@Rowan
Bishop Pearson, one of the most strenuous defenders of “eternal generation,” and of all the peculiarities of the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity, gives four reasons why the Theanthropos or Godman is called the Son of God. (1.) His miraculous conception. (2.) The high office to which he was designated. (John 10:34, 35, 36.) (3.) His resurrection, according to one interpretation of Acts 13:33. “The grave,” he says, “is as the womb of the earth; Christ, who is raised from thence, is as it were begotten to another life, and God, who raised him, is his Father.” (4.) Because after his resurrection He was made the heir of all things. (Heb. 1:2–5.) Having assigned these reasons why the Godman is called Son, he goes on to show why the Logos is called Son.
Greetings
@Rowan, I'm still very weak with flu like symptoms, which makes it very difficult to think, and for one to organize and align his thoughts to make his teachings agree with the scriptures, but we are not doing much good just sitting around hoping, praying to get better, what better way to get better than be working for our Lord Jesus Christ, time is of essence at my age.
I highlighted a few words above for discussion only.
Luke 1:35: “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.”
Bishop Pearson, one of the most strenuous defenders of “eternal generation,” and of all the peculiarities of the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity,
Luke 1:35 is God's witness/testimony concerning
the origin of His Son Jesus of Narareth, the son of Mary, and his supposed father, Joseph. This is the
only record we have, any other supposed teaching must be brought
back to God's word to be tested, such as creeds of men.
The Eternal Sonship is a dogma that is discredited logically by
self contradiction. To contend that Jesus was eternally begotten is a
manifest contradiction of term. We ask: can an object begin and not begun? No. The saying within itself is most absurd. Why do not people consider this, and understand it? Acts 28:25-27 is the answer.
Rowan. please consider carefully: Eternity is that which has no beginning, nor stands in reference to time ~
Son supposes time, generation, and father; time is also antedent to such generation, therefore, the conjunction of the two terms: Son and eternity~is absolutely impossible as they imply different and opposite ideal. Words must have meaning, or else, how can we communicate with each other on a level where we can understand each other? I understand eternity and I also understand the word son, and so do my readers, and we should know how to use each word properly, without confusing the meaning of either.
If you disagree with anything so far, let discuss your disagreements, if you do not point them out, then I take that to means one of two things: You have no come back that you can present to what I said, or you want to give this more thoughts, but, whatever, at least explain why you will not address my points.
four reasons why the Theanthropos or Godman is called the Son of God. (1.) His miraculous conception. (2.) The high office to which he was designated. (John 10:34, 35, 36.) (3.) His resurrection, according to one interpretation of Acts 13:33. “The grave,” he says, “is as the womb of the earth; Christ, who is raised from thence, is as it were begotten to another life, and God, who raised him, is his Father.” (4.) Because after his resurrection He was made the heir of all things. (Heb. 1:2–5.) Having assigned these reasons why the Godman is called Son, he goes on to show why the Logos is called Son.
I understand why he was called the Son of God, because all Bishop Pearson is mentioning took place in TIME around two thousand years ago, not back in eternity. How can one call Jesus the Eternal Son when they have no biblical proof of such a doctrine, which in truth destroys Jesus' Deity as being the Eternal God.
When stripped of all artificial verbiage, the naked question returns: Is Jesus Christ absolutely,
eternally independently, underived, the very Supreme and eternal God, that the word of God declares him to be? We say yes he is. The incarnate Sonship protects Jesus' Divinity as the True God. The eternal Sonship opens the door for false cults like the Jehovah Witnesses and the likes.
There is nothing, therefore, in the passages cited inconsistent with the Church doctrine of the eternal Sonship of our Lord. The language of the angel addressed to the Virgin Mary, may, however, mean no more than this, namely, that the assumption of humanity by the eternal Son of God was the reason why He should be recognized as a divine person. It was no ordinary child who was to be born of Mary, but one who was, in the language of the prophets, to be the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Son of the Highest. It was because the Eternal Son was made of a woman, that that Holy Thing born of the virgin was to be called the Son of God.
Rowan, if one leaves the creeds out of this, and only uses the word of God, then I would agree.
The language of the angel addressed to the Virgin Mary, may, however, mean no more than this, namely, that the assumption of humanity by the eternal Son of God was the reason why He should be recognized as a divine person. It was no ordinary child who was to be born of Mary, but one who was, in the language of the prophets, to be the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Son of the Highest. It was because the Eternal Son was made of a woman, that that Holy Thing born of the virgin was to be called
You folks just can not help yourself from inserting ~ "the Eternal Son", even though there is no record of how that came to be. We do have a record recorded for us why Jesus was called the Son of God, His extraordinary conception, life of teachings, and his miracles, and the manner in which he spoke, etc., and then that which took place while he was dying on the cross, then his resurrection from the dead, etc. Even said more than once that God was his Father, amki8ng himself more than just a man, that put him equal with God, and even his enemies understood this truth. One thing for sure, when you must teach concerning Jesus being the Son of God you
must go back to Luke 1:35 and start there! Just as those who holds to the Incarnate Sonship of Jesus Christ.
It need hardly be remarked that no valid objection to the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ, or, that He is Son as to his divine nature, can be drawn from such passages as speak of the Son as being less than the Father, or subject to Him, or even ignorant. If Christ can be called the Lord of glory, or God, when his death is spoken of, He may be called Son, when other limitations are ascribed to Him. As He is both God and man, everything that is true either of his humanity or of his divinity, may be predicated of Him as a person; and his person may be denominated from one nature, when the predicate belongs to the other nature. He is called the Son of Man when He is said to be omnipresent; and He is called God when He is said to have purchased the Church with his blood.
The Eternal Sonship has a major dilemma, what part of Christ was from his Father in eternity, assuming that the doctrine is correct? His divine nature?
Eternal Sonship Is Not Scriptural
There are none of these terms or combinations to be found anywhere in the Bible: eternal generation, eternally begotten, God of God, very God of very God, Light of Light, eternal Father, eternal Son, begotten God, generated God, begotten Word, generated Word, etc., etc. If it were not for men in love with Greek philosophy and speculating foolishly outside Scripture, no one would ever think such a thing, that God begat another God just like Himself and called Him Son. The term “everlasting Father” is used once, but it is a name of the Son, not of the Father (Isaiah 9:6 )! Let them be confused forever! If they ever read Scripture, the Son is the Everlasting Father!
If they were to speculate from this verse, Origen-like, the Son everlastingly generated the Father! There is not a single reference anywhere in Scripture even approaching such a pagan concept The Son of God, begotten in His Godhead in eternity,
requires by its very terms a begotten God.
Origen, who formulated the doctrine, clearly understood this when the controversy began; and he clearly understood that a begotten God was an inferior God to the One doing the begetting. Arius was the most consistent of all that met at Nicea, for he used Origen’s words consistently. As I have said many times over: the Jehovah’s (false) Witnesses, who teach a begotten God, use eternal Sonship to teach a lesser God. Men today truly prefer fables to sound doctrine, but even weak believers reject a begotten God!
Admitting the eternal generation of the second person denies the Scriptural doctrine of the Trinity. Why must older creeds, i.e. Nicene and Athanasius, spend so much time saying they believe it? How are the three identically one in nature, if one begat another in nature! If begat means begat?
The Word is not inferior, derived, or begotten in any way the Father is not in nature and person.
Since the Son of God was made of a woman (Galatians 4:4), who in the heavens is His eternal mother? The Son of God did have a mother, the virgin Mary. But she could not bear until 2000 years ago! There was no Son of God, until Mary gave birth to the supernatural “holy thing” (Luke 1:30-35). Except in prophecy/covenant.
God spoke to the fathers by a variety of means,
but He didn’t speak by His Son (Hebrews 1:1,2).
The Relation of the Spirit to the other Persons of the Trinity
The process of
proceeding from, tells me that's an impossibility and without denying the Spirit's Deity
as God.
Proofs of the Spirit’s Deity
1.) The Holy Spirit is expressly called God. To Ananias Peter said, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”and then in the very next verse, he affirms “thou hast not lied unto men,
but unto God” (Acts 5:3, 4)
2.) The Holy Spirit is expressly called Jehovah, a name that is utterly incommunicable to all creatures, and which can be applied to none
except the LORD Jehovah. It was Jehovah who spoke by the mouth of all the holy Prophets from the beginning of the world (Luke 1:68, 70), yet in 2nd Peter 1:20 it is implicitly declared that those Prophets all spoke by “the Holy Ghost” (see also 2nd Sam. 23:2,3, and compare Acts 1:16)! It was Jehovah whom Israel tempted in the wilderness, “sinning against God and provoking the Most High” (Psa. 78:17, 18), yet in Isaiah 63:10 this is specifically termed, “rebelling against and
vexing the Holy Spirit”! In Deuteronomy 32:12 we read, “The Lord alone did lead them,” yet speaking of the same people, at the same time, Isaiah 63:14 declares, “the Spirit of the Lord did lead them.” It was Jehovah who bade Isaiah, “Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed” (6:8, 9), while the Apostle declared, “well spake the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the Prophet, saying, Go unto the people and say, Hear ye indeed...” (Acts 28:25, 26)!
What could more plainly establish the identity of Jehovah and the Holy Spirit?
3.) Note that the
Holy Spirit is called “the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians 3:5.3. The perfections of God are all found in the Spirit. By what is the nature of any being determined but by its properties? He who possesses the properties peculiar to an angel or man is
rightly esteemed one. So He who possesses the attributes or properties which belong alone to God, must be considered and worshipped as God. The Scriptures very clearly and abundantly affirm that the Holy Spirit is possessed of the attributes peculiar to God. They ascribe to Him absolute holiness. As God is called “Holy,” “the Holy One,” being therein described by that superlatively excellent property of His nature wherein He is “glorious in holiness” (Exo.15:11); The Holy Spirit designated “the Spirit of Holiness” (Rom. 1:4) to denote the holiness of His nature and the Deity of His Person. The Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14). He is omnipresent: “Whither shall I flee from thy Spirit?” (Psa. 139:7). He is omniscient (see 1 Cor. 2:10, 11). He is omnipotent: being termed “the Power of the Highest” (Luke 1:35; see also Micah 2:8, and compare Isa. 40:28).
4.) The absolute sovereignty and supremacy of the Spirit manifest His Godhead. In Matthew 4:1 we are told, “Then was Jesus led up of
the Spirit into the wilderness”: who but a Divine Person had the right to direct the Mediator? and to whom but God would the Redeemer have submitted! In John 3:8 the Lord Jesus drew an analogy between the wind which “bloweth where it listeth” (not being at the disposal or direction of any creature), and the imperial operations of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:11 it is expressly affirmed that the Holy Spirit has the distribution of all spiritual gifts, having nothing
but His own pleasure for His rule. He must, then, be
“God over all, blessed forever.” In Acts 13:2-4 we find the Holy Spirit calling men unto the work of the ministry, which is solely a Divine prerogative, though wicked men have abrogated it unto themselves. In these verses it will be found that the Spirit appointed their work, commanded them to be set apart by the church, and sent them forth. In Acts 20:28 it is plainly declared that the Holy Spirit set officers over the church. The works ascribed to the Spirit
clearly demonstrate His Godhead. Creation itself is attributed to Him, no less than to the Father and the Son: “By the Spirit He hath garnished the heavens” (Job 26: 13): “the Spirit of God hath made me” (Job 33:4). He is concerned in the work of providence (Isa. 40:13-15; Acts 16:6, 7). All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16), the source of which is the Spirit Himself (2 Peter 1:21). The humanity of Christ was miraculously formed by the Spirit (Matt. 1:20).Christ was anointed for His work by the Spirit (Isa. 61:1; John 3:34). His miracles were performed by the Spirit’s power (Matt.12:38). He was raised from the dead by the Spirit (Rom. 8:11).
Who but a Divine person could have wrought such works as these!? to all of our reader.... do you have a personal and inward proof that the Holy Spirit is none other than God? Has He wrought in you that which no finite power could? Has He brought you from death unto life, made you a new creature in Christ, imparted to you a living faith, filled you with holy longings after God? Does He breathe into you the spirit of prayer, take of the things of Christ and show them unto you, apply to your heart both the precepts and promises of God? If so, then, these are so many witnesses in your own bosom of the deity of the Blessed Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God without any qualifications! He proceeded from no one! Only in the vain imagination of men in love with creeds above the scriptures.
