Jesus begotten Son of God #18 Believing in inhuman or human person

The Anointed begotten Son of God

41. What to believe

Do we really believe the words of the Bible or has our tradition made it difficult to hear the text of Scripture without the interfering voices of later tradition? There is the constant danger for us believers that the words of the Bible can be drowned out by the clamorous and sometimes threatening words of ecclesiastical teaching, which mostly goes unexamined. At stake here is the whole nature of the Saviour. Is he really a human being, or did he have the benefit of billions of years of conscious existence before deciding to become a man? Is this latter picture anything more than a legendary addition to Apostolic faith?

NTLutherBible1769 — Titlepage of the New Testament section of a German Luther Bible, printed in 1769.

The Son of God, Messiah and Saviour, is defined in precise theological terms by Gabriel, laying the foundation of the whole New Testament and fulfilling the promises of the Old.

Christians should unite around that clear portrait of Jesus presented by Gabriel. Jesus is the Son of God on one basis only, his miraculous coming into existence in Mary’s womb. This was God’s creative act, initiating His new creation and providing the model of Christian Sonship for us all. Though obviously we are not, like Jesus, brought into existence supernaturally, nevertheless we, like him, are to receive a supernatural birth from spirit by being born again under the influence of the Gospel (Galatians 3:2; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Romans 10:17; Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11, 12; 1 Peter 1:23-25; James 1:18).

The “divine” nature of Jesus has no other foundation than the stupendous miracle granted to Mary and to humanity. A Jesus who claims to be Son of God for any other reason should be rejected. A natural son of Joseph cannot qualify as the Messiah, nor can a person whose existence did not originate in his mother’s womb by a divine creative miracle.

42. Inhuman

From chapter 31 and 32 we could see that we do not have an incarnation from God into a human body, called Jesus, in the human Mary. And that coming out of the womb, coming into birth we got a human body which grew up, by eating and drinking, to come to an end by being put on the tree or on a piece of wood, afterwards he was liberated from that death by his Father.

“The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus, whom you slew, hanging him on a tree:” (Acts 5:30 LO) “But God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.” (Acts 2:24 Noyes)

It was a man, born out of a woman, who really could feel pain and horror and died in agony. He was put in the grave or sepulchre and in a miraculous way taken out of it. Nobody can kill God but Jesus was killed and descended into the earth or ‘hell’, which is the grave . [38. Sjeool, Sheol, Hades, Hell = sepulchre or Grave. “he foreseeing [this] spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” (Acts 2:31 ASV)
“he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in sh’ol and whose flesh did not see decay.” (Acts 2:31 CJB)
“he seeing this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.” (Acts 2:31 Webster)]

“But when the completion of the time came, Elohim sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Torah,” (Galatians 4:4 The Scriptures 1998+)
““For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Ad’am be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40 The Scriptures 1998+)

“Then He warned His taught ones that they should say to no one that He is יהושע the Messiah. From that time יהושע began to show to His taught ones that it was necessary for Him to go to Yerushalayim, and to suffer much from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and to be raised again the third day.” (Matthew 16:20-21 The Scriptures 1998+)

“And when the captain and those with him, who were guarding יהושע, saw the earthquake and all that took place, they feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of Elohim!” And many women who followed יהושע from Galil, attending Him, were there, watching from a distance, among whom were Miryam from Maḡdala, and Miryam the mother of Yaʽaqob’ and Yosĕph, and the mother of Zab’dai’s sons. And when evening came, there came a rich man from Ramathayim, named Yosĕph, who himself had also become a taught one of יהושע. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of יהושע. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given. And having taken the body, Yosĕph wrapped it in clean linen, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock. And he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and went away. And Miryam from Maḡdala was there, and the other Miryam, sitting opposite the tomb. On the next day, which was after the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Master, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am raised.’ “Command, then, that the tomb be safeguarded until the third day, lest His taught ones come by night and steal Him away, and should say to the people, ‘He was raised from the dead.’ And the last deception shall be worse than the first.” So Pilate said to them, “You have a watch, go, safeguard it as you know how.” And they went and safeguarded the tomb, sealing the stone and setting the watch.” (Matthew 27:54-66 The Scriptures 1998+)

“He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” (Acts 2:31 AVRLE)
“foreseeing this he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah, that His being was neither left in the grave, nor did His flesh see corruption. (Acts 2:31 The Scriptures 1998+)
“And the messenger responding, said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek יהושע who was impaled. “He is not here, for He was raised, as He said. Come, see the place where the Master lay.” (Matthew 28:5-6 The Scriptures 1998+)

You could call it inhuman that Jesus his flesh did not see corruption, but that happened by the force of God again. As he was given life by God the first time and it was taken out by humans, God gave him life again as an example what can happen to us as well. All humans shall be able to become resurrected in the hope of their fellow brother or fellow human Christ Jesus.

The constitution of Jesus as the unique Son of God is given its basis by the superb words of Gabriel in Luke 1:35. This definition of the Messiah, Son of God, should be allowed to stand.

It was later, post-biblical tradition which interfered with the definitive, revealing statement of Gabriel. Once Jesus was turned into a pre-existing Son of God who gave up one conscious existence for another, Christology immediately became problematic (as witnessed by the centuries of disputes, excommunications, and fierce dogmatic decisions of Church Councils). A Son of God who is already Son of God before his conception in his mother is a personage essentially non-human. Under that revised scheme what came into existence in Mary was not the Son of God at all, but a created human nature added to an already existing Person. But Gabriel describes the creation of the Son of God himself, not the creation of a human nature added to an already existing Son. The two models are quite different.
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Preceding article: Jesus begotten Son of God #17 Adam, Eve, Mary and Christianity’s central figure

To be continued: 43. A compromising fact

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