ATTRIBUTES ARE PREDICATED OF CHRIST THAT COULD BELONG ONLY TO ONE WHO IS GOD

ATTRIBUTES ARE PREDICATED OF CHRIST THAT COULD BELONG ONLY TO ONE WHO IS GOD

 

 

Introduction:

 Recall the three classes of Divine attributes: of Personality, Greatness, and Goodness.

•  Attributes of personality require no discussion.
•  The Lord Jesus possesses all the attributes of Deity.
• The tremendous claim in John 16:15.

"All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you."

It was under the influence of this Theocratic conception, viz., that the same Lord God who once acted as earthly Ruler would be inseparably identified with the person of Jesus, David's Son, that even creation (John 1:3, 10; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2, etc.) is ascribed to Him; that pre-existence is postulated (John 8:58; John 1:1; Col. 1:17, etc.) of Him; that the love, etc., Tendered to Him are at the same time bestowed upon the Father (John 5:23, etc., 1 John 2:23) ; that no one could know the Father saving the Son and him to whom the Son revealed Him (Matt. 11:27, etc., 1 John 1:18) ; and all this and more because (John 14:10) "I am in the Father and the Father in Me." The least reflection will show, that the Theocratic idea so impenetrates the New Testament portraiture of Jesus bringing forth such a union of the Theocratic God with David's Son-forming the one Theocratic King with one will, power, work, love, etc. (John 5:19-38, etc.) and yet consistently placing the Son in view of the incorporation of David's line and descendant subordinately to the Father (John 5:19; John 14:28, etc.), that it demands unreasonable credulity to imagine that the apostles through their own reason and to subserve their own purposes, created such a matchless Theocratic likeness, which, without a single flaw, combines the original Theocratic Ruler with the promised Theocratic King in David's line; and, without sacrificing the humanity or exalting it above the Fatherhood, blends the two together into an inseparable Oneness, forming the One Person Jesus the Christ; that in this unity, whoever sees the Son beholds also the Father. Such a conception, so harmonious in all its details, so forcibly adapted to secure the end contemplated, and so perfectly in accord with God's Theocratic Purpose, is, as the Bible justly claims a divine one. Let the reader test this by contrasting it with those plans originated by man, as e.g. Plato's idea of an ideal government and more recently the notions entertained respecting a "Universal Republic" or a "Universal Monarchy." Our opponents themselves concede (leaving out the moral, and only looking at the results) that if this portraiture is true, if it could be realized as expressed, it would undoubtedly bring forth the effects attributed to it. We know it to be true for the reasons, already assigned, flowing from the doctrine of the Kingdom, and which in every heir of this Kingdom and co-heir of this Theocratic King is confirmed by the experience of faith, and by the constant and continued fulfilling of events foretold by this Messiah.

 

The Attributes of Greatness:

Christ has SELF-EXISTENT Life

John 1:4 - "In Him was life" (cf. Psa. 66:9)The declaration, "in Him was life," is a general and comprehensive one, declaring that all forms of life are related to the living Word. The announcement that "the life was the light of men," is a particular declaration revealing an essential truth concerning the nature of man. This cannot be said concerning the life of any plant, nor of animal life, until in the scale of being man is reached. In man's life became consciousness of God, and capacity for the understanding of Him, This statement of John of course has far wider application. It certainly indicates the truth that perfect light concerning manhood has shined in the Word Incarnate, but as Jesus was the fulfillment of an original purpose, it becomes evident that according to that purpose, man is capable of intelligent appreciation of, and communion with God. The whole process of creation was carried forward through the Word of the Eternal, and every form of life exists and subsists through the energy of that Word. In man however, life was first of such a nature as to comprehend the Creator.

John 14:6 - "I am. . .the life" In answer to an honest expression of disagreement with Jesus, came the great claim; "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." The implicate of that is that He had said to them incidentally, that He was going to the Father. I am the way unto the Father; therefore I am the way to all the abiding places in the Father's house. I am the truth about the Father, and therefore ultimately about all creation, all the universe, all being. And I am the life, the very life of the Father; and therefore the One in Whom, as Paul put it presently, "all things consist," or hold together. That word of Jesus illuminated all the darkness that was resting upon the minds of these men. Whether they entered into it then or not, who shall say?

Acts 3:15 ASV margin with Heb.12:2 "And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses."
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Here in Heb. is the goal line. These words catch up and apply all that had been said as to the service rendered in the past by those who had "received the promises," and had died not having "received the promise." If they so endured with courage and cheerfulness, we also should be prepared to endure with patience, and run the race toward the glorious goal without wavering, however hopeless the enterprise may seem, when judged by the circumstances of the hour. The ultimate strength of this appeal, however, lies in the contrast which it suggests between these men of the past and ourselves. They had the promises; we have Jesus. They looked for the City; we look off unto Jesus. This means that in Him we have a clearer revelation of the glory of the City, and of the travail through which alone it can be built. Through Him our understanding of what the tabernacling of God with men means, is more perfect. In Him the call is to yet profounder suffering and to greater patience. But He is Himself the File-leader of the Faithful that is, in His own life and service He takes precedence of all others. And so He is supremely the Vindicator of faith in the promises of God, as the one principle which moves toward the fulfilment of those very promises. He also is waiting for the consummation, waiting till His enemies shall be made the footstool of His feet, but waiting in the perfect assurance of the final victory. Then we are called upon to rest in His assurance, to have fellowship with His sufferings, and so to hasten the coming of the Day of God.

Problem: John 5:26 - "riven to have life in Himself"

The Solitary God is self-existent, self-contained, self-sufficient, and self-satisfied. He is self-existent in that He is not dependent upon anything external to Himself for originating or continuing existence, for "the Father hath life in himself" (John 5:26). He is self-contained in that He is complete within Himself and in no sense dependent upon anything external to Himself, "as though He needed anything" (Acts 17:25). He is self-sufficient in that He possesses all fullness and is therefore the fountain source for everything else, "seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). And He is self-satisfied in that there is no reason external to Himself why He performs as He does. "He works all things after the counsel of his own will" (Eph. 1:11).

Christ is ETERNAL

Isa. 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Mic. 5:2 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
John 8:35 "And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever."
1 John 1:2 "(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)"
1 John 5:11 "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

Problem: Col. 1:15 - "the first born of every creature" (prototokos) Before proceeding to the consideration of the teaching of this text it is of the utmost importance that we most carefully recognize the exact meaning of our word “firstborn,” and of the Greek word of which in each case it is the singularly apt and beautiful translation.
 We may divide our word into two parts, as indeed it is, in its very nature, already divided: first, and born. In so doing we are at once helped to a true understanding of the Greek word of which it is a translation. The word “first” means foremost, and is variously used in reference to time, place, order, or importance. This we need to recognize, or we may think of it as referring to time only in these particular passages, whereas, as a matter of fact, it has a far more spacious value, and in some cases the reference is not to time at all, but to that which is beyond time, the timeless and the eternal. The root of the word “born” literally means to produce from a seed, but it must be remembered that it always signifies to bear, or to bring forth, never to beget. The word has no reference whatever to those profounder matters of being associated with the function of begetting. Therefore it does not necessarily give any revelation of the nature of the one born. It always refers to that hour, or event, or method, by which something already in being is manifested.
The description, “the first-born of creation,” does not mean that He was the first of the creation in time, that He existed before all other creations. It means rather that He is the ultimate of creation, that toward which all creation moved, its goal, its consummation, its final glory.
The profounder questions of being and of begetting are dealt with or referred to in the context. The first-born of creation is described as “The Son of His love,” “The image of the invisible God”; and in His own essential being as the One Who is “before all things,” the One in Whom “all things consist.”
As God can have no essential beginning, neither can His Son, Who is of His very nature. Therefore the only sense in which the Son of God can ever be spoken of as begotten is in reference to some new manifestation or activity of Deity.

cf. Rom. 8:29 "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Sounds like twins to me.
Col. 1:18 "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Heb. 1:6 "And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."
Rev. 1:5 "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"

(1) The term is used of Christ to denote priority of position rather than priority in time. Compare a similar use of our English word "first". A man can be first in position as well as time.
(2) See Psa. 89:27 (Sept. prototokos) where the meaning must be priority of position.
(3) Col. 1:16, 17 - Christ created all things (this explains vs. 15).
(4) John 1:3 Takes Christ entirely out of the category of created things.