by
Finis Dake
If the body of Jesus was the Son of Jesus, and the inner man of
Jesus was the Father of Jesus, then how could the Father say to
the body, "I am the Son [body] of God?" If the Father inside was
talking to the Son outside, then the body could not be the Son.
How could the Son (body) be called "Jesus," as in Matt.1:21;
8:29; Mark 1:1; Acts 8:37; 1 Cor.1:9; 1 John 1:3,7; 3:23; 5:20;
2 John 3, and "Christ," as in Matt.16:16; 22:42; 26:63; Luke
4:4; John 20:31, if these two names have been the names of the
Father from all eternity, as some argue. The Son (body) had a
beginning in Mary 1900 years ago. These names were not the names
of God from all eternity, for they were names given to the Son
when He was born about 1900 years ago. Not one time are these
names used of either person of the Godhead until Jesus was born
and anointed by God the Father.
The word "Jesus" was the human name given to the Son of Mary
eight days after He was born (Matt.1:16,21; Luke 1:31-35;
2:21). It was and is still a common name like John, James, and
other names. Josephus mentions thirteen men who are called Jesus.
Several are mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 7:45; 13:6; Col.
4:11; Heb.4:8; Matt.1:21). Several in the Old Testament are
called "Joshua" and "Joshua" and hundreds of people throughout
history have been called Jesus and Joshua. If the New Testament
had been written in Hebrew instead of Greek Jesus would have been
called Joshua. The word "Jesus" is not an heavenly or divine
name. It is an earthly human name given to the second person of
the Godhead when he became a man. Therefore, it is His name as a
man and not His name as God.
The word "Christ" literally means "anointed" and is a name
applied to Jesus when He became the anointed of God. It is like
the word "Jesus," a name of his humanity, and of His anointing as
a man and not His name as God. It is the same as the Hebrew word
translated "Messiah" (Dan.9:24-27; John 1:41; 4:25). Jesus
became the anointed of God or Christ thirty years after He was
called Jesus. It was predicted in prophecy that God would make
Him the "Anointed" (Ps.2:1-12; 143 11-18; Isa.11:1-2; 42:1-5;
61:1-2). History records that the time He became the "Anointed"
of God was at His baptism (Matt.3:16-17; 12:15-20; Luke 3:21-22;
Acts 10:38). Jesus confirmed the time He became God's "Anointed"
(Luke 4:16:21). Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost and not
with oil. He was anointed because He was the Son of the Father
and it proves two persons - the one who anointed Him and the one
who was anointed. Passages such as Luke 2:26; Gal.3:17; 1 Pet.
1:11 should be understood in the same sense as we would say that
President George Washington was a surveyor. He was not this when
he was president, but since he became president we could speak of
any event of his life before he became president as what
President Washington did. So it is with Christ. Since He became
God's Christ we can now speak of Christ doing certain things even
before He was anointed.
28. The Bible never speaks of the Father dying, but it does say
that the Son died (Rom.5:10; Heb.6:6; John 3:16-18). The Son
died in the same sense that other men die ... This proves that
the Father and Son were two separate persons.
29. Jesus was "the only begotten of the Father" and "his only
begotten Son," and He had to be a separate person from the Father
in order to be begotten by the Father, and the Father had to be a
separate person from Jesus in order to beget Him (John 1:14, 18;
3:16-18; 31-36; 1 John 5:1). No person can beget himself, or be
begotten by himself, and no person can be his own father or son.
Neither can any person beget part of himself, or be begotten by
part of himself.
30. Many statements in the gospel of John prove that Jesus did
not claim to be the Father, but He did say that God was His
Father and His God (John 5:8-45; 10:18-36; 14:28; 20:17; Rev.
3:12); that God worked only through Him, and that He COULD DO
NOTHING OF HIMSELF (John 5:19,30); that He not only COULD NOT,
but that He DID NOT DO ANYTHING OF HIMSELF (John 5:30; 6:38;
8:28; 12:49-50); that He did only the Father's will and lived BY
THE FATHER, as men are to do His will and live BY HIM (John
6:57); and that the work of God was to believe on the one whom
the Father had sent (John 6:29; 3:2; 5:18; 8:54; 14:1).
He said that His doctrine was not His, but it was the Father's
(John 7:16-17; 8:26,38; 10:18; 12:49-50; 14:10-11; 17:8,14) and
that if anyone would do the will of God he should know that He
did not come and SPEAK OF HIMSELF, but that He spoke of the
Father who had sent Him (John 7:16-18).
He claimed that His message was true because He did not SPEAK OF
HIMSELF, but that He spoke of the Father (John 7:18; 5:30-38;
14:10-11), that He spoke only what He had HEARD FROM THE FATHER
(John 8:26-28,38-40), that He taught BY THE FATHER and that His
teaching was not of Himself (John 8:28), that He did not PLEASE
HIMSELF, but He lived to please the Father (John 8:29), that He
was the "Son" of the house and not the "Father" of it (John
8:35-36; Heb.3:6), and that He had THE SAME RELATION TO THE
FATHER that the Jews had to their father the devil (John 8:16, 3
5-44; 9:4).
He taught that He, Himself, honored the Father as all men should
(John 8:49); that He did not seek HIS OWN GLORY, but that there
was "one" (not Himself, but ANOTHER, the Father) that honored Him
and sought His glory (John 8:50,54; 12:26-28; 14:12-15; 17:1-5,
10); that He and the Father knew each other, but they were not
each other (John 8:55; 10:15); that the Father loved Him for His
unselfishness (it takes two people to love and be loved, John
10:17-18); that He had received commandments from the Father,
and they were not His own (John 10:18; 12:49-50; 15:10); and
that the Father gave Him His disciples (John 10:29; 17:1-25). He
further claimed that he was equal to the Father as to deity and
some things, but not equal in other things (Mark 13:32; John
5:17-39; 8:13-19,29-42; 19:18,24-29; Acts 1:7; 1 Cor.11:3;
Rev.1:1); that He was not a "Spirit" being like His Father
(Luke 24:39); John 4:24; Phil. 3:21); that He and the Father
were in each other (united as one) in the same sense He and the
believers were one (John 10:38; 14:10-11,23; 17:11,21-23; 2
Cor.5:17); and that He was the only way to the Father (John
14:6). Such simple language as that in all the above listed
passages cannot be understood except in connection with two
separate persons.
31. Jesus said that if He bore witness "of Himself" and if He was
the only one that did bare witness, His testimony would not be
true and He would not expect men to believe it any more than
civil courts would accept only one witness (John 5:21-23,36;
6:38; 7:16-17,28; 8:13-19,37,42,54; 12:44,49-50; 14:10-11;
17:1-25). God repeatedly said in both Testaments that "in the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established"
(Num.35:30; Deut.17:6-7; 19:15; Matt.18:16; Luke 24:48; Acts
1:8,22; 2:32; 5:32; 7:58; 10:31; 1 Thess.5:19; Heb.10:28-29;
12:1; Rev.11:5). Would God make a fixed law to establish truth
by two or three separate witnesses and then break His own law and
expect men to have confidence in Him? He would have no grounds to
punish man for rejection of God's witness if God were only one
person.....
Jesus continued by saying that He had greater proof or witness
than John the Baptist who had two witnesses, the Father and the
Holy Ghost (John 1:31-34; 5:36). John did not have the miracles
to confirm his word as did Jesus, who had the same two witnesses
that John had plus the miracles (John 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:54; 5:20,
36; 7:2,26; 7:31; 9:16; 10:25-37,41; 11:42-47; 14:10-12; 15:24).
When Jesus said, "I am not alone, but I [one person] and
the Father [another person] that sent me" and is with me also
bear witness, He simply stated that there were more persons in
the Godhead than He, thus fulfilling the Word of God concerning
more than one witness to establish a fact. He plainly said that
the two witnesses in this testimony were the Father and Himself.
"I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent
me [another person] beareth witness of me" (John 8:13-18,29;
16:32). Again, in John 8:29 He said, "The Father bath not left me
alone" and in John 16:32, "every man to his own and leave me
alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
What could be more clear in proving two distinct persons, called
"the Father" and "the Son," both of them equally God? On the
other hand, what foolish statements these are if Jesus is the
only person in the Godhead.
32. In the following eighty separate statements of Scripture by
Jesus Christ, He constantly affirmed that He was not the Father
and not the only person in the Godhead. The grammar of these
passages will not permit us to believe in only one person as
being referred to. Jesus is the speaker, but He is not the one
spoken of, as is made clear by reading these statements
concerning Him and His Father.
If we are not going to believe what God says in His revelation
concerning Himself, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, then He is
under no further obligation to give another revelation in order
to make the subject of God clear to men. If we will not believe
one revelation, we would not believe another. If we will believe
at all, then let us believe these scriptural facts of human
language concerning more than one person in the Godhead. Then we
will not have to teach that God is a mystery ... cannot be
understood, and the other foolish doctrines as expressed by men
who refuse to take the plain language used by God in the Bible
revealing the ... separate persons in the Godhead, as seen in
Matt.7:21; 10:32-33; 11:27; 15:13; 16:17; 18:10,19,35; 19:17;
20:23; 24:36; 25:34; 26:29,39,42,53; Luke 2:49; John 5:17,43;
6:32,65; 8:19,28,38,49,54; 10:17-18,25,29,30,32,37; 12:26-28;
14:7,12,20,21,28; 15:1,8,10,4,23; 16:23-26; 18:11; 20:17,21; Rev.
1:1; 2:27; 3:5,12; 5:1-7,13; 7:9,15-16; 10:6; 11:15; 12:10;
21:22-23; 22:1-5.
33. Jesus said that His Father was "greater than all" and
"greater than I" (John 10:29; 14:28). He then could not be the
Father. Paul also stated that the Father was the "head of Christ"
(1 Cor.3:23; 11:3).
34. God the Father said of Jesus, "my beloved Son" (Matt.
3:16-17; 17:5; Ps.2:7). Jesus said of Himself, "I am the Son of
God" (John 10:38). An angel declared Him to be "the Son of the
Highest" and "the Son of God" (Luke 1:32-35 ). Demons said He
was "the Son of God" (Mark 3:11) and "Son of the Most High God"
(Mark 5:7). Apostles stated repeatedly that Jesus was only "the
Son of God" (Matt.14:33; 16:16-17; Mark 1:1; John 11:27; 20:31;
Acts 9:20), "the only begotten OF THE FATHER" (John 1:14,18;
3:16-18), "his own Son" (Rom.8:32), "the Son of the Father" (2
John 3), and "his dear Son" by whom God the Father created all
things (Col.1:13-18). John said, "the Father sent the Son to be
the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14); so there must be two
separate persons referred to. John the Baptist also bare record
"that this was the Son of God" (John 1:31-34). Others confessed
that Jesus was "the Son of God" (Mark 15:39; 1 John 1:49; Acts
9:37), but not once did God, angels, demons, or men say that He
was the Father.
35. Both the Father and the Son talked to each other in audible
voices at the same time and place, and both voices were heard by
a number of witnesses; so there had to be two persons who had
their own separate bodies, voices, minds, etc., to be able to
speak to each other in the same sense other persons do.
(Matt.3:16-17; 17:5; John 12:27-30; 2 Pet.1:17).
36. Jesus taught that when men receive Him they also receive the
Father, as when men receive Christ's disciples they also receive
Christ (Matt.10:39-41). This does not mean that the Father and
the Son were the same person any more than it proves that Christ
and the disciples become one person when men receive Christ
through them. Separate persons are involved in both statements,
as is clear.
37. God the Father is called "he" (John 14:16); God the Son is
called "he" (John 8:23-25) ... so if personal pronouns are used
of each person in making a distinction between them as is done
with other persons, there must be ... separate persons.
38. Christ is symbolized by "the vine," and the Father is spoken
of as "the husbandman" in John 15:1-16. It is just as intelligent
to call any vine its own keeper and both of them one person as to
do so here. This figure clearly proves two persons.
39. Jesus taught that He and the Father had the same relationship
to each other as did He and His disciples (John 15:10). Such
relationship proves more than one person. One person could not
have such relationship by Himself as is required of separate
persons in this passage.
40. The word "both" means "two" and is used of the Father and the
Son, thus proving two persons (John 15:24; 2 John 9).
41. The word "also" is used of the Father and Son, thus proving
two separate persons (John 5:19, 27; 8:19; 13:32; 14:1).
42. Jesus again speaks of Himself and the Father as "two"
persons: "They have not known the Father [one person] nor me"
(another person). Again, "I go my way to him that sent me (John
16:3,5). Then He speaks of Himself and the Spirit ... Jesus did
not say that He would come back as the Holy Ghost, but that He
would stay in Heaven and "send him unto you," as fulfilled in
Acts 2:33-36.
If those who believe in only one person in the Godhead are not
capable of understanding the most simple human language, then
their case is hopeless.
43. Jesus used personal pronouns in referring to Himself and the
Father (John 14:23; 17:1-25; etc.) He used the first, second, and
third personal pronouns of Himself, the Father, and the Holy
Spirit; and not once do we find Him misusing them (John 14:12-17,
23-26; 15:1-26; 16:7-15; 17:1-25). If they were used rightly,
then there must be separate persons in the Godhead. John 17 alone
has 162 personal pronouns used by Jesus to and of Himself, of the
Father, and of His disciples. He repeatedly calls the true God
"Father" and calls Himself "thy Son." He prayed for the disciples
to be "one" as He and the Father were "one," and this could not
refer to "one person" but "one" in unity. Jesus used "I" and
"me," first personal pronouns, in referring to Himself, and
"thou," "thee," and ,thine," second personal pronouns, in
referring to the Father, whom He was addressing. He used "they"
and "them" in referring to the disciples for whom He was praying
and "we" and "us" when referring to Himself and His Father,
proving that He and His Father were more than one person as much
as the disciples were.
44. Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in
Earth" (Matt.28:18). Somebody had to give Him this power, and He
had to be greater than Jesus, or He would not have it to give.
The only one Jesus said was "greater than I" is the Father (John
14:28). The apostles later confirmed this fact of the Father
being greater than Jesus, for they said that the Father was "the
head of Christ" (1 Cor.11:3), that Jesus had been exalted by the
Father above everyone else (1 Cor.14:24-28; Eph.1:20-23; Phil.
2:8-11; Heb.1:1-3; 12:2; 1 Pet.3:22), and that the Father had
made Jesus both "Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:33-36), the heir of all
things (Heb.1:2; Rom.8:17), the medium of approach to God (Heb.
1:4; John 3:16-18; Acts 4:12; 1 John 3:23; 5:13), and the source
of redemption to men (1 Cor.1:30). These facts prove the Father
to be a separate person from the Son.
45. Jesus said that He was the same that He claimed to be "from
the beginning" (John 8:25). Because He always claimed to be only
the Son and not the Father, we can rely upon the fact that He
could not be the Father. The statement "He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father" (John 14:9), does not say that He was the
Father. The Greek word for seen is 'horao,' to discern, to
experience, perceive, comprehend. Like the English word seen, it
means here to truly comprehend and not only to see with the eyes,
as it is used in John 1:18; 6:46; 8:38; 1 John 3:6; 2 John 11.
No statement in John 14 says that Jesus was the Father in person,
but six times this chapter makes it clear that He was not the
Father:
(1) "Ye believe in God [one person], believe ALSO in me" (John
14:1-2).
(2) "In my Father's house [not my house] are many mansions"
(John 14:1-2).
(3) "No man cometh UNTO THE FATHER, but BY ME"
(John 14:6).
(4) "If ye had known ME [Jesus], ye should have
known MY FATHER [another person] ALSO" (John 14:7).
(5) "He that hath seen [comprehended, experienced] ME [one
person] hath seen [comprehended, experienced] THE FATHER (another
person, John 14:9). In John 1:18 it is stated that no man had
"seen" (fully comprehended) the Father save Christ, who came to
reveal and declare God to men. If Christ came truly to
demonstrate God, then John 14:9 proves He had succeeded in
bringing God to men in actual demonstration of Him by His own
life.
(6) "I [one person] am in the Father [another person] and the
Father in me. . . . I speak NOT OF MYSELF; but the Father that
dwelleth in me, HE DOETH THE WORKS. I [Jesus] go to the Father,"
so He could not be the Father (John 14:10-15). "He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father" is a statement of true
representation of another person (1 John 2:6; 3:3,7; 4:17; 1
Cor.11:1; Phil.4:9; 2 Cor.3:1-3,18; Rom.8:29). One who is
truly like Christ as He was like the Father can say, "He that
hath seen me hath seen Jesus Christ."
VI. THE THEORY OF ETERNAL SONSHIP DISCUSSED
..............
TO BE CONTINUED
It is only in the last 10 years or so that I have heard about the
teaching that "God" or the "Godhead" is just ONE person - One
person who can be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, at
any time, or can be all three at any given time, but still remain
as ONE person. Now, you go figure that one out.
Then it is also within about the last 10 years that I have heard
the teaching that God is NO PERSON at all, that God or the
Godhead, is simply too much to be confined to a literal "personal
being" and so God must not be thought of as any kind of a literal
being. So I guess to those people who hold such an idea of God,
then God is just a MIGHTY NOTHINGNESS. I have answered this
"nothingness God" teaching in another study on this Website.
As Finis Dake has shown so far, the Scriptures on this subject of
God the Father and Jesus Christ, being TWO SEPARATE PERSONAL
BEINGS is as clear and as plain as the sun shining in a cloudless
sky. The truth of the matter is taught to us OVER AND OVER again
in the pages of the Bible, especially the New Testament - Keith
Hunt.
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