[Biblemat] A) QUESTION AND ANSWER

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Tuesday morning
to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.  Here is a quest-
ion and answer from my files:

QUESTION AND ANSWER

QUESTION: -- Was Jesus Christ A Created Being?

ANSWER: -- There are many passages of Scripture that bear on
                         this subject.  Let us look at some of them.  "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All
things were made through Him; and without Him was not anythi-
ing made that hath been made" (Jno. 1:1-3).  Note that "all things
were made through Him."  If Jesus Christ was a created being,
then He created Himself!!  He was with the Father "in the beginn-
ing."  There could not have been any time before "the beginn-
ing" for Him to have been created.

       Several passages of Scripture speak of the "eternal God"
(Deut. 33:27; Rom. 16:26; etc.).  And God well defines what that
means in His conversation with Moses at the burning bush: "And Moses said 
unto God, Behold, when I come unto the child-
ren of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers
hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His
name?  What shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses,
I AM THAT I AM:  and He said, Thus shalt thou say into the child-
ren of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exo. 3:13,14).  The
phrase, "I AM" shows that  God is eternal.  It isn't simply that God was, or 
will be -- but GOD IS.

       But then look at Jesus, when He was confronted by the Jews who did not 
believe Him to be the Christ: "The Jews there-
fore said unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen 
Abraham?  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am" (Jno. 8:57,58).  Please notice that 
Jesus used the same expression as God did
with Moses: "I AM."  He further said, "Have ye not read that which was spoken 
unot you by God, saying, I AM the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  God is
not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. 22:31,32).  Jesus
uses the exact same language of Himself:  "I AM."  That express-
ion indicates His eternal nature, the same as the Father.

       John writes of Jesus as "the Lamb of God" and says, "These shall war 
against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall over-
come them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they
also shall overcome" (Rev. 17:14).  And the apostle Paul writes,
"That thou keep the commandment, without spot, without repro-
ach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in its 
own times He shall show, Who is the blessed and only Potent-
ate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:14,15).  The same 
attributes that the Scriptures assign to the Father are also
used to describe Jesus Christ.

       Jesus, during His ministry on earth, referred to His relation-
ship with the Father, "I and the Father are one" (Jno. 10:30).  The
adjective "eternal" is applied to the Father (Rom. 16:26; etc.), to
the Holy Spirit (Heb. 9;14) and to Jesus (1 Tim. 1:17).  "Eternal"
means without beginning and without end.  And Jesus is eternal
in the same way that the Father is.  He interrupted His presence
with the Father in Heaven in order to come to earth to become
our Savior.

       Notice this reading:  "Since then the children are sharers in
flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the 
same; that  through death He might bring to nought him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bond-
age" (Heb. 2:14,15).  And of His earthly sojourn, we read: "For in
Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9).  In
other words, He was the only member of the Godhead that took
human form.  But that made Him no less God than He, the Father
and the Spirit were before or after.  --- Clem Thurman in Gospel
Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 31, Aug. 1, 2008.   </HTML>
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