Land and Bible

Does Paul describe Jesus as the Creator in Colossians 1:15-19? No, rather Paul says that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead of the new creation. To listen to these notes in an expanded podcast, click here : https://anchor.fm/onegodreport-podcast/episodes/Is-Jesus-the-Creator-in-Colossians-115-19--No--but-Jesus-is-the-beginning-of-Gods-new-creation-eavruf 1. Interpreting Colossians 1 as saying that somehow Jesus was involved in the Genesis creation, and is therefore God, contradicts Paul’s other statements about the relation of Jesus to God. The “Genesis creation” interpretation also contradicts many other Scriptures. The Old Testament says nothing about a second god figure who created (cf. Deut. 32:6, Isa. 44:24). Jesus attributed the creation of humanity to “He who made them”, not “they” or “we who made them”.  In the letter to the Colossians, Paul distinguished Jesus  from God. E.g., Colossians 1:1-3. “God our Father” – all of God, not just one person of a...

Dear friend who believes in the “Deity of Christ”, I was once like you. I took it on authority, and thought that the Bible presented Jesus as a God-man. I knew Jesus was a human, but I thought there were a handful of biblical verses that also showed that Jesus is God, a Second Person of a Godhead that took on flesh. I now see that those handful of verses that I thought showed the deity of Jesus, don’t. To interpret those handful of Scriptures as evidence that Jesus is God does injustice to the Scriptures, and brings only confusion and contradiction. There are better ways to understand those handful of Scriptures. In a previous post I suggested Trinitarian translations and notes from the Book of Genesis. Below are selected translations and notes for Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. More translations from the prophets and the New Testament, Lord willing, are forthcoming. My translations and explanations are made tongue-in-cheek, although many of the comments...

Dear friend who believes in the “Deity of Christ”, I was once like you. I took it on authority, and thought that the Bible presented Jesus as a God-man. I knew Jesus was a human, but I thought there were a handful of biblical verses that also showed that Jesus is God, a Second Person of a Godhead that took on flesh. I now see that those handful of verses that I thought showed the deity of Jesus, don’t. To interpret those handful of Scriptures as evidence that Jesus is God does injustice to the Scriptures, and brings only confusion and contradiction. There are better ways to understand those handful of Scriptures. Over the last year a number of biblical texts have been presented to me to show that Jesus is God, and that God is a Trinity. I have translated some of those biblical texts, starting with a few texts from the Book of Genesis, in the way that my Trinitarian (or Deity of Christ) friends are reading them. In later articles I plan to post translations from other ...

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, being little among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days ."   וְאַתָּה בֵּית-לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה צָעִיר לִהְיוֹת בְּאַלְפֵי יְהוּדָה מִמְּךָ לִי יֵצֵא לִהְיוֹת מוֹשֵׁל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וּ מוֹצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם ׃ To hear a podcast of this blog, click here . A passage often remembered around Christmas time, Micah 5:2 is quoted in Matthew 2:5-6 to describe that Israel’s ruler would be born in Bethlehem. Some Christian expositors and laypersons see the “eternal pre-existence” of the Messiah and therefore Messiah’s deity in the words of Micah 5:2 (in Hebrew, Micah 5:1): “ whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” However, even just a comparison of English translations reveals that “eternality” in this passage is not so cut-and-dry. Some English translations use a word like “everlasting”, while others translate the same phrase as “f...