By Harold Kemp & Reese Currie, Compass Distributors
There are many errors concerning the Deity. These include Arianism (believing that God the Father is the only Person who is God), Oneness theology (believing that only Jesus is God), modalism (the belief that God changes modes between Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and pantheism (believing that God is everything). If you claim to be Christian, you have to believe what the Bible really says: That God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
A term was applied to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit very soon after Biblical times, sometime before 325 AD. The term is "trinity", a word made specifically to refer to the nature of our God. It is a combination of "tri", for three Persons, and "unity", for one God. This term naturally does not appear in the Bible, but it accurately describes the true nature of God.
To keep this article fairly simple, we will only address the most common error, the denial that Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God.
Some people are of the opinion that Jesus of Nazareth was just an ordinary human being. Some believe that He was a human who had evolved into a more moral human being than any other. Some believe that He was an angel or an archangel.
None of these ideas are true. The Bible clearly states that He was the only begotten Son of God.
When Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of the world on the condition that He would "fall down and worship Satan", He said "Then Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve."'" (Matthew 4:10)
There are many incidents recorded in the New Testament where people came to Jesus and worshipped Him. In none of these cases did He refuse their worship or criticize them for worshipping Him.
Obviously. these people knew who He really was. A few examples are in the following passages from Matthew.
Matthew 8:2: "And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'"
Matthew 9:18: "While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, 'My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.'"
Matthew 14:33: "Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'"
As recorded in Matthew 4:10, ONLY GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPPED. And the apostle Paul says "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind," (Colossians 2:18)
On two occasions in the book of Revelation, John mistakenly began to worship an angel and, in each case, was told not to.
Read Revelation 19:10 and its context. "And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'"
Also read Revelation 22:9 and its context: "Then he said to me, 'See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.'"
ANGELS ARE NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED. In fact, angels are to worship God and His only-begotten Son.
Read Hebrews 1:5,6. "For to which of the angels did He ever say: 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You'? And again: 'I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son'? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.'"
Paul made an interesting exhortation in Colossians 2:8,9: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;"
This is interesting because Arianism, Socinianism, modalism, pantheism and Oneness Theology are all described by this statement as "vain deceit" in verse 8; at the same time, the Trinitarian truth is affirmed directly in verse 9.
Who Is Jesus? is Copyright © 1997 by Compass Distributors
All Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.