Did Jesus claim to be God?

Tue 13July2010

Over the past ten months since I stopped believing in the trinity and turned to YHVH, our Heavenly Father, as the Only True god, I've often been posed a question by well-meaning trinitarian Christian friends who are very concerned about my "falling away" from the Faith.

The question is, "Didn't our Lord Jesus himself claim to be God?" And it is usually substantiated by references to John 11:25, where our Lord said, "I am the resurrection and the life . . ." and also John 5:18, "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God."

The Jews first accused our Lord Jesus of having broken the Sabbath.

Our Lord had just healed a sick man at the pool of Bethesda by Sheep gate of Jerusalem. This man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years of his life. It must have brought great joy to that man and all his family and friends.

Alas, it was not so for the Jews. For that day was the sabbath, and our Lord had told the man to pick up his mat and walk. To those Jews, the mere act of picking up one's mat and walking with it was tantamount to breaking the fourth commandment. Thus, both Jesus and the man whom he healed were accused of having broken the Sabbath.

On another occasion in Luke chapter 6, his disciples had merely picked some heads of grain, while walking through a grain field, rubbed them in their hands and ate the kernels.

The Pharisees took offence at that incident. In their eyes, the disciples had broken the fourth commandment. When questioned by some of the Pharisees, our Lord had told them in his reply that "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath".

Did Jesus break the Sabbath? All of us know that this accusation was based on narrow interpretations by those Jews on what constituted "working" on a Sabbath day. As such, their accusation was false, we know that Jesus didn't break the fourth commandment.

Similarly, the Jews also accused Jesus of making himself equal with God in John 5:18. Our question now is,

"Did Jesus claim to be God?"

In John 5: 26, 27, Jesus said "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man."

This clearly shows that both life and authority were granted by the Father, who alone is the Only True God. As such, when Jesus said in John 11: 25 that he is the resurrection and the life, he did not mean that he is the ultimate source of life. Instead, he meant that he had life in himself which was granted by his Father in heaven.

Furthermore, in John 5:43, 44: Jesus also said, "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"

Again, without any doubt, it is clear that when Jesus described himself as having come in His Father's name, he meant he had come to seek the honor that came from the Only God!

Also, in Matthew 26:64, our Lord replied the High Priest who had put him under oath and asked him to state whether he was the Messiah, the Son of God:

"It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Note that the Son of Man sits at the right hand of the Power (YHVH), the Son of Man is NOT the Power himself.

Eventually, at his crucifixion, the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, mocked Jesus with these words, " . . . He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God." (Matthew 27:43)

Even his accusers acknowledged explicitly that he trusted in God, and it was for that reason that they mocked him at his crucifixion. They did not mock him for claiming to be God himself.

My brothers and sisters, I am certain that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did not claim to be God.

The Ten Commandments.

Draft started on Tue 13July2010

The Ten Commandments or the Ten Words (Ex 34:28, Deut. 5:22)
I have been pondering over the well-debated question of whether the Ten Commandments have been ignored, neglected or even, possibly, disobeyed by most of today's Christians. I have not come to a conclusion, and this post merely states my reflections on this matter:

1. Both Gal 5:14 and Rom 13:8-10 assert that having the Love of God in us is the fulfillment of the Torah. The passage in Rom. 13 lists the 6th to 10th commandments as examples. And it is in line with the Lord Jesus' teaching that Lev.19:18 is the second of the two greatest commandments on which "hang all the commandments and the Law". My question is how about the first five commandments? How does Love fulfill them, in particular the fourth?
2. Did Paul and the other Apostles observe the sabbath along with Jewish feasts and holy days? 1 Cor. 16:8 tells of Paul tarrying in Ephesus until Pentecost. Were those the only celebrations observed by Christians in NT times?
3. Ironically the 4th commandment - the least talked about or taught in Church - appears to be the most elaborate of the Ten commandments. It is the longest commandment of all.
4. 1 Cor. 7:19 says that keeping the commandments of God is what matters. This is consistent with all that the Lord Jesus had taught in his sermon on the Mount - "You have heard that it is said . . . . but I tell you . . ." largely elaborates on how to obey the Ten commandments from the heart.
5. The Apostle Paul taught from the Torah of Moses in 1 Cor. 9:9 (Deut 25:4). Similarly, he taught from the Neviim in 1 Cor. 14:21 (Is. 28:11,12). Another significant example is 2Cor. 6:16 where Paul referred to Lev 26:12, Jer 32:38, Ezek 37:27 Isaiah 52;11, Ezek 20:34, 41 and 2Sam 7:14 with the words, "And God has said . . ." The apostle clearly upheld the OT scriptures in his life. (Rom. 3:31)
6. A caution, however, is given in Gal 6:16, which appears to be the epitome of the entire epistle to the Galatians, "walk according to this rule" citing circumcision as the case in hand, v. 15 says,"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.".
7. What is this "rule"? Many Christians today interpret this to be the abolishment of the Torah, and to imply that we no longer live under any obligation to keep the Torah, including the Ten Commandments? see 2Cor. 3:11, "that which is fading away", Eph 2:15, Christ "abolished in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations"
8. In Acts 15 and the entire epistle to the Galatians, the issue was that some people insisted on circumcision according to the custom of Moses - in order to be saved!
9. Strangely, no such issue was raised by the opponents of Paul regarding the keeping of the Sabbath. Wouldn't they be even more unhappy with Paul's teaching if the Gentile churches did not, perhaps along with Paul himself, observe the seventh day as a day of rest?
10. It may be highly likely that the early Christians who turned to God from idols had also learned from the apostles to observe the sabbath. As such the Judaizers had nothing to say against them on this matter.
11. And how about Paul's arguments in Rom. 14 "4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God."
    
    Was Paul referring to the 4th commandment when he talked about some people esteeming one day as better than another?
12. (To be continued)