Posted on 12/09/2017 5:34:23 AM PST by metmom
“. . . Being found in appearance as a man” (Philippians 2:8).
Many people view Christ only as a man, but He is God.
After winning a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Scottish runner Eric Liddell served as a missionary in China; he died in a prison camp during World War II. The camp’s prisoners loved Eric, for he served them so unselfishly. It was only at his funeral that they first learned he was an Olympic hero. They had had no idea of his full identity.
Most people didn’t realize Christ’s full identity either, for He was “found in appearance as a man” (Phil. 2:8). At first glance that phrase seems like a repetition of the end of verse 7, “being made in the likeness of men.” We could paraphrase verse 8 to read, “He was discovered to appear as a man.” The difference between that and verse 7 is a shift in focus. In verse 8 we view the humiliation of Christ from the viewpoint of those who saw Him. Christ was the God-man, but as people looked at Him, they saw the “appearance” (Greek, schema, “outward form”) of a man. Paul was implying that though Christ appeared to be a man, there was much more to Him that could not naturally be seen.
For Christ to become man was humbling enough. For Him not to have been recognized must have been humiliating. He performed miracles and taught authoritatively, yet the typical responses were: “You are a Samaritan and have a demon” (John 8:48) and, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” (John 6:42). Because their minds were darkened by sin, people recognized His humanity but could not see His deity. They could not recognize who He really was. They not only treated the King of kings as a man but as the worst of men—a criminal.
Unlike people who don’t recognize Christ’s true identity, let’s honor Him through a life of worship and obedience.
Suggestions for Prayer
Worship Christ for who He really is—the King of kings and Lord of lords. Praise Him for this truth in your prayer time.
For Further Study
Christ was not only fully man but also fully God. Read the following verses in which Christ Himself bears testimony that He is God: Luke 22:69-70; John 10:30, 37-38; 12:45; 14:7-10. What else should one find in these verses?
Studying God’s Word ping
I wonder at his baptism who was speaking to him? Was he talking to himself? It sure seems like he has a father in heaven. I think Jesus is the Son of God.
Immanuel means "God with us".
John 14:8-13 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
That is a fair assumption, the Bible tells us that God
is spirit so when Jesus was born maybe God’s spirit
seperated and that is why he is both man and God.
I am on my stupid phone internet now so can not give you
the Scripture but when Jesus left here he went and sit
down at the right hand of God and that is where he will
reign until he puts all enemies under him.
But there is still one thing he must do, it is my understanding that His spirit must join God’s spirit so that God can be one.
And I hate to open another can of worms, well not really, but I agree with both the Protestants and Catholics that Jesus was
both man and God, and that makes Mary The mother of the man
part of God so it is kind of dumb for one to bash the other.
I disagree with much of both religions but seems they agree on
much but too bull headed to admit it.
Good thinking, because that is what he said. And for that he was accused of claiming to be God:
John 10, the whole chapter is important to read but to save space :
John 10:30-36
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
That was the scholars 'understanding'. Here is his immediate attempt at correction, which as usual, fell on deaf ears:
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
It's an appeal to logic. If Elohim called those to whom He sent his word, "gods" (elohim), then how in the blazes were these people deriving blasphemy from his saying that he was the son of Elohim?
Like father like son: sons of God, or sons of the devil. Believe the works. False accusers are of their father the devil. They had already decided that he was claiming to be God, so that's how they interpreted his sayings. Ergo, a blasphemer. Well at least their sentence (of stoning) was consistent with the supposed crime. Nowadays it's morphed into a statement of faith. It's pretty bad out there when the scribes and Pharisees could come back to judge this generation. That's like CNN or Hollyweird being a more honest and righteous pool of jurors.
Note how the Jesus is God doctrine is dropped (sprinkled, sowed) all over the place in just about any article about the faith. Kind of like 'climate change'. If it were a basic truth why the constant need to repeat and repeat and deposit that little bit of 'settled science' wherever the media can. People around here see it all the time and recognize it for what it is, agitprop. How many times is it necessary to lay the same cornerstone? It's a red flag that any 'reality' needs to be constantly hammered in, when truth is its own defense and simply *is*.
If it's a sunny day everyone sees that the sun is out. Just look up at the sky or out the window. Sun. There it is. There's no need to state that fact in every conversation with whatever proofs, as if we wouldn't know otherwise. Unless it's a false weather or climate report designed to keep people from looking out or up. "Don't go near the windows! It's a bad storm, glass might hit you!" Keeps the slaves grinding away in the factory with the blacked out windows, grateful for the protection of their caring overlords.
Just some ideas and reasoning for you to consider when reading the NT for yourself. You'll see and be appalled at what has been corrupted and then marketed as 'light'. President Trump's election openly demonstrated that nothing established by man is ever too entrenched fail. In fact, it is destined to fail spectacularly by its own doings. Haman constructing his own gallows, for example. The falling of the world political Establishment is a strong foreshock warning to the religious Establishments.
Gotta love the response to the scandalized, pearl-clutching 'journalists' of Jesus' day:
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Heh.
I don't agree with that for a long list of reasons, but in simple terms the Bible says that the Messiah is the son of David. Tribe of Judah. The heir to the throne of David. Son to son to son lineage through the father is through the Y chromosome. Otherwise it looks more like the free and loose definition of biological reality coming from the 'trans' people. I think all the trans-fakery serves to shine a light on the parallel religious dogma.
It's been almost 40 years since man succeeded in bringing forth the first child conceived outside of the normal biological process. Louise Brown was conceived by way of doctors and lab technicians, but that doesn't mean they are her fathers. Well, there *are* creepy stories about fertility clinic doctors doing just that, but I digress.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph the son of David was his father. There's no inconsistency there at all. The only human ever conceived that way. A human not begotten by the human act [that makes family trees] can then willingly choose to be a cursed human hanging from the tree. The seeds from *that* first fruit then can be free from curse as well. Born of the spirit.
Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah, "if you will receive it". Yet John said he wasn't Elijah. Both statements true. Elijah from above (spiritually, his soul) not from below. John from below (physically).
From Jesus until 1978, mankind didn't have an obvious example as to how a human child could be conceived outside the usual route. How to reconcile that a virgin would conceive, and also that the child would be the son of David of the tribe of Judah. The typical arguments claim that only one of those statements can be true. Followed by the ensuing mess of dogma based upon a wrong premise.
For 40 years, mankind has been shown an explanation in human terms, but who reconsiders the settled doctrine? Jesus from above was crucified, and John from below was beheaded. Maybe better luck this time with a Jesus from below? Elijah reappeared in the Tranfiguration, and he still had his head.
Who would catch on first if anyone, Jews or Christians? If I were the betting type, I'd go with the people whose foundation is solid, because they know that God is one (a spirit) and that the Messiah is a human man of direct male line descent from David.
The Biblical narratives are often flipped over stories. It's a distict pattern.
Maybe that's why the human eye sees things upside down and then the brain has to flip them over. :)
Not sure just what you are saying
all I am saying is that if Jesus
Is God then Mary is the mother of
God.
On that the Catholics and Protestants both agree.
I thought the protestants denied that Mary was the mother
of God even though they agree that Jesus is God.
They don’t go for all the stuff like the immaculate conception (of Mary), Mary without original sin, Mary queen of heaven, Mary as perpetual virgin Mary, praying to Mary, and so on.
Agree on Mary as mother of God? No, we don’t agree on that.
Okay I don’t understand that then. How can Jesus be God but Mary not the mother of God who is Jesus (according to the belief)?
I mean just in a logical sense, not meaning the Catholic doctrines or “Mother of God” titles or what have you.
Maybe it’s just an inadvertant use/crossover of doctrinal terminologies or definitions on my part.
Maybe so. It simply means to me that God has no mother, in that Mary did not have eternal existence with God, was not created sinless. While I certainly agree that she is to be respected and admired, but nothing beyond that.
I also think it is not a super important thing, and has little to do with our salvation experience. 😇☝️
Thanks. I had mentioned some of the Catholic beliefs in post 11, so if some or all are included under a "Mother of God" doctrine, I can see how I inadvertantly used a phrase that is way more involved than the basic meaning I had intended.
Not sure just what you are saying
all I am saying is that if Jesus
Is God then Mary is the mother of
God.
.
The Holy Spirit in Scripture, refers to Mary as the *mother of Jesus, NEVER the *mother of God*.
Mary is NOT the mother of God as GOD has no mother. He is eternal and preexists everything.
Jesus is Immanuel - God with us.
Mary is the mother of Jesus, the Incarnation of God, but not of His divinity, which is what the phrase *mother of God* states.
The spirit of God is older than Mary but the man part ain’t.
Don’t they say that he is both man and God?
God is spirit so Mary could not be the spirit of God’s mother
but if the man Jesus is God then why wouldnt Mary be his mother?
God is the father, Mary who gave birth to this man is his
Mother what ever he is called.
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