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What is the real answer? ls Jesus God? ls He the
same as Jehovah? /s there more than one God?
Here is the truth as revea/ed in your Bible.
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
S
tartling as it may seem, there is
great
confusion
today among
religious leaders concerning the
true nature and office of Jesus
Christ- the Savior of the world.
You
need not be in doubt! The Bible was
divinely inspired to impart TRUTH to
those who seek it with
honest
hearts
and minds. But even this all-impor–
tant subject has become jumbled in
today's troubled and chaotic world .
ls Jesus God?
Jesus Christ carne to pay the penalty
for sin in our stead. He gave of
2
Himself,
that we might be recon–
ciled to God.
How was this made
possible?
First, if Jesus had been
only
human, His death could have paid
the penalty for but
one
other human
who had incurred that penalty by
transgression of God's spiritual law
(Romans 6:23). Since God the
Father created all things
by
Jesus
Christ (Eph. 3:9), and since
al!
things, including man, were made
by
Jesus Christ , He is our Maker
and therefore God, and His life
which He gave was of
greater value
than the sum total of all human
beings. For we read, " In the begin–
ning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the
Word was
God.
The same was in the beginning
with God.
Al! things were made by
him;
and without him was not any–
thing made that was made" (John
l: 1-3). "And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, full of grace
and truth; we have beheld his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the
Father" (verse 14, RSV). Also. "He
was in the world, and the world
was
made through him,
yet the world
knew him not" (verse 10, RSV).
Compare these scriptures with
f
Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians
1:12-19.
Life alone can
beget
life. This is
Lhe absolute law of biogenesis. Since
eternallife is the
GIFT
of God (John
3: 16), only a Goo
possessing
immor–
tality could give it. If Jesus were
on ly human,
we could not receive
eterna! lije through Him
and He
could not be our Savior. Man
does
not
have eterna) Iife inherent in
himself. But, as God "the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given
to the Son to have Iife in himself."
And, "God
hath given
to us eterna!
li fe , and this life is
in his Son.
He
that hath the Son hath life; and
he
that hath not the Son ofGod hath not
life"(John
5:26; I John 5: 11- 12).
He Was Also Human
On the other hand, Jesus was also
human. Since it is
human
life which
has transgressed God's law, the law
claims
human
life as its penalty.
Contrary to popular present-day
teaching, the Word of God states
that the wages-the penally-of sin
is DEATH- not eterna! life in a so–
called "hellfire" (Romans 6:23) .
When we sin, we break God's per–
fect spiritual law, "for sin is the
transgression ' of the law"
(1
John
3:4). The penalty for this sin is
death.
The penalty
must be paid.
God the Father will not com–
promise. lt must be paid
by man.
Therefore, Jesus, who is and was
God, who has always existed (John
1: 1, 2), was actually
made jlesh
(verse 14). He. who was God, ac–
tually
became
human flesh.
T
John
4:2, 3 (RSV) states: "By this you
know the Spirit of God: every spirit
wbich confesses that Jesus Christ
The
PLAIN TRUTH June 1977