Why would Almighty God WANT to become a human being? Why would an Almight God NEED to become a human being?
Why? And then why LIE about it? Why not come right out and teach it plainly and clearly?
Why would God want to become a human being? Because He loves us. Because He wants a relationship with us.
Why would God need to become a human being? Because He is just. He cannot just overlook sin. He cannot just sweep it under the rug and forgive without the price for sin being paid. Mankind is innately sinful because sin has entered the World and has spread to all mankind. It took God becoming a man to live a sinless life that would be unblemished as a pure sacrifice to pay the price (death) for the sin of all mankind. And it takes an infinite God to have the capacity to cover more than the sin of one other person.
No, John 1:14 does not say 'the logos of God (which is God) took on flesh and became a man while still retaining his deity.'
Nothing close to what John 1:14 says.
John 1:14 -
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
This is the same Word/Logos as was discussed in verses 1-3. Who was the Son? Jesus. Verses 15-18, and then 35-51 go on to tell us that Jesus is the man that the Logos became.
Okay, I'll go with ---- I exist because I exist......God is, period - basically the same thing I said anyway.
NOW, why would a self existent God become a 'dependent human being'?
See what was said above.
No, Jesus is talking about being before Abraham in God's foreknowledge in the plan of humanity's redemption.
That explanation ignores and/or contradicts other Scripture. Jesus did not just exist in God's foreknowledge, because everything that is was created by/through Him (John 1:3, the Word being Jesus according to John 1:14-51).
The first prophecy concerning Jesus was Genesis 3:16 --- in that manner Jesus was before, prior to Abraham.
Also Jesus was before Abraham in God's promise to Abraham: I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. [Genesis 22:17,18] [see also Gal. 3:16]
BTW - The Angel of the LORD spoke from the midst of the burning bush as God's representative, God's agent. (3:2)
Angels are created beings. They do not simply exist, therefore them saying that they are because they are would be incorrect. If it was an angel speaking, it was God speaking through the angel.
Who is Jesus all through the New Testament? The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.
Lord (used 97 times), Son of God, Emmanuel (God with us), Alpha and Omega, The First and Last, The Beginning and the End, Great God and Savior.
Christ (the Anointed One), King of the Jews/Israel, King of Kings, Son of David, Messiah.
Lamb of God, The Light of the World, The Way, The Truth, The Life, The Bread of Life, The Good Shepherd, The True Vine, The Door, The Resurrection and the Life.
Mediator, Redeemer, Holy One, Beloved Son, Creator, Head of the Church.
These are all titles, names, and descriptors given to Jesus in the NT.
If 'I AM' is God's name - why is it that He is not addressed anywhere as I AM but he is addressed as LORD, aka Yahweh, aka Jehovah?
One of the biggest reasons, I believe, is because, even today, the Jews do not write His name or any of His titles in full. They write G-d, or L-rd, or other similar contractions. They wrote YHWH, which has no vowels in the Hebrew language, and therefore has no pronunciation so His title of Lord cannot be spoken.
Nope, Jesus was not omnipotent ---- in fact EVERYTHING that Jesus had was given to him by his Father --- His Father being the one true God. Jesus is not equal to his Father, aka God - His Father, aka God is greater than all.
Jesus was not omnipotent when He was a man. But He is not a man anymore. He is ascended back into Heaven.
Yes, He is submissive to the Father, just as a wife is to be submissive to her husband. But that does not make her lesser than him, nor does it make Jesus lesser than the Father.
If Jesus is God and he never quit being God --- why would God have to work in God?
God worked through Jesus, as a man, because He almost always works through human agency instead of doing things directly Himself. God had to become a man in the form of Jesus so that He could live a human life, live it sinlessly, and therefore provide a perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb 9:22).
If Jesus is God and he never quits being God ---- what exactly did he empty? and how does God empty himself of what makes him God?
He didn't empty Himself of what made Him God.
But He did empty Himself of His knowledge (He grew in knowledge, wisdom, etc.).
He did empty Himself of the independent use of His power (He did nothing through His own power, but did everything through the Holy Spirit).
He did empty Himself of His glory (He passed all of His own glory to the Father (John 7:18, 8:50, 54).
If Jesus is God and he never quits being God ---- how does God humble himself to do his own will?
Do you humble yourself to do your husband's will?
That is not taught anywhere in scripture....a topic SOOOO important but never plainly taught by Jesus or the apostles.
That demonstrates your blindness to Truth. a topic that is even more important.
Correct, neither is Jesus. An image of something is not the original.
Jesus is not just a man (made in the image of God), but He IS God, the source of the image. Jesus is the source of all life. Jesus is the source of all light.
Yes, John 1:3 does say that the logos was responsible for the creation and it points us to the record in Genesis in which GOD SAID Let there be light and there was light.....And GOD SAID Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters....And it was so.
AND GOD SAID Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together.....And it was so. AND GOD SAID Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit.....And it was so..... God's powerful creative speech and God's word (dabar/logos) is a reflection of Him which draws on both Jewish and Greek ideas of God's creative power and wisdom being expressed through speech. This creative power through God's logos and God's wisdom became flesh in the only begotten Son from the Father. Jesus carried on the function of God's wisdom and God's logos.
Now you are getting somewhere. What does John 1:1 say?
"The Word was with God, and the Word WAS God."
Nope, John 1:3 refers to the Genesis creation in which God spoke creation into being - where nothing that was made was made without God speaking it into being.
And that part of God that spoke everything into being became a man (John 1:14) that we know as Jesus.
Colossians is not referring to the Genesis creation in which God spoke light into being, the land formation into being, the formation of the seas into being, vegetation, trees, birds of the air, fish of the sea........ all created by what God spoke in Genesis.
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God..... If you go and read the context it has nothing to do with the husband and wife being one...... but a custom of having one's head covered as a symbol of authority. So, Christ is the symbol of authority over man, the man is the symbol of authority over his wife and God is a symbol of authority over Christ.
Is God really just a symbol of authority? You need to rethink your whole doctrine on this, because it disagrees with a lot of Scripture.
Well, thankfully I believe and trust that he is who he says he is and who scripture says he is.......a man
If that is all that you believe Him to be, then you are lost. Because He said He was God (John 8:58). He is described in Scripture as being God (Isa 9:6, and many others).
God is Spirit and God is Holy therefore God is the Holy Spirit and God is the Father the only true God. The holy spirit can also refer to the gift of holy spirit which people receive when they repent and are baptized and born again of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the same as the Father. They are two different beings.
Notice in Jesus' baptism that the Spirit came down as a dove, the Father spoke from Heaven (not from the dove), and Jesus was in the water.
Notice also that in Matt 28:19 and 2 Cor 13:14 talk about three different beings with the same authority and power.
Jesus is the exact representation, imprint of his Father, aka God ---- that is not equivalent to being his Father, aka God.
Yes, it is.
