The Incarnation, Part 4

THE INCARNATION, PART 4

By Dr. Stephen Jones: Aug 15, 2019

Blog Post Date:  8-19-2019

Paul tells us in Romans 4:17 KJV,

¹⁷ (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

The NASB reads, “and calls into being that which does not exist.” In other words, what does not exist comes into existence when God forms an image in His mind and then declares it with His word. In that word is life itself. His word, then, is the meaning of life and existence.

This is the law of imputation, illustrated by the story of Abraham, who was the father of many nations even before he had any sons at all. God, being the sovereign Creator of all things, has the right to speak anything into existence in accordance with His own will.

The Living Word

When God speaks, living things and living beings are created. We see this at every step in the original creation of the heavens and the earth. His word (Hebrew davar) is the logos of John’s gospel. John 1:3, 4 says,

³ All things came into being by [dia, “through”] Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him [autou, “it” or “Him,” referring to the “word”] was life…

The word contained life and brought life. Verse 4 uses a pronoun autou, which refers to the logos. In Greek, words have gender. Logos is a masculine word, so the pronoun autou would be understood as masculine in Greek. Many languages have assigned gender to their words, including Spanish. But since English makes almost no use of gender, the pronoun above was translated into English according to personal bias or understanding. The NASB (above) renders it “Him,” with a capital “H,” because the translators believed that it referred to Jesus Christ, when it could just as easily have been rendered “it,” meaning the word that God spoke.

We need not enter that debate at this point. What is important for us to see is that in the word (or the Word) was life. The point is that when God speaks, it is a living word, and when God speaks through a man in the image of God, he becomes the living word as well. We will have more to say about this later when we are able to expound on what it means to be in the image of God.

Different Levels of Life

When God spoke, creation came into existence alive, not dead. No secondary command was needed to bring life to that which was created by the living word.

Obviously, there are different levels of life. Rocks do not enjoy the same level of life that trees have. Rocks are inanimate by men’s understanding of the meaning of life.

Trees are higher on the created order than rocks, but trees do not enjoy the same level of life that animals have, and animals are not on the same level as man.

I have talked with some who have had spiritual experiences where they were transported to the heavens or to some other realm of the spirit. They report that the water, rocks, trees, animals, and even the colors are alive and in fellowship (communication). Is there any reason to believe that only God, angels, and sons of God may reside in a heavenly dimension? If not, heaven would need a woman to decorate it and make it beautiful and ideal?

The question is this: Do they exist in the spiritual realm? If so, what gives them existence (by God’s definition, of course)? Is it not the living word of God?

Man enjoyed the highest level of life when he was made in the image of God. As we will see later, the image of God is a key factor in determining the quality of life that one has. But that image was lost when Adam sinned, reducing his quality of life to a level lower than immortality.

In Matthew 9:18, we read of a man who came to Jesus and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus did raise her from the dead, and she lived. She was not made immortal, but she was given life on this lower level.

On another occasion, in Luke 10:25, a lawyer asked Jesus, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked him what his understanding was of the law’s teaching. The lawyer responded with the two great commandments: to love God and your neighbor. Jesus then said in verse 28, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

This is the same type of life that Paul discussed in Romans 1:17 when he said, “the righteous man shall live by faith.” He was speaking about immortal life.

The type of life that Paul and the lawyer were seeking was different from the man who desired Jesus to raise his daughter from the dead. The lawyer wanted to know about immortality—and more specifically, about eonian life, or “life in The Age.” In other words, he wanted to know how to qualify for the First Resurrection, so that he would enjoy immortality during the great Sabbath Millennium when the Messiah reigns.

Another type of life is seen in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:32,

³² But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.

This speaks of the dead in terms of being lost or separated from the father. Life, then, is regained by his return, repentance, and restoration to fellowship with his father.

Furthermore, there are both good and evil spirits, each alive on different levels, just as we see with good and evil men. Evil spirits are alive but do not enjoy the same quality of life as angels.

In the case of people in general, why would they not exist as soon as God imagined them, predestinated them, and when He foreknew them at the beginning of this creation project? I do not think that they existed in the same form as when they were born physically on earth, but existence does not depend upon fleshly form.

The Jewish view in ancient times limited pre-existence to an impersonal predestination, wherein God only had an idea that would result in existence at a later time. Perhaps this was rooted in their view of a majestic God who was a bit too separate from His creation.

The concept of predestination can be quite sterile and cold when not viewed in the context of God’s character of love, His need to express it, and His desire for fellowship with loved ones. But with a proper view of God as our loving Father, as Jesus Himself presented to us in His teachings, predestination takes on life, personality and even person-hood.

The Law of Imputation

We return now to the law of imputation, where, by His word, God calls things into existence (or “into being”) before they are manifested in the world. It is a peculiar characteristic of the Hebrew language and thought process in Scripture that God speaks of future things in the past tense. The reason is because when a timeless God predestines something by His own will, it is done, at least by His own standards and definitions.

Whether or not it has manifested on the earth, whether or not we see it with our eyes, whether or not we recognize its existence, it is a reality from God’s perspective. His viewpoint, in the end, is all that really matters, for we yet see through a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). Again, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). When we look at things through God’s eyes, we do not engage in wishful or positive thinking. We see things as they really are.

The law of imputation gives us the right to see things from God’s perspective. Those who have faith that God is able to fulfill that which He has promised (and predestined) are the righteous ones. God, in turn, declares them to be righteous in His eyes, even though from the earthly standpoint, they are still growing and learning righteousness. It is not that they are presently righteous, but that God declares the end from the beginning. He sees us not as we are now but as what we are becoming—a finished product, fully in the image of Christ, perfected and glorified.

This law of imputation is the basis for a proper understanding of pre-existence that goes beyond the Jewish view, even as it modifies and corrects the carnal Greek view.

Imputation brings things into existence.

Reality and Illusion

There are many who teach that the earthly realm of matter is a mere illusion and that only spiritual existence is reality. This view is based on the underlying Greek premise that makes spirit good and matter evil. Such views do not honor or glorify the Creator, for it shows how little they value that which our Good God has labored to produce.

If this were the case, would not Genesis 1:1 read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the illusion of the earth”? We ought to be more appreciative and thankful for the earth and the fullness thereof.

Some—especially in Eastern religions—also claim that sin itself is an illusion or does not exist. Sin is ignorance, they say. But the Bible says it is an "offense” (Romans 5:14). Ignorance is remedied in a classroom; an offense is judged in a court room.

To any victim of crime, sin is no illusion. Neither is the solution to ignore it and hope it goes away. The law makes sin real, and the cross confirms it, for Christ did not die merely to teach us a principle that would dispel our illusions.

The Jewish view of pre-existence as defined in terms of predestination and foreknowledge implies that reality comes only when something appears in an earthly or fleshly existence. They would not go so far as to say that predestination is an illusion, for that is an eastern viewpoint. To them, predestination is the voice of prophecy, and reality is its fulfillment.

I understand that view and can appreciate it from the human perspective. However, one might also make the argument that the word of God creates existence, life, and reality and that the fulfillment of prophecy is its double witness establishing and proving that reality.

The idea of illusion is usually applied (mistakenly) to that which is evil and temporary. But an illusion is a false understanding of reality, whether that reality is good or evil. It is the opposite of the knowledge of God. The New Covenant guarantees that all mankind will ultimately have the knowledge of God (Hebrews 8:11), and then all illusions will end.

We come now to the heart of the matter—the image of God.

The Incarnation, Part 3

THE INCARNATION, PART 3

By Dr. Stephen Jones:  Aug 14, 2019

Blog Post Date: 8-18-2019

If one accepts that Jesus Christ was incarnated, one must then deal with the basic question of pre-existence. Incarnation, after all, presumes pre-existence; otherwise it is not incarnation at all. Incarnation means that Christ did not originate in the womb of Mary but in an earlier time—or, in the case of a Trinitarian, Christ had no origination point at all. Either way, we must treat the subject of the Son of God’s pre-existence, and also ask if the sons of God pre-existed.

For our purposes, we will define incarnation as a transfer of identity or person-hood from heaven to earth. Incarnation, then, means that one’s birth is only a new landscape or environment in which the person finds himself/herself. Pre-existence, then, is when a person existed in heaven or in a spiritual dimension prior to his natural birth in a fleshly body on earth.

The Jews and Greeks held significantly different concepts of pre-existence. The Greeks believed that we all pre-existed as conscious persons. However, the Jews believed that we pre-existed only in the mind of God, defining it in terms of predestination and foreknowledge.

Trinitarian and Subordinationist Viewpoints

The question of pre-existence, of course, took center stage in the fourth century disputes between the Trinitarians (“God the Son”) and the Subordinationists (Unbegotten Father, Begotten Son later). The Trinitarians said that Jesus Christ pre-existed in heaven as the second member of the Godhead and was later incarnated in Mary. The Trinitarian view of His pre-existence was similar to the Greek understanding.

Holding the Jewish view were those subordinationists who believed that Christ did not exist until He was conceived in Mary. Yet there were other subordinationists who believed that Christ was the first One created at the beginning of time. These affirmed the pre-existence of Christ’s Personhood in the Greek sense.

The View of Mainstream Judaism

Talmudic Judaism’s position is quite clearly defined in Pesikta Rabbati 152b,

“[F]rom the beginning of the creation of the world the King Messiah was born, for he came up in the thought of God before the world was created.”

It was understood that from the dawn of creation the Messiah was predestined to come into existence at a later time in history. In other words, the birth of the Messiah was a certainty in the mind of God, and nothing would be able to stop it.

Mainstream Judaism did not teach that anyone, including the Messiah, pre-existed as a person in the spiritual realm prior to being born on earth. Yet they used terminology which, to one of another religious culture, might suggest actual pre-existence. That is the danger of words whose definitions differ from one religious culture to another. The essential difference between Greek and Jewish pre-existence is the Greeks saw actual persons pre-existing, whereas the Jews saw the Messiah as a divinely-imagined person predestined to be born at some point in time.

Both of the above views seem to have merit in different ways, but both also need some modification to conform to New Testament revelation.

Jesus’ Dispute with the Jews

One of the main themes of the Gospel of John is how the Jews misunderstood Jesus’ teachings.

For the moment, insofar as incarnation and pre-existence is concerned, the most relevant question for us to consider is how Jesus understood His own claims to having “come down from heaven” (John 6:38), how He was “sent into the world” (John 3:17), and how He existed “before Abraham (John 8:58). Did the Jews disagree what Jesus was actually saying, or did they misunderstand Him?

Jesus said in John 6:48-51 that He was the true bread that came down out of heaven as manna in the wilderness. It was bad enough that He claimed to have come down from heaven, as this implied that He existed in the time of Moses. But even more disturbing was that He told them that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have life at all! The general populace reacted negatively in John 6:52, and He also heard grumbling from His own disciples (John 6:61).

In such cases where the Jews disagreed with Jesus, it is clear to us (as believers in Jesus) that the Jewish view was not the same as Jesus’ view—which (by personal definition) is the Hebrew view of Scripture. From our point of view, Jesus held the Hebrew view, because He had the proper understanding of the law and the prophets.

What is Existence?

As we have shown, the Jewish view denied that anything (other than God Himself) existed prior to its appearance on earth as a part of the created order. The question is this: Does something or someone exist before it appears in physical form on earth? What exactly qualifies someone to the privilege of existing? Is it a physical body, or is it something else?

We know that spirits exist, so (in my view) physical bodies do not determine existence. Likewise, God is spirit (John 4:24), and we are not atheists who deny His existence. So the real underlying question is whether or not man or Christ could have existed in spirit form prior to conception in his/her mother.

Paul affirmed the doctrines of foreknowledge and predestination many times, including Romans 8:29, 30, where we read,

²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; ³⁰ and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Foreknowledge and predestination are not the same, even though they are related. The moment God predestined something, He then foreknew (knew ahead of the event) that it would manifest in the earth in the way that He had predestined it. Men only object to predestination because they prefer to maintain control of their own destiny through “free will.” But one cannot believe in free will and predestination at the same time, because they are opposites. There is no free will; there is only authority that God has given. Free will is a belief that man is in control and therefore determines his own destiny; authority is constrained and limited by a higher will.

The Father of Spirits

At any rate, if a physical body is not the determining factor of existence, the question is whether we (and Christ) existed in spirit form prior to our appearance on earth. We are told in Hebrews 12:9,

⁹ Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

This unusual title for God is interesting, because it compares earthly fathers to our heavenly Father. Was this verse referring to God only as the father of angels and/or evil spirits? Certainly, we are included in this verse, since we are to be subject to this “Father of spirits.” In fact, we are subject to Him because we believe in the Fifth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” (Deuteronomy 5:16). A father has the right to discipline and correct his children, and God is our ultimate Father, who has caused us to exist.

If we are “subject to the Father of spirits,” then this implies that we are all spirits. Not only do we each have a spirit within us, but each of us is (or was at one time) a spirit. More than that, God is the Father of spirits. He has begotten spirits. In fact, John 1:3 says,

³ All things came into being by [dia, “through”] Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

It can be properly stated, I believe, that all things were created by Him, but not all things were begotten by Him. His role as Creator applies to creation as a whole, but fatherhood implies a special act that brings forth sons. Since He is “the Father of spirits,” then it is plain that He has begotten spirits. Furthermore, spirits is plural, so it cannot be limited to Jesus Christ.

The question is WHEN did He beget spirits? When did He beget the spirit of Christ? When did He beget your spirit, or my spirit? Was it when we were conceived by our earthly fathers, who brought forth mortal souls in the image of the first Adam? Is it not rather when God Himself begot us as spirits?

The Only-Begotten Son

Scripture says that Jesus is the “only-begotten son” (John 3:16). Yet John 1:12 says that we have been given the right to become the children of God. Further, when the only-begotten Son finished His work, He brought “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). How can there be an “only-begotten Son” and yet have “many sons”?

The Greek term monogenes, “only-begotten,” must be defined through Hebrew lens, rather than Greek lens. Abraham had begotten Ishmael 14 years before Isaac, which, by the modern way of thinking, Abraham had two sons. Yet God later told Abraham in Genesis 22:2 to “take now your son, your only son [yachiyd], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah.”

The term yachiyd means “that which is dear, that which cannot be replaced.” The root word is yachad, “united, joined together.” The KJV translates it as “darling” in Psalm 22:20 and 35:17. It refers to a son who is the designated heir of the father’s estate, the birthright holder.

The point is that neither yachiyd nor monogenes imply that a father has only one son. It was the designated son, the one called to inherit the birthright. The other sons could share in that birthright but only if they were united with the monogenes. If they rejected him or separated themselves from him, they lost the privilege of being co-heirs with their elder brother.

Did the Father of spirits beget spirits (as His children) at the beginning of creation? If so, was Christ the first-born among them, as some subordinationists claim, or was He co-eternal with the Father, as the Trinitarians claim?

In Jewish terms, how did the predestination of sons actually work out in practice? Did God use His imagination to image spiritual sons who would later be born physically on earth? If so, did they exist? Is it possible for God to imagine anything without it coming immediately into existence? Does God define existence using criteria that men do not use?