Kingdom Ready

Paul and the Pastoral Letters

What did Paul have to say about God and Jesus in his pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus? Did Paul believe that Jesus was God?

 1.       Paul believed and taught that God was the Father.

 1 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2.       Paul believed and taught that there was a distinction between God and Jesus. This clearly implies that God is separate from Jesus. Jesus is not God.

By examining Paul’s writings to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, one can deduce what Paul believed about who Jesus was and his relationship to God, his Father. By examining these texts, we can see that Paul was had neither a Trinitarian or Oneness perspective. He believed that the Father was the only true God, the God of Jesus.

1. Paul believed there was but one God, the Father. Cheap Jerseys china

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead,

Red-letter Bibles can be both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because they highlight the important words of our Lord Jesus, but a curse to the uninformed reader because occasionally the words highlighted in red are not actually the words of Jesus! One influential example of this may be found in the book of Revelation. In the New American Standard Bible, Revelation 1:8 is highlighted in red, Cheap Jerseys free shipping suggesting that the following words are the words of Jesus. This verse reads “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” This red-letter emphasis conveys the idea that Jesus is the Lord God, the Almighty. However, a careful reader of the book of Revelation will question the accuracy of this red-letter emphasis, which is an editorial interpretation and not of the authoritative inspiration of God.

Both the Gospels and the book of Acts make a clear distinction between the Lord God, the Father, and His Son Jesus, the Lord Messiah. Luke makes this apparent in his birth narrative, by identifying two distinct persons, each identified by the title “Lord.” He writes that Jesus, “the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26), “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32). He would be begotten by the power of the Most High, and designated “Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). From this, it may be seen that by His power the Most High, the Lord God, created a human child in the womb of Mary who would be known as the Lord’s Christ, or Christ the Lord.

Tragically, Christianity is in a muddle over who their God is. The Bible says that there is only one true God, but there are many different understandings of who the only true God is – all coming from the same Bible! It’s no wonder the secular world thinks Christians are crazy – they can’t even agree on who their God is!

For those that subscribe to Anthony Buzzard’s wonderful monthly newsletter “Focus on the Kingdom“, you have undoubtedly seen several announcements for the 2012 Theological Conference (the 21st) that will occur next week May 3rd – May 6th in Atlanta GA. I will be making my way there for my 3rd straight year!  It truly is a wonderful conference where Biblical Unitarian/One God Believers from all over the world can hear speakers, make new friends, and fellowship with one another.  Last year we had people from Europe, South Africa, South America, Australia, Canada, and from all over the USA.  Hope to see you there too!

2012 THEOLOGICAL CONFERENCE

5/3/12 – 5/6/12

Norcross, GA

I read this article awhile back and found it interesting.  And I thought it would be good to post here on the KR Blog.  I hope you find it interesting as well. Enjoy!

Biblical Unitarianism from the Early Church through the Middle Ages

by Mark M. Mattison

The term “biblical unitarianism,” as used in this journal, denotes a non-Trinitarian theology which is consistent with the inspired Word of God. It is our belief that this understanding of the Scriptures is not new, but has been propagated at various times and places throughout church history. The purpose of this article is to lay a foundation for the future discussion of this topic.
 
First, however, we must define our terms.

Click here to listen to “The Doctrine of God and Christ” mp3 [52:40].

Steve Katsaras, pastor of the Red Words Church in Australia and contributor to this blog, recently gave a thoroughly biblical exposition of the doctrines of God and Christ.

Yahweh is one, not two or three, and there is no God besides him. The Bible uses singular pronouns in reference to God thousands upon thousands of time, a fact that clearly teaches God is a singular individual. This one God is the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent creator of heaven and earth.

Joseph’s paper as promised! Thanks Joe for the hard work on this and agreeing to post your work here as a KR Guest Author!

Judges 6 and the Hebrew Masoretic Vocalization of ADNY – Trinitarian Arguments Challenged

By: Joe Jerde

Key:

MS – Manuscript

MSS – Masuscripts

MT – Masoretic Text

TJon – Targum Jonathan

LXX א – Septuagint Codex Sinaiticus

LXX A – Septuagint Codex Alexandrinus

LXX B – Septuagint Codex Vaticanus

VetLat – Vetus Latina, Old Latin

Vg – Latin Vulgate

Pesh – Syriac Peshitta

I thought I would publish here on KR an excellent paper by Ken Westby.  Ken runs the great One God website www.Godward.org  – also known as “The Association for Christian Development”.  This paper actually just ran as a paid-for full-page ad in “The Journal”.  This is the little newspaper that the Churches of God put out.  And the interesting thing here (some might call it a bold move), is that the Churches of God (off-shoots of the Armstrong World-Wide movement) are decidedly Binitarian (the “God Family” belief).  Ken sent a pdf copy of the entire newspaper (link is here) along with a note saying that his article (on page 19 – and printed here below), was followed up by a 9 PAGE rebuttal in support of the binity belief. I think he may have struck a nerve!