The Gospel of Jesus (part 2)
February 4th, 2007 by AlexH
…continued from previous post–The account runs as follows:
Matthew 16:15-17 & 21
“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven…From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”
This is the second part of the gospel. Before the great resurrection day when the believers throughout all ages would be granted immortality and thrones of rulership in the Messiah’s kingdom, God did something unforeseen. He raised his Son from the dead in advance!
This vindicated the man and his message. It evidenced his claims to have been God’s Chosen One, the Faithful and True Witness to God’s good news. He became living proof of the very victory over sin and the curse of death which his message offered. He was the embodiment of God’s promise of immortality beyond the grave through resurrection from death:
1 John 1:2
For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.
1 Corinthians 15:1
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
But in order for there to be a resurrection, there had to be a death…
Trinity doctrine teaches that the 1st person of the godhead (The Father), sent the 2nd person of the godhead (The Son) to die. ‘Oneness’ (Modalist) people try to preserve both the Oneness of God and the god-hood of Jesus at the same time by saying that it was God the Father, manifested in the form of the Son that died for us.
But both contradict the same cardinal tenet of scripture- God is immortal. The Bible teaches that to be immortal means you cannot die (Luke 20:36). Therefore God cannot die.
1 Timothy 1:17
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:16
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
The question of God Almighty dying for our sins shouldn’t trouble a scripturally informed mind for an instant. It isn’t found anywhere in the Bible and it contradicts what the Bible does say. No matter how the majority church may try to spiritualise it, there is a difference between accepting a mystery and contradicting the plain truth of scripture. The issue is simple: Either Jesus died just like any other man or he is God Almighty and therefore immortal. He cannot be both.
to be continued…