To gain eternal life

Published in Pasugo, Aug 2000

PROPONENTS OF THE CHRIST-is-God doctrine strongly asserts that the biblical verses stating that Christ is man and has human characteristics do not disprove the alleged deity of Christ. Any verse that states that Christ is a man, they explain refers to Christ’s nature when He supposedly took on the form of a human being. Allegedly, these verses cannot be used to disprove that He is God. Citing John 1:1 and 14 which mention “the Word was God” and that “the Word was made flesh,” they conclude that it was God Himself who took on human form. Is this scriptural?

If we carefully examine John 1:1, we would understand that the “Word” is not the Almighty God who is the creator of all things because it had a beginning unlike the true God who is “from everlasting to everlasting” or is without beginning or end (Ps. 90:2).

The portion that states, “And the Word was with God” also denies that the “Word” is God Almighty because the only true God cannot be with another true God. There is only one God and there can never be another. The true God alone is Almighty as He had revealed Himself to Abraham (Gen. 17:1). To recognize another God is tantamount to saying that there are two Almighty Gods, which is obviously wrong because no being can be mightier than He who is Almighty or even be equal to Him.

It is written that, “In the beginning was the Word.” The “Word” mentioned here is the promise of God about the coming of Christ (Rom. 1:2-3, King James Version). The coming of Christ into existence was promised by God through His prophets (Dt. 18:18; Is. 7:14). Hence, the Word was “In the beginning.”

Regarding the portion that says, “the Word was with God,” the Bible states:

“God foreknew this even before the foundation of the world, but it is now, in these last days, that for your sakes He has been revealed.” (I Pt. 1:20, Norlie’s Simplified New Testament)

The idea or plan concerning Christ was already conceived by God even before the creation of the world. The Word conceived or thought of by God is not an independent being nor did it have a separate existence from God. The plan was only in the mind of God.

The Official Catholic Edition of the Bible in its footnote on John 1:1 says:

“… St. John employs the term Word. It is so used only by St. John … and designates the Son as a kind of intellectual emanation from the Father.” (The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, emphasis ours)

The Word is defined here as a kind of intellectual emanation or thought from the Father. Indeed, the knowledge about Christ was already there even before the foundation of the world. This explains why “the Word was with God.”

It is written in the verse that the “Word was God” because the words of God possess the power of God (Lk. 1:37, 31 American Standard Version). In the statement, “the Word was God,” “God” was used not as a noun but as an adjective to describe the quality of the Word. So, James Moffatt, in his translation of John 1:1, rendered ‘the Word was God” as “the word was divine.”

The part of the verse that says, “the Word was made flesh” refers to the fact that the Word or promise of God about Christ’s coming into existence was fulfilled: “when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4, Revised Standard Version). The plan of God materialized or “the Word was made flesh” when Mary gave birth to Jesus who Himself is human in state of being.

When the Word was made flesh, the Almighty God did not incarnate or become man in the person of Jesus, as others claim. Christ Himself confirmed that He is not God when He prayed to the Father:

“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.

“An this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn. 17:1, 3, New King James Version)

Christ, while looking up to heaven, said to the Father, “that they may know You, the only true God.” If God Himself were made flesh or if He became Christ, whom then must Christ be addressing in His prayer? Otherwise, He should have said, “that they may know me, the only true God.” He didn’t. The only true God whom all men should know to attain eternal life said that there is no God besides Him (Dt. 32:39).

To claim that God became Christ or changed His nature is to claim that He contradicted His own pronouncement: “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Mal. 3:6, NKJV). God is always God and not man (Hos. 11:9). He even declared that man is not God (Ezek. 28:2). There is only one God Almighty whose nature or state of being is unchangeable. He is Spirit (Jn. 4:24). He does not and will never recognize another.

Christ, on the other hand, says, “I am ascending to My Father, and your Father, and to My God and your God” (Jn. 20:17, NKJV). Christ did not say, “I am ascending as your Father and as your God.” Had it been the case, then who would be the God referred to by Christ when He said, “I am ascending to … My God and your God”?

To gain eternal life, based on Christ’s teaching, we must believe that the Father alone is the true God and Jesus Christ is the One sent by the Almighty Father.