The Restitution Herald
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• Jesus is Not God, Part 1 by Anthony Buzzard
• What is the Kingdom of God, Part 1 by Sean Finnegan
• Songs of Rejoicing by Mrs. F. L. Austin

Jesus is Not God, Part 1
by Anthony Buzzard

Part 2

It is customary for students of the Bible to refer to Jesus as God. There are many churchgoers who make belief in what they call the Deity of Jesus a hallmark of true faith. This is both an amazing and puzzling feature of traditional Christianity. Recognized Biblical scholars do not think that Jesus is called God by the New Testament. In no text did Jesus ever say he was God.

“Apparently Paul did not call Jesus God” (Sydney Cave, D.D., Doctrine of the Person of Christ, p. 48).

“Paul habitually differentiates Christ from God” (C.J. Cadoux, A Pilgrim’s Further Progress, pp. 40-42).

“Paul never equates Jesus with God” (W.R. Matthews, The Problem of Christ in the 20th Century, p. 22).

“Paul never gives to Christ the name or description of ‘God’” (Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 1, p. 194).

“When the New Testament writers speak of Jesus Christ, they do not speak of him, nor do they think of him as God” (J.M. Creed, The Divinity of Jesus Christ, pp. 122-3).

“Karl Rahner [leading Roman Catholic theologian] points out with so much emphasis that the Son in the New Testament is never described as ho theos (God)”1 (A.T. Hanson, Grace and Truth, p. 66).

“The clear evidence of John is that Jesus refuses the claim to be God…Jesus vigorously denied the blasphemy of being God or His substitute” (J.A.T. Robinson, Twelve More New Testament Studies, pp. 175, 176).

“Nowhere does the New Testament identify Jesus with God” (William Barclay, A Spiritual Autobiography, p. 50).

“We are not to suppose that the Apostles identified Christ with Jehovah. There were passages which made this impossible, for example Ps. 110:1 and Malachi 3:1. (Charles Bigg, D.D., International Critical Commentary on I Peter, T & T Clark, 1910, p. 99).

In sharp contrast to these unambiguous opinions, many others say that it is a grave mistake even to question whether Jesus is God. It is widely taught that he is, and that the suggestion that he is not strikes at the heart of true faith. Yet the stubborn facts remain: Paul and the other New Testament writers do not call Jesus God. They call only one person God — that is, the Father of Jesus. Jesus they call “Lord,” “Messiah” and “Son of God,” but never God (ho theos, used without qualification).2 Indeed, “Jesus never calls himself God, but ever claims to be the Son of God” (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, extra vol., p. 312).

The Biblical Facts

“Jesus never calls himself God.” So states the universally recognized authority, the Hastings Dictionary of the Bible. The inquiring Christian may take a concordance or an interlinear Greek/English translation of the Bible. Start with Matthew and trace the word God (ho theos) through the New Testament. Some 1325 times “God” describes the Father of Jesus Christ.

What emerges from this study is that God “was in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19 ). The Father was working through his human Son to reconcile the world to Himself. Jesus therefore merits the title “God with us” (Matt. 1:23 ). (Proverbs 30:1 mentions a man whose name is “God is with me,” but that does not mean that he was God!). The character and authority of the One God, the Father, was displayed in Jesus so that the latter can say, “he who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Yet “no one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18 ).  Moses was no exception, for even he was not permitted to see God’s face: “You cannot see my face…My face shall not be seen” (Exod. 33:20, 23).3

God was not seen, yet Jesus was seen! This alone should convince the open-minded that Jesus was not God. Moreover, Jesus was tempted (Heb. 4:15 ). God cannot be tempted (James 1:13 ). Jesus, the Son of God, died. The one who alone has immortality inherent in himself obviously cannot die (1 Tim. 6:16 ). To speak then of “the immortal dying,” as one of Charles Wesley’s hymns does, simply destroys the precious meaning of words and obstructs intelligent communication, degenerating into nonsense.

Jesus increased in wisdom and knowledge (Luke 2:40 ), though even he did not know the day or hour of the Second Coming (Matt. 24:36). But God knows all things.

In view of these facts, something is seriously amiss with a system of theology which speaks of Jesus as “coequal and coeternal God” and therefore as entitled to be called God as his Father.

The Unique Godhead of the Father

To emphasize the unique status of the Father as God, the New Testament (following the Old) uses several titles restricting the term “God” to one person only. These special titles are in addition to the numerous occurrences of the simple word “God” to describe the Father. The Father is “THE ONE WHO ALONE IS GOD” (John 5:44), “THE ONLY ONE WHO IS TRULY GOD” (John 17:3), “THE ONE GOD, THE FATHER” (1 Cor. 8:6), “THE ONLY WISE GOD” (Rom. 16:27), “THE ONLY GOD” (Jude 25), “THE ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL” (Eph. 4:6), THE GOD AND FATHER OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST,” “THE TRUE GOD” (1 John 5:20). Note in this last verse that “the true God” refers to “him who is true,” who is distinct from His Son. The word “this” in 1 John 5:20 does not refer to Jesus but to the Father. (Cp. 1 John 2:22 and 2 John 7, where “this” does not refer to the word immediately preceding.)

All these descriptions of the ONE GOD appear in contexts where the Father is meant, distinct and separate from His Son. Jesus is never given these titles, though according to traditional theology and the “binitarianism” of Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God Jesus ought to be designated as the Yahweh of the OT, thus having the same name as his Father. Mormons insist that Yahweh is Jesus and that the Father is not Yahweh. It would not have entered the heads of the New Testament Christians that two or three Persons could be God in an absolute sense. Such an idea would have meant the abandonment of their most precious heritage that “God is one and there is no other” (Isa. 46:9). How could anyone imagine a duality in the “God Family” (Armstrongism) or a Trinity of Persons in the One God, once he has read Isaiah 43:10, 11; 44:6, 24; 45:5, 6, 21: 46:9? Professional scholars recognize how utterly foreign a plural Godhead would have been to the New Testament Christians: “No Apostle would have dreamed of thinking that there are three divine persons” (Emil Brunner, Christian Doctrine of God, Dogmatics, Vol. 1, p. 226). God was designated in the Hebrew Bible by thousands and thousands of singular personal pronouns, and he was “one,” (Deut 6:4), the Hebrew word echad meaning, as in English, “one single…”

The Origin of a Plural Godhead

If the Bible does not call Jesus God, what is the origin of the widely cherished belief that he is? The answer lies in the power of theological indoctrination, the persuasive influence of tradition. Very few sermons are ever preached on the Trinitarian theory that God means God in three co-equal Persons. Yet churchgoers are told to believe this or risk losing their salvation.

A very small number of texts, nearly all in John’s Gospel, have been misused to build a picture of an eternal being equal to the Father. Some of these verses (for example, 1 John 5:7; Eph. 3:9; the last phrase; and 1 Tim. 3:16 — “God” should read “he who,” NASB, etc.) were added to the original manuscripts to support tradition. Modern versions of the Bible should be consulted. These additions do not belong to the true text of Scripture. John’s Gospel is thought to contain material in support of a second member of an eternal Godhead, though John, more than the other Gospels, describes Jesus as a human being and insists that he is distinct from the Father who is “the only true God, ” “the one who alone is truly God” (17:3) and “the one who alone is God” (5:44). What John does say is that Jesus perfectly represents God, functions for God, without of course being God. As a unique human being Jesus “declares” or explains the Father (1:18). As with all sons, we see the Father in Jesus, who obeys the One God. This leaves the Father as the “one who alone is truly God” (John 17:3). As a leading NT specialist from Cambridge wrote: “John [and Jesus whom he reports]  “is as undeviating a witness as any in the NT to the fundamental tenet of Judaism, of unitary monotheism” (Twelve NT Studies, p. 175). Neither John nor Jesus could possibly have subscribed to a creed other than that of Judaism. Jesus confirmed the unitarian creed of his Jewish heritage always (Mark 12:28ff.).

The shift from the Biblical idea that Jesus represents God to the notion that he is God occurred gradually after New Testament times when the original faith became distorted under the influence of Gentile paganism. The strict monotheism of Jesus and the Apostles — belief that the Father alone is “the only true God” — was slowly eroded and finally replaced at the Council of Nicea (325 AD) by a new, non-biblical conception of the Godhead consisting of three Persons, not one. In order to maintain an appearance of monotheism it was held that the three Persons comprised the one God. Most churchgoers have never examined the Scriptures carefully to see if what they have been taught is true. Since the creed of Nicea plainly represents a departure from the precious creed of Israel recited by Jesus (Mark 12:28f.; John 17:3, etc.), churchgoers should be alarmed that the roots of the faith of Jesus have undermined.

To be continued in the next Restitution Herald.

1  Apparent exceptions are due to questionable translation or to the fact that Jesus is very occasionally called “god” in a secondary sense following Psalm 45:6’s use of “god” (see NAB) to describe the human king who represents God. The judges of Israel in Psalm 82:6 were also called “gods,” as was Moses (Exod. 7:1). No Israelite, true to the biblical revelation, would have imagined that the Messiah was an uncreated being!

2  Some translations apply the word God to Jesus, but for grammatical and syntactical reasons this application is entirely uncertain (see Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13 and the commentaries). Thomas addressed Jesus as God (John 20:28), but immediately goes on to speak of Jesus having his own God. In the OT the angel of the Lord (Gen. 18:3) and other representatives of God are occasionally addressed as Jehovah, because they represent the One God. Over 1300 times in the NT the Father of Jesus is called God, or the only God, or the one who alone is God (John 17:3). God is said to be “one Lord” in the creed which is central to the Old and New Testament and which was Jesus’ own creed (Mark 12:28ff. quoting Deut. 6:4).

Part 2

What is the Kingdom of God, Part 1
by Sean Finnegan

Part 2

He wiped the beads of sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve.  His voice was hoarse from the tension in his vocal chords, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!”  Astonished, the onlookers stared at him captivated by his apocalyptic delivery.  No one dared leave or make a noise because of the sense of urgency with which he spoke.  Never had a rabbi spoken like this, with authority as if he were the very king of the Kingdom he was speaking about.  No doubt, Jesus was the great herald of the imminent approaching Kingdom of God .  This proclamation is what comprises the central theme of the synoptic Gospels.  However there is much disagreement over the meaning of the term “ Kingdom of God .”  The definition of this term depends on who is consulted.  Even so, it is generally agreed that the Kingdom of God is the main message of Jesus and by extension should be the main message of Christians today. 

In order to illustrate the importance of the term “ Kingdom of God ,” three men will be consulted: John the Baptist, Jesus the Messiah, and Paul the Apostle.  John enters the biblical narratives shrouded with mystery.  He was a desert dweller who wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey.  As a result of his eccentric style, it would have been easy for him to attract attention.  However, his message was even more piercing than his appearance, it demanded a response.  He went throughout Judea declaring that all should repent:  not just a half-hearted lip service, but serious, painful, confession and mourning for sin.  Nevertheless, even repentance was not good enough.  One must be publicly water baptized as an outward sign of the commitment followed by a life of moral living.  There was no turning back after repentance.  What could cause such a response from the masses?  The message was simple:  “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  It is certain that whatever the people understood of this term, it was sufficient to cause many people from all over Judea to be baptized by John (Mark 1:5).

The purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry was to prepare the way for the Messiah.  Therefore it is not surprising that “‘The Kingdom of God’ is the dominant theme of the proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth in the synoptic Gospels, connected both with suggestions of the renewal of Israel and with the identification of Jesus himself as the anointed one, in varying degrees.”1  In fact, the first words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Mark are “the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).  This simple statement sets the tone for the rest of the gospel account as the overall theme of his preaching ministry.  In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, there are eight references to the Kingdom.  He taught his disciples to pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  He said to seek first God’s Kingdom rather than worrying about daily necessities.  According to Luke 4.43, the heralding of the Kingdom of God is the purpose for which Jesus was sent.  When Jesus sent out the twelve to preach, he told them “As you go, preach, saying, ‘the Kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7).  Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection for forty days, he spoke to them “the things concerning the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).  Yet, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God did not end there.

One day a Pharisee named Saul was walking along the road to Damascus when suddenly Jesus appeared to him, blinding him.  This event turned Saul the persecutor whose very breath subsisted of threatening to the church (Acts 9:1) into Paul the preacher who did all things for the sake of the gospel.  Paul was commissioned by Jesus to bring his message to the Gentiles.  During Paul’s three missionary journeys, he preached the good news in dozens of cities day and night.  When he was at Ephesus he did what had become his custom, “he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8).  Some years later, at his farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church, Paul said, “I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the Kingdom, will no longer see my face” (Acts 20:25).  Additionally, when Paul finally made it to Rome he spent an entire day during which “he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the
Kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening” (Acts 28:23).  Similarly, the last two years of his ministry are consistent with what has been shown so far—“he was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered” (Acts 28:30, 31).  These three remarkable men had one great commonality—John, Jesus, and Paul each preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  They were obsessed with the message.  Like a fever, the gospel gripped them and they could not refrain from proclaiming the news everywhere.  Scripture testifies that the Kingdom of God was of utmost importance to John, Jesus, and Paul.  Yet, the million-dollar question remains for believers today, “What is the Kingdom?”

The Kingdom finds its fullest definition in the Hebrew Scriptures.  It runs along the lines of the Messianic expectations of the Jewish nation during the time of Jesus’ ministry.  The Old Testament predicts a glorious future of the people of God.  The following is a brief sketch of the hope painted across the canvas of the Jewish Bible.

In the last days, the mountain on which Jerusalem sits will be raised above the other hills (Isaiah 2:2).  The population of the city will swell (Isaiah 49:19, 20) as ransomed men arrive at Zion and are shouting for joy (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11; 60:4).  The city will be greatly extended in size (Isaiah 54:3; Revelation 21:16, 17), built up by foreigners (Isaiah 60:10), and decorated with many different precious stones (Isaiah 54:11, 12; Revelation 21:18-21).  The glory of Yahweh will be manifested in the city (Isaiah 60:1-3).  All nations will stream to it (Isaiah 49:22) in order to be instructed by the word of Yahweh (Isaiah 2:3; 11:10).  No longer will the inhabitants fear (Ezekiel 34:28) or be oppressed (Isaiah 54:14-17) but will be joyful continually (Isaiah 65:19).  Kings and princesses will bow down to Jerusalem and lick the dust of her feet (Isaiah 49:23; 60:11, 14) in the restored city (Isaiah 52:8).   The city will become very wealthy from the nations who come to it (Isaiah 60:5-7, 9, 11, 17; 61:6, 7).  The gates of the city will never close day or night (Isaiah 60:11).

Jerusalem will not be the only city affected by the Kingdom.  Judgment will be passed on the nations (Isaiah 2:4) in order to bring justice (Isaiah 42:1).  The proud will be abased so that Yahweh will alone be exalted (Isaiah 2:12, 17).  All nations will serve Jerusalem or else perish (Isaiah 60:12).

The physical earth will be restored (Acts 3:21) to its pre-fallen glory like an old junked car may be worked on for years and end up as the frontrunner in a parade.  A new heavens and earth will be created (Isaiah 65:17).  The desert will embrace rivers so that the chosen people may drink (Isaiah 43:19, 20).  The land will be restored because of the servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 49:8).  There will no longer be famine (Ezekiel 34:29).  The mountains will be made into a road (Isaiah 49:11).  No longer will the sun or moon be necessary for light because Yahweh will be an everlasting light (Isaiah 60:19; Revelation 21:23).  The people of God will possess the land forever (Isaiah 60:21).

The weapons of war will be turned into the tools of agriculture (Isaiah 2:4) and violence will be abolished (Isaiah 60:18).  There will be peace and righteousness in Jerusalem forever (Isaiah 54:10; 60:17).  The animals will no longer be carnivorous or violent (Isaiah 11:6-8; 65:25).  Even the beasts of the field, jackals and ostriches, will glorify Yahweh (Isaiah 43:20).  People will be able to sleep in the woods (Ezekiel 34:25).  In fact, nothing will hurt or destroy anymore (Isaiah 11:9).  Sorrow will flee away (Isaiah 51:11; 60:20; 61:2, 3; 65:19) and death will be swallowed up for all time (Isaiah 25:7, 8).  God will wipe the tears away from all faces (Isaiah 25:8).  People will no longer hunger, thirst, nor be harmed by the scorching sun (Isaiah 49:10).

The knowledge of Yahweh will be as the waters that cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).  His people will know His name (Isaiah 52:6), be taught by Him (Isaiah 54:13), and live righteous lives (Isaiah 60:21).  They will be called priests of Yahweh (Isaiah 61:6).

The agent of this new creation, expanded knowledge, and super government will be the Messiah.  He will be a son born of the lineage of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1).  He will carry the government on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).  Yahweh will empower him to accomplish this (Isaiah 9:7; 50:7, 9) by infusing him with His spirit (Isaiah 11:2).  This man will cause peace to be over his Kingdom (Isaiah 9:7), be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6), and have the very words of Yahweh in his mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 51:16).  He will sit on the throne of David and uphold justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore (Isaiah 9:7).  He will open the eyes of the blind and free those imprisoned in dungeons (Isaiah 42:7; 49:9, 25; 61:1).  He will always be fair to the disadvantaged and destroy the wicked (Isaiah 11:4; 49:26; 50:9, 10).  One could even say that he wears righteousness and faithfulness as belts around his waist (Isaiah 11:5). 

God will prosper him and exalt him greatly (Isaiah 52:13; Philippians 2:9, 10).  Kings will pay homage to him (Psalm 2:10-12) having nothing to say out of astonishment (Isaiah 52:15).  Jesus will rule for a thousand years with the faithful saints (Revelation 20:4) and then he will hand the Kingdom over to his Father (1 Corinthians 15:25-28).  This brief description is typical of the understanding that the Jews of Jesus’ time would associate with the proclamation, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the good news!” (Mark 1:14, 15).

1  Jacob Neusner and William Scott Green, ed. Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period, Kingdom of God, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1996), 371

Part 2

Songs of Rejoicing
by Mrs. F. L. Austin

Christmas is a time of rejoicing because of the birth of a Savior to redeem the world from sin.   The familiar story of Christmas tells us of the angel’s annunciation to Mary; the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem; the birth of Jesus; the shepherds watching their flocks on that holy night; the glory light that shone about them; the angel’s annunciation to them of “tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you is born...a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” —then a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.”  The shepherd's no longer feared.  They went to see that which the Lord had made known to them.  They glorified and praised God.  A new star appeared in the heavens.  The astronomers of the day understood its significance, and they came later to pay homage to the newborn King.  They rejoiced as they presented their gifts of gold (kingship), frankincense (deity), myrrh (death).

There are other characters who are not so often mentioned as a part of the Christmas message, but each one of them believed, rejoiced, and enlarged upon the tidings of salvation as they sang their several songs of rejoicing.

The angel told Mary that her cousin Elisabeth was also to have a child, a holy child, so Mary went to see Elisabeth.  The journey took Mary from her home in Nazareth southward to Hebron , some thirteen miles.  Here Mary greeted Elisabeth.  Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she cried aloud with joy.  She blessed Mary and her baby to come.  She acknowledged Mary as the mother of her Lord.  She blessed Mary believing what the angel had told her.  She knew that there would be a performance of those things which had been revealed.  Elisabeth believed that Mary’s Child would  be the Messiah, the long-expected King of Israel.  She rejoiced in her belief that a Savior would be born.

Mary answered Elisabeth with her soul’s outpouring of joy in the “Magnificat” (Luke 1:46 -55).  She said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”  She went further into the salvation message than did Elisabeth, for she said, “He hath holpen his servant Israel , in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.”

Soon after Mary’s return to her home, John was born to Elisabeth and Zacharias.  The neighbors and cousins rejoiced, for they, too, believed.  Zacharias, who had been dumb because of his unbelief, expressed his joy.  The Holy Spirit filled him, and he prophesied, adding to what Elisabeth and Mary had told of salvation.  He said, “The Lord God of Israel ...hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spoke by the mouth of his prophets which have been since the world began.” He believed and rejoiced.

After the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary remained in Judea until the time for Mary’s purification.  They came to Jerusalem, and went into the temple to present Jesus to the Lord.  A “just and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel,” was in Jerusalem.  This was Simeon.  It had been revealed to him “that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  He was led “by the Spirit into the temple.”   When Jesus was  brought in, Simeon took the child in his arms and blessed God and said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

Even the prophets of old did not understand the salvation of a people other than Israel.  The Apostle Paul spoke of the “mysteries” of the gospel (Eph. 6:19).

There were certain secrets which God had kept until time to reveal them.  In Matthew 13:17, Jesus told his disciples that many prophets and righteous men had

desired to see the things that they were seeing, and to hear the things that they were hearing, and had not heard them.  The salvation of the Gentiles was one of the secrets which God had kept.  It was revealed to Peter in his vision of the sheet let down from heaven (Acts 10).  The Israelites “were astonished because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  The teaching of Jesus was given to Israel, but he told his disciples, “Other sheep have I”—another fold which they knew not.  “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Simeon said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation” and further, he knew when he blessed Joseph and Mary, and prophesied concerning Jesus, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thought of many hearts may be revealed.”  Simeon believed and rejoiced in the peace of having seen the Lord. 

Then came Anna, the prophetess who “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayer.”  She, too, believed, and spoke of Jesus as the One through whom redemption would come to Israel.  Thus she rejoiced in answered prayer.

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