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The Triune God of Scripture the eternal relationship of Father and Son According to oneness Jesus is God because He is the Father, but if he is the Son he is not God. As the Son a man, the son of man. But at the same time Oneness teaches that there is no triunity, that The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are ALL manifestations (offices) of the one God. So then how can the Farther be God and the Son is not? How can the Father be eternal and the Son not eternal? So they have an immediate contradiction in their belief system. The fact that the Bible makes the point that the Son was with the Father before the world began does solidify the Trinitarian position but does not satisfy Oneness with answers. One cannot be with another unless they exist (not as a thought in the mind, that is not with another). And the fact that the Bible teaches that God was there by himself before anything was created (Jn.17:5) does assert that the Son must be God if he co-existed with the Father before the world was made. For the world was the first physical thing made. Numerous other passages also uphold this teaching, such as when it tells where the Son of God would be born Micah 5:2 " But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting ." God is speaking (the Me) who is calling forth another who is from eternity. John 17:3-5 " And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. ” Here is Jesus, the Son of God, who says He had glory before anything came to be in creation, therefore this is what is meant when it says He was with the Father from the beginning (when creation began). John also writes I Jn. 1:2 “ the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” Clearly this is what Jesus referred to when he said "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:33) This life found in Jesus is expressed in many other scriptures. John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” To further understand who the Son is we need to fully grasp John 1:1, 2, 4. “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. V. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Only those who are given light, revelation from the Father can understand who the Son is. Just as Peter proclaimed “ thou art the Christ the son of the Living God.” Jesus said it was from the Father who revealed who Jesus is. Modalism teaches that there is only one Person in the Godhead but there is no limit to these "modes, or offices." Yet we consistently see three who are called God and Lord. They do everything they can to avoid the obvious. The old worn out arguments of: “there are then three gods” is showing that they do not take the time to study and try to understand the Biblical explanation of personhood within the sharing of God’s essence, nature among the Father, the Son and the comforter we know as the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke the same way about the Spirit; when he leaves, He will come. John 14:17 " the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you .” John 14:25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.” Everyone understands what “with” means when Jesus explains this of himself when he was among us. John 13:33 "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come” As he previously said in John 7:33-34 "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. " You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." Jesus explains that he is going to return to heaven to the one who sent him to earth. Clearly the father is not him, but sent him. Luke 24:44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." The Jews easily understood the Father being God but had to understand the Son being God. John 14:9-11 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Jesus is explaining the nature of the Father, as no one can see the Father literally, but see Him by what he does, his works among them. V.10 " Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves .” Here is described the unity of God. Notice that Jesus does not say I’m the Father. Just as the Father is in him He is also in the Father. There are some very clear descriptions of all three interacting even in the Old Testament. Isaiah 48:16:“ From the beginning from the time that it was, I was there: (1st person) and now the Lord GOD (2nd person) and His Spirit, (3rd person) hath sent me (1st person ).” Here we have three individuals existing together, the one speaking states that He was there from before time (John 1:1). He refers to the Lord and states that both Yahweh and His Spirit have sent me, (the speaker). We know who was sent, it was the Son sent by the Father from heaven. This goes perfectly in line with Isa.6:8 God, speaking to Isaiah:Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Who shall I send, who will go for us .” Both the singular and the plural are used in the same verse; God asked who will go for “us,” not me. Isaiah answers, Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive ” (Isa.6:8-9). Paul in the New Testament applies this Scripture giving the credit to the Holy Spirit for saying it, “ The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, “saying, 'Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull ” (Acts 28:25-26). Jesus spoke this same Scripture to the Pharisees in Mt.13:14-15. Only a person can say “I.” And when a person says us, we all know that means, “plural.” Unless we dispense with the meaning of the language we speak. The Bible shows that a personal relationship eternally exists between the Father and the Son, (and the Holy Spirit). “The Father loves the Son” (John 3:35);the Son glorifies the Father (John 17:4); the Son sends the Holy Spirit (John 16:7); the Holy Spirit listens to Jesus and testifies to others of Him (John 15:26, 16:13). The Bible describes a distinct personal self-consciousness between the three members of the Godhead. There is a relationship which has love and communication before the Son was sent to earth and continued while he was on earth. |
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