We have examined this question several times in the past, but it does not hurt to brush up on the basics occasionally. Vince Lombardi, the coach of the world champion Green Bay Packers, is said to have begun some of his team meetings by holding up an object.”This, Gentlemen, is a football.”
And Coach Lombardi seemed to realize some modicum of success with his approach to fundamental principles. We must never be oblivious to challenges to the deity of Christ. They sneak up on us in various ways and if we are not, as Peter said, “...ready always to give a defense for the glorious hope within us,” we will either be overwhelmed argumentatively, or miss an opportunity to correct error when it is presented. (1 Peter 3:15) And while we are at it, check out
2 Peter 1:12.
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.
Peter seems to have been of the “Lombardi school” of instruction. (Or maybe Lombardi followed Peter.) You already know this, but it does not hurt to repeat it.
The first time I encountered the argument that Jesus was not God was when on a high school evaluation trip in eastern Illinois. I, and the guy rooming with me, were there to evaluate the various departments of the high school in their quest to satisfy certification requirements.
It seems like the first night we roomed together, we shared our various teaching duties. I told him that I was the chemistry teacher and the debate coach. “Did you ever debate a philosophical question, like, ‘Was Jesus really God?’” he asked.
“No,” I replied, “we only debate policy issues, and besides, debate always has two somewhat tenable propositions. Otherwise, it is not fair for the team that draws the ‘losing’ issue.”
“Oh, there are many who do not believe that Jesus was really God,” he rejoined.
I explained that this was really just taking an oddball cult and giving it credence. To which he replied that it was not all that much out of the mainstream. Oops, I had unwittingly stepped on some toes there. “Do you question that?” I asked.
“Why do you believe that he was God?” he countered. (Capitalization applied as he intended.)
“Well, John 1:1 tells us that,” I replied, falling neatly into his trap. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” End of discussion, I thought.
“Did you know that in my translation, the New World Translation, it says that the Word was “a god?”
“Nope,” I responded. “That must be an error.”
His answer surprised me. “Have you ever read it in the original Greek?” The trap was sprung. “I just happen to have a Greek New Testament here. Let’s check it out.” (Actually, it wasn’t “Greek” it was an English transliteration, but the point was lost on me. No difference, anyway.)
We turned to John and there, in verse 1 were “two different” words for “God.” Well, my mouth was shut. I had no answer. And then trap number two was set. “The Council of Nicea, in AD 325, invented (his word) the doctrine of the Trinity. Before that, no one really believed it.” Snap!
I backpedaled and stalled. I got his address and, promising to write, began a year-long correspondence on this issue. First, I had to resolve the questions, should I say “doubts,” that he planted. Then, as I discovered the paucity of reason and truth in his arguments, and pointed them out, he rolled out one after another.
How would you have fared there? Want some help? Well, you know that we are going to do that. Why else would we have come this far?
Point one: I went to Dr. Dunn, our Pastor in Peoria and showed him the Greek conundrum. I did not have a Greek New Testament, and still do not, but rightly surmised that he did and he gladly pulled it out. “See, right there, two words for “God” are there.” Theos and theon. Dr. Dunn burst out in a chortle that was half amusement, half consternation, and half ridicule. (Yes, I know that doesn’t add up. Neither does the argument.)
“That is what happens when you try to read a language that you do not know,” he answered. “You know that there are cases in English for pronouns. ‘He’ and ‘him’ are the same word, the same person, but different cases, subjective and objective. Greek has cases for nouns. Theos is the subjective case, Theon is objective. They mean the same Person, God.”
So the New World “Translation” is a bad translation. In fact, a little research revealed that the crew that “translated” it had one guy who had taken one semester of college Greek and the rest were, at best, self-taught. Essentially, it was a copy of an English edition with the references to Jesus’ deity excised or revised. We will come back to this a little later.
Point two: I do not remember if I asked Dr. Dunn about the Council of Nicea, but a very simple bit of research (an interesting project back then, before Al Gore had invented the internet, but I digress) research revealed that this particular Council was called for the explicit purpose of CONDEMNING the heresy that Jesus was not God. It did affirm that He was God, but only because the body of Biblical truth and writing from M, M, L, and J on had declared it. The majority of the church accepted that doctrine and a small, but influential offshoot, had caused the controversy.
So my friend, Lincoln was his name, had totally reversed the purpose and declaration of the Nicean Council and bamboozled me. I should have stopped writing to him with that letter. As it turned out, every rebuttal I sent him was met with a new claim of Biblical error on the part of deists. This continued for a whole year or more. Finally, his response was to raise the Council of Nicea–again.
About that time, I noticed an article on cults in Moody Monthly. It listed several different cults and their leaders, and one, under the basic aegis of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but a deviation, was some named group, originated and led by a certain Lincoln. Now I knew why he was unconvinced by my arguments. This was his baby.
David Jeremiah was talking about doubt the other day and used some terms that apply here. There are “honest doubters” who are asking questions and are amenable to proof. Then there are dishonest doubters who have a set position and are merely arguing with no intention of learning the truth, or changing their position.
Dr. Jeremiah gave an example of a man who was convinced that he was dead. His psychiatrist tried to help him back to reality. “Do dead men bleed?”
“No,” was the answer. Then he was instructed to walk around for a week repeating that, “Dead men do not bleed.” When he came back a week later the doctor asked him again.
“Do dead men bleed?”
“No,” was the response. Then the doctor took a pin and pricked the finger of his patient. A drop of blood pooled on his finger. “Well, what do you know! Dead men do bleed!”
Dishonest doubt cannot be persuaded. I should have saved my postage. Fortunately, it was much less than it is now, so I guess we can chalk it up to being a witness, being ready to answer.
And, just for reference, a few verses that show the deity of Jesus are found in Revelation (21:6; 22:13) where He is called the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Isaiah 41:4 and 44:6 repeat that. The Old Testament “Jehovah” or better, Yahweh is the same as the New Testament Jesus.
And the New World “T” did not find all of the references to Jesus being God. I had a guy who came back to my porch several times and I asked him if he had a Bible. Of course, he did and trotted out his NWT. We turned to Hebrews 1, and even in that poor translation, I found what I wanted. (I will quote NASB, but it is in their version–at least until someone finds it and removes it.) I began with verse 6
And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”
The “He” is God the Father. And He commanded the angels to “worship” the Son. But the OT specifically says that there is only One God, check the Isaiah references, and the commandments forbid worshiping any other god. So if NWT is right in John 1, then the Father, Jehovah, just contravened His own word. But I didn’t stop there.
Slide your finger down to verse 8: (“He” is again God, the Father)
But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
God the Father called the Son, “O God!” And, I have to sadly report that the visitor was a dishonest doubter. He denied that it meant what it said. He refused. He could not provide a different meaning, and he left. He has not returned.
A couple more quick notes. I will not comment on these, except to confirm that LORD in the Old Testament is Yahweh, or Jehovah. You can figure them out.
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Matthew 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Mark 1:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Luke 1:76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; (John the Baptist)
Luke 3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
And for my last magic trick turn to Luke 19:44. Some translations render this as “time of your visitation.” Others, like CSB say:
They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”
Who visited them? Zechariah 9:9 spells it out, as:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus was the One Who visited them. This is confirmed in all four Gospels. (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12) God, in the flesh, appeared and presented Himself as God, King, and Messiah. They refused, and rejected Him. But that is for another day. Pardon the pun.
For our purpose today, Jesus was and is God. His deity was accepted and taught by His disciples, their followers, and true believers ever since. My friend Lincoln notwithstanding, that question is not a viable debate topic.
Vince would be pleased that we know what a “football” is.
Jesus is Lord: The LORD. Amen.
