41.
Who was Jesus Christ?
Answer: Jesus Christ was
the Son of God.
Proof:
And
lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matt. 3:17).
Say
ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and
sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because
I said, I am the Son of God? (John 10:36).
Nathanael
answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the
Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (John
1:49).
And
when the centurion, which stood over against him,
saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost,
he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. (Mark
15:39).
And
I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of
God. (John 1:34).
42.
Was Jesus Christ a man, as well as the Son of God?
Answer:
Yes, he was a man also, made in all things like
unto ourselves, yet without sin.
Proof:
Ye
men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and
wonders and signs, which God did by him in the
midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (Acts
2:22).
For
there is one God, and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Tim. 2:5).
Be
it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins: (Acts 13:38).
Wherefore
in all things it behoved him to be made like unto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
(Heb. 2:17).
43.
How was Jesus Christ both man and the Son of God?
Answer:
Because he was begotten of a human virgin-mother
by the power of the Spirit of God, and not by
a human father. Mary, a damsel descended from
David, and betrothed to Joseph, also a descendant
of David, was his mother; and God was his father.
So that on his father's side he was the Son of
God, and on his mother's side he was the son of
David, and, therefore, a man partaking of David's
nature, which was the nature common to all.
Proof:
But
while he thought on these things, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (Matt.
1:20).
And
the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35).
The
book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham. (Matt. 1:1).
But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, (Gal. 4:4).
And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross. (Philip. 2:8).
For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin. (Heb. 4:15).
44.
Was Jesus both divine and human then?
Answer: He was human
as to the substance of which he was made; but
divine as to the source from which he came; the
Spirit from which he derived his wisdom; and the
pattern of the character which he possessed.
Proof:
Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
(Heb. 2:14).
For
I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38).
And
the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled
with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
(Luke 2:40).
And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14).
45.
Was there a connection between Jesus and the Father
that does not exist between God and other men?
Answer: Yes. Jesus and
the Father were one by the Spirit, which, proceeding
from the Father, embraced them both. God was thus
in Christ, and Christ was thus the manifestation
of God: which things cannot be said of any other
man.
Proof:
I
and my Father are one. (John 10:30).
Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak
not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
me, he doeth the works. (John 14:9-10).
To
wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
(2 Cor. 5:19).
And
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
(1 Tim. 3:16).
46.
Was Jesus a God co-equally and co-eternally distinct
from the Father, as Trinitarianism teaches?
Answer: The man Christ
Jesus, begotten of the Father and endowed immeasurably
with His spirit, was distinct from the Father, though
one with Him in the sense expressed in the last
answer. But as to co-equality and co-eternity, these
are ideas that owe their existence to the speculations
and disputations of Church theologians in the third
and fourth centuries. They do not belong to the
New Testament system of doctrine concerning Christ.
This system teaches that the divinity in Christ
was the Father who fills heaven and earth by His
Spirit. Christ disowned co-equality with the Father;
and co-eternity is impossible in a son.
Proof:
The
passages quoted under answers 41-45, also the
following:
I
am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father
that sent me beareth witness of me. (John 8:18).
Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
(John 14:11).
Ye
have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and
come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would
rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father:
for my Father is greater than I. (John 14:28).
But
I would have you know, that the head of every
man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the
man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Cor. 11:3).
And
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then
shall the Son also himself be subject unto him
that put all things under him, that God may be
all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28).
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