A very interesting article, particularly the PDF evidences. My only reservation concerning the tone of the website is the tacit tendency to defend Biblical Inerrancy (itself an assumption), somewhat more than just searching for the truth of the matter according to the actual manuscripts and material. There seems to be an agenda, much like the way it seems the site compilers assume that the translations using 'HE' for 'GOD' do so because of an agenda of their own. Call me a cynic of you like, but I'm suspicious of any organisation which actually recommends their own translation to me. That's why I wouldn't use The New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses for doctrine, study or personal devotions. Only for comparison with other translated versions of the scriptures. I'm suspicious of any Bible translated by any organisation which clearly has an agenda, be it JW, Evangelical Conservative, Roman Catholic or even the good old KJV Anglican, much as I love its cadences and poetry, it is not the most accurate translation of the scriptures. It's just a particularly good one of its time. In any event though it makes little difference to the meaning of the sentence if the word 'HE' or the word 'GOD' is used to translate what might be a questionable rendering of what now exists of the copies available to translators. The sentence can only BE referring to Jesus Christ and even if the word 'HE' is used in translation it still infers that Jesus was in some way, believed to be GOD by whoever wrote. Tim.3:16. .
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John is calling us to recall the opening passage of Genesis where God speaks and the things that are are brought into existence. John wants us to understand that this creative utterance, which lies at the foundation of everything, is the central substance of what he his writing about. In a powerful way John binds the word spoken with the one who speaks, and this core truth was to lie at the heart of the Church’s understanding of Jesus come the time of the Great Councils. John wants us to understand that the light and life triumphs over the darkness and death. The text of Genesis starts In the beginning God. The issue that is buried in this is the profound truth, before the beginning, God was. For the ancients this idea of beginning was accepted, and time was understood to be measured from that point. Today we think of time as taken from to today, stretching in both directions indefinitely. God of course is timeless, before time, outside of time, so at that point, any point, where we might want to speak of beginning, we recognise that God already has a past tense. John is very clear in his intent, the word shares this inherent pre-existent nature with God, and is significantly and eternally with God. This truth was a central consideration in the 4th Century (mid 300’s) when the Church established the Nicene Creed, and a clearer understanding of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It was this truth that distinguished Nicene Christians from Arius and his followers. Jesus was always God, he did not become God at some point in time, but rather from before the beginning he was already God. For John the incarnation is central to the Gospel.
Here are some additional proofs from scripture that Jesus is God. After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared for a second time in the upper room to the apostles (this time with Thomas present), He challenged Thomas to touch His nail holes and to feel the spear hole in His side. Thomas responded, "My lord and my God!" (John 20:28) Jesus did not correct Thomas for referring to Jesus as God. In Romans 9:4-5, it is written: They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Verse 5 clearly states that "the Christ," the expected Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus, "is God over all, blessed forever." Jesus is identified as God, as the One who is over everything, and as the One who exists eternally (forever). The second letter of Peter begins by stating, Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ... Here we see Jesus identified as "our God and Savior." Those who disagree that Jesus is God usually do so because they cannot fathom how one God can be three Persons. But a Creator who could make the universe and everything in it, including us with our finite brains, is most certainly too great and too complex to be fully comprehended by us humans. If we were to insist that one God cannot be three Persons, we would be guilty of making an image of God that fits our own limitations. The difficulty tends to lie in misunderstanding the distinction between being and personhood. Our being is the quality that makes us what we are, but our personhood is about who we are. We are human beings, and this is what we are; however, if someone were to ask, "Who are you?" we would not reply, "I am human," for that answers not who we are but what we are. What is God? God is One Being, the infinite, eternal, all-knowing Creator of every created thing. That said, who is God? The answer is: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has revealed in His written word who He is, and the doctrine of the Trinity is the best, most scripturally sound interpretation and understanding of this revelation. The truth of who God is (three Persons) does not contradict the truth of what God is (One Being).
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Here is another scripture that teaches us of Jesus' deity: Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Rom 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 9 is a distillation of the Gospel to perhaps its simplest form: to be saved, one must confess that Jesus is Lord and believe He rose from the dead. What does it mean to confess that Jesus is Lord? Verse 13 shows us that we are to confess that Jesus is God, because it quotes (as authority) the word of God in Joel 2:32-- And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered... We know that the word "LORD" is capitalized in this Bible version to indicate the understanding that it stands in place of the holy name of God Almighty, whose name the Israelites regarded as so holy they would not write or say it. Therefore, this passage in the letter to the Romans is telling us that the word "Lord" in verse 9 is meant to indicate the one and only God as referred to in Joel. So we may rightly read verse 9 to mean this: if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Almighty God and believe in your inner being that God raised His own mortal flesh from the dead (in proof of who He is), you have faith and have received His saving grace, and He will also raise your mortal flesh so that you may be reunited with Him in the afterlife.
Is Jesus Christ Almighty God? What does the Word of GOD say? In my understanding, mainly through the book of Hebrews chapter 1, GOD gives us a profound revelation about His Son, our beloved Lord JESUS Christ. Hebrews 1:v.6-8 6 - When GOD the Father bringeth in the firstbegotten/firstborn into the world, He saith, And let all the ANGELS of GOD worship Him. (Yes, all the angels must worship JESUS, the firstbegotten, because JESUS is GOD, GOD Father incarnated, in other words, the EXPRESS IMAGE of His Person, the Person of GOD the Father. 7 - And of the angels, GOD maketh his angels winds/spirits, and His Ministers/servants a flame of fire. 8 But unto the Son-unto JESUS- GOD the Father saith: Thy throne, O GOD, (Yeah, GOD JESUS) - is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he TO WHOMSOEVER the Son will reveal Him. Matthew 11:v.27 THE WORD IS GOD
It is contrary to the Creeds to affirm that Jesus is “God the Father incarnated”. This is the error known as Sabellianism or Patripassianism.
What matters and prevails is the Word of GOD. The Word is GOD. I work with the Word of GOD. JESUS said: I receive not honour from men. 1 John 5:v.7- For there are three that bear record -testify- in heaven (heaven is not sky-Ephesians 1:v.3), the Father - GOD the Word- , the Word - the Word made flesh-JESUS- , and the HolySpirit -who is not a ghost as is written in ENGLISH language, but a Person - , and these three are One. - Three DISTINCTS Persons, but One in unity - And the Word -GOD- 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. THE WORD IS GOD. GREAT MYSTERY. | Pure Bible Forum (and see www.sinaiticus.net ) (...No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he TO WHOMSOEVER the Son will reveal him.)
1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. "The three" refers to the three persons of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son (the Word made flesh), and God the Holy Spirit. As you stated, they are three distinct Persons, but one God. Therefore, we should only refer to God the Son, Jesus, as the Word. The Father is not the Word. The Holy Spirit is not the Word. We know this is true because the Father and the Holy Spirit are not called "the Word" anywhere in the Bible. Similarly, we never call Jesus "God the Father" because the first and second Persons of the Trinity are not the same Person. Jesus is God incarnate, but He is not "the Father incarnate." Neither the Father nor the Spirit are "God made flesh" or "incarnate"; only Jesus is God incarnate. I hope that helps.
What matters and prevails is the Word of GOD. The Word is GOD, great mystery. What does the Word of GOD say? And the Word -GOD- was made flesh-GOD is Spirit-, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of GOD is greater: for this is the witness of GOD which He hath testified of His Son. Hebrews 1 1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days (around 2000 years-two days) spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed HEIR of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; -->All things were made by him-by the Word-GOD-made flesh-JESUS-whose NAME GOD has chosen for Himself -; and without him - without JESUS- was not any thing made that was made.<--- 3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent NAME than they. 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.-JESUS- 7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8 But unto the Son He -GOD the Father- saith, Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy Kingdom. -JESUS said:I and my Father are One- 9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore GOD, even thy God-GOD the Father-, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
What you aabove said is your opinion, not what GOD said. The Word is GOD-John 1:v.1, GOD is Sspirit-John 4:v.24- don't you believe? Your thinking is from a human perspective, not from GOD perspective. The witness of GOD is greater.
The Holy Spirit is the lesser among the three. IS NOT THE PERSON OF HOLY SPIRIT THE LAWFUL / LEGITIMATE YOUNGER BROTHER OF JESUS? LUKE 15:v.32 | Pure Bible Forum (and see www.sinaiticus.net ) And the Ancient of days? Here's who the Ancient of days is | Pure Bible Forum (and see www.sinaiticus.net )
I am very sorry however this post has crossed the bounds well and truly. The Holy Spirit is God. Scripture attests to this from start to finish, beginning with the breath of God brooding over the waters as creation was begun. At the beginning, and indeed before the beginning, we have all three persons of the Holy Spirit extant (and that is a poor way to express it because they were before existence itself was even a thing). The appalling suggestion that the Prodigal Son is the Holy Spirit, seems a most peculiar exegesis, and indeed probably not an exegesis at all as there is nothing in the text of Holy Scripture, or in the Tradition of Holy Church, or one gram of reason that could lead one to extract that from the text. Quoting yourself posting on another forum, might well a reasonable, however, it adds no weight or authority to the view you are putting forward. In keeping with this forum, we tend in the main to observe the basics of Anglicanism, which has always deferred to reasonable scholarship, within the context most often expressed as Scripture, Tradition and Reason. The Thirty-Nine Articles can be relied on up to provide a proper understanding of where Anglicans are coming from, and in particular, I direct your attention to Articles 1 through 5. God the Father is God. God the Son is God. God the Holy Spirit is God. God is One. We believe in One God, Father, Son and Spirit, ever to be worshipped and adored. For further reflection, I commend the Athanasian Creed, and indeed the Nicene Creed. I have not dropped an 'H' bomb on this at the moment, and that is largely for the sake of charity, rather than wisdom.
On the contrary, it is not my opinion, it is what the Bible teaches: the Word is the Person of Jesus, not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The key here is to stop taking John 1:1 out of context, all by itself. Instead, one must consider what else John 1 says. Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. Joh 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made... Joh 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. Joh 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. Joh 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Only Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, became flesh and lived among us. (The Father did not become flesh, nor did the Holy Spirit.) Jesus is "the only Son from the Father." Jesus "came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." Jesus is "the Word" who is God and who was with God in the beginning. Jesus is the Person of the Godhead through whom "all things were made." John is specifically identifying and singling out Jesus as the one Person of whom these truths apply. It is wrong to apply them indiscriminately to all Persons of the Godhead. The verse, John 1:1, does not support your proposition that our heavenly Father is the Word, because the context of that chapter tells us otherwise. We do not read that one verse in isolation and ignore what the other verses say. Furthermore, it is erroneous to suggest that the Holy Spirit is a lesser member of the Godhead. If Jesus or the Holy Spirit were less than the Father, they can no longer be One God; they would instead be three separate Gods. Do you see the theological problem? If God is One (and we know there is only one Almighty God), then no part or portion of God can be less than any other part or portion of Him. To illustrate, is your finger any less "you" than your leg? Is your chest any less "you" than your head? You are made up of many parts, all of which have some shared characteristics (flesh and bone) yet are distinctly different in some ways. Similarly, the Godhead consists of three Persons, all of which are God, but all of which have distinct Personhood whose characteristics are partly shared and partly distinct. Jesus incarnated specifically to fulfill a role of subservience and obedience to the Father, but Jesus' true nature is one of co-equal glory and stature to that of the Father and the Holy Spirit; now in heaven, Jesus has the full glory which He had prior to the incarnation ("...the glory which I had with thee before the world was," John 17:5). Indeed, Jesus humbled Himself and became the servant of us all, dying on the cross for our sakes, but we would never presume to say that Jesus is lesser to us! You see, we must not look at Jesus as "less" than the Father. Nor should we look at the Holy Spirit as "less" than the Father or the Son. The Father sent the Son, yet the Son is not less than the Father. Likewise the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit is not less than the Father or the Son. This is why orthodox Christianity adheres to the words of the Athanasian Creed, which says in part: "And in this Trinity none is [be]fore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal." God is eternal and uncreated. The Father is eternal and uncreated. The Son is eternal and uncreated. The Holy Spirit is eternal and uncreated. It is impossible for the eternal, uncreated Person of the Holy Spirit to be less than the Father, because that would mean the Holy Spirit is not Almighty God, but is instead merely a lesser god. In other words, it would be contrary to the Trinitarian nature of God for the Holy Spirit to be less than the Father; we would then be advancing a belief in multiple gods, or polytheism.
Greetings in Christ JESUS, KING of kings (kings made by Him), and LORD of lords See, GOD is a title. The Word is GOD, from everlasting to everlasting. And when the Word being GOD was made flesh, He choice a NAME for He Himself-JESUS. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for ther e is none other NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:v.11-12
Greetings in Christ JESUS, KING of kings (kings made by Him), and LORD of lords AGAIN: See, GOD is a title. The Word is GOD, from everlasting to everlasting, HE HAS NOT BEGINNING, NEITHER ENDING, JESUS is hte beginning and the ending. And when the Word being GOD was made flesh, He choice a NAME for He Himself-JESUS. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:v.11-12 The Word is GOD, in other words, the Word-GOD-, says He is GOD. GOD is a title. The Word is my Father, and is my GOD. No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he TO WHOMSOEVER the Son will reveal Him. Matthew 11:v.27 THE WORD IS GOD Hebrews 1:v.1-3 1 God, - the Word - who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last (two) days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE of His PERSON -PERSON OF THE WORD- , and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
It might be of some small benefit for you to read this page: https://carm.org/about-jesus/why-is-jesus-called-the-word/ If the Father is the Word and the Son is the Word, what was the point of saying, "The Word was with God"? If both are the Word, then the Word was with the Word. But the point being made in John's Gospel is the fact that 'Jesus was with God' and also 'Jesus was God'. "The Word" is always, and only, applied to the Messiah, the second Person of the Trinity. Let us also recall that God named Himself to Moses: Exo 3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, YHWH God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. This name YHWH is neither written nor pronounced by the Jews out of reverence for Him, so "the LORD" is traditionally substituted for His holy name in most Bibles.