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Calling All Contenders - Mike Muzzerall

The Word Was God - Part I

 June 2017
It seems strange that we need to address the lordship of Jesus Christ in this day and age and yet I feel compelled to write this article on the deity of Jesus Christ. The name “Jesus” is the most precious name ever given. “…there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The deity of Christ was so important to the apostle John that he began his gospel with this affirmation; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

“The Pre-Existence of Christ”

In the beginning was the Word…en arche ho logos. The Greek word “arche” is where we get the words archaic and archelogy from. Arche has a deeper meaning. It means that whenever time began, Jesus the Word, already existed. Before the first “let there be” of Genesis was uttered, Jesus already was. Before heaven and the angelic hosts were created Jesus already was.

“The Word Was With God…
The Word Was God”

John stressed the perfect unity of Christ as part of the Godhead as well as the certainty of Christ being deity. One of the main reasons John, in his later years, wrote his gospel was because the deity of Christ had been challenged. This was a challenge that could not be ignored.

The Hypostatic Union of Christ

In the incarnation of Christ, we see Christ taking on the human form of a man. He hungered, became thirsty, needed to rest, and was affected by the elements just as every other human being on the earth. Jesus had to be human to take our place on the cross and had to be God to qualify as the spotless Lamb of God. He was 100 percent God and 100 percent Man at the same time. He laid down the expression (manifestation) of deity during the incarnation but always maintained the possession of deity. Every miracle Jesus did was through the Holy Spirit and not through His own power as the Son of God.

“If They Get Jesus Wrong”

If they get Jesus wrong, it doesn’t matter what they get right! Error rides in on the back of truth. Satan always presents an element of truth in his attempt to deceive mankind. If their teaching on Jesus is wrong, even slightly, then it is another Jesus…another gospel. It is heresy. There’s a Mormon Jesus. There’s a Jehovah’s Witness Jesus. There’s a Christian Science Jesus. There’s an Islamic Jesus. There’s a New Age Jesus. There’s an Ecumenical Jesus. Each slightly different from the Jesus of the Bible and therefore they present another Jesus.

“Another Jesus”

Paul was concerned that the saints in Corinth might be deceived into following another Jesus. “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (II Cor. 11:4). There are two basic words for “another”: allos and heteros. Allos means another of the same kind where as heteros means another of a different kind. Heteros is where we get the word “heterosexual”; a person who is attracted to a different gender. Paul was saying that the false teachers presented a Jesus who looked like the real Son of God but would be slightly different. That slight difference was enough for Paul to tell the Corinthians to reject that false Jesus. Today, we cannot compromise on who Jesus Christ is. The Word was, is and will always be deity.


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