The Promises To Abraham
Abraham is called the “Father of them that believe” in Paul’s writing about him in Romans and Galatians. His life was a pivotal point in the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation. The first eleven chapters of Genesis span a period of roughly 2,000 years, from creation through Noah and his descendants. Then the next fourteen chapters focus on the life of this one remarkable man. Of all the people in the Bible, Abraham is the only one who is called the friend of God (James 2:23).
We are told that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. What was it that Abraham believed? God made very specific promises to Abraham, and they represent the unfolding of God’s plan, and the foundation of the Gospel (Galatians 3:8). God promised several things to Abraham.
This week I’m beginning another series from my website. The foundation for our understanding of the Kingdom of God is found in the Old Testament. Throughout its pages we see the purpose of God unfolded from creation, through Abraham, Moses, David, and the Prophets. In part 1 we will see that from the beginning God has always wanted man to dwell on the earth that He created.
In The Beginning
Man was designed to live on this planet. The earth was designed to be the home for man. This was the plan God had from the very beginning. He began by creating the heavens and the earth, and He spent six days preparing it for His man. When it was finished, he put Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them dominion over the earth.
Posted in Doctrine, Holy Spirit on April 26th, 2010 6 Comments »
Acts 5:3-4 is often used to prove that the holy spirit is God. Ananias is said to have lied to the holy spirit in verse 3, and it is equated with lying to God in verse 4. The holy spirit refers to the power and authority of God, which in this instance was invested in Peter. Just as “grieving the holy spirit” is another way of saying “grieving God,” saying he “lied to the holy spirit” is another way of saying he lied to God. This is showing the connection between God and His spirit which was working in Peter and the other apostles.
There has been much misunderstanding about the holy spirit. The King James and some other versions of the Bible most often use the phrase “Holy Ghost” but the word “ghost” carries different connotations today, and most Christians generally prefer “Holy Spirit.” Most of mainstream Christendom believes that the holy spirit is a person, specifically the third person of the Trinity. I deal with the Trinity in relation to Who is Messiah in a Closer Look article. Historically the belief in the holy spirit as the third person was even later that the belief that Jesus was God. The deity of Christ became official doctrine in 325, while the holy spirit was not established as the third person of the Trinity until 381.
Posted in Doctrine, Salvation on April 5th, 2010 2 Comments »
Part of the hope of the Gospel is that one day the world will be restored to its original state, when Christ rules in God’s Kingdom. Jesus refers to this in Matthew and uses another word from the same root as gennao, the word for born or begotten.
Matthew 19:
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration [paliggenesia] when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
This word paliggenesia is only used twice in the Bible. Once in this reference to the regeneration of the world to come, and one other place in Titus.
Happy Resurrection Sunday everyone! Today, most Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus - and as we know, that resurrection is the basis of our faith. (See 1 Cor 15:1-5.)
Since the resurrection is such an important concept, I’d like to explore one item about it in more detail. Basically, when God resurrected Jesus, what kind of “being” did Jesus become? In other words, is Jesus currently a human being, or is he a spirit being?
There are a number of verses that are used to support both views. However, here are the two most explicit verses that I have found, which appear to address this question:
1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV):
5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Posted in Doctrine, Salvation on March 29th, 2010 1 Comment »
The term “born again” is widely used among Christians, and the verse that says “You must be born again” (John 3:7) is often quoted. But many Christians don’t understand what it means to be born again, often because they begin by looking at what the epistles say, and fail to base their understanding on the words of Jesus. I was taught that when one is born again, it is “incorruptible” which was taken to mean that once you received it you couldn’t lose it. This is based on a misunderstanding of I Peter 1:23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” But this verse tells us that it is the seed that is incorruptible, not the person who receives it.
As I mentioned in my last two posts, there are very few groups that have “Unitarian” beliefs - that is, the belief that only one person - our Heavenly Father - is Almighty God. (Almost all denominations state that God exists as “three persons in one Godhead”.)
Among the few groups that do have Unitarian beliefs, there are two main doctrines about who Jesus, himself, actually is. Those doctrines are called the “Biblical Unitarian” doctrine, and the “Arian” doctrine.
According to the Biblical Unitarian doctrine, Jesus did not personally exist, until he was conceived in Mary’s womb. In other words, Jesus did not have any pre-human existence - just like we did not have any pre-human existence. However, God had Jesus “in mind”, from the beginning of creation. In other words, Jesus was part of God’s plan of salvation, even before the earth was formed.
In my last post, I listed some beliefs that I considered “vital” - that is, beliefs that people must share, in order to have formal Bible studies with each other. (At least, in order to have Bible studies without constant disagreements…) The “vital” beliefs from that post (and from the comments) are as follows:
1. The belief that only one person - our Heavenly Father - is Almighty God.
2. The belief that Jesus is the Son of God - not “God the Son”.
3. The belief that the kingdom of God will be established on the earth, when Jesus returns.
4. The belief that humans have conditional immortality - not natural immortality (i.e., the soul is not immortal).
Jesus Had To Be A Man
This is not meant to be an exhaustive consideration of this topic. I refer you to other Biblical Unitarian writers, all of whom back up from Scripture their view that Jesus is the Son of God and not God. It is important to recognize who he is, since his identity as the promised Messiah is part of the Gospel of the coming Kingdom, the acceptance of which is the key to eternal life.