THE DOCTRINE OF THE
DIVINITY
OF JESUS CHRIST
M. Is Jesus God?
C. Yes. In the Gospel according to john
(1:1):"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God."
M. We have agreed that a Holy Scripture
should not contain contradictions. If there are two conflicting verses,
then only one can be true; both can never be true or both are wrong.
Jesus is then God according to John 1:
1. Then how many Gods are there? Two at least. This then is
in contradiction with many passages in the Bible: (Deuteronomy 4:39): ….that
the lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is
none else"-, (Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one
Lord"; (Isaiah 43: 10-11): ". . . that ye may know and believe me, and
understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall
there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior";
(Isaiah 44:6): "Thus saith the Lord ... I am the first, and I am the last;
and beside me there is no God"-, (Isaiah 45:18): "For thus saith the Lord
that created the heavens- God himself that formed the earth and made it;
he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to-be inhabited:
I am the Lord; and there is none else."
From Isaiah 45:18 alone we can conclude
that (God alone was the Creator and no one else, not even Jesus, participated
in the creation.
See further: Deuteronomy 4:35; Exodus
8: 10; II Samuel 7:22; I Kings 8:23; I Chronicles 17:20; Psalms 86:8, 89:6
and 113:5; Hosea 13:4; Zechariah 14:9.
C. But these are all in the Old Testament.
Do you find it in the New Testament?
M. Sure. Read in Mark 12:29 what
Jesus himself said: "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments
is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord."
(I Corinthians 8:4):”… we know that an
idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one."
(I Timothy 2:5): "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus." Look to the expression "the man Christ Jesus."
Now you can either say that John 1:1 is right and all these other verses
are wrong, or the reverse.
C. Difficult to judge!
M. Let us see it from the Quranic point
of view, and this corresponds with what Jesus himself said in the Bible.
Jesus is mentioned several times In the Quran as a Word from Allah.
In Surah 3:39: "Then the angels called to him [zechariah] while he was
standing in prayer in the chamber (saying): Allah gives you glad tidings
of John [i.e. the Baptist] believing in a Word from Allah [i.e. Jesus,
son of Mary], noble, keeping away from sexual relations with women, a prophet,
and one of the righteous."
In the same Surah 3, again mentioned in
verse 45: "(Remember] when the angels said: "O Mary! Verily Allah
gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name will be Messiah
Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter,
and of those who are near to Allah." In both verses of the Holy Quran Jesus
is also called a Word from Allah, i.e. a Word coming from Allah or belonging
to Allah, in correspondence with I Corinthians 3:23: "And ye are Christ's;
and Christ is God's. "John 1:1 should also have been written: ". . . and
the Word was God's." The mistake could have been in the translation from
Aramaic to Greek, deliberately or not. In the Greek language Theos
is God, but Theou means God's (see Greek dictionary, Greek Bible, or Mohammad
in the Bible by Prof.. Abdu L-Ahad Dawud, former Bishop of Uramiah,
page 16). A difference of only one letter but big consequences.
C. Why is Jesus called the Word of God
in both Scriptures?
M. The creation of Jesus in the womb of
Mary was with out the agency of a sperm, just only with the decree of Allah:
"Be," as mentioned in the same Surah 3:47: "She [Mary] said; 'O, my Lord!
How shall I have a son when no man has touched me.' He said: 'So [it will
be], for Allah creates what He will. When He has decreed something,
He says to it only "Be" and it is."'
C. Jesus is God because he is filled with
the Holy Spirit.
M. Why don't you consider other people
divine who are also filled with the Holy Ghost? (Acts 11:24): "For he [Barnabas]
was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and much people
was added unto the Lord." (Acts 5:32): "And we are his witnesses of these
things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that
obey him."
See further Acts 6:5; II Peter 1:21; II
Timothy 1:14; I Corinthians 2:16; Luke 1:41.
C. But Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost
while he was still in his mother's womb.
M. The same was true with John the Baptist
(Luke 1:13, 15): "But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for
thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and
thou shalt call his name john. For he shall be great in the sight
of the lord, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his
mother's womb."
C. But Jesus could do miracles. He fed
five thousand people with only five loaves and two fishes.
M. The same was done by Elisha and Elijah.
Elisha fed a hundred people with twenty barley loaves and a few ears of
corn (II Kings 4:44): "So he set it before them, and they did eat, and
left thereof, according to the word of the Lord." Elisha secured the increase
of a widow's oil and he said to her (II Kings 4:7): "Go, sell the oil,
and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest." See also
I Kings 17:16: "And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse
of oil fall, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah."
Also I Kings 17:6: "And the ravens brought him [Elijah] bread and flesh
in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook."
C. But Jesus could heal leprosy.
M. Also Elisha told Naaman who was a leper
to wash in the Jordan River (II Kings 5:14): "Then went he [Naaman] down,
and dipped himself seven times in Jordan river, according to the saying
of the man of God [Elisha]: and his flesh came again like unto a flesh
of a little child, and he was clean."
C. But Jesus could cause a blind man to
see again.
M. Also Elisha did (II Kings 6:17): "And
Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may
see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man: and he saw .
. ." (II Kings 6:20): "And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria,
that Elisha said, Lord open the eyes of these men, that they may see.
And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in
the midst of Samaria."
Elisha was also told to cause blindness
(II Kings 6:18): "And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the
Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And
he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha."
C. Jesus could raise the dead.
M. Compare with Elijah (I Kings 17:22):
"And the Lord heard the voice of
Elijah: and the soul of the child came
into him again, and he revived."
Compare also with Eiisha (11 Kings 4:34):
"And he [Elisha I went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon
his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and
he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm."
Even the dead bones of Elisha could restore
a dead body to life by touching only (11 Kings 13:2 1): "And it came to
pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men-,
and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was
let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on
his feet."
C. But Jesus walked upon the water.
M. Mosies stretched out his arms over the
sea (Exodus 14:22): "And the
children of Israel went into the midst
of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on
their right hand, and on their left."
C. But Jesus could cast out devils.
M. Jesus himself admitted that other people
could do it (Matthew 12:27
and Luke I 1: 19): "And if I by Beelzebub
cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore shall
they be your judges."
Also the disciples could cast out devils
as Jesus said (Matthew 7:22): "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name: and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?"
Even false prophets would do wonders,
as prophesied by Jesus himself (Matthew 24:24): "For there shall arise
. false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
C. But Elijah and Elisha did wonders through
praying to the Lord.
M. Jesus also did the miracles with the
grace of God, as he himself said (john 5:-30): "I can of mine own self
do nothing. . ." and (Luke 11:20): "But If I with the finger of God cast
out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God Is come upon you.”
All miracles performed by Jesus had been
done by previous prophets, disciples, and even unbelievers. On the
other hand, Jesus could do no mighty work where there was unbelief (Mark
6:5,6): "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands
upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of
their unbelief. And he went around about the villages, teaching."
C. But Jesus was resurrected three days
after he died.
M. We will talk later about his crucifixion
because there are so many
controversies about it. I'll only
say now briefly that it was a gospel of Paul, who never saw Jesus alive
(11 Timothy 2:8): "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was
raised from the dead according to my gospel."
The gospel of resurrection in Mark 16:9-20
has also been removed in many Bibles. If not removed it is printed
in small print or between two brackets and with commentary. See Revised
Standard Version, New American Standard Bible and New World Translation
of the Holy Scriptures of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Let me ask you
one thing: did Jesus ever claim to be God or to say, "Here am I, your God,
and worship me"?
C. No, but he is God and man.
M. But did he ever claim that?
C. No.
M. Indeed he had prophesied that people
will worship him uselessly and will believe in doctrines not made by God
but by men (Matthew 15:9): "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men.
All doctrines of modern Christianity are
made by men: the Trinity, Divine Sonship of Jesus, Divinity of Jesus Christ,
Original Sin and Atonement. From Jesus' own sayings, recorded in
the New Testament, it is clear that he never claimed divinity or identity
to God: "I do nothing of myself"(john 8:28); "My Father is greater than
I" (John 14:28); "The Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29); "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34); "Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
But of that day and that hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father" (Mark 13:32). Jesus was called prophet, teacher from God,
His servant, Messiah, and later was escalated to Son of God, and then God
Himself.
Let us now use our reason: how can God
be born by a mortal one as any other mortal?
Jesus slept while God never sleeps (Psalm
121:4): "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."
God should be powerful but how could people spit on him, crucify him as
alleged. How could Jesus be God if he worshiped God as any other
mortal (Luke 5:16): "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed."
Jesus was tempted by Satan for forty days
(Luke 4:1-13) but in James 1:13 is said: ". . . for God cannot be tempted
with evil . How can Jesus be God, then? We can rationalize further
and further.
C. Yes, I myself can't understand it but
we have to accept it blindly.
M. Is it not contradicting the Bible it
self which says that you have to prove it (I Thessalonians 5:21): "Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good."
C. It's really confusing.
M. But I Corinthians 14:33 says: "For God
is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as In all churches of the
saints." Doctrines made by men create confusion.