Christ the rock?

"Believers in the personal preexistence of Christ often appeal to the words of the apostle Paul in I Cor 10:4 where he says of the Israelites in the wilderness, that they all drank "the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ."

It is argued from this that Christ Himself personally accompanied the people of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness to the promised land. The verse is often tied in with several Old Testament texts which describe Yahweh as a Rock (Deut 32:4; Ps 18:2,31). Since Yahweh is the rock, and Christ is also the rock who accompanied Israel, Christ must therefore be Yahweh, it is believed.

This interpretation, common though it is, suffers from a number of serious defects. The first of these concerns the meaning of the term "Christ". Too often we use it simply as a proper name for Jesus as if it were His surname. "Christos" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Messiah", meaning "the anointed one". It was a title given to the Kings of Israel. David was a "messiah" and was a type, or forerunner, of the one who would deliver the people of Israel and establish the Kingdom of God. the coming of the Messiah is a common theme of OT prophecy. He was to be the "seed of Abraham" Gen 3:15; Gal 3:8,16, "the seed of Judah" Gen49:10; I Chron. 5:2, and the "seed of David" II Sam &:12~14; Isa 11:1,10; Rom.1:3;II Tim2:8. "Seed" in all these scriptures means "descendant" This points to the fact that the Messiah was prophesied to arise from the human race.

Nothing in the OT suggests that the promised seed was already in existence in another form. For Paul to have taught that the Messiah was personally present with Israel would have been a staggering contradiction of the words of the prophets. The second major objection to this theory is the fact that God used angels to minister to Israel. The NT declares in three places that the law was given by angels, Acts7:38,53, Gal 3:9 & Heb2:2. In each of these passages the angelic giving of the Law forms an important part of the debate. Study each in its context with care and you will see that the common theme is the superiority of the Gospel to the Law. The Law was given only by angels but the Gospel was brought by the Son of God and is therefore vastly superior to it. Christ could not have had any part, therefore, either in giving the Law to Israel, or in ministering to the Israelites in the wilderness.

Since the Messiah could not have been present personally in the wilderness, Paul's statement must mean that the Rock represented or typified Christ in some way. It is not uncommon for Scripture to use the verb "to be" in a representational sense. Jesus said "I am the Door" Jn 10:7, "I am the true Vine" Jn 15:1. In the instution of the Lord's supper he said that the bread "is my body" and the cup "is my blood" I Cor11:24,25, clearly meant that they symbolized his broken body and shed blood.

This interpretation is strengthened by a close study of the whole passage from verse 1 to verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 10. Twice Paul states that the experiences of Israel were examples for us (vv.6,11). The Greek word used here actually means "types". The passing of the Israelites through the cloud and through the Red Sea was a type of Christian baptism. They were baptized "into Moses" (v. 2, NASB) as we are baptized "into Christ" (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27). Verses 3 and 4 continue the typological parallel by referring to the incidents of the giving of the manna in Exodus 16, and the incidents at Rephidim and Kadesh when God miraculously supplied water out of a rock (Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20: 1-13). The "spiritual" food mentioned in verse 3 is clearly the manna miraculously given daily to Israel over a period of 40 years. The giving of the manna is recorded in Exodus 16 and forms the background to John 6.

There are two incidents involving a rock recorded during the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites and it is important to notice the difference between them.

The first incident occurred just after the miraculous giving of the manna. Israel arrived at Rephidim (Ex. 17:1) and immediately began to complain about lack of water, whereupon God commanded Moses to strike the rock. Water gushed out and the people's thirst was satisfied. The striking of the rock typifies the fact that Christ our Rock was smitten for us. The miraculous giving of the water typifies the giving of the Holy Spirit, the water of Life (John 7:37-39).

The second incident occurred toward the end of the wandering in the wilderness. Again, Israel complained for lack of water and again God provided for their needs. This time, however, he clearly instructed Moses to speak to the rock, but in his anger Moses disobeyed and struck the rock twice (Num. 20: 1-12). In smiting the rock instead of speaking to it Moses was guilty of destroying the type. The rock in Exodus 17 typified Christ in the flesh, smitten to give to us the water of life while the rock in Numbers 20 typified Christ our High Priest, not to be smitten twice (cp. Heb. 6:6), but only to be spoken to to supply the water of life.

The first incident occurred at the beginning of the wanderings, the second at the end; both incidents thus form a parable of Christ's continuous presence with his people during their "wilderness wanderings." The two incidents we have looked at took place in entirely different locations and there is a different Hebrew word for "rock" used in each place. In Exodus 17 the word is tsur and in Numbers 20 it is sela. So what does Paul mean when he states that "they drank of that spiritual rock which followed them"?

Obviously, a literal rock did not accompany Israel through the wilderness and many feel that this is proof that Christ himself went with them. The answer is that Paul is using the language of Christian experience and reading it back into the Old Testament type. This is shown clearly by his reference to baptism in verses 1 and 2. The Israelites were not literally "baptized". In fact, we are told that the water did not come near them; they walked dryshod through the Red Sea. But their experience is a close enough parallel for Paul to say they were baptized "into Moses". Likewise the rock did not literally follow them. It was simply a type of Christ accompanying us through life.

I received this post from Johnny 27. Thanks John for the material!

Paul

TWO GODS?
By Juan Baixeras


From the start of Judaism and later Christianity, the most famous aspect and unique characteristic of the two religions is the fact that they were, and still are monotheistic. Christianity is really the continuation of Judaism. Both religions believe in one, and only one unbegotten God, creator of the universe. There are no other gods in these two faiths.

Isaiah 44:6 – "Thus says the LORD... there is no God but me."

Isaiah 45:5 – "I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me."

Isaiah 45:6 – "Men may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other."

No one will contest that to a Jew or a Christian, there is only one God. Anything else would simply be considered polytheism. The majority of Christianity believes in one God, but a God that is plural in makeup. There are three persons that constitute this one God. They are three, but yet, they are still all the one God. There is: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In this post we will be concerned primarily with Trinitarian Christianity’s view of God. Specifically, God the Son.

We all know that God the Son has a Father (God the Father). But the question that must be asked and answered is: can God the Son have a God? Every pastor that I have ever asked this question to has always said "Of course not!" But is that the answer given in Scripture? No, on the contrary. As you will see, the prophesied Messiah in the Old Testament is said to have a God. Then you will see that Jesus the Messiah fulfills those prophesies because he most definitely has a God. If you come to the conclusion that Jesus has a God, then it might be time to rethink and research the Doctrine of the Trinity. Because if God the Son has a God, then there are TWO GODS!

To make this as simple as possible, I am not going to list the huge amount of Scriptures which have God (not "Father") and Jesus in the same sentence, or Scriptures that have God speaking to Jesus, or Jesus speaking to God. We will only be concerned with Scriptures that prove that Jesus has a God.

OLD TESTAMENT MESSIANIC PROPHESIES

Psalm 89:26-28 – "He (the Messiah) shall say of me. "You are my father, my God, my rock, my savior". And I will make him the firstborn."

Micah 5:3-4 – "He (the Messiah) shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the Majestic name of the LORD, his God."

Psalm 22:10-11 – "To you I was committed at birth. From my mother’s womb you are my God."

NEW TESTAMENT

Jesus Speaking:
John 20:17 – "I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Matthew 27:46 – "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Revelation 3:12 – "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of [b my God[/b]. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God."

Revelation 3:2 – "for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God."


Paul:
Ephesians 1:3 – "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Ephesians 1:17 – "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father..."

2 Corinthians 1:3 – "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 11:31 – "The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ knows, He who is blessed forever, that I do not lie."

Romans 15:6 – "that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."


Peter:
1 Peter 1:3 – "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."


John:
Revelation 1:6 – "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father."

When one reads the preceding verses, there is one thing that is a fact. That Jesus Christ has a God. Jesus speaks of his God, Peter Paul and John mention the God of Jesus Christ. Are they all mistaken? Are we to believe that all these verses are misprints? Are we to suppose that theologians several centuries after Christ knew more about Jesus than Jesus and his Apostles? There is no way around it.

The New American Bible (a Roman Catholic Bible) in a section discussing biblical revelation says,

"It is the very same God who reveals Himself in so many richly divergent ways on every page of the Scriptures. The God of Abraham and Moses and David is the God of Jesus of Nazareth."

Everyone in Jesus’ day knew that Jesus had a God. Even later, people in Rome who did not believe in Jesus knew that he had a God.

So why do we never hear a sermon or anything else on the God of Jesus Christ?
The reason is that people who believe in the Trinity cannot explain this obvious fact. They have absolutely no explanation for it. They claim that God the Son cannot have a God because that would mean that there are two Gods. But there it is in black and white. Jesus has a God. Are you going to take man’s word over God’s word?

Hopefully not. If Jesus has a God, there is absolutely no way that the Doctrine of the Trinity can stand without violating the most basic principle of Christianity; that there is only ONE God!

So does that make Trinitarians and anyone else who thinks that Jesus is God polytheists? It sure does! One God plus One God equals TWO GODS.

"Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). Jesus’ own words. God bless you.
J.B.


Paul

JESUS IS ONMISCIENT?
By Juan Baixeras


The Doctrine of the Trinity claims that Jesus is God, and it is for this reason the doctrine claims that Jesus is thus omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, equal in all ways to the Father. In this short paper we will be discussing the latter, is Jesus omniscient? God is definitely omniscient, thus in order for the Doctrine of the Trinity to hold true, Jesus must also be omniscient. If he is not, then there must be something wrong with this doctrine. At the same time, if we find Jesus not to be omniscient then we also arrive at the conclusion that Jesus is not equal to the Father. If Jesus does not know one thing that the Father knows, then obviously he is not omniscient, and if he is not omniscient like the Father, then he is not equal to the Father either.

Yes Jesus did know somethings that show us he is way above the average man, this is because he is anointed (Messiah), not because he is God. The Prophets all received revelations from God, information that only God and that prophet knew, but this did not mean that the prophets were God. Jesus as we shall see also receives revelations from God, this is why he knows things that other men do not.

(Webster's Dictionary) Omniscient - knowing all things-the Omniscient God-

Mark 13:32: "No one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven nor the Son, but ONLY the Father."

This is a very conclusive statement. Jesus admits that he does not know the day or hour, and that ONLY the Father knows. This alone is enough to show us that Jesus is not omniscient.

Luke 8:45: "Jesus then asked, 'Who touched me?"
This episode is about a woman who needs healing who touches Jesus in a crowd. Jesus responds by saying, "Who touched me?"

It is obvious that he does not know who touched him. We cannot say that he knew but was just asking for whatever reason. This would be to speculate on a grand scale. It would be adding to what the Bible says. Just read the Bible. He did not know. He is not all knowing.

Revelation 1:1: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show his servants what must happen soon."

Who received a revelation? Jesus Christ. Who gave it to him? GOD! God gave Jesus a revelation to show his servants what must happen soon.

Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines revelation as:

Revelation – The communication of the knowledge of God.

(Webster's Dictionary)
Revelation – God's disclosure to humanity of Himself.

Jesus received a communication, a disclosure FROM GOD. God knew something that Jesus did not know. Again, Jesus is not omniscient.

John 12:49: "For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it."

In this verse the Father is showing Jesus how to say something. Why does Jesus need to be shown how to do or say anything if he is already all knowing. Not to mention the fact that the Father is commanding the Son. This is not equality.
Luke 2:52: "And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man."

He advanced in what? Wisdom. He was advancing in the knowledge of God. Someone who is all knowing does not need to advance in anything, especially wisdom.

Matthew 4:1: "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert."

Why does Jesus need to be led? He is supposed to be equal with the Holy Spirit. He should know everything that the Spirit knows, although it is obvious that he does not. He needed to be led.

Matthew 26:39: "He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, 'My Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will".

I will not go in depth into the fact that Jesus' will is not the same as the Father's will, but do notice it.

Back to the original topic. Jesus knew that the cross awaited him and he wanted to see if there was any other way while still remaining in the will of God.

Jesus is asking the Father a question that he does not know the answer to. What does Jesus want to know? IF IT IS POSSIBLE? He does not know if it is. Someone who is asking another a question for which he does not have the answer to is not all knowing.

Conclusion – From the Scriptures above I do not see any way in which someone can conclude that Jesus is omniscient. Jesus knew many things, but he also did not know many things. This is not what being omniscient means. It means knowing EVERYTHING. Jesus is not omniscient and thus he is not equal to God. Who is Jesus then? Jesus is The Messiah, The Anointed one of God. This is what Messiah means, Anointed. The Messiah was never supposed to be God, he is supposed to be a man anointed by God's Spirit. In order to understand who Jesus is we must first come to a good understanding of what Jesus' most important title of Messiah means in depth. After all, he is Jesus the Christ (Messiah).


Paul

WAS JESUS REALLY TEMPTED?
By Juan Baixeras


Of course he was. We are all familiar with the temptation of Jesus, but have most of us noticed how the temptation of Jesus makes the trinity an impossibility. Let's take a look at it in depth.

Matthew 4:1
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."

James 1:13
"For God cannot be tempted by evil."

First, we see that Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. The Doctrine of the Trinity says that the three persons of the trinity are equal. If Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same being and are equal, why does Jesus have to be led into the desert? Does the Spirit know something that Jesus does not?

Secondly, we see the most obvious, Jesus is tempted, yet James clearly says that God cannot be tempted. So is James a liar, or are the man made creeds in error?

Matthew 4:5
"If you are the Son of God throw yourself down, For it is written: He will command His angels concerning you, and with their hands they will support you...Jesus answered him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test."

Notice that the devil calls him the Son of God not God. Satan knows God (read Job 1:6) yet he does not address Jesus as God but as the Son of God. Then Satan talks to Jesus about how God will save him if he jumps down. Jesus replies by saying, "You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test." Do you really believe that Jesus is referring to himself?

Matthew 4:8-11
"Then the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, All these I will give to you if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this Jesus said to him, "Get away Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve."

Why would the devil offer God things that are already His?
Psalm 24:1 says:
"The earth is the LORD's and all it holds, the world and those who live there."

Even harder to believe is the idea that the devil really expected God to worship him so that he could give God what is His already. This is ridiculous. Then Jesus replies by saying, "The Lord, your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve." Can you honestly read this and believe that Jesus is talking about himself?

The temptation episode is written to show us how Jesus put his faith in God in front of everything, especially the desires of the flesh (i.e. hunger, power). It shows us that it is possible to live a life in perfect accordance to God's will. He is our role model. This is why he was made just like us. The Bible says that he was made like us in every way.

Hebrews 2:17 says:
"For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God."

(above) Jesus is going to serve God? I thought he was God? Back to Hebrews, Jesus is made in every way like his brothers. Well, then either Jesus is not God but His anointed, or I am God also.

If Jesus is God, then this whole temptation episode is a farce. God cannot expect me to live up to Jesus' standards like the Bible says I should when I am not a Godman like Jesus. The whole purpose of this episode was for Jesus to set the standard, the example of faith and conduct for us to follow. If it takes being God to accomplish this then why even bother?

The creeds say that Jesus was tempted but cannot sin. If you cannot sin, are you really being tempted? The dual nature idea does not remedy the problem either because the Chalcedon Creed which is the one that says that Jesus is fully God and fully man also says that the dual natures are not separable, they are indivisible, united at all times. By the way, this idea of dual natures is called Dualism and it comes from Greek philosophy.

Dualism - The view that reality may be divided into two essential forces. There are two forms of this understanding. From a cosmic perspective, the world struggles between two opposing forces - typically, one of evil and one of good. From a philosophical approach, the essence of a person is divided between two incompatible natures - that of the body and that of the soul. Early Christianity incorporated both views from those religions and philosophies with which it came in contact. This is the same concept used not only in Greek philosophy, but also in Greek mythology. Hercules is the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. He had a dual nature, he was a man that had supernatural strength which he had inherited from his father Zeus. The Pharaohs were godmen and so were the Caesars. The Bible even provides us with an example of this belief in Acts 14:11 when God healed a crippled man through Paul and Barnabas:

"When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they cried out in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in human form."

This idea of gods coming in human form was very prevalent throughout the Roman-Greco world. This is why it was so natural for people educated in Greek philosophies to incorporate this idea into Christianity.

Please try to read the Bible without injecting meanings that were never intended by its author.

God bless you, and may He always show you the way.
J.B.


Paul

I want to go into greater detail of the Holy Spirit. This topic will take six post due to the length. It will be detailed, covering all aspects of the Holy Spirit including indwelling of the Holy Spirit along with what it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Once again it is research, take it for what it is. May it lead you to a new knowledge or strengthen your present belief.


THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLY ONE
By Juan Baixeras
Part one

The purpose of this paper is to try and understand what the Bible refers to as "the Holy Spirit." We will be looking at three different possibilities.

1. Is it the third person in a triune God who at the same time is a separate being called "God the Holy Spirit?"

2. Is it just God’s power, an energy that God uses for His purposes?

3. Or, is it God’s presence, which is of course inseparable from God’s power.

Let us first examine concept number one.

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament, yet, the Hebrews never envisioned the Spirit of God as a separate being who is part of a triune God. They always (and still do) thought of the Spirit of God as the presence of God himself, his mind and power. The Old Testament never thought of the Holy Spirit as a person distinct from the Father. J.D. Michaelis who is an eminent professor of biblical languages states:

"It cannot be proved, out of the whole number of passages in the Old Testament in which the Holy Spirit is mentioned, that it is a distinct person in the Godhead."

Remember that the New Testament cannot contradict the Old Testament. There was no exchange of God’s. It is the same God throughout the Bible.

In many Bible translations people have tried to make the Holy Spirit a person by translating the "Paraclete" as "him" instead of "it," as in John 14:15-17. It should be "it". People have translated it as "him" for theological reasons. The Roman Catholic and very Trinitarian New American Bible among others, translates the Paraclete correctly as "it" and has an excellent footnote:

Note on John 14:17: The Greek word for "spirit" is neuter, and the Greek text and manuscript variants fluctuate between masculine and neuter pronouns."

This idea of the Holy Spirit being the third member of a triune God was the outcome of the Council of Constantinople in the year 381 AD. This is about three hundred and forty five years after the death of Christ. Before this council nobody ever though of the Holy Spirit as the third member of a triune God called "God the Holy Spirit." If we use the Bible as our guide (which we always should) we will find that nobody in the Bible thought this way of the Holy Spirit either. Nobody in the Bible ever prays to it, nobody ever talks to it, none of the New Testament writers ever send greetings from the Holy Spirit.

This is definitely different from some of today's Trinitarian preachers such as the well-known Benny Hinn, who tells us to pray and talk to the Holy Spirit. Are we to believe that Benny Hinn knows something that Jesus and the Apostles did not? When we as Christians stop using the Bible as our guide is when we run the risk of following false teachings. If there was one individual praying to the Holy Spirit, then you would see me doing the same. But there isn’t. Theologians decided that Jesus was God in the year 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea. But even when they decided that Jesus was God in 325 AD they did not include the Holy Spirit in this formula until fifty-six years later in 381 AD. One must ask, why not? If this was a central concept of Christianity from the beginning (as Trinitarians claim), then why was the Holy Spirit not included in the formula until 381 AD? The reason is because it was not a teaching of Christianity from the beginning.

It was an idea which was developed by men who were educated in Greek philosophies such as Origen and Tertullian to name a few, who tried to interpret the Old and New Testaments within the framework of their Greek philosophical beliefs. This idea came out of the great city of Alexandria and started to gain popularity around the year 250 AD. It came to the forefront in the year 325 AD at the council of Nicaea. But it was a developing idea, which is why the Holy Spirit was not include or considered in the Council of Nicaea.

Tertullian writing around the year 200 AD to a friend of his called Praxeas states:

Chap. III. vv. 1. "The majority of believers, are STARTLED at the Dispensation (of the Three in One)...
They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods...

While the Greeks actually REFUSE to understand the oikonomia, or Dispensation" (of the Three in One)."

This is an incredible statement. Tertullian himself states that the majority of believers are startled when he tells them of the dispensation of the three in one. Why are believers startled at this teaching if it is supposed to be the core of Christianity from the beginning? Because it was not! This is why they are startled. The Greeks (Greek Christians) refused to accept this idea at all and accused him of worshipping two and three gods[/b]. Why would they refuse to accept their own Christian Doctrine of the Trinity? Because it was not part of Christianity until the year 381 AD.

It stands to reason that if the Doctrine of the Trinity had been the status quo from the beginning of Christianity, then the majority of believers (No, all the believers) should have been well aquatinted with this concept. But they were not. They accused Tertullian of worshipping two and three gods. This doctrine was something new, it was not the established belief of Christianity as you can see. It was starting to work itself out, but it was not in the majority, in fact, it was very much in the minority. The Bible provides us with an excellent example, it states in Acts 19:1-3:
"While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and came down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They answered him, ‘We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ He said, ‘How were you baptized?’ They replied, ‘With the baptism of John.’"

These were disciples in Christ. People who already believed in Jesus as the Messiah and the future coming of his kingdom. Yet they had been baptized without even knowing about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is actually "God the Holy Spirit," and the Doctrine of the Trinity is the core of Christianity, would it not be reasonable to conclude that in order to be considered a believer and be baptized, one would have to be familiar and have an understanding of this idea. Yet these disciples did not.

Why not? Because there was no such thing as "God the Holy Spirit." This term does not appear once in the whole Bible. It is a product of men. Let us review two of the most often quoted verses which are used to try and defend this concept of "God the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 28: 19
Baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The New American Bible says:
"This is perhaps the clearest expression in the New Testament of Trinitarian belief."

In a few seconds you will see how preposterous this statement really is. This verse has absolutely nothing Trinitarian about it. It is about Jesus sending them out to proclaim the gospel to the nations. First, a few definitions according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:

Baptize - The phrase in Matthew 28:19, "baptizing them into the name" would indicate that the baptized person was closely bound to, or became property of, the one into whose name he was "baptized."

Name- Represents the authority, character. Expressing attributes. In acknowledgment or confession of.

This verse has nothing to do with water baptizing. With these definitions we can safely paraphrase this verse as follows:
"Go out into the world and introduce or bring them into the knowledge of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"

Which is exactly what they did. The Apostles went out into the Gentile world and brought them the knowledge of who the only God is, who the Messiah is, and about the gifts of the Holy Spirit which they were going to receive. But as you can see, this has nothing to do with the three being one. Human tradition has made this a Trinitarian verse.

This position has strong Biblical support by the fact that the Apostles at no recorded instance baptize using the formula of "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" as Jesus supposedly commanded them to do.

2 Corinthians 13: 13 or 14 depending on the translation states:

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
The New American Bible says of this verse,
"This final verse is one of the clearest Trinitarian passages in the New Testament."

If this is one of the clearest Trinitarian passages, imagine what the others must be like. Just because you mention God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the same sentence does not make them the same being. In Luke 9:28 it says:
"About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray."

If we hold to the same logic that is being applied to 2 Corinthians 13: 13, then Jesus, Peter, John, and James are the same being. This is the extent of this argument. I honestly look at this verse and I do not see anything that implies that they are three in one. Do you? What this verse means is exactly what it says, that the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is how God communicates and relates to us. Even if we say that they are three distinct persons, it still does not imply that they are the same being. Look at it objectively and not the way human tradition dictates it must be looked at. The other few verses that are used for the same purpose are identical in structure. All they do is mention God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the same paragraph. Puzzling? Yes. Biblical? No.

In the end, it really boils down to, who are we supposed to believe, Jesus and the Apostles, or the men of the Council of Nicaea and Constantinople? For me the choice is an easy one. The Bible is very clear about what it thinks of the doctrines of men.

"In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts, you disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition" (Mark 7:7-8).

THE POWER OF GOD
Part two

The second idea is that the Holy Spirit is just the power of God. An energy which God uses to do His will. These groups will compare it to the "Force" in Star Wars. I think that this idea is a result of seeing through the false teaching of the trinity and then going to the other extreme. I do not think that the Holy Spirit is just an energy because in the New Testament it makes decisions, tells people where to go and where not to go, and also teaches us. These are not things that just raw power can do. These things require a mind. The mind of God. Let us look at some verses which will show us that the Holy Spirit is much more than just the power of God.

Acts 5:3&5: "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the Holy Spirit."… You have lied not to human beings, but to God."

In this verse we can see that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. It does not make sense to think that one can lie to an energy or raw power.

Acts 10:19-20: "As Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘There are three men here looking for you. So get up, go downstairs, and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them."

In this verse the Spirit is giving instructions to Peter. An energy cannot give instructions. It also states, "I have sent them." Who sent them? God.

Acts 15:28: "It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities."

This verse is about the decision that was made at the council of Jerusalem concerning the Gentiles. The Spirit was actually responsible for the decision. An energy cannot make decisions, God can.

Hebrews 3:7: "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Oh that today you would hear his voice, harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with this generation and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.’"

As far as I know, energy cannot speak. In this verse you can see that it starts with the Holy Spirit speaking which is in actuality God speaking of the ancestors who rebelled against His ways in the desert.

Hebrews 10:15-17: "The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying: ‘This is the covenant I will establish with the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds,’ he also says, ‘Their sin and their evildoing I will remember no more.’"

Again, we see the Holy Spirit speaking which is in effect God. The covenant was established by God not an energy or raw power. It is God who will remember sin no more.

2 Peter 1:21: "For no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God."

This verse states plainly that if you speak under the influence of the Holy Spirit you are speaking under the influence of God. Energy or power cannot influence you to prophecy.

Acts 13:2: "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Energy cannot give instructions or set apart people. God can.

Acts 20:22-23: "What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me."

Raw power cannot warn individuals. It cannot foresee the future. God on the other hand can.

Acts 21:11: "Thus says the Holy Spirit: ‘This is the way the Jews will bind the owner of this belt in Jerusalem.’"

Again, energy cannot foresee the future or speak. Only God can.

Romans 9:1: "I do not lie, my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

How can energy know that Paul has great anguish in his heart? Nor can power be a witness.

Luke 12:10-12: "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogue and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."

This is an excellent example. Why would it be an unforgivable sin to blasphemy against an energy or raw power, yet it is forgivable to blasphemy the Son of Man? Is energy above the Son of Man? Of course not. Who is the only one who is above Jesus the Messiah? God. Blasphemy against God has always been a sin.

By examining these verses we can see that the Holy Spirit is not just an energy or raw power, but the actual presence of God.

Let’s examine concept number three,

THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD
Part three

If it is not the third member of a triune God, nor just the power of God, what is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God, but it is not a separate entity, yet still an equal member of a triune God. It is simply the presence and power of God Himself. The Holy Spirit is how God extends His presence and power to His creation. Psalm 139: 7 states:

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"

God’s presence. comes to us as His Spirit. This is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God. It means to have fellowship with God. So why not just say God in all instances instead of Holy Spirit? In order to answer that question we must first understand what "spirit" means.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines the Hebrew word "spirit" as:

spirit : 1. breath of life. 2. mind set, of one’s mind or thinking.

The Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as God’s Spirit or the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit (the mind) of the Holy One. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, in actuality it is the mind (Spirit) of God coming upon us. This is why it can foresee the future and give instructions. 1 Corinthians 2:11 states:

"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit (mind) within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God," (the mind of God).

The mind of God is the essence of God. It is God. Through God’s mind comes His thoughts which are expressed as His word which is His will. The power of God comes from God’s will, the reason is because whatever God wills happens. Let us look at creation for an example of this. In Genesis 1:2-3 it says:

"And the Spirit of God moving gently on the face of the waters. Then God said. ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light."

God’s mind (Spirit) swept over the waters. God’s mind produced the thoughts of creation which God expressed as a word by saying, "Let there be light." At God’s word (His will) His power went into action and the heavens and earth were created.

2 Peter 3:5: "that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water."
Revelation 4:11: "for you created all things, by your will they came into being."

As you can see, word and will are interchangeable. God’s word represents his thoughts, which are His will. Sirach 37:16 (a book only in the Catholic Bible) provides us with an excellent example of this thought:

"A word is the source of every deed; a thought, of every act."

Your thoughts are the source of your actions, a word (your will) is your thoughts expressed.

This is the reason why the Bible states that the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit came to an individual instead of just saying God. In a sense it is almost identical. God’s thoughts are God, but it is not God physically. It is His mind. Let me use an analogy in order to explain this a little easier.

Let us imagine that I have the power of telepathy (of communicating my thoughts). I am in Miami and my friend is in New York. I could send my friend a thought for him to turn on the TV and watch the news. He could in effect say that the mind of Juan came to him and told him to turn on the TV, which in effect is me. But it would not be correct for him to say that Juan was here and told me to turn on the TV because I physically was not there. This is the reason for the difference in language.

The Holy Spirit is also considered to be the power of God.

Through God’s will comes his power.

Luke 1:35: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you."
This verse is sometimes used to imply that the Holy Spirit is just the power of God. But if we read this verse carefully we will see that the Holy Spirit wields the power, it is not itself the raw power. The Holy Spirit possesses the power. The power comes from the mind of the most high, God. Spirit of God = Mind of God. Let us look at some other verses to confirm this idea.
Romans 15:19: [/i]"By the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the gospel of Christ."[/i]

Romans 15:13: "So that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 10:38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5: "And my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

1 Thesalonians 1:5:[b] "For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also [b]in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction."

These verses are very clear that the power comes from the Spirit (mind) of God.

When the Bible speaks of "The indwelling of the Holy Spirit," it is God’s Holy Spirit (mind) renewing your mind. This is why our way of thinking changes when we receive the Holy Spirit. Through God’s mind comes His power.

SUMMARY – In conclusion, the Holy Spirit is the mind of the Holy One, God. It is how He communicates with us. It is His presence that brings with it His power. It is not a separate being from God, yet God, anymore than our minds are separate from us. It is the way in which God guides us and teaches us, through His mind. The mind (Spirit) of God is the greatest teacher of all. It taught our Lord Jesus the Christ. Through God's mind His plan for our salvation is revealed to us in His message of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Christ. God bless you, and see you at the resurrection!

Paul

INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT
Part four

In this study our primary purpose will be to try and understand what is meant by the term "the Spirit of God in us." This is also referred to as the "indwelling of the Spirit." This at first might sound like an easy task, but it is a bit more complicated than one would imagine. We will have to compare many different Scriptures in order to understand what these terms mean.

We have to understand what the word "spirit" means in depth, and see its many different uses. We have to understand the difference between the "baptism and gifts of the Spirit" and the "indwelling of the Spirit of God." We will also have to examine and determine if what the Apostles experienced in reference to the Holy Spirit is the same thing that we are to expect from the Holy Spirit. It will be a very interesting study which I think will help the reader in their continued study of the Scriptures.

SPIRIT
A thorough understanding of the word "Spirit" is needed in order to understand the many passages in the Bible in which it is used. We will discuss what I believe are the most important and frequent uses of the word. The most difficult challenge to most people will be to discard the engraved definition of "spirit" which we have been exposed to since childhood and embrace the Jewish definition of "spirit." The Bible after all is a Jewish document, and we must always use the definitions of the people who wrote it if we are ever to understand its true meaning. Unfortunately this is not what has happened in the course of history. People have interpreted the Bible with Greek philosophical definitions, or have injected their own modern day definitions into Jewish words, which of course will lead you to an incorrect conclusion.

Let us first understand Greek philosophy’s definition of "spirit" which is the prevalent definition in our society today. This view originated with the Pythagoreans, a group that was founded by Pythagoras who was a great philosopher and mathematician in ancient Greece.

Pythagoreans - Pythagoreans believed that the soul is immortal and separable from the body. By leading a pure life, an individual might secure the release of his or her soul from all flesh.

To someone educated in Greek philosophy "soul" and "spirit" are interchangeable and mean basically the same thing, much as it does in our society today. To a Jew they are vastly different in meaning. While Greek philosophy considers the soul (i.e. spirit) immortal, the Jews believe that only God is immortal, and that immortality is a gift that only God can bestow upon an individual. We must receive immortality as a gift from God, it is not inherent in us. Titus 6:16 says it clearly:

"Whom (God) alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see."

The Pythagorean’s view was later adopted by Plato who adjusted it a little and through whom it became popular and ultimately became the standard definition of spirit.

Platonism - Believed that we must be capable of existing apart from our physical bodies. The flesh is evil. The body is a prison. It is bad for the soul
(i.e. spirit) to be in the body. Platonism suggests the immortality and pre-existence of the soul, and the soul then becoming incarnate.

The Christian hope of resurrection is a bodily resurrection not a spiritual one. However, the majority of people today believe that a person’s spirit separates from their bodies at death and goes to either heaven or hell. As you can see, this is the Greek concept of death which is in direct opposition to the Jewish concept of death. The Greek view thinks of the spirit as something similar to a ghost that you can sometimes see, as it is portrayed in the movies. This is evident even in some Bibles in which the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Holy Ghost. The word in Greek is "pneuma" which is "spirit" not "ghost." The spirit to a Greek philosopher is immortal, the Bible states that immortality belongs only to God. These Greek definitions provide fundamentally enormous consequences when injected into the Jewish Scriptures.

These are the definitions that we must discard from our memories if we are ever going to understand the Bible the way it was meant to be understood. Now let us proceed to the Jewish definitions of "spirit." In Hebrew the word "spirit" is "ruah" and in Greek it is "pneuma." Hebrew was used in the Old Testament while the New Testament is written in Greek. Their definitions are almost exactly the same. The Jews used "pneuma" in Greek in the same way that they used "ruah" in Hebrew.

A. Spirit (ruah & pneuma ) – Breath of life. The vital principle by which the body is animated.

It is the life force that God gives to people and animals which animates their bodies, which gives them life. When He takes it away they die.

Examples:
Psalms 104: 29-30: "When you take away their breath (pneuma), they perish and return to the dust from which they came. When you send forth your breath (pneuma), they are created."

Ecclesiastes 12:7: "And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath (pneuma) returns to God who gave it."

Psalms 33:6: "When his spirit (pneuma) departs he returns to his earth; on that day his plans perish."

This definition is extremely important when one interprets a verse such as Luke 23:46:

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (pneuma);" and when he said this he breathed his last."

If you use the Greek philosophical definition as most people do, you will arrive at the conclusion that at that moment Jesus’ Greek type spirit went to heaven to be with God. This of course is not possible because after three days when Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to Mary of Magdala and told her:

"Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" (John 20:17).

If we use the intended Jewish definition of spirit it will make perfect sense. Jesus’ breath of life returned to God and he died. This is in accordance with the Scriptures and definition listed above and does not conflict with John 20:17. It is the intended Jewish meaning. A second very important meaning of [i]"spirit" is:

Spirit (ruah) - is often used of a man’s mind-set, disposition, or temper. The word is used of one’s mind or thinking.

Spirit (pneuma) - the Spirit is said to dwell in the minds of Christians. purpose.

Paul uses spirit and mind interchangeably as he quotes Isaiah 40:13 in the New Testament. Let's take a look at these verses.

Isaiah 40:13: "Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or has instructed Him as His counselor?"

Romans 11:34: "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?"

1 Corinthians 2:16: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel Him?"

It is clear that for Paul, the spirit of the LORD is the mind of the LORD. These definitions are crucial in order to understand many verses of the Bible. If you are one in spirit with Jesus it means that you are one in mind with Jesus. That you have the same mind-set, the same disposition, that you think the same as he does. This after all is what a Christian strives for, to try to reach the example of faith that Jesus showed us. To be able to discern the will of God as Jesus did so perfectly. We are told to have the same mind, the same attitude as Christ.

Examples:
1 Corinthians 2:16: "But we have the mind of Christ."

Philippians 2:2: "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing."

1 Peter 4:1: "Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same attitude, for whoever suffers in the flesh has broken with sin, so as not to spend what remains of one’s life on human desires, but on the will of God."

Philippians 2:5: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus."

With these definitions we can better understand a verse like

1 Corinthians 7:17:
"But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit."

In other words, whoever unites himself with the Lord is one with him in mind, mind-set, attitude, thinking, or in purpose, which are all synonymous. Here are some other examples. Try substituting one of the given definitions where it says "spirit" and you will get a clearer meaning of the verse.

Numbers 5:14: "Or if a man is overcome by a spirit of jealousy."

Galatians 6:1: "Even if a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual should correct that one with the spirit of gentleness."

1 Corinthians 2:12: "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God."

Deuteronomy 34:9: "Now Joshua, son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom."

Genesis 41:8: "Next morning his spirit was agitated."

This definition of "spirit” is still very popular even among our own society. A recent article in Flying Careers magazine was about how some pilots volunteer their time for such programs as Young Eagles or Angel Flight. The title of the article was "The Spirit of Volunteering." Another way of saying the same thing is, "The mind-set of Volunteering." A paragraph in the article says, "Many organizations provide opportunities for those in the spirit." This phrase sounds like something right out of the New Testament, but as we all know, the writer is simply saying that many organizations provide opportunities for those in the right frame of mind.

With this understanding, and by comparing some other verses we can now comprehend more fully what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus in John 3:3-5: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" ...no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and spirit"

Jesus is telling Nicodemus that unless you make a commitment to God (which is demonstrated by baptism) and be born again of the mind, you will not enter the kingdom of God. Our minds have to be born again, they have to think differently than they did when they followed the flesh. Our minds have to be renewed in order to be able to discern and follow the will of God.

Romans 12:2: "Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God."

Ephesians 4:23: "And be renewed in the spirit (purpose) of your minds."

2 Corinthians 4:16: [/i]"Although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self (spirit i.e. mind) is being renewed day by day."[/i]

Colossians 3:9-10: "Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self (new mind),which is being renewed, for knowledge in the image of its creator."

Romans 7:6: "Dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit (mind) and not under the obsolete law.

You will notice that in many of the verses that we are reading, the adjectives that are attributed to renewal are adjectives that are associated with our minds, such as knowledge, discern, etc.

The new covenant that Jesus ushered in is of the mind and not the letter. The Mosaic covenant was of the letter. The majority of the people followed it in my opinion, because of fear of the consequences and not because they truly believed that the law was good. This is why they had such hardships in the desert for forty years. They kept reverting to their pagan ways that they had adopted in Egypt. They had not truly accepted the law within their minds. Let me give you an example: I do not steal because in my mind I believe it to be wrong, and not because I fear the penalty of being caught stealing. There are people who do not steal simply because they do not want to end up in prison. Lets suppose that the government said that on a given Friday stealing will not be considered a crime. I still would not steal because God’s law is in me.

But you can be sure that there would be a lot of people who normally do not steal that on Friday would steal because God’s law is not in them. Here are a few examples:

Jeremiah 31:31-33: "The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant (Mosaic covenant) I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt... But this is the covenant (ushered in by Jesus) which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts."

Hebrews 8:10 "I will put my laws in their minds."

2 Corinthians 3:5-6: "Rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of spirit" (of the mind).

Romans 2:28: "One is not a Jew (follower of God in this context) outwardly. True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter."

Romans 7:25: "Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin."

Christianity is a war fought in our minds. The war is between good and evil. We strive to follow the will of God over the will of our flesh.

Romans 7:22-23: "For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self (mind), but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members."
Romans 7:25: "I myself, with my mind serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin."

This understanding of spirit in relation to the mind is essential if one is going to understand what Paul meant when he said in Romans 8:9:
"Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you."

What does Paul mean when he says "Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him?" Are we suppose to have a Greek-type spirit of Jesus living inside of us along with God’s Spirit? Are we like a shell housing all these different spirits, our own spirit, God’s Spirit, and Jesus’ spirit? Of course not. [COLOR="blue"]What Paul is saying is that whoever does not have the mind-set or mind of Christ does not belong to him.[/COLOR] Remember earlier how it was shown that we are to have the mind of Christ. If we believe his word, his teachings on the kingdom of God we will have the same mind-set as he does, we will be of one mind. This is how Christ is in us. His word, his teachings are in us. When we have Christ in us we have the knowledge of God’s plan of salvation (the gospel) for us, our hope for glory. Christ dwells in us through our faith in his words.

John 15:7: "If you remain in me (Jesus) and my words remain in you."

Colossians 3:16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."

Ephesians 3:17: "And that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

2 Corinthians 11:10: "By the truth of Christ (his words) that is in me."

Colossians 1:17: "It is Christ in you, the hope for glory."

Ephesians 4:21: "assuming that you have heard of him (Jesus) and were taught in him, as truth is in him."

Colossians 2:6: "So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught."

This is the Jewish meaning of Christ dwelling in us. It is vastly different from the Greek philosophical point of view


Next we will look into the difference between Baptism and or Gifts of the Holy Spirit and indwelling of the Spirit.

Paul

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAPTISM AND OR GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT BAPTISM / GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Part five

Many people confuse the indwelling of the Spirit of God in us with the way that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and the first Christians. These are two completely different things. God gave the Apostles and the first Christians gifts in order to confirm the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Messiah. That was their purpose, to confirm their teachings. We today have the greatest proof of God’s plan for our salvation through the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is proved by the lives of the Apostles.

All the persecution that they went through without any human reward can only be explained if what they said about the risen Jesus is true. But none of the Apostles had this proof. Imagine, if Paul came into your town and said that the Messiah had come, and that his name is Jesus, and that the proof is that God raised him from the dead. The first words out of your mouth would be, "Can you prove it?" How do I know that you are telling me the truth? Besides his testimony that you could not verify, he would have no solid proof. This is why God gave them signs (the gifts of the Spirit). We today do not need to confirm the gospel, that confirmation has already been given by the resurrection of Jesus Christ through the lives of the Apostles.

The gifts of the Spirit that the early Christians received when the Apostles laid hands on them (AKA baptism of the Holy Spirit), were for those early days when the church was spreading for the reasons given above. There was as of yet no New Testament that a new church could read and learn the will of God as taught by Jesus, thus the need for supernatural revelation through prophesying and tongues. Peter states that these gifts are for two generations only, which would agree with the time frame of when the writings of the New Testament were starting to circulate. Paul says that when the church reaches maturity, that these gifts will end. Let’s take a look at both of those verses.

Acts 2:38-39: "Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord will call."
Peter tells them to repent and be baptized and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He tells them that the promise is for them and their children (two generations) and those far off. "Those far off" is a reference not to Jews who were geographically far away, or to believers in the future, but to Gentiles. The Jews considered the Gentiles to be far off from God and His covenant with the Jews.

This can be verified by Paul in Ephesians 2:11-13:
"Therefore, remember that at one time you, Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by those called the circumcision…But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ."

So the promise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is then for those generations of Jews and Gentiles and their children. The generations after this time period have confirmation of the gospel by the greatest sign of all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ which can be proven by the lives of the Apostles. These first generations did not have that proof.

1 Corinthians 13:8 -12 tells us when these gifts will end:
"Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

For we know partially and we prophesy partially; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to my childish ways (NSRV)."

This verse has been interpreted several different ways. "When the complete comes" has been translated as when the "perfect comes" in some other bibles. Zondervan’s Greek and English Interlinear Bible has it in the original Greek as: "but when the perfect thing comes." The interpretations of this verse range in meaning. One interpretation suggests that tongues will cease "when the perfect comes." The "perfect" being a reference to Jesus. I do not think that Paul would refer to Jesus as a thing. A quick look into the meaning of the Greek word "teleioo" that is translated as "complete" or "perfect" will help us in understanding this verse.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words; teleioo - to bring to an end by completing or perfecting, is used (I) of "accomplishing" (see Finish, Fulfill); (II) of "bringing to completeness."

Strong’s Greek Dictionary; teleioo - To complete, accomplish, consummate, consecrate, finish, fulfill, (make) perfect.

With these definitions we can better understand that the word "teleioo" is not a reference to Jesus, but as we shall see, a reference to the maturity of the body of Christ (the community of believers) which starts at 1 Corinthians (12:27). Paul is comparing the early church to a child. Its knowledge is limited like a child’s. He then compares the church’s adulthood to the day when it is mature. How is the body of Christ mature?

There are two possibilities. The first is that in Paul’s day people would follow the truth of Christ because of the gifts of the Spirit that the first two generations displayed (these gifts were signs to confirm the message of Christ). This is referred to as "knowing partially." People believed because of what they saw.

In 1 Corinthians 12:31 he says that now he will show us an even better way to recognize the truth of Christ (an even better sign). This is the way of love (God’s love in us). Then Paul says that when it is accomplished, completed, made perfect, that the gifts will cease, "the partial will pass away." To be mature for Paul means to know fully.

1 Corinthians 13:12: "At present I know partially, then I shall know fully."

To know fully the love of God that comes with the knowledge of the message of Christ (the proclamation of the kingdom of God and His Messiah), and for people to believe this message not because of the gifts of the Spirit, but because of the love that is witnessed among Christ’s followers. Love is a greater sign of confirmation than the gifts of the Spirit that will eventually cease.

John 13:34-35 states:
"I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"

Matthew 5:44-48 is all about love for your neighbor and your enemies.
"But I say to you, love your enemies… For if you love those who love you…So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

To be perfect like our father is to be able to love like our Father. This is how Christ was made perfect and how we are to strive for perfection. Unconditional love.

John 17:23 speaks of being made perfect by the love of God in them.
"That they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me."

The second view is that Paul is comparing the early church to a child. Its knowledge is limited like a child’s. He then compares the body of Christ reaching maturity in the knowledge of Christ and his message. Maturity in the sense that it will possess the entire truth, the entire Bible. Remember, there was of yet no New Testament for the churches to study, hence, the need for prophesying and the other gifts. What Paul is saying is that when the churches reach adulthood (possession of the Bible), when the truth is completed, finished, accomplished, that prophesying and tongues will cease.

Vine’ Expository Dictionary has a commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:8:
"There is no evidence of the continuance of this gift after apostolic times nor indeed in the later times of the Apostles themselves; this provides confirmation of the fulfillment in this way of 1 Corinthians 13:8, that this gift would cease in the churches, just as "prophecies" and "knowledge" in the sense of knowledge received by immediate supernatural power. The completion of the Holy Scriptures has provided the churches with all that is necessary for individual and collective guidance, instruction, and edification."

Although both are possible, I think that the first interpretation is the correct one. It in agreement with the teachings of Christ, while the second one suggests that Paul knew that there would someday be a New Testament. There is no way of knowing if Paul knew that his letters and the writings of others would become the New Testament.

One trap that I hope the reader does not fall into, is to think that I am saying that God does not perform any miracles today. Miracles and the gifts of the Spirit are two entirely different things. I do believe God still does miracles today, but I think they are more on a personal level. They are not needed to confirm the gospel. That confirmation has already been given.

Paul

INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD
Part six (Final)
Slight review.

Before starting one thing must be said, I do believe that the Spirit of God can and still does come upon individuals to guide them, but this should also not be confused with the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Much of the confusion about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes from certain passages that have been interpreted as if Jesus meant them for all Christians in the future. This is an erroneous conclusion. One such example is in John 14: 15-17:
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you always."

Many people take this verse as if Jesus were speaking to all Christians. But the fact is that he is not. From John 14 to John 18 Jesus is at the last supper speaking specifically to the Apostles. What he is telling them is not meant for all of us. Take for example John 14:12:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these."

This is very specific. The Apostles did do works as great or greater than Jesus. They raised people from the dead, healed the sick etc., just as Jesus told them they would. Have you done works greater than Jesus? I know I have not, nor do I know of anyone that has. This is because we are not suppose to. Jesus was speaking specifically to the Apostles.

We have to make sure that we pay attention to whom the Scriptures are directed at. People make assumptions that all the Scriptures were written for all the people of all the ages. This is not the case. Although we can always learn valuable lessons from all the Scriptures, we must observe to whom, and for what purpose a particular Scripture was written. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he addressed a specific problem that they were having. He did not write to them with the idea that his letter would become part of the New Testament and would be applicable to all Christians everywhere. Many parts are applicable to all Christians, such as advice on Christian living etc. But we must not take that to mean that every Scripture is meant for all people of all times.

As we shall see, the Spirit of God is in us, but not in the same way that it was in the Apostles and the first Christians. That was specific to that time period, when the church was not yet mature.

First, we must define what it means to be "spiritual," to live "in the spirit." Does that mean that we have the Holy Spirit living in us as the Apostles did, actively guiding our every move, telling us "go there," "do not go there." I do not believe so. To be "spiritual" or to "live in the spirit" means to live in accordance with the will of God. To be able to discern and follow His will. If we follow our own desires, we are "of the flesh." If we live in the flesh we are really following our own will (mind) and not the will (mind) of God. This is why our minds have to be renewed. Let’s take a look at a few examples:

Romans 12:2: "Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (spirit), that you may discern what is the will of God" (being spiritual).

Romans 7:25: "Therefore I with my mind (spirit) serve the law of God (his will) but, with my flesh, the law of sin."

Ephesians 4:17: "Do not live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds (flesh); darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God (spirit)."

Galatians 5:16: "Live by the Spirit (a mind that follows the will of God) and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh" (our own desires).

1 Peter 4:2: "So as not to spend what remains of one’s life in the flesh on human desires, but on the will of God" (on spiritual things).

Romans 8:7-9: "For the concern of the flesh is hostility towards God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh (following their own will) cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit (in the will of God), if only the Spirit of God (mind, mind-set of God) dwells in you."

In other words, you are spiritual if you posses the knowledge or wisdom (of His will) that is from above (from God). Earthly wisdom is considered unspiritual. James 3:15 is an excellent example:
"Do not boast and be false to the truth. Wisdom of this kind does not come from above (from God) but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."

Paul says in the previous verse Romans 8:7-9 that we are in the spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in us. This is a reference to the indwelling of the Spirit of God in us which we hear so much about, and which is also confused with what the Apostles and the first Christians experienced. But what does it mean to have the Spirit of God dwelling in us? Do we have God’s Holy Spirit actually living in us, or do the writers of the New Testament mean something else? What do they mean when they use the word "dwell?" Let’s look at some examples:

2 John verse 2: "Because the truth dwells in us."

Romans 7:17: "So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

Romans 7:18: "For I know that good does not dwell in me."

1 Colossians 3:16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."

Do these verses imply that Greek-type spirits called truth, sin, good, and word of Christ come and live in us? Of course not. Dwelling means that it is inherent in your being, in your way of thinking. Truth dwells in you in that your mind has accepted the concept of truth and it is now a part of your belief system, in this way the truth is in you. The word of Christ dwells in you in the sense that you believe the teachings of Jesus and have incorporated them into your life. These teachings are now inherent in your way of thinking, it is in this sense that they are in you, i.e. "dwell in you."

We have God in us (dwelling in us) when we are filled with the knowledge of His will. We have God in us when we accept His teachings which Jesus revealed to us. This is how the Spirit (mind) of God is in us.

2 John verse 9: "Anyone who is so "progressive" as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not [/b]have God[/b]; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son."

1 John 2:24: "Let what you [b heard[/b] from the beginning (the word) remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and the Father."

1 John 2:5: "But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him."

Colossians 1:9-10: "asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

The gospel which is God’s plan of salvation for us (the kingdom of God message), which is His will, is reflective of the mind of God. My mind is reflective of me. It reflects who I am as a person. The gospel is referred to many times in the New Testament as the "word of God," or just the "word." The gospel (His word) is the expression of God’s thoughts. In other words, the gospel is the mind of God. The mind of God is God. Another way of saying it is, "the gospel is God," or: "THE WORD WAS GOD" (John 1:1).

When we truly believe and accept the word (will) of God with our minds and hearts, the Spirit (mind-set) of God dwells in us. It is an integral part of our being. It is in us. We are now one in mind with God.

To some people this concept is frightening, mostly because people like to think that God is actually living inside their bodies and guiding them through this life. But in a sense He is. If we live in the spirit (His will), the Spirit (mind-set) of God dwells in us. He has not left us alone, he has given us a renewed mind, a new way of thinking that will guide us in our journey to His glorious kingdom to come.

See you at the resurrection!
By Juan Baixeras


Paul

The Perfect Man
by A.P. Adams

The work that began in Eden and has been going on uninterruptedly ever since; it has been completed thus far only in the case of one man, "the Perfect Man," the Lord Jesus Christ, and hence He has become the pattern and the model after whom all the redeemed shall be fashioned, so that when the question is asked, "What is man?" the answer is Jesus

Jesus is the only man thus far finished, completed and perfected; He is the only one as yet in whom the creative proposition has been consummated: "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness" (Gen. 1:26), for He is the brightness of the Father's glory and "the express image of His person." (Heb. 1:3). The first man could not have been in the image and likeness of God in the same sense that Jesus was, because the nature of the two are broadly contrasted in I Cor. 15: 45-49:

"The first man, Adam, was made a living soul [a soulical or animal man], the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) spirit; howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural (soulical), and afterward that which is spiritual; the first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly."

Thus we see that the first man could not have been in the full image and likeness of God, for he was made altogether unlike "the second man," Jesus, who is "the express image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). Therefore when we read of Adam that he was made in God's image we know that the statement must be taken prophetically and prospectively, for God "quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Rom. 4: 17). We know that He was made altogether different in nature from Adam, and we know that Christ is the pattern after whom all the redeemed are to be modeled; we also know that He is the "perfect Man" (Eph. 4: 13), "The Man Christ Jesus" our Mediator with the Father, (1 Tim. 2: 5) the Man whom God has appointed to judge the world (Acts 17: 31) and this same "Son of man" will come again; (see Rev. 1:13; 14: 14; Matt. 10: 23; 13: 41; 24: 27, 30, 44; 25: 31, and many other similar scriptures).

It is a noteworthy fact that the scriptures emphasize the humanity of Christ far more than they do His divinity; He is divine; (Agency) "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," (Col. 2:9) but this truth is not made so prominent in the Bible as the fact that Jesus was thoroughly human, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh; His usual title in the New Testament is "Son of Man;" thus He usually styled Himself; only four times does He call himself the "Son of God," (Matt. 26:63-64; Lk. 22:70) while He takes to Himself the name, Son of Man, some eighty times. Thus does it most certainly appear that Jesus Christ is the perfected Man, that He is a Man still, "standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7: 56) and that "this same Jesus" (Acts 1: 11) will come again, the Man whom God has appointed to judge the world. Hence the conclusion seems inevitable that Jesus Christ is THE FINISHED MAN, the one and only man who has passed through the entire process of creation and reached the image and likeness of God.

Now how did Jesus reach this highly exalted and glorious position, as the first fruits and forerunner of all the saved? Was it by His own might and power? Did He create and perfect Himself? No, most emphatically no; it was all "of God." Jesus was entirely "God's workmanship" (Eph. 2: 10) just like all the rest of the redeemed. There is such a mass of scripture to establish this truth that I will refer to it very briefly and leave the reader to study it out at his pleasure and leisure. In the first place, God brought Him into the world; (Heb. 1:6; Lk. 1:35) "God was with Him" (Acts 10: 38) His entire career and everything that He did and said was "of God" and by His power. Jesus never claimed to perform His mighty works by His own power; on the contrary He expressly disclaims any such thing; He did His mighty works "by the spirit of God" (Matt. 12: 28), the works that He did were not His own works (John 9:4) the words He spake were not His own words. (John 3:34; 14: 10; 17: 8). "It is my meat and drink," He said, "to do my Father's will and to finish His work" (Jn. 4:34);again He says, "the Father that dwelleth in me He doeth the works" (Jn. 14:10. See Acts 2: 22).

"Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him," etc. Christ was the agent, God did the mighty works "by Him;" again to the same effect read Acts 10: 38-42. Thus was Jesus "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3: 14). God was His Creator, God and Father, just as He is Our Creator, God and Father. (John 20: 17). His passion and crucifixion was "of God" (Act 2:23 4:27) so also His resurrection, exaltation and priesthood, (Act 5:30 Phi 2:9 Heb 6:20)also His return to judge, and reign, and deliver "the whole creation" (Rom 8:19-20)

Jesus was weak; He says, "Of mine own self I can do nothing" (John 5: 19, 30; 8:28) none of us are any weaker than that. Paul says that Christ was "crucified through weakness, but He liveth by the power of God" (2 Cor. 13: 4); all His power was of God, and even His life, for He says "I live by the Father" (John 6: 57). Now turn to Isa. 42:1-12; read the whole passage comparing it with Matt. 12:18-21, and see how thoroughly Christ's earthly career and final victory was of God. God "made known to Him the ways of life" (Acts 2:28) and "upheld" Him, and this was the reason why it could be said of Him, "He shall not fail." "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee" (Is. 42:6). "I am the Lord; this is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" (Is. 42:8).

Thus Jesus had to pass through a process of growth and development, just as a man must, in order to reach the divine image and likeness, and every step of this process was of God. As a youth, "He grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man, and the grace of God was upon Him" (Luke 2: 40, 52). There were some things He did not know, (Mark 13: 32) and He had to be instructed; among the rest He "learned obedience by the things that He suffered." (Heb. 5: 8). He had to pass through a training process "that He might be a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:17), and finally He was "perfected through suffering" (Heb. 2: 10) "and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:9).

All this goes to show that Jesus during His earth life was passing through a process of creation, and that this entire process in all its length and breadth was of God; Jesus did not perfect Himself, but was made perfect, the perfect Man, and thus perfected He becomes, as we have seen, the model and pattern of all the redeemed; they must be perfected as He was and by the same power, the power of God, in order to reach the same goal, and their creation, like that of Christ's must be entirely of God, as it is written, "We are His (God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2: 10).

The point that I want the reader to see is that the perfection of man, the consummation of His creation in the image and likeness of God, is God's work, and as such is sure of being accomplished, because the Great Workman is interested in His work, He has a "desire" to it, and He will not begin what He cannot complete. For the creature to fail of the purpose of its creation implies a failure on the part of the Creator, and this cannot be in the government of God. "My counsel shall stand," He says, "and I will do all my pleasure;" (Is. 46:10) hence we may be sure that the ultimate purpose in the creation of everyone, whatever it may be, will be surely carried out; as the Creator cannot fail, neither can His creations. Thus does it appear that in the final outcome of man's creation the honor of the Most High is involved, and He is bound to make that outcome a successful and glorious one in order to vindicate that honor. There is abundance of scripture to establish this point.

Paul

No One but God is Good

One day a "rich young ruler" came to Jesus and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). Jesus replied, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" (v. 19). The traditional explanation I was taught is that Jesus stops this young man right in his tracks because he needed to realize that Jesus really was God. It is as if Jesus said, "Don't you realize who I am? I am God Himself. Don't call me ‘good’ without remembering this. Recognize who it is you are talking to!" Sound a bit strained? Whilst admitting that Jesus’ reply is difficult I think there's a better explanation. Jesus was saying that he himself is not God. This is the natural, obvious sense so let's look at it in more detail.

The word for "good" here is the Greek word agathos. It is an adjective which according to the G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek lexicon of the New Testament, third edition. Agathos properly refers to "inner excellence." In Joseph Henry Thayer’s, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, agathos when used of God refers to the fact that He is completely, perfectly, and essentially good.

Jesus says that only God is agathos or good. It refers to God's holiness, his "otherness," that which sets Him apart from all of His creation. On the practical level it means that God cannot help being good, God cannot sin, nor can He even be tempted to sin. God alone is "incorruptible" and immortal (1 Tim 1:17).

On the other hand, Jesus reject for himself the description agathos, that inner quality of perfection which belongs only to God. "In essence he rejects this divine attribute of holiness and, on the negative side, he rejects incorruptibility." This means that Jesus was a real human being and had the option of being either good or bad. Jesus’ temptations were real; he could have succumbed and failed. For he was not agathos, that is not good, and not God in the absolute sense of the word. This means that he was liable to corruption (Acts 2:27). But it also means his victories were real. The Bible teaches that Jesus learned obedience (Heb.5:8). God the Father has never had to learn goodness.

Truly, there was a certain goodness that Jesus did possess. His was a goodness unique in human history. We know that he "increased [grew] in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and with man" (Luke 2:52). This was the sinless goodness that had been possible for Adam, originally. This is the goodness that qualified him to be the Good Shepherd who gave his life as a sacrifice for us. But the word describing him as "The Good Shepherd" (John 10:11) is a different Greek word, kalos, meaning morally excellent and worthy of recognition. This type of goodness certainly describes our Savior.

So what does this all mean? Evidently when the young man addressed Jesus as "Good Teacher" Jesus took offense. His response indicates a rebuke in fact: "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." (This crucial phrase ei me heis ho theos may also be translated "but the one God," which is a strong unitary monotheistic affirmation from Jesus’ lips: "no one is good but the one God.")

The Trinitarian Raymond E. Brown in his book, An Introduction to New Testament Christology writes, "The text strongly distinguishes between Jesus and God, and that a description of himself to which Jesus objected was applicable to God. From this text, one would never suspect that the evangelist referred to Jesus and God."

Surely we do not honor the Lord Jesus when we attribute to him what he himself rejected and what belongs only to his Father in heaven? If confirmation that this is the correct interpretation is sought, and we need only to turn to revelations 15. After his resurrection and ascension into heaven Jesus is seen leading the worship directed to God his Father. All the victorious Saints of God singing "the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O LORD God, the Almighty… Who will not fear, O LORD and glorify Your Name? For You alone are Holy" (v. 3-4). Even now in heaven the Lord Jesus’ confession is that his Father "alone" is holy. As the lamb of God, Jesus still worships God his Father as the only one who is good! Only his Father, the Lord God Almighty, is the source of all moral excellence. How much better to agree with our Lord Jesus and confess that there is only one who is good, that is God. Jesus rejects the identification of himself with the one true and good God in Luke 18:19.

Paul

“Lord” in the Book of Acts

What does the missionary book of the early church say about Jesus and Lord? One could say it would be a safe place to see how the apostolic Christians understood it. A good place to turn. The book of Acts present us with a clear and unified testimony of the apostles’ witness. It is significant that nowhere in Acts do the apostles say that believing that Jesus is Jehovah, the Lord God, is an essential requirement for salvation. Peter, who had been given the keys to the kingdom, called Jesus "a man accredited to you by God" (Acts 2:22).

The Bible states that after his sermon on the day of Pentecost about 3000 persons were saved. If Peter thought it was essential to believe that Jesus was Almighty God he did not say so in his first sermon. If it is necessary to believe in the Trinity to enter the Kingdom of God then Peter forgot to mention this essential fact on this definitive day. This proves is not necessary to believe that Christ is God in order to be saved. When preaching to these Jews Peter presents a Messiah who is the descendent of King David (v.30). He is one who would have rotted and decayed in the grave like any other man had not God raised him up again (v.24-32). Because God authenticated "this Jesus" by resurrecting him (thus reversing the national verdict accusing him of blasphemy, that is, claiming to be God's Messiah), Jesus is now "exulted to the right hand of God" (v. 33). God has thus sealed "this Jesus whom you crucified" (v.36) and declared him as "Lord and Messiah" to the nation of Israel and "for all who are far off" (the Gentiles as well, v.39). The proof of his Messiahship is that the Holy Spirit has been poured out. Every Jew believed that the dawning of the new Messianic age would usher in a mighty outpouring of God Spirit. This Jewish audience knew that Peter statements meant that the God of their fathers, Jehovah, had raise Jesus in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Christ. Their understanding that "Jesus is Lord" was governed by their understanding of the messianic fulfillment of Psalms 110 as Peter quotes it in Acts here. No unitary monotheistic Jew would have taken Peter statements in Acts 2 to mean that Messiah was Jehovah God. It must be interpreted with Hebrew eyes this same pattern is followed throughout Acts.

In the next chapter, Peter calls Jesus anything but the Lord God. Jesus is called God’s "servant" twice (Acts 3:13, 26); God's "Christ" (v. 18:20); "the Prince of life" (a title nowhere in the Bible applied to God, v.15); the "prophets" whom Moses predicted (v.22,23). In fact, Peter is very careful not to confuse the identity of the Lord God and this Jesus who is the Lord Messiah. Note verse 13 where Peter says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers as glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up, and disowned in the presence of pilate, when he had decided to release him." This same expression "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" appears in Exodus 3:15 where God tells Moses to announce to the people that "The LORD [YHWH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you" (Ex 3:15). The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob equals the LORD (Jehovah). Here in Acts 3:13 it is "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers" who has now "glorified his servant Jesus."

Is Jesus then the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers? Absolutely not! This would make complete nonsense of the text. The God of Abraham glorified who? Himself? No: His servant Jesus. Jesus is not the God of Abraham. Jesus is not Jehovah, the LORD. He is God's anointed one, God's servant.

In Acts 10 the same distinction appears again. Peter says, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with him" (v. 38). Who anointed Jesus? God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. And the whole purpose of anointing somebody is so they might receive the power and ability to fulfill their commission. If I said, "The king anointed the prince" you would not possibly think the prince was the king. In the same way Jesus is the "Prince of life" (Acts 3:15) whom God anointed. Jesus applied in Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 61 to himself when he read these words in the synagogue after his baptism by John: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD [Jehovah] has anointed me" (v.61; Luke 4:16-21). The person who is anointed is not the LORD Jehovah. God does not need to anoint God! Jehovah God anoints Jesus the Messiah. That is what Jesus claims for himself, and what Peter announces time and again.

I do not have the time nor the space here to go through every chapter in the book of Acts to prove this. But I encourage you to do to this for yourself. Take a colored marker, and you may well be surprised at the frequency and consistency in this topic. What was the message that Paul preach after his dramatic conversion experience? That Jesus is Jehovah God? Of course not, for his message was consistent with the rest of the apostles’ testimony: "Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying, ‘He is the son of God’" (Acts 19:20). In fact, Paul kept increasing in strength "and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus site proving that this Jesus is the Messiah" (v.22). To be the son of God is to be the Messiah: Same message! In fact, while you're at it, take the same colored marker and go through the rest of the New Testament. You'll be amazed at the distinction the Scriptures make between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (You could try 1Cor. 1:3; 8:6; 2 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; 4:20; 1 Thess. 1:1; 3:13; 2 Thess. 1:2; 2:16; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4; Gal. 1:3.)

In other words, there is no person the whole book of Acts or any other New Testament book that requires you to believe that Jesus is the Lord God, Jehovah, in order to enter the Kingdom. In all the books of Acts there is no preaching of the Trinity. Yet in Acts thousands were saved according to the scriptural record. This should be conclusive proof that the Trinity was not part of early apostolic doctrine.

The confession "Jesus is Lord" must be understood in its Jewish environment and historical time frame. Unfortunately, we have seen, through the pressure of culture and politics, the persona of Jesus has been reshaped into one neither he or his apostles would recognize.

Paul