Raymond,
You are correct that Jesus did not claim equality with God.
[Philippians 2:5-11
5 Have this attitude in yourselves that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with
God a thing to be grasped,
7 but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made
in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.]
So Jesus existed in the form of God but did not claim equality with God. He humbled Himself instead of exalting Himself.
[Revelation 19:13
And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of
God.]
Two scriptures that show Jesus is called the word of God.
[John 1:1-5;
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being by Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that
has come into being.
4 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it.]
Jesus is the Word of God and this scripture says plainly He is also God.
[14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory
as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth was realized through Jesus
Christ.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom
of the Father, He has explained Him.]
The only begotten God speaks of Jesus who is God coming to men in the form of a man.
[John 10:30 Jesus said this.
"I and the Father are one."
He also said in John 14:9
"He who has seen Me has seen the Father" In verse 7 Jesus says, "If you had known Me, you would have known the Father also;"]
In these scriptures in Hebrews Jesus is further explained as the exact representation of God's nature, and speaking of Jesus " through whom also He made the world." Through Jesus, the Word of God, the entire world was made, but not just the world but all of creation.
Hebrews 1:1-4
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in
many ways,
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir to all things,
through whom also He made the world.
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and
upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins,
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent
name than they.
Jesus is clearly with God at the beginning of this creation, nothing was made without Jesus. Jesus is God but did not grasp at that but was humble, He came in the form of a man to us, the Son of God, to save that which had been lost. That's US that were lost.
Bob |
