It's almost midnight and just before I wish all my friends Good-Night, I'd like to pose a question which I encountered in a discussion group just now:
"Serious question: How can you deny the deity of Jesus the Christ, and still declare yourselves "Christian"?"
The Apostle Peter denied the deity of Yeshua the Anointed One when he preached in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22-24, and we still declare him a Christian. Note especially 2:36
- 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.
The Apostle Peter likewise denied the deity of Yeshua the Anointed One when he preached to the Israelites in Solomon's porch in Acts 3:11-26, and we still declare him a Christian.
-Yeshua is a Servant of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, HAS GIVEN divine glory to His Servant Yeshua. (3:13)
- Yeshua is holy and good, but the Israelites rejected him (3:14),
- They killed the one who leads to life, but God RAISED him from death (3:15)
- If the Israelites would repent and turn to God, their sins would be forgiven and God will SEND Yeshua (3:19,20)
- Yeshua is the Anointed One CHOSEN by God for Israel (3:20)
- Yeshua the Anointed One must remain in heaven until the time comes for all things to be made new. (3:21)
The Apostle Peter again denied the deity of Yeshua the Anointed One when he preached to the household of Cornelius in Acts 10: 34-43. And we still declare him a Christian.
- God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power (10: 38).
- God was with Him (10: 38b).
- After he was killed, God raised him up on the third day (10:39).
Not only Peter, but ALL the disciples who, after hearing of Peter and John being threatened and warned by the leaders in Jerusalem not to speak nor teach in the Name of Yeshua, gathered to pray in one accord for God's boldness and power in Acts 4: 23-31. In their prayer, they also denied the deity of Yeshua the Servant of God, and we still declare all of them as Christian disciples.
- they called God "Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them!" (4:24)
- they recalled the prophecy spoken through David in Psalm 2 that the rulers of the earth joined together against God AND his Anointed One (4:26)
- they affirmed that Yeshua is the holy Servant of God (4:27, 30)
- they also affirmed that God MADE Yeshua His Anointed One. (4:27b)
Dear Christian friends, would you preach like Peter and pray like the disciples? Would you tell others that God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power? And can you affirm that God raised His Servant Yeshua from death on the third day?
If you do, you can deny the deity of the Anointed Yeshua and still declare yourselves Christians.
