Whatever Happened to God the Father?
Novar DeVante Demetrius Cave
Hi dad, I just thought I would send you a message concerning our conversation yesterday. I’ve been thinking along similar lines recently and I thought I would share some of my ‘thoughts’ on this issue.
The Focus of the Gospel
Without out a doubt the Messiah is the focal character of the New Testament. The four gospels record his earthly history, the epistles explain the meaning of his death/resurrection and Revelation foretells his glorious return. Although Jesus is central he does not ‘replace’ the God of the Old Testament, nor does he replace God in the New Testament, to use the language of Hebrews 1:3, the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. The Son illuminates the Father rather than eclipsing him. The Son, therefore, illuminates the Father’s activity and acts as a window into the life and deeds of God the Father.
The Foundation of the Gospel
The foundation of the gospel isn’t just mercy and grace, but a merciful and gracious person – the eternal God. He is the first cause and prime – mover. He sends Jesus (Galatians 4:4), empowers Jesus to do miracles (Acts 2:22),
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They don’t separate Jesus’ identity in terms of God and man, but in terms of humble Servant (Matthew – Acts) and exalted Lord (Acts – Revelation). When we worship Jesus were not worshipping a man for being a man, we honour him because God requires it by exalting him as Lord and in another sense we honour him for what he has done as Messiah, Lord and Saviour. Messiah was always to be the true Lord of the world (Psalm 87) and honouring him as such is in direct obedience to God the Father. Nevertheless, the Father is worthy of worship in his own right and I would agree that many Christians (Charismatics in particular) focus on Jesus (or the Spirit) to the exclusion of God the
2. Only He could be obedient in our stead, and fulfill the requirements of our reconciliation with God that only can be done by the single way of pay the penaties for sin, athough he is not sinner. 3. The main purpose of His incarnation is the atonement of us. As in Romans 8:3, Jesus was sent and delegated as Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering, by took the flesh rather than became a flesh.
The shocking alternative is that Jesus Christ is the same God who created the universe and all that’s in it and has been with God since before time began. He spoke for God, forgave sins, healed the sick, performed miracles, raised the dead, and fed the multitudes. Furthermore, Christ demonstrated His deity by rising from the dead following His crucifixion. “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.” (Lewis, 1980).
A Christ figure would possess attributes that mirror those exhibited in the biblical man himself. Jim, a slave man from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, can be easily acknowledged as a Christ-figure. Jim managed to be protective, forgiving, sacrificial, and spread his message of acceptance despite his oppressive background. As a poor black man in the antebellum age, no one listened to Jim.
The scripture texts mention Jesus as one who breaks all walls that divide humans under certain categories or label them with captions. In other words, if we are able to see God’s love manifest in the love of Christ, we would be able to understand the love of God too. On the other hand, Burton Z. Cooper states that “God has acted in Christ to redeem us.” This satisfies Jesus’ claim that our faith in Christ will help us be one in Christ as he is one in the Father, as mentioned in John 14:20.
All of his alternative outcomes create an unstable Church where Jesus is seen not as a God, but as an object—an object of
Jesus and the holy spirit are just different forms of God. It is up to us how we see them. Our churches may have a certain image of them, but reading this book made me think it is up to ourselves how we see God, Jesus, and the holy spirit. It is easy for us to see Jesus as a handsome, tall, strong man, but he was not. He was just like us, his people.
Jesus is a figure that many authors use in their novels. By using characters that resemble him, they author is able to relate to the reader in context of hope and redemption, as well as to expand one’s thoughts on what exactly the concept of sacrifice entails. Obviously, there are many other ideologies in the world and Christianity, though popular, sometimes follows with some kind of negative connotation that would lead authors not to use Christ as a guide to a character. Foster addresses this conflict, saying, “we live in Christian culture… Culture is so influenced by its dominant religious systems that whether a writer adheres to the beliefs of not, the values and principles of those religions will inevitably inform the literary work” (Foster 124-125).
God the Son Jesus Christ is the son of God and part of the Holy Trinity. In the Gospel of John 1:1-4, Jesus “… was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him, was life, in that life was the light of men” (NIV). Therefore, Jesus existed with God before the world began.
Examining the first chapter and verse of the Gospel according to John, Trinitarians believe “The Word” is Jesus. One must remember this is simply an interpretation, or a version of the original text. Another statement in the text is chapter 10 verse 30, in which Jesus say’s “The Father and I are one”, furthering the claim that both Jesus and God the Father are one being. This saying, taken literally doesn’t make sense. There are many like sayings, in
John present to us that who Jesus is at the very center of the Gospel of John. Carson tells us that the “Son of God” can roughly serve synonymn for “Messiah”. All the Synoptic Gospels wrote that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God. Salvation:
While the other gospels emphasize the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, John instead emphasizes new life found in Jesus. It’s from John that we get Christ’s famous claim “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me” -John 14:6. Jesus frequently uses metaphors to hint at his identity. John records more of these analogies than any other gospel, giving us some of the most famous word pictures for Christ.
He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), quenched (I Thessalonians 5:19), He speaks (Acts 8:29), and He intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26). It would be unthinkable to equate all of these attributes to anyone or anything other than God. The only honest conclusion then is that the Holy Spirit is a person and is truly God.
Question:"Consider the figure of Jesus in the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Thomas, or the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Who or what is Jesus, in the Gospel that you have selected?" When studying the Gospel of John, Jesus is identified as the Son of God because the metaphor of the Lamb is used, Jesus Christ is mentioned instead of Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus acknowledges himself to the world as the Son of God. In the Gospel, the Lamb of God is referenced multiple times and distinguishes a sacrifice is in the mist. The reader consciously knows Jesus is God’s only son, nevertheless making the role of sacrifice an even harder burden to carry.
This is known as the economic Trinity and this brings us to a question of distinction. The distinction is in the roles that each person in the Godhead plays in creation and redemption. Thus it is the Father who sends the Son into the world for our redemption. It is the Son who acquires our redemption for us.
The Word of God and Revelation In the Christian world view the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus Christ the Son of God is the essential emphasis of revelation. God has shown Himself equally in the transcribed Word which is the Bible and in the mortal word which is Jesus Christ. (Muehlenberg, 2013) The Christian world view holds that Jesus Christ didn’t just bring a revelation from God the Father, but is He Himself the revelation of God.