I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. (John 16:28 ESV)
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30 ESV)
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
I have friends who point out passages such as John 16:28 (I came from the Father), or John 8:58 (Before Abraham was, I am), or John 10:30, "I and my Father are one" to make their case for the "Divinity" of the Messiah, whether as part of a Trinity or Binity or Oneness doctrine.
At best, these arguments are based Implicit Allusions to the purported divinity of the Anointed One. For example, according to these friends, the words ". . . I am" in John 8:58, IMPLIES that Jesus is the great I AM, the Almighty God Himself. Similarly, "I and my Father are one" IMPLIES that Jesus is the same being as the Father (Oneness doctrine), and likewise "I came forth from the Father . . . going to the Father" IMPLIES that Jesus is part of the Godhead etc.
I'd like to invite my friends to leave aside for a moment their preoccupation with such Implicit Allusions and join me in examining the far more significant and undeniably obvious Explicit Assertions of the apostles who wrote the book of Acts and the Epistles in the NT. The long list of verses from Paul's and Peter's letters which I have included in my previous post are but only some of such Explicit Assertions. I reproduce some of Paul's assertions below:
2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
Ephesians 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Colossians 1:3
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Romans 1:8
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
Romans 1:8-9
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ . . .God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers . . ."
Romans 7:25
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God . . .
Romans 15:5-7
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
Further examples are found in Peter's words in his first epistle.
1 Peter 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Verses 17 through 21 is rendered very clearly and unambiguously in the Good News Translation:
1 Peter 1: 17 GNT
You call him Father, when you pray to God, who judges all people by the same standard, according to what each one has done; so then, spend the rest of your lives here on earth in reverence for him.
1 Peter 1:19, 20 GNT
it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw. He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake.
1 Peter 1:21 GNT
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.
In Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2: 22 - 24 (note especially v36), Peter asserts explicitly that
- Jesus is a man: accredited by God,
- handed over to the Jews by God's foreknowledge,
- raised from death by God and
- made Master and Messiah by God.
- It was God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power (v 38).
- God was with Him (v 38b).
- After he was killed, God raised him up on the third day (v 39).
- It was God who showed the resurrected Lord Jesus openly to selected witnesses (v 41), witnesses whom God had chosen, so that they could even eat and drink with Him.
- Finally, it was God who ordained the Lord to be judge of the living and the dead (v 42).
Let us not be troubled by various implicit allusions. Instead, let us turn to the explicit assertions of the apostles. May our Father in Heaven, the Only True God, grant us peace through Yeshua the Anointed One.
