Is Jesus Christ God, Or A Created god? Part III

But we know the law is good, if a

man uses it lawfully; knowing this,

that the law is not made for a 

righteous man, but for the lawless

and disobedient, for the ungodly

and for sinners, for unholy and

profane, for murderers of mothers,

for manslayers, for whoremongers,

for them that defile themselves 

with mankind, for menstealers,

for liars, for perjured persons,

and if there be any other thing 

that is contrary to sound doctrine;

according to the glorious gospel

of the blessed God, which was

committed to my trust.

1Timothy 18-11

     The points out sin. PERIOD! By the law, that is the Ten Commandments, we can know sin, what God requires of His children. The Law shows that we cannot save ourselves from our sin. Therefore the by the Law we can know that we need a Savior. Before I move on: what is the Gospel? Is it not that Jesus Christ came to earth to die on the cross to pay for sin, to justify the justice of God. Therefore the Gospel is all about Jesus Christ. Paul says: "according to the glorious gospel of God" making Jesus to be God. 

      Well, we have to take time to understand Christology for Christology has to do with salvation, there for this is important to have a right understanding of the Divinity of Jesus. Jehovah Witnesses do not deny the divinity of Jesus, but they say His divinity is less that God the Father and that Jesus is "a god" (John 1:1 New World Translation). The Mormons say Jesus is God, not as if He was the God, but another God, for Mormons are polytheistic. The Modalist's say that Jesus was and is God only when He is acting in the capacity as Savior, and when not, He is acting either as God the Father, or the Holy Spirit. Protestant's who hold to an orthodoxy says that Jesus is God, of the same essence as God, and is a Second Person of the Godhead. Mormons say that the early church became apostate and reject much of the early writings of early church fathers. 

     Is Jesus Christ God, or just a created being acting under orders of God the Father to create and to be Savior? 

     We must know the answer to be able to defend the faith once delivered, the doctrines delivered to the early Church. We are Jehovah Witnesses, for we witness to the world about Jehovah God, not as an organization who call themselves Jehovah Witnesses, by as apostles, one sent forth to proclaim the Gospel. We are prophets, that is, we are speaking in behalf of God, and to do so in truth we must know the truth or our prophecy is of another sort. So I will address a most pointed to Scripture by Jehovah Witnesses to prove that Jesus is "a god," and not God: (John 1:1).

  Here is the actual Greek words for this Scripture: "EN ARCHÊ ÊN hO LOGOS, KAI hO LOGOS ÊN PROS TON THEON, KAI THEOS ÊN hO LOGOS." (John !:1). In the beginning was the Logos (Word), and the Logos (Word) was with the God, and God was the Logos (Word). The subject of this sentence is "the Logos." This word is nominative, present tense, active, indicative; meaning "the word." "In the beginning" in Jn. 1:1 says this specifically of the Logos; the Logos is before all time, so that no temporal statements can be made about him.  Eternal preexistence is plainly implied. ÊN ("was") is the indicative imperfect active form of the verb EIMI, signifying continuous or linear existence in past time.  The contextual contrast is between ÊN and EGENETO ("to become"), the continuous preexistence of the LOGOS (v. 1) and the LOGOS becoming flesh at a specific point in time (v. 14).  "In the beginning, the LOGOS already was."  PROS with the acc[usative] of a person, after verbs of remaining, dwelling, tarrying, etc. (which require one to be conceived of as always turned towards one),be (in company) with someone, a marker of association, often with the implication of interrelationships...'the Word was with God' Jn 1:1.

TON THEON, literally "the God," is in the accusative case, which makes this the direct object of the second clause (hO LOGOS is in the nominative, and is thus the subject).  There is no difference in meaning between THEON here and THEOS in the next clause; they are the same word in different cases.  The article TON (accusative form of hO) indicates a personal distinction. THEOS ÊN HO LOGOS.  The first task of the translator faced with this clause is to determine the subject.  In most sentences or clauses (such as John 1:1b), the noun in the nominative case is the subject.  The noun in the accusative case is the direct object.  However, in Greek, "copulative" verbs (generally a form of "to be" or "to become") take the nominative case, not the accusative.  Technically, a copulative verb does not ascribe an action, but predicates something about the subject.  The "object" of a copulative verb, therefore, is called the "Predicate Nominative (PN)," not the direct object.  As we have seen, ÊN is a form of the verb "to be."  Therefore, both THEOS and LOGOS are in the nominative case - one is the subject and the other the PN.  In such cases, if one noun has the article and the other does not, the noun with the article is the subject (see Dana and Mantey, p. 148; McGaughy, p. 50; etc.).  Thus, hO LOGOS is the subject of the sentence; THEOS is the PN.  "The Word was God," not "God was the Word."  While the latter is not impossible from the standpoint of pure grammar, McGaughy's study makes it highly unlikely. So, to put the letter "a" in front of God to make this part of the verse to say that Jesus was a God is a misuse of Greek grammar. In verse 14, the same Greek grammar construct is present and Jehovah Witnesses do not put the letter "a" there, which is to choose and pick when one is to translate and if to put the letter "a" in one place or another is just to attempt to prove a person argument and this is wrong. We would not accept such an argument from our child. 

     An early church father: "It is plain that He was Himself the Word of God, who was made the son of man. He received from the Father the power of emission of sins. He was man, and He was God. This was so that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He might have compassion on us. (Irenaeus, c.180). 

   This Scripture among many others are plain that Jesus is Divine, that Jesus is God, not a created being, but God Himself, the very Wisdom of God, clothed in flesh for our sake and for the sake of His justice. 

The LORD possessed me in the begining,

    of His way, before his works of old.

I was set ukp from everlasting, from

    the beginning, or ever the earth was.

                     Proverbs 8:22-23

Prepare now to defend Authentic Faith

Richard L. Crumb