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Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Trinity: Christ and God Are One


“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the
basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

-Colossians 2:8

                We are under a new law, a new covenant. This covenant calls for us to live by faith and love. Colossians 2:13-14 says that we are forgiven of our sins and all of the laws of the Old Testament were nailed upon the cross. Many people misconstrue this to mean that they don’t have to follow the laws that God had put into effect in the Old Testament and we are free to commit any sin we want. Rather, it means that we are filled with the Holy Spirit-the same Spirit that was in Christ-to help us live wholly as children of God with the power to overcome temptation. Since we are under Christ’s law, we are under the laws that God had set in place. You see, Christ was the Deity in bodily form, as written in Colossians 2:9. He and God are one, as well as the Holy Spirit, to form the Holy Trinity. They are one.

“…and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power
and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting
off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by hands of men but
with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised
with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead”

-Colossians 2:10-12

                We know that we are not free to sin because of the reason Jesus was sent to carry the cross and bear our burdens. The first covenant, over time, had been forgotten. People were not abiding by Christ so Christ was sent to purify us so that we may have the Holy Spirit bestowed upon us. How was Christ able to do this? The invisible God made Himself visible unto man for a period of time. How do we know that Jesus and God are one? There are many instances in Scripture where Jesus is referred to as being God.

                Let’s take note of how Jesus always cast out demons, cured the sick, and did miracles in His own name. No man, no angel, could do this in their own name. Take Jesus’ words in John 10:30 where he says, “I and the Father are one.” In John 10:38 Jesus also says, “…that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Jesus, in John 8:58, declared, “I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” We can understand that God and Jesus are a team, and Jesus sat at God’s right hand and was prepared before he came to be a holy blood sacrifice. But let’s look at more scripture.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things
were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the
body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so
that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness
dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

-Colossians 1:15-20

                Here is he is compared to have the same supremacy as God. John 1:1 says that “the Word was God.” John 1:1 says that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” This clearly indicates that Jesus is God in the flesh. Acts 20:28 tells us to “be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” It was Jesus’ blood that was shed but this verse declares that God purchased the church with His own blood.
               
                To try and grasp this, try and grasp how Jesus’ nature as being both totally human and totally God. He was baptized as a man -- but He remitted sins as God...He was tempted as man, but he conquered as God. He hungered, but He fed thousands. He was wearied, but He is the rest of them that are weary and heavy-laden. He was heavy with sleep, but He walked lightly over the sea. He prays, but he hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was man but He raises Lazarus, for He was God. He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver; but He redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price was His blood. As a sheep he is led to the slaughter, but He is the shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also. He is bruised and wounded, but He heals every disease and every infirmity. He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the tree of life He restores us. He dies, but he gives life, and by His death He destroys death.

                The mystery of Christ runs the risk of being disbelieved precisely because it is so incredibly wonderful.  For God was in humanity.  He who was above all creation was in our human condition; the invisible one was made visible in the flesh; he who is from the heavens and from on high was in the likeness of earthly things; the immaterial one could be touched; he who is free in his own nature came in the form of a slave; he who blesses all creation became accursed; he who is all righteousness was numbered among the transgressors; life itself came in the appearance of death.  All this followed because the body, which tasted death, belonged to no other but to him who is the Son by nature.

“Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.”

-1 Timothy 3:16

                The coming of Jesus was prophesized in the Old Testament, where it was told that a savior would come who would be a leader among the nations  and be called Immanuel. In Matthew 1:23, it is again mentioned that the virgin shall conceive and bear a son who shall be called Immanuel, which means God among us. Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon his should: and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,
‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is
in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is
the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”

-John 14:9-10

                In John 14:14 Jesus says that we can ask Jesus for anything in his name and he will do it. No other person has had that ability because God didn’t give His glory to anyone (Isaiah 48:11). In John 20:28, Thomas calls Jesus his Lord and his God. The first two commandments tell us that we should have no other God or idol besides God himself. However, we see in the New Testament that He is letting everyone call Jesus their Lord and God. We pray in Jesus’ name. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says again that Christ is the image of God.

“Jesus, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”

-Philippians 2:6

“…Jesus is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

-1 Timothy 6:15

                In Luke 5:22-24, a paralytic is brought before Jesus and he is told that his sins have been forgiven. He says that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins, which is God’s duty. So, what’s the “Son of Man” all about? Calling himself “Son of Man” really was an expression of humility, an indication of how God was willing to lower Himself to mankind’s level by being born of a woman.

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