Being a Branch

John 15:5-6 (ESV)  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

I’ve been studying John chapter 15 lately for a study I’ll do later this month, and I thought this passage would be good for our blog.  There is a lot of stuff in just these two verses, so let’s take a look.

First, it would be good to define roles: the Vinedresser (verse 1) is the Father, Jesus is the Vine, and Christians are the branches.  So, since that’s our role, I thought it would be interesting to look at branches and what branches are supposed to do.

First of all, of course, a great Owner/Operator is overseeing the entire vineyard.  He is interested in fruit production.  To produce fruit, the Father (Owner/Operator) has done all the prep work.  He’s the owner of the vineyard. He has planted the vine in the midst of that land where He wants the fruit to be produced, and He cares for both the vine and the branches.

We as branches have a simple (not easy) job.  We are the portion of the vineyard that produces fruit.  The Vinedresser prunes dead and unnecessary growth.  Branches produce more fruit if they are not distracted from their duties by wasting their strength on unnecessary shoots, which produce nothing fruitful.

According to verse 6, the Vinedresser also cuts off those who look like a branch but aren’t.  How does He know they aren’t genuine branches?  They aren’t producing fruit.  How do they produce fruit?  They must abide in the Vine (Jesus), and Jesus must abide in them.

In the church, there are those who look a whole lot like branches.  They dress nicely, they don’t swear, they look like good scrubbed Christian brothers and sisters, yet they are not.  Jesus tells us here that we can know them by their lack of fruit.  They aren’t producing.

While the job of a branch, a good healthy branch, is to produce fruit, there is another use.  When it is found not to be producing, it is placed on the fire to produce heat.

From my own life experience, I think many of these people believe they are branches.  Before I gave my life to Christ, Christianity appeared to just be a sort of club for nice people.  It wasn’t until my faith was challenged and I had to defend it that I found I was wrong.  This whole Christianity thing turned out to be as true as gravity, as a brick will fall if you drop it.  I was lost in my ignorance for five years.

If you’re a Christian, however, you won’t be thrown into the fire (vs. 6).  If you read the four verses preceding these above, you’ll see the Father prunes us so we will produce more fruit and produce it more easily.  After all, since a healthy branch has only one purpose, that’s what God does in us.

It is the Vine (Jesus) from which we gain our strength.  It is His life flowing into us that builds us up, that causes us to grow and to become productive.

Why is this important?

Knowing and understanding our role in God’s kingdom is beneficial.  We’re fruit producers.  That’s our one and only job.  Fruit production, however, does produce interest in others to know more about what makes us so healthy.

The fruit Jesus is talking about here is that Galatians 5:22-23 fruit we’ve talked about recently:  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Our abiding in Christ, in the Vine, will expand His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in us.  These are all produced, according to John 15, through abiding in (making our home in) Christ and He abiding in us.  It is a natural product of that life which flows through Him into us.

So, we all need to be branches willing to be pruned of those things in our lives that lessen our abiding in Him.  We need to allow the Father to prune us to make us clean from all those distractions and the false trails we are tempted to follow.

A lot of grape vines are ugly, crusty, wrinkled, and colorless.  Like with the branches that produce beautiful grapes, God doesn’t care what’s on the outside of us but if we draw our life from His Son.

Dealing With Frustration

It’s been a frustrating few weeks, and I have to admit I haven’t handled it well.  Several events relating to a single issue have not gone as I had hoped.  I think the problem has been me.  I’ve been a Christian for over fifty years.  When will I learn to turn to God first and stop trying to solve problems in my own power? 

The frustration began with my trying several things on my own to solve an issue.  By the time I realized – through the kind and gentle guidance of my wife – to turn it all over to God, I had wound myself up pretty tight.  Then I was frustrated with myself for getting in this state.

So, I thought I would look at what the Bible says about frustration, examples of biblical heroes and how they reacted to it, right and wrong ways for me to handle it, and maybe the results of how I’ve handled it.  So, here goes:

Psalm 73 is by a guy named Asaph who may have been Jehoshaphat’s father.  This guy was frustrated.  Just read nearly the entire Psalm.  Asaph is frustrated with the wicked and weathy people of Israel, how they seem so happy while he has trouble understanding how he has so little compared to them, but he walks well in the way of the Lord.

We often see this in political circles, people who seem to be so corrupt, so crooked, yet who seem to get off as blameless in the eyes of the law.  We see exactly what Asaph saw but in lands like Wall Street or Hollywood where some who might be wicked can buy their way out of trouble.  But the Lord, through Asaph, gives us the answer:

Psalm 73:18-19 (ESV)      Truly you set them in slippery places;  you make them fall to ruin.  How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

Then Asaph gives us an example of how we should think of our frustration at the success of the lost:

Psalm 73:23-26 (ESV)  Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I think Asaph has something there.  It is not an earthly treasure we seek.  Our hope is in the wealth of our God.  Our blessings come from His grace.  By comparison, the wealth of this world falls far short of what is awaiting us.  In Isa. 65:17 God Himself speaks to this, of how great will our heavenly state be compared to even the joys of this world:

Isa. 65:17 (ESV)  “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

Why is this important?

Though frustration hits us unawares and we dwell in it for far too long, the simple resolution to that frustration is given us in Proverbs:

Prov. 3:5-6  (ESV)  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.  It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Maybe there is a reason that passage sounds so familiar.  It’s because people more mature than I quote it often to deal with their frustration.  Maybe when I grow up, I will too.

Peace: It’s Free

John 15:4 (ESV)  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

The Summer of Love in 1967 was the peak of the hippy movement.  People came from all over to the Haight/Ashbury District of San Francisco.  The hippies wanted to love everyone, to be kind, peaceful, and gentle.  The problem was that they had no basis for this, no foundation to build upon, except the wish for a better world.  They would work for something not achieved through work.

It took just a few months for many of them to become disillusioned with the idea of inner peace.  It wasn’t working.  Most fell into what Paul calls the “works of the flesh.”  Haight/Ashbury became one of the more dangerous areas of San Francisco. Free sex, heavy drug use (Paul calls this sorcery, pharmakiea), violent crime, all the works listed in Gal. 5:19-22:

Gal. 5:19-21 (ESV)  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The search for meaning in the hippy movement brought disillusionment to many, but an estimated one to two million came to Christ out of the failures they experienced with self-willed inner peace.  These people found Jesus alone could fulfill the promise of the changes they sought:

Gal. 5:22-24 (ESV)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

As with false religions, seekers often considered works as the path to peace: “If only I could just do . . . I would be at peace.”  But that peace never comes.  Works are futile.  They will lead you nowhere.  Fruit, the kind of fruit Jesus and Paul talk about, comes to us organically.  It is produced in the Christian by the Holy Spirit within us.  It isn’t something we do. 

Fruit comes from dependence on the true vine (John 15:1).  Without the food from the vine, the branches die, are cut down, and thrown into the fire (John 15:6).  A branch cannot produce fruit by itself.  Likewise, a man or woman cannot produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control without the Spirit of God in them.

Every day, we see those seeking these traits through effort rather than reliance on our Lord.  It is man trying to produce what God produces in us naturally through our abiding in Him.  It is man laboring for something that can only be received as a free gift.

Why is this important?

Even today, unhappy people are marching through the streets of our nation demonstrating for or against one cause or another – often for several.  They are seeking purpose in their works but finding very little.  They want personal peace but are looking for it in the wrong places.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring true peace. 

As Christians, we carry the secret to share with those seeking peace through works.  Only we know the God of grace who can bestow what they seek.  All they need is to be told and to ask God themselves.

How simple it is, yet it is so often rejected as “just too simple.”  So the lost continue to work for something that is only found through yielding to the God of majesty, who offers it freely and is anxious to see all people accept it.

Is Jesus an Angel?

Today, many people believe the word angel means only one thing: the beings we see once in a while in Scripture who appeared at Jesus’ tomb (Matt. 28:2-7) or the angels who visited Abraham (Genesis chapters 18-19).  But the mistake is often made that this is the only type of angel mentioned in Scripture.

It turns out the word angel means messenger in both Hebrew and Greek.  The beings we know as angels are messengers of God created to perform the tasks God calls upon them to do.  In the Old Testament (ESV), the Hebrew word for angel (malak) is translated in 110 verses as angel, 98 verses as messenger, four times as envoy, and once as ambassador.  In the New Testament (ESV), the Greek word for angel (angelos) is translated 168 times as angel and 7 times as messenger.

So, neither the Hebrew nor the Greek word translated as angel always means the creature we call an angel.  Sometimes the original language is describing an envoy, messenger, or even an ambassador.  It is a logical fallacy known as the equivocation fallacy which confuses many people.  The equivocation fallacy is switching the meaning of a key term mid-argument to make the logic seem valid when it isn’t.  

Here’s a really silly but accurate example:

“Feathers are light.
What is light cannot be dark.
Therefore, feathers cannot be dark.”

With that understood, let’s move on to the original question, “Is Jesus an Angel?”

Most conservative theologians believe Jesus appeared in the Old Testament and was called The Angel of the Lord (not an angel of the Lord, by the way).  This term appears in Gen. 16:7 where He speaks with Hagar, in Genesis 22:11-12 when the Angel of the Lord speaks to Abraham and identifies Himself as YHWH: “But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘“‘Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Abraham was not sacrificing to a created angel.

Most obviously, the Angel of the Lord is God Himself.  This is  clear in Exodus 3:2-6  2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

We looked at a few weeks ago at how the equivocation fallacy confuses some to believe that claiming someone to be God is claiming they are the Father.  No, this is just pointing to the deity of the person and that His nature is equal with the Father but not the Father.

Now that we’ve seen The Angel of the Lord is God Himself, we need to identify The Angel of the Lord.  Who is exactly He?  The Angel of the Lord (YHWY) identifies Himself as the I AM in Exodus 3:14-15.  That is His name:

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Then in John 8:58-59 Jesus says He is that Person, and the Jews wanted to kill Him for what they saw as blasphemy:

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus identified Himself as the same person who appeared to Moses in the burning bush.  Have you ever wondered why the temple guards who came to arrest Jesus in the Garden fell back when He identified Himself:

John 18:4-6 (ESV)  Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

The temple guards fell back because Jesus did not say “I am he” but “I AM.”  The “he” is not there in the Greek.  The guards fell back at the use of the divine name.  Jesus identified Himself as God by nature, the same God who spoke to Moses.

Why is this important?

The Son (Jesus) voluntarily became obedient to the Father (Phil. 2:5-8).  He is equal to the Father in nature and all other ways but took a submissive role to accomplish God’s plan. Jesus is greater than all the angels (Heb. 1:4-8)

To be confused concerning just who Jesus is to be wrong enough to spend eternity without God.  The Bible warns us to beware of this:

2 Cor. 11:3-4 (ESV)  3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

A created angel you call Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.  To ask that angel for salvation will do nothing but result in you praying to another God than the God of the Bible.  Beware.

The Glory of God

The word glory appears 359 times in the English Standard Bible, nearly once for every day of the year.  Have you ever wondered exactly what the word glory means and how it is used in Scripture?  I have.

The Hebrew word most often translated as “glory” is kabod.  The word literally means weight or heaviness.  We most often think of glory as the visible display of God’s holiness, as when God’s presence filled the tabernacle:

Ex. 40:34-35 (ESV)  Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

We can see how that definition might apply since God’s glory is weighty, significant, and worthy of honor.  It also refers to God’s reputation and honor among the nations. 

1 Chron. 29:11 (ESV)  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

His glory is not something added to God but is inseparable from His nature.  It is God’s invisible excellence made visible, His power, wisdom, and honor.

Moving to the New Testament, we see God’s glory most fully in Jesus Christ, He embodies it:

John 1:14 (ESV)  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Heb. 1:3 (ESV)  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The word radiance (apaugásmatos) here means Jesus shines forth God’s glory from within. 

Why is this important?

As I write this, most of the Christian world is about to celebrate Easter, Resurrection Sunday, the last day of Passion Week.  It is the death and resurrection we honor that makes one of the greatest and humanly unfathomable promises of God possible:

2 Cor. 3:7-18 (NLT)  7 The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. 8 Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? 9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! 10 In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. 11 So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!

12 Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.

16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

We, who have turned to the Lord Jesus, alone can see the glory of the Lord and are being changed daily into His glorious image. Glory be to God!

Logic and the New Testament

When I was in college, there was a saying in the philosophy department: “You cannot not use logic.”  If that’s true, do you suppose the New Testament writers used logic?  Let’s see.

There is a clear example of Paul using deductive (if-then) reasoning in 1 Cor. 15:13 where he is arguing with a portion of the Corinthian church who believed there was no resurrection from the dead: (ESV)  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  Actually, his argument continues through verse 19, repeatedly using deductive logic to make his point.

A logical tactic called reductio ad absurbdum (reducing the opponent’s argument to show it is absurd) is used by Jesus Himself in Matt. 12:25-26 (ESV)  Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

In philosophy, one logical argument used to show the universe was created is called the teleological argument, which says that because the universe has many design features. These things are too complex to have occurred accidentally or at random; therefore, there must be a designer.  Paul uses this argument in Romans 1:19-20 (ESV)  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  Just as a side note, the chances of the DNA molecule forming randomly is 10601.  For reference, the number of atoms in the universe is only 1080.

Another logical form of argumentation is called the a fortiori form (“how much more”).  It argues that because something is true in a smaller sense, it must be true in the greater sense.  Matt. 6:26 is a good example of this, where Jesus says, (ESV)  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

James, the Lord’s half brother, uses analogies (argument by comparison) to make a point for the danger of the tongue in his book: James 3:3-5 (ESV)  If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

In Romans 2:14-16, Paul uses an argument called “an appeal to conscience” to make his point: (ESV)  For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Last of all comes the dilemma argument, the either/or argument.  Jesus uses this in Matt. 6:24 (ESV)  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Why is this important

The New Testament is not a collection of fairy tails, it is a solid, well argued, both philosophical and theological work that stands proudly in the marketplace of ideas. 

In John chapter 1, Jesus is identified as the Word four times.  The English word “logic” is derived directly from the Greek word logos and means the rational principle governing the universe, reasoning, intelligibility, speech, or explanation.  In the New Testament, it means the rational self-expression of God, the ordering principle of creation, and the one through whom all things were made.

For the Evangelical, the connection between logos and logic is not accidental.  Christianity affirms that ultimate reality is rational, not chaotic.  Because Christ is the Logos, reason itself reflects God’s nature.  This is why Scripture can use arguments, reasoning, and persuasion without contradiction.

Unlike other world religions, Christianity has a powerful apologetic feature.  Because Christianity is true, it is logically defensible.  It makes truth claims that can be tested and proven.

How to Read Your Bible

There is often confusion among both Christians and non-believers about what certain passages of the Word of God mean.  Some taken out of context may sound silly or go against what we know is true.  The old saw “The Bible means what it says and says what it means” has to be understood within the passage’s context.  It is the context that we’ll look at in this blog post.

Let’s start with what the Bible is.  The Bible is a collection of 66 ancient documents, fully inspired by the God of the universe, presented to man over more than fifteen centuries through more than forty writers.  If you look at the words directly spoken by God and recorded in the Bible, you’ll see that God, though He is all-knowing, doesn’t use a lot of big words.  Those are left to theologians and philosophers.  C.S.Lewis once said we should write to express and not to impress.  God seems to agree. The Bible is meant to be understood. He writes to express though sometimes we misunderstand.

The biggest contributor to Bible misinterpretation, I think, is that we think since every word is inspired, every word or expression must be taken hyper-literally.  For example, Deut. 23:11 says the sun sets  (ESV), but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.  We know the sun doesn’t set, the earth rotates, yet many Bible critics will use this to say the Bible is archaic and non-scientific.  Interesting, they don’t criticize papers like the L.A.Times or N.Y.Times when they give the times for sunrise and sunset.  No, “the sun sets” is a figure of speech and should be understood as such.

Another similar criticism is to claim the Bible says the earth is flat because it has corners: Isa. 11:12 (ESV) He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  Like the example of sunsets, this seems like a silly idea to push, but many Bible critics are willing to cite this as an example of the Bible’s errors or archaic misunderstandings.

The Bible not only uses figures of speech, but it also uses figurative language.  God will, for instance, use anthropomorphic language that many will misunderstand and turn into doctrine.  Mormons, for instance, believe God is just an exalted man with a physical body.  So they will use this symbolic language to try to support their view:

God has an arm: Isa. 53:1 (ESV)  Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

God has hands: Deut. 2:15 (ESV)  For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.

There are more examples (Ps. 33:18; Deut. 8:3), but these will suffice.  The problem is that when you begin to accept figurative language, you are forced to accept all figurative language:

God is a bird: Ps. 91:4 (ESV)  He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;

God is a blast furnace: Heb. 12:29 (ESV)  for our God is a consuming fire

Lastly for this blog post, I’d like to address the poetic language of the Bible.

Isa. 55:12 is a good example of this:  (ESV) “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

No, the hills didn’t sing or the trees clap their hands.  This is obviously poetic language expressing great joy.

Why is this important?

This may sound odd or sacrilegious, but, in some ways, the Bible should be read like a local newspaper.  If there is language that doesn’t sound right in the context of the passage, we should check to see if it is a figure of speech, figurative, or poetic language. Read the passage in context.

There are lots of other tactics Bible skeptics use, but these are the simplest and silliest ones.  Don’t let someone push you with these or other examples.  They are only looking to discount the amazing Bible we hold in our hands, God’s communication directly to us.  This Bible has stood against skeptics for thousands of years, and it will not be changed:

Matt. 5:18 (ESV)  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

How Omni is God?

When we talk about God’s infinite nature, we usually talk about the three “omnis”: His omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (infinite power), and His omnipresence (infinite presence).  But other attributes of God are infinite as well: holiness, love, grace/mercy, and eternity, for instance.

Before we get into those, though, I’d like to look again at what infinity is.  There are two types of infinity related to duration: actual and potential infinity.  God is actually infinite.  That is, God has always existed from eternity past and will always exist to eternity future.  You and I are potentially infinite.  We had a beginning, but we will live forever.  There is no end to our existence. 

Where God cannot number His days, we can.  Though there will be no end to our existence, the number of days we exist, assuming time will always be measured in days, will always have a number.  There are about ten to the eightieth power electrons in the universe (ten octodecillion).  While that is a very large number, it is still an actual number that can be divided, added to, subtracted from, and multiplied. 

Infinity is larger than that.  Infinity is a number so large that it cannot change value when you add, multiply, divide, or subtract from it (except to divide or subtract infinity from itself).  It’s really so large, we can’t wrap our heads around it.  Let’s look at an old description of infinity just to add to the confusion:

Imagine a library with an infinite number of books.  In that library, there is an infinite number of red books and an infinite number of black books.  Each book has an infinite number of pages.  With this example, there is the same total number of books as there are red books.  There is the same number of pages in one book as there are pages in all the books combined, and the same total number of books.

It doesn’t make sense to our finite minds, but this is the concept of infinity.

Now, how infinite is God? God is infinite in His power (God doesn’t make logical contradictions such as square circles, but all His purposes are irresistible):

Luke 1:37 (ESV)  For with God nothing will be impossible.

                Job 42:2 (ESV)  “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”

God is infinite in His knowledge (all things actual, possible, past present and future):

                Psalm 147:5 (ESV)  Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

God is infinitely present (His being is not spread out but the entirety of His being is everywhere):

        Jer. 23:24 (ESV)  Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

God is infinitely Holy (absolute moral perfection and separation from sin)

Isa. 6:3 (ESV)  And one cried to another and said:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

God’s love is infinite (immeasurable and eternal)

        Eph. 3:19 (ESV)  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

God’s grace and mercy are infinite (it is eternal)

Psalm 136:1 (ESV)  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

God’s duration is infinite (past, present, and future)

       Psalm 90:2 (ESV)  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Why is this important?

Our God is infinite beyond all human understanding, but don’t feel inadequate.  We’re not alone in our ignorance. No one understands God except He Himself:

                1 Cor. 2:11 (ESV)  So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Hopefully, we see from this how truly great and grand the God we serve is.  There is none greater.  He is the one true God and the only God with whom we have to do.

Pre-existence of the Soul

Pre-existence of the Soul

I was asked an interesting question thing morning: “What evidence would you use to disprove the Mormon belief in the pre-existence of the soul?”  I really didn’t have an answer, so I thought I’d look into it.  Here is what I found: 

  •  Genesis 2:7 (ESV)   then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Adam became a living being at that moment.  Humans begin life when God forms them physically, and not before.  The verse does not say Adam’s soul existed before his body but came to exist at the same time as his body.  The order is formation, then breath, then living soul, not a pre-existing entering the body.  This suggests the soul begins when God gives life to the body.

  • Zech. 12:1 (ESV)  The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:

God forms a human’s spirit within his body not before the body is created.

  •  Heb. 9:27 (ESV)  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

God’s plan is one earthly life and one judgment.  The Mormon belief is a three-stage life: first, a life as a spirit child, then an earthly life, then again life in the heavens.  The Bible speaks only of one human life story, not a story before we are born.

  •  John 3:13 (ESV)  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Only Jesus has come from heaven; no one else.  Jesus’ heavenly existence is then human existence is unique.  If all of us had pre-existed, Jesus’ life would not be unique and would not be worth mentioning. 

  • 1 Cor. 15:45 (ESV)  45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

So, a man became a living being not a spirit became a man.  The living being did not exist without the man – without the physical body, but the human physical body became a living being.

  • The Bible never mentions a pre-mortal council or spirit children.  Christian apologists argue that such a major doctrine would appear clearly in Scripture if it were true.
  • Key Mormon proof texts do not require pre-existence:

Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Foreknowledge is not necessarily pre-existence

Eph. 1:4 (ESV)  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

This refers to God’s knowledge and plan, not a literal prior life.

Why is this important?

So, humans become living souls when God gives life (Gen. 2:7.  The spirit is formed within the person (Zech. 12:1).  Humans live one earthly life before judgment (Heb. 9:27).  Jesus alone came from heaven (John 3:13).  The first man became a living being not a living being became a man (1 Cor. 15:45)

Christ as God in the Early Church

The idea of Jesus being God by nature is so often mentioned in the New Testament and early church history, I wondered if it was necessary to devote a blog to the subject, but there are organizations out there who deny this truth, so I believe it is beneficial for the average Christian to have the evidence to support the deity of Christ and defend against those who deny it.

One of the most often committed errors by those who deny Jesus as God is the belief that only the Father is God.  When we say “Jesus is God,” they think we’re trying to prove Jesus is the Father.  This is the equivocation fallacy as I mentioned in the blog post on The Trinity in the Early Church.  In English, “God” can mean both a nature and a being.  So, when we say Jesus is God, we mean He is God by nature.

The early church begins, of course, with Pentecost at Acts chapter 2.  This is when the gospel was first broadly proclaimed by the Christian Church.  Since the New Testament was written after Pentecost, we can start there to see whether the New Testament writers said Jesus is God.  He is, and it is presented very plainly.

One of the best know passages, of course, is John 1:1, 14).  But, there are many other passages pointing directly to the deity of Christ such as Matt. 1:23; John 5:18, 23; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; and 2 Peter 1:1.

But, how about after the last of the apostles died?  Did the early church still believe Jesus was God?  The Apostle John died at the end of the first century.  His disciple, Ignatius, wrote this just about ten years later in the salutation of his letter to the Ephesians:

“Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory, being united and elected through the true passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God: Abundant happiness through Jesus Christ, and His undefiled grace.” (cir. 110 a.d.)

In the same letter, chapter 18, vs. 2, Ignatius writes this:  “For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost.”

A little later, Justin Martyr (100-150 a.d.) wrote, “And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God” (Dialogue with Trypho, 128)

Irenaeus (130 – 202)  said this about the Son: “He [here] refers to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered by Himself.”  (Schaff, Philip. Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 1 – Enhanced Version (Early Church Fathers) (p. 1210). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.)

Why is this important?

To deny the deity of Christ is to deny Christianity as a whole, for without God the Son, we have another Jesus, another Spirit, another gospel.

2 Cor. 11:3-4  (ESV)   But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Gal. 1:6-9 (ESV)  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.