have a Son and a certain day in which He did have a Son. “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee . . . And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son . . . And again, when he brings in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him” Psalms 2:7Acts 13:33Hebrews 1:5-6Hebrews 5:5-10Hebrews 10:5-14Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7. The words “Father” and “Son” have exactly the same meaning when used of God as when used of men.

If Sonship refers to deity then we would have to conclude that there was a certain day when the second person of the Godhead was born and before this day He was not in existence, but this is contrary to all statements in Scripture about Him. Therefore, we must conclude that Sonship refers to humanity and that before His birthday Jesus was God, but He was not man or God’s Son and that as God He had no beginning, but as man He did have a beginning. The prophets foretold how God would become a man by being begotten, but not one ever said that a person would become a God by being begotten Genesis 3:15Genesis 49:10Deuteronomy 18:15-19Psalms 2:7Psalms 22:1-22Psalms 40:7Psalms 80:17Psalms 89:19Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 11:1-2Isaiah 42:1-5Isaiah 32:2Isaiah 53:1-12Jeremiah 23:5Micah 5:2-4.

(8) The truth then is this: there were always three distinct and eternal persons unbegotten of each other from all eternity; that only one of these eternal persons of the deity became a man and the Son of another of these eternal Beings by the power of the third; and that one took the headship part, another took the mediative part, and the third took the part of direct operation in the plan of creation and redemption of all things. It was in the plan of the Trinity to take these respective parts long before the plan began to be worked out.

It was predicted that one of the eternal Beings would become the Father, that one would become the Son, and that the other would take the place of direct operation to bring it about. This is why it was written of a certain day this was done Psalms 2:7Acts 13:33Hebrews 1:5-6Hebrews 5:5-10Hebrews 10:5-14Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7. This plan was not carried out until the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, as in Mt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:31-35. Paul said in Gal. 4:4-5 that God’s Son was “made of a woman, made under the law.” According to Heb. 10:5-14 God prepared a body for the second person of the Godhead in which He was to become incarnate, and it was this man that was born of a woman and was called “the Son of God.” Hence, Sonship refers to humanity, not to deity. As God the second person of the Trinity had no beginning and was not begotten, but as a man He did have a beginning by being begotten of the Father through the Holy Spirit and through the Virgin Mary. There is, therefore, no such doctrine in Scripture as the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ or that He was God’s Son from all eternity. There is no excuse to teach some theory that is not stated in Scripture, even if it is commonly accepted as orthodox teaching.

There are 15 prophetic statements about God having a Son in the future, born of a woman Genesis 3:15Genesis 12:3Genesis 26:4Genesis 28:14Genesis 49:102 Samuel 7:14Psalms 69:8Psalms 89:27Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 11:1Matthew 1:21Luke 1:30-35Luke 2:26. There are also 15 historical statements in the Bible showing that God did have His first and only begotten Son, born of a woman, and that this took place on a certain day in time and not in eternity past Matthew 1:18-21Matthew 2:1-6Luke 2:1-11John 1:14Romans 1:3-4Romans 8:3Galatians 4:4-5Philippians 2:5-11Colossians 1:15-18Acts 13:331 Timothy 3:16Hebrews 1:5-6Hebrews 2:9-18Hebrews 5:5Hebrews 7:14. On the other hand, there is no Scripture in the Bible showing that God had a Son throughout all eternity—one begotten before all worlds. Nor is there a Scripture indicating that there never was a time when He did not have a Son, and no passage to prove that Christ was the Son of God before He was born of a virgin as God’s only begotten Son. We find nothing in the Bible stating that eternal sonship and eternal generation is true of Jesus Christ. We can prove the pre-existence of Jesus Christ as God without claiming that He was in Sonship all that time. We know that He was always God; He had no beginning as God; He was never born, begotten, and never had a mother, as God. He never had a Father God as deity in the ages past, and never became God’s Son in any sense until, as predicted and fulfilled in the above Scriptures.

VII. The Kenosis of Christ Philippians 2:5-8

The kenosis of Christ means that Christ emptied Himself. The Greek word for “made himself of no reputation” in Phil. 2:7 is kenao, meaning “to empty,” “evacuate,” “become nothing,” “to divest one’s self of native dignity and power,” and “to descend to an inferior position or condition.” It is translated “made void” Romans 4:14, “make void” 1 Corinthians 9:15 “make of none effect” 1 Corinthians 1:17, and “be in vain” 2 Corinthians 9:3. The idea in all these passages, as can readily be seen, is to cause a thing to be seen as empty, hollow, nothing, false or absolutely useless. God emptied Himself! What a strange idea in connection with God! Yes, indeed, but through a knowledge of this truth comes a true knowledge of the essence of Christianity and of the very nature and being of God Himself. This truth as demonstrated by God to man by concrete example clears God once and forever of all the accusations made against Him by the devil and his followers. It personified in God the very opposite of the depraved nature of the devil and those who follow him.

When God created the Heaven and the Earth He planned that they should be inhabited by free and intelligent peoples with absolute freedom of choice as to their destiny and God-given responsibility to keep the moral laws of the universe. This plan was that all spirit and material beings should be subject to God and love Him not from the principles of fear and suspicion instilled in them by false ideas of a tyrannical, oppressive, despotic, and ghostly being called God, who was ready to pounce upon them for the least infraction of His moral laws; but that God, Himself, should be the example and ideal to them of all that is just, holy, true and perfect. God should be the supreme sovereign ruling for the good of His whole creation and sharing His goodness, power, and glorious Being with all alike; and that His form of government should be recognized and respected by all alike on all planets.

When Spirit and human free wills were created they were inexperienced as to right and wrong and as to the true nature of the great Being which had brought them into existence. They were created miniatures of God in attributes and powers and could exercise their powers and attributes like God, but only in a limited and finite way. They had to learn by experience the free exercise of their faculties as to right and wrong, walk in the ways of God and be content with their own creative limitations in strict obedience and submission. Being like God in body, soul, and spirit they could naturally enjoy the same feelings, emotions and desires as God and have perfect fellowship with Him in their mutual administration of the universe. The many theophanies in Scripture reveal and demonstrate the mutual interests and common partnership of God and His created subjects and co-workers Genesis 2:21Genesis 18:2Genesis 19:1-5Genesis 32:24-32Joshua 5:15Daniel 7:9-13Hebrews 13:2. Even since the rebellion in God’s kingdom it is God’s plan to dwell with and make man co-administrators of the universe Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 66:22-24Ezekiel 43:7Romans 8:17Revelation 21:3Revelation 22:3-5.

Angels were the first to help God administer the affairs of the universe Colossians 1:15-18. Lucifer, himself, ruled this planet and through pride fell and invaded Heaven to dethrone God, but was defeated and his kingdom destroyed and the Earth placed under water and darkness, as we have seen in Lesson Seven. Lucifer’s highest ambition was to “be like the Most High” in the infinite and sovereign sense.

This spirit of pride and self-exaltation was the very opposite of what the second person of the Godhead demonstrated when He emptied Himself and thought it not something to be grasped after to retain equality with God. Since Lucifer fell he has become the leader of all whose program is self-exaltation and rule-or-ruin. Some day he will be forced to capitulate and bow the knee to Him who demonstrated the opposite principles—who emptied and humbled Himself from deity to humanity and from humanity to infamy and who has been exalted at the right hand of the Father waiting until His enemies be made His footstool Philippians 2:9-11Psalms 110:11 Corinthians 15:22-28Hebrews 2:7-10Hebrews 10:12-131 Peter 3:22. In this we have a clear demonstration of the power of the greater and more God-like principles of right over wrong, unselfishness over selfishness, humility over pride, faithfulness and obedience over rebellion, and self-emptying over self-exaltation.

When God restored the Earth in six days and created new life therein, man was given the dominion Lucifer had lost. Man soon sinned after the same subtle manner as did the spirit-rebels by attempting to be equal with God in the unlawful sense. It was Satan using the serpent as a tool who said, “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing both good and evil.” Thus Adam, like Lucifer before him, through trying to be “as Elohim,” in the unlawful sense, really became unlike God in the lawful sense. He became the leader of all human rebels against God, as Lucifer had become the devil and leader of all spirit-rebels before Adam.

At the Fall, Lucifer took up his new role as the usurper and pseudo-ruler of man and his dominion Luke 4:6John 12:31John 14:302 Corinthians 4:4. Man entered his new role as a beaten galley-slave, no longer able to resist his slave-master and exercise his God-given dominion or his faculties in freedom from sin and the devil.

God, who always has had and always will have the best interests of His creatures at heart, saw the unequal struggle and helpless state of His new creation and began to champion man’s cause and make it possible for man to defeat the spirit-rebels and regain his dominion. God knew that the spirit-rebels were past redemption, having refused all means of reconciliation before He took action against them. God further knew that the new rebels should be given full justice and a chance to become reconciled before having final action taken against them. So, as pre-planned, the Creator offered redemption to all human rebels, especially to them who accept and believe the gospel Ephesians 1:41 Peter 1:2Revelation 13:8Revelation 17:8.

The first step in the work of redemption was to send angels to protect the new race from immediate destruction by the spirit-rebels who wanted to annihilate the race and seize the Earth for themselves. The age-long struggle between these good and bad spirit-forces for the protection and destruction of the race until “the restitution of all things” is clearly revealed in Job 1:10-12; 2:5-6; 42:10; Dan. 10:12–11:1; Mt. 18:10; Acts 10:38; Eph. 2:2-3; 6:1-17; Heb. 1:14; 2:18; Rev. 12:7-12.

The second step was the promise of a Redeemer who would be the seed of the woman and who would liberate man from the slavery of the devil and free and restore his original domination. Many are the promises of a virgin-born child who would be God manifest in flesh, who would be the “first-born” and head of a new creation of human kind, and who would finally put down Satan and with man rule supreme over all creation forever Genesis 3:15Genesis 12:1-3Genesis 49:10Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 9:6-7Isaiah 11:1-8Isaiah 42:1-4Isaiah 53:1-12Isaiah 61:1-3Micah 5:1-2Luke 1:32-35.

The third step was the actual fulfillment of Immanuel, God with us. What kind of Being was God to be when He appeared among men? What kind of an example and life was He to demonstrate before and among men in order to win them from allegiance to the devil? What could He possibly do to allay the fears and wrong impressions of God in man and counteract the arguments against God and His rights and bring man over on God’s side? Was He going to be as Satan pictured Him—a being full of pride, a tyrant, a despot, full of vengeance, ready to destroy those who rebelled? Was He to come in might and power to inspire awe and demand the worship of all? Was He to come with His faithful hosts of angels to conquer Satan and his rebels in the sight of man to prove to man that He alone was the one powerful enough to reign as sovereign of all? Was He coming to save Himself or save and restore others?

He came as a man—a lowly servant of all to set the right example of how men can be like God. He came and lived as God would live among men so that men could learn to live like God. He literally “emptied Himself” and took the form of a servant instead of the form of a sovereign. He humbled Himself from deity to humanity and from humanity to infamy, taking on Him the sins of the world and redeeming fallen man to His original dominion.

VIII. Of What Did Christ Empty Himself?

The various doctrine books teach that Christ possessed all the glory, nature, and attributes of God during His earthly life just as much as when He was in the form of God. They give us proof for their conclusion that Christ had:

1. OMNIPOTENCE Matthew 8:16, 26Luke 4:35-41Luke 5:25Luke 7:14-15Luke 8:54-55Ephesians 1:20-23Hebrews 1:3.

2. OMNISCIENCE Mark 2:8Luke 5:4-5, 22Luke 22:10-12John 1:48John 2:24-25John 4:15-19John 6:64John 13:1John 16:30John 21:17Colossians 2:3.

3. OMNIPRESENCE Matthew 18:20Matthew 28:20John 3:13John 14:202 Corinthians 13:5Ephesians 1:13.

4. ETERNITY John 1:1John 17:5John 8:58Micah 5:2Colossians 1:17Hebrews 13:81 John 1:1.

5. IMMUTABILITY Hebrews 1:12Hebrews 13:8.

Upon examination of these passages it can be seen that not one passage teaches that Christ had or used these attributes of Himself while on Earth. The majority of them refer to the power Christ had to heal, read the thoughts of men, and do certain works by the direct anointing of the Spirit and not by being God manifest in the flesh. Some of them refer to Christ before His earthly life while still in the form of God. The rest of them refer to Christ after His earthly life when He was exalted and had His glory restored to Him as before becoming man. Thus not one of them refers to Christ as acting of Himself without the anointing of the Spirit and because He was God in flesh, having all the natural attributes and powers that God had from all eternity.

The true biblical teaching of the kenosis of Christ is that in taking human form He divested Himself of His divine attributes, or at least power to use them, having laid aside His God-form and voluntarily given up His glory which He had with the Father before the world was and become limited in knowledge, wisdom, power, glory, and in every way that man was, and that He retained His deity or His divine nature. The Bible further teaches that He was made of a woman without a human father and was, therefore, free from the fallen human nature that came through Adam and His male descendants Luke 1:32-35Romans 8:3Galatians 4:4. It could not be that Christ laid aside His divine nature, for then He would cease being God. Paul did not say He ceased being God, but that He laid aside His God-form and emptied Himself of everything that would hinder Him from being a true and real human being and “in all things” like His brethren Hebrews 2:9-18. The following points prove this to be the true biblical teaching of the kenosis of Christ:

1. 1 This harmonizes perfectly with every Scripture given by the various writers. If Christ retained all divine attributes or the free use of them in becoming man, then of what did He empty Himself? And how could we harmonize all the many limitations of His earthly life with the fact that He was equal with God in every sense? If God, with all divine attributes, is as limited as Christ was in His earthly life, then God is not so much greater than man after all. On the other hand, if God is as infinite and great as He is revealed in the Bible to be, and Christ demonstrated just the opposite in His earthly life, then it must be concluded that Christ divested Himself of the divine powers in taking human form.

1. 1 The manifestations of attributes as given by the above-stated opinion can be explained as operations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of 1 Cor. 12:4-11, which Christ possessed to the full. The limitations of Christ in knowledge and wisdom cannot be explained and harmonized with the fact that Christ had omniscience. His limitations in power and His powerlessness to act and do things in Himself cannot be harmonized with the fact that He had his original attribute of omnipotence. These and other facts make it clear that Christ’s emptying Himself in reality includes the laying aside of His attributes and powers or at least limitations of them in becoming man. (See Point V, 30, for proof Christ could do nothing in Himself.)

1. 1 Paul definitely teaches in Phil. 2:5-11 that Christ emptied Himself and that He laid aside His God-form and His equality with God and took human form and was “made in the likeness of men.” Paul further teaches in Heb. 2:14-18; 5:8-9 that it was necessary for Christ to be made “in all things . . . like unto his brethren,” that He should live among them and be like them, that He should suffer with them and for them and in their stead, and that He should be limited like them and have to depend upon God for daily grace for body, soul, and spirit so as to be “able to succor them that are tempted.” For “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” Hebrews 5:9.

1. 1 Peter’s doctrine of the sufferings of Christ so as to leave “us an example, that we should walk in His steps” would mean nothing to ordinary human rebels if He endured the sufferings as a God and not as a man. What injustice it would be to expect ordinary, frail, and weak man to suffer as only a God could suffer. On the other hand, if He suffered as any other human being would suffer, having God as a helper only and not as being a God, then every suffering human being can be inspired by such an example and endure all as He did.

1. 1 The prophets foretold His being limited as man. Isaiah 7:14-16 speaks of the virgin-born son as growing in knowledge as any other child and that there would be a time in His life when He would not know to choose the good and refuse the evil because of being so young and immature. What a strange thing to say of Jesus if He were a full-grown God having all the use of the attributes of God in a small human baby! Also in Isa. 50:4-11 we read, “The Lord God hath given me [Messiah] the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in due season to him that is weary: He [God] wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked out the hair: I hid my face from shame and spitting.” Again, what strange words to speak of a person if He had the attribute of omniscience! In Isa. 11:1 and 53:1-12 we have a detailed picture of the Messiah growing up before God as a “tender plant” and “as a root out of dry ground,” which needs much nourishment and care in growth—a man of sorrows, not a God of sorrows, smitten of God and afflicted.

In Ps. 119:97-104 we have another clear prophecy of the Messiah meditating in the Word of God and becoming wiser than His enemies, His teachers, and all the ancients. One could not possibly harmonize such statements in connection with a full grown, mature, and highly educated man, much less a great God with all the use of His divine attributes and powers. We cannot conceive of a God who still had omniscience and had to be taught and be instructed as was Jesus, who still was immutable and eternal and yet too young to know good from evil or capable of death, who still was omnipotent and could not help Himself, who still was omnipresent and yet was limited to a small, helpless baby body, and who was limited by both Old Testament and New Testament writers to the status of a human being during His earthly life, He is certainly not the unlimited and almighty God who has not emptied Himself as had Christ.

1. 1 History proves Christ was limited during His earthly life. Mark definitely states that Christ was limited in knowledge while in His earthly life, for He did not know the day of His return to Earth as did the Father Mark 13:32. Luke also records how Jesus “grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom . . . the grace of God was upon Him . . . Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” Luke 2:40-52. Paul speaks of Him as having “learned obedience by the things which He suffered Hebrews 5:8. Such could never be said of Christ if He had retained all His divine attributes of omniscience, immutability, etc.

1. 1 Christ Himself claimed no power or exercised no personal attribute of deity apart from the full anointing of the Holy Spirit Matthew 12:28Luke 3:21-22Luke 4:1, 14John 3:34Acts 10:38. If His works were through the anointing of the Spirit, then they could not be through the exercise of His own natural attributes of deity. Prophecy foretells that Christ was to be anointed with the Spirit and do all His works by this anointing, not by being God and having the exercise of all divine attributes as before and since His earthly life Isaiah 11:1-2Isaiah 42:1-5Isaiah 48:16Isaiah 61:1. History plainly records the fulfillment of these predictions Matthew 3:16-17Matthew 12:22-32Matthew 20:22Luke 3:21-22Luke 4:14-21John 1:31-34John 3:34John 5:19, 30John 6:57John 8:28John 14:10, 24Acts 10:38Romans 1:4Romans 3:1Romans 5:6Hebrews 2:9-18Revelation 5:6. Christ did no miracle or exercised no divine power until His anointing with the Holy Spirit Matthew 3:16-17Luke 4:14-21John 2:11John 3:34Acts 10:38.

1. 1 The fact that Christ promised all disciples that they could do the same works and even greater works than what He did if they would but empty themselves and “tarry until” they were endued with power from on High, proves the source of His power was the anointing of the Spirit instead of exercising divine attributes by virtue of being God Matthew 10:1-20Matthew 16:18Luke 10:1-20Luke 24:49Mark 16:15-20John 14:12-15John 20:22Acts 1:8. The fact that disciples did exercise this power proves the same contention. Disciples had power to impart the baptism in the Spirit by laying on of hands, and they did a number of acts that are not recorded in the life of Christ Acts 8:5-20Acts 19:1-6. The time was not yet come that men could be baptized with the Spirit until Christ was glorified; hence Christ could not baptize men in the Spirit while on Earth John 1:31-33John 7:37-39Acts 2:33Matthew 20:22-24. Hence the “greater works.”

1. 1 Christ prayed for His original glory to be restored, which He had with the Father before the world was John 17:5. It is not until after the resurrection that he said, “All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth” Matthew 28:18. Christ and others repeatedly stated the following:

• That God “gave” Him certain powers and blessings which enabled Him to do His works John 3:34-35John 5:22, 26John 17:2Acts 10:38.

• That He did His works in the Father’s name just as believers are supposed to do them in His name John 5:43John 10:25John 17:6-12, 26.

• That He was not as great as the Father John 10:29John 14:281 Corinthians 11:3.

• That He was sent of God and did not come of Himself John 3:14-18, 34John 4:34John 5:17, 30John 6:29, 38John 7:16, 28John 8:16, 28John 10:36John 12:44-45John 17:4, 8.

• That His works were not of Himself but were of the Father John 5:17, 19John 10:32John 14:10.

• That He could do nothing of Himself John 5:19, 30.

• That He did nothing of Himself John 8:28.

• That His doctrine was not His own John 5:20John 7:16John 8:26, 28John 10:18John 14:31John 15:15.

• That He did not speak of Himself John 8:38, 40John 12:49John 14:10.

• That He sought God’s glory, not His own John 8:50.

• That He was a servant of God and perfectly obedient to Him John 8:35Isaiah 42:1Isaiah 50:5Hebrews 5:8-9Hebrews 10:7.

• That His works were proof that God was “with Him” and was doing the works, and therefore, they were no proof that He had the essential attributes of God and was using them of Himself John 3:2John 5:31-36John 9:4John 10:25, 38John 11:42John 14:10Acts 10:38.

• That He was sending His followers to confirm the gospel and do divine works just as the Father had sent Him John 17:18Mark 16:15-20Matthew 28:19-20Acts 1:1-4Hebrews 2:3-4.

• That He used the same means of grace by prayer, faith, and yieldedness to the Spirit that all believers after Him must use Luke 11:1-13Luke 24:49Mark 11:22-24Acts 1:1-8Acts 10:38John 14:12-15.

Could such things be said of a God who had not emptied Himself of His glory and the free use of His attributes and powers?

1. 1 Christ’s exaltation to the highest place with God is also proof of His lowest humiliation and limitation before God—even to do nothing, say nothing, be nothing, and depend upon God for needed grace for body, soul, and spirit, and to make a success of the work that He was sent into the world to do Philippians 2:9-11Ephesians 1:21-23Colossians 1:15-241 Peter 3:22. He could not have retained this exalted position while becoming man, else He could not have been exalted back to it. He could not have retained immutability, nor immortality bodily; else He could not have laid aside His God-form to become a mutable and mortal man to die upon the cross. If He had not laid aside His glory He could not have had it restored to Him, as stated in Jn. 17:5. If He had retained all His riches while on Earth He could not have become poor for our sakes, as taught in 2 Cor. 8:9. If He had retained His divine form He could not have taken human form as taught in Phil. 2:5-11.

Those who hold to the theory that Christ possessed all the attributes of deity and that He merely surrendered the independent exercise of them and that He surrendered to the control of the Spirit in the use of them teach, in substance, the same that we do, for they say, “the Godhead narrowed itself down to a point that is next to absolute extinction when it gave up omniscience, omnipotence, and other powers.” If He had not laid aside His equality as God, then He could not have been unequal with God as manifested in the days of His flesh.

The incarnation proves He was limited as man and grew to manhood and developed normally as any other human child. Therefore, all the stories of Christ before His anointing with the Spirit, such as His making mud cakes and giving life to them which ran over the mud cakes of other boys, of His making mud birds and breathing into them so that they became living creatures and flew away, of His stretching the lumber to required lengths if it was too short, and of many miraculous powers from birth are mere traditions manufactured by superstitious pagans to make Him equal with pagan ideas of their gods. These stories are unworthy of the glorious offspring of the invisible God as revealed in the Bible, Who did no miracle until His full anointing of the Spirit Matthew 3:16-17John 2:11.

IX. What Does Our Lord’s “Kenosis” Teach Us? It Teaches:

1. That Christ was always divine Micah 5:1-2John 1:1-3.

2. That He could not cease being God in nature 1 Timothy 3:16.

3. That He retained His divinity when becoming incarnate in flesh Matthew 1:23.

4. That He was truly human as well as divine and lived while on Earth a nominal and perfect human life as an example to all men who desire to please God 1 Peter 2:21.

5. That in so doing He laid aside His natural and divine attributes or at least limited their use, and became a perfect example of yieldedness to God and His Spirit to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil Hebrews 10:5-9Acts 10:38.

6. That He did His works solely by the anointing of the Spirit and not by the free self-exercise of the attributes of His deity while becoming man Acts 10:38.

7. That He did them to demonstrate and prove to all believers that by the means of grace God has provided that everyone can live victorious as He did 1 John 2:61 John 3:71 John 4:17.

8. That every believer can likewise be anointed with the same Spirit to the same degree that He was and do the works that He did and even greater works John 14:12.

9. That His life and works were done as a pattern for all believers after Him 1 John 4:171 Peter 2:21Mark 16:15-20.

10. That at His exaltation He had restored to Him His attributes and glory He had with the Father before becoming man John 17:5Matthew 28:18.

11. That all the manifestations of divine attributes in His earthly life were really the operations of the Holy Spirit, which He was constantly baptized into John 3:34. They were exercises of the spiritual gifts of 1 Cor. 12.

12. That He possessed the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit to the full to demonstrate what being like God among men really is like and to encourage one and all who aspire to that exalted position of sons of God with power John 3:34Acts 10:38.

Thus by the kenosis of Christ and that of believers in every generation God proposes to demonstrate to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies and all rebels on Earth the true nature and manifold wisdom of God 1 Corinthians 4:91 Corinthians 11:11Ephesians 3:10-11.