PART ONE
Is The Son also The Father? Is Yeshua ha’Mashiah or Jesus the messiah also YHWH or Yahweh the Father of all creation AKA Elohim/ Almighty God/ The Alpha and the Omega/ The Great I AM/ The Ancient God of Noah, Abraham and Mosheh (Moses)? I am hard pressed to think of another cause of so much passionate debate as this. Not only amongst Jews or Muslims vs. Christians but Christians vs. Christians. This is a heated topic and I want to discuss it with scriptural support but, also free of all the emotion and lack of kindness I see online.
Honestly, it is really disturbing how much tension can be created over this. First off, is it even that big a deal? In other words, is knowing this essential to salvation?
Is knowing the answer essential to salvation?
Let’s consider that, what is essential to salvation (what is salvation while we are asking)? From the very core you must start with a willing heart and mind. Proverbs 16:18 says it best, “Before destruction: pride, And before a fall a haughty spirit!” We must make ourselves able to receive God’s spirit and gift of guidance. Then we must openly seek Him through prayer, meditation and even fasting. God may then bless your efforts by providing the understanding you seek and even then you must have faith to accept it.
God’s Word the bible, as mentioned in my previous blog posts, is essential to any and all knowledge. This is what will be primary in this blog, with any personal opinion being reserved for the conclusion. Salvation is defined by Merriam Webster dictionary as deliverance from the power and effects of sin. The sin referred to here is what resulted from the acts of disobedience by the first man and woman read about in Genesis chapter 3. They passed on the curse of their sins onto all of their offspring (that would be you and I). In Genesis chapter 4 you will read about the first mentioning of sacrifice to YHWH in the form of offerings presented by offspring of the first man and woman, Qayin and Hebel otherwise known as Cain and Abel in Hebrew. Similar offerings continued throughout history in the bible. These were necessary to respectfully demonstrate temporary atonement for the sins of our first parents. Atonement is reparation or compensation for a wrong or injury. In this case the wrong or injury was disobedience committed by Adam and Hawwah (Eve) against God.
If you read the bible you will learn that rituals, symbolism and worship are very important to our creator. Atonement for this sin was very important and thus necessary. You will even learn reading on Exodus (especially Chapters 25 and 26) you will see YHWH required precise ritual from Mosheh (Moses) with quality materials and ingredients to not only offer atonement to Him but also to simply approach his symbolic, spiritual or even physical presence at the Holy place of offerings (Alters). No one but Mosheh, Aaron and Levitical high priests could approach these places. So hopefully at this point you are understanding that a true final sacrifice to atone for the sin cursed to man by our Elohim as a result of our original parents sin would take something incredibly valuable to even come close to the power, authority and existence of the Almighty God YHWH. Surely you recognize the calves and lambs and similar sacrifices mentioned in the bible were symbolic of value to man alone?
So back to Salvation, what is essential to salvation? It is clearly stated in Romans 10:9 6-8 where it states, “ That if you confess with your mouth the Adon (Master or teacher in hebrew short for Adonai) Yeshua (Jesus) and believe in your heart that YHWH has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Read on in verse 13, “everyone who calls on the Name of YHWH shall be saved.” This is an eyewitness testimony of a direct quote from Yeshua. So I assume if you are concerned about whether Yeshua is God or not, it is also because you recognize him as the messiah one way or another. Understanding if He is also God or not does not appear to have any bearing on your ability to be saved.
I want to quickly mention that I use a direct Hebrew word for word translation into English called the Hallelujah Scriptures which if interested check them out at https://www.halleluyahscriptures.com/ . You may still follow with your KJV or NASB or NKJV or NIV or whatever. Please see my blog or video and podcast on the topic can you trust the bible where I briefly discuss bible translation accuracy if interested in more information regarding this topic.
So is He or isn’t He?
Before revealing what the scriptures have to say I think it should also be said that both sides of this argument are justified in their positions. I spent the better part of 20 years negotiating sizable injury settlements for insurance companies and I can tell you that negotiations will fail every time if both sides are unwilling to hear the other out. For instance, are these not great arguments to support the separation of The Son from The Father?
- Why refer to Him as the Son of God throughout the bible if He indeed is God?
- Who spoke from the Heavens when Yeshua was baptised by His cousin, proclaiming this was His Son whom He was well pleased if indeed it were He already being immersed?
- Who was Yeshua crying out loud to ask why He Had been forsaken when crucified if in fact He was God?
- And my favorite, Mattithyahu (Matthew) 24:36 when Yeshua was speaking with his disciples He stated, “But concerning that day and the hour no one knows, not even the messenger of the shamayim (angels in heaven), but my Father only. If Yeshua was God or is God, why did he refer to Himself as also simultaneously being in heaven at the time and why did He say He didn’t know something that He should know if in fact He is God?
Come on, those are really reasonable arguments and there are more, the word trinity appears nowhere in the bible and this is in fact is where we are going with this right? Support or denial of the so-called trinity doctrine. It is easy to understand why someone would deny the deity of Yeshua.
So where did the deity of the messiah originate? Some say it derived from the meeting in Nicaea where the counsel was presented with a defense of the trinity doctrine in the early 3rd century. It should be noted that this was extremely controversial and it is a historic record that the majority of so called Christians at the time found issue with it. There was much blood shed and conflict. Also if you know anything about Catholicism and the Roman Emperor Constantine you will understand that debates such as these and Christianity in general was causing a major upset in the Roman empire. To maintain control and stability they implemented a tremendous amount of pagan theology ,traditions and rituals into so called Christian worship to appease converts who greatly enjoyed their revelries. Some of these include Sunday worship which replaced observance of the holy sabbath day with worship originally offered to the Roman sun god, Christmas which was and still remains an incredibly pagan day which was a festival based on worship of a roman agricultural god, Saturn but really originated with ancient worship of Nimrod and Easter which is based on the Roman god of fertility Ishtar. Understanding this, many early Christians (and few today) claimed that the trinity doctrine must have come from pagan origin as the only other location for a trinitarian structure including a Mother God, a Father God and a Son God was only of pagan origin. Admittedly, this is a reasonable assumption considering all involved, the time, and their behavior. In addition Constantine was not the best source for Christian emulation. Despite this there is no proven association to the Trinity doctrine with pagan origin, however it should be noted further that the Catholic idolatrous practice of worshiping the mother of Yeshua, Mary, is in fact of only pagan origin.
Please read part two for the considerable arguments for support of the trinity doctrine and the conclusion of this topic.