Looking at FALSE Christian beliefs in... Jesus Christ Pt. 2
Sam Shamoun
This is the second part of our response to Nisar’s following article:
http://www.answerchristianity.fsnet.co.uk/JC.htm
NISAR:
God And Man
Christianity teaches that Jesus' human nature and divine nature were and are inseparable and indivisible. As the incarnated Son of God, he did not and could not have one without the other, even after his death on the cross: when he was resurrected, he came back as both flesh and spirit, not as spirit only.
There is and was only the God-man Jesus, who is and was both "the man Jesus" and God the Son. They say that "the Word [the Son, Christ] became flesh and dwelt among us. The Bible clearly says that Jesus, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, "the Word made flesh," did exactly that -- he physically suffered and died on the cross-- as God the Son incarnate, not merely as "the man Jesus."
And Christ's divinity remained with each... meaning the "divine part" of Christ didn't ascend to heaven or anywhere else during his death. It remained with the "human part" (in the tomb & in "hell")... forming the whole PERSON of Christ during death.
RESPONSE:
We really don’t understand what Nisar means by the “divine part” of Christ since “parts” aren’t capable of doing anything. Only conscious agents or persons are capable of performing tasks or functions.
Secondly, it is false to say that Jesus’ “divine part” remained in the tomb and in “hell” since Christ is omnipresent as far as his divine nature is concerned. In fact, all three Persons of the Godhead are omnipresent, which implies that they always remain in the presence of each other:
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:7-12
“‘Am I only a God nearby,’ declares the LORD, ‘and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:23-24
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
“and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
“The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29
“Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” John 10:37-38
“Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, LIVING IN ME, who is doing his work.” John 14:10
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and WE will come to him and make OUR home with him.’” John 14:23
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, JUST AS YOU ARE IN ME AND I AM IN YOU. May they also be in US so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and THAT I MYSELF MAY BE IN THEM.” John 17:20-23, 26
“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:28
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize THAT CHRIST JESUS IS IN YOU-unless, of course, you fail the test?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
“And God placed all things under his feet (i.e., Christ) and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 1:22-23
“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.’ (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)” Ephesians 4:7-10
“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Colossians 3:11
“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” 2 Timothy 1:14
The following passages demonstrate that Christ was omnipresent even while on earth:
“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I SAW YOU while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’” John 1:45-49
Christ saw Nathaniel under the fig tree even though Christ wasn’t physically present at the location!
“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.’ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ‘Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’ ‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.’ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’” John 11:1-15
Again, Christ knew that Lazarus had died even though he wasn’t physically there to see it.
“Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:24-29
In this passage, Christ knew what Thomas had said a week prior and went so far as to oblige Thomas’ request, even though the Lord Jesus wasn’t physical present at that first meeting to hear what Thomas had said!
One final example:
“Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. ‘First let the children eat all they want,’ he told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.’ Then he told her, ‘For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.’ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.” Mark 7:24-30
Again, Jesus commands demons and casts them out without having to be physically present to do so! He is able to tell the woman the precise moment the demon had left her daughter since he has sovereign control over all the forces at work in creation.
In light of the preceding passages, the Son never ceased from being omnipresent even during the Incarnation. Nor did his divine “part” descend into “hell”. Rather, Christ’s human soul descended into Hades with his physical body being entombed for three days. Christ then raised his own physical body out of the tomb on the third day:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will YOU raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.” John 2:19-22
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him… he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that HIS SOUL was not left in HADES, nor did HIS FLESH see corruption. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Acts 2:22-24, 31-33
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive IN THE SPIRIT; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.” 1 Peter 3:18-22 RSV
This shows that Christ was still alive and conscious during the three days that his body lay in the tomb.
NISAR:
But, in a real sense, one could not 'officially' proclaim Jesus as the "installed" Son of God until AFTER the resurrection. The Resurrection was the Enthronement of the Son ceremony, in which the royal Son was proclaimed as such by God before the whole world. Indeed, the early church proclaimed exactly this. Compare Romans 1.3: ... Acts 5.30ff:
RESPONSE:
We quote here Romans 1:3-4:
“regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was DECLARED WITH POWER to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 1:3-4
It is erroneously presumed that this passage teaches adoptionism, that Jesus only became God’s Son at the resurrection. The problem with this view is that it completely ignores Paul’s teaching about Christ found in both Romans and the rest of his epistles. A careful examination of Paul’s writings will demonstrate that the Apostle was anything but an adoptionist:
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did BY SENDING his own Son IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL MAN to be a sin offering…You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if THE SPIRIT OF GOD lives in you. And if anyone does not have THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, he does not belong to Christ. But IF CHRIST IN YOU, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:3, 9-11
Paul affirms that Christ existed as God’s Son even before becoming man. Paul also affirms that the Holy Spirit is both God’s Spirit and Christ’s Spirit, and that Christ is omnipresent. Paul explicitly acknowledges the absolute Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ by affirming Christ’s preexistence as God’s Son and his essential equality with the Father.
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” Romans 10:9-13
Paul states that salvation stems from acknowledging Christ’s universal sovereign Lordship and bodily resurrection. Amazingly, Paul takes the following OT reference to Yahweh and applies it to Christ!:
“And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” Joel 2:32
This demonstrates that Paul clearly believed that Jesus is Yahweh God Almighty!
“He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: ‘“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.”’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.” Romans 14:6-15
Paul again affirms the Deity of the Lord Jesus by acknowledging Christ as the universal and sovereign Lord of all.
This point is brought out more clearly from what Paul wrote elsewhere:
“yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through (di') whom all things came and through (di’) whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6
This passage indicates that Jesus is both the Agent of creation and Yahweh God. Renowned NT scholar Richard Bauckham claims that 1 Corinthians 8:6 is actually Paul’s expansion of the Shema, the Jewish creed of monotheism found in Deuteronomy 6:4. Bauckham claims that Paul’s intention was to include Jesus in the identity of the one Lord of Jewish monotheism:
“Paul’s concern in this context is explicitly monotheism. The issue of eating meat offered to idols and participation in temple banquets is an instance of the highly traditional Jewish monotheistic concern for the loyalty to the only true God in a context of pagan polytheistic worship. What Paul does is to maintain this Jewish monotheistic concern in a Christian interpretation for which loyalty to the only true God entails loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes up from the Corinthians’ letter (at the end of verse 4) the typical Jewish monotheistic formula ‘there is no God except one’ in order to agree with it and to give, in verse 6, his own fuller monotheistic formulation, which contrasts the many gods and many lords’ of the Corinthians’ pagan environment (verse 5) with the one God and one Lord to whom Christians owe exclusive allegiance.
Verse 6 is a carefully formulated statement:
a but for us [there is] one God, the Father,
b from whom [are] all things and we for him,
c and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
d through whom [are] all things and we through him.
“The statement has been composed from two sources, both clearly recognizable. One is the Shema’, the classic Jewish statement of the uniqueness of God, taken from the Torah itself, recited twice daily by all observant Jews, as we noticed in chapter 1. It is now commonly recognized that Paul has here adapted the Shema’ and produced, as it were, a Christian version of it. Not so widely recognized is the full significance of this. In the first and third lines of Paul’s formula (labelled a an c above), Paul has in fact reproduced all the words of the statement about YHWH in the Shema’ (Deut. 6:4: ‘The LORD our God, the LORD, is one’), but Paul has rearranged the words in such a way as to produce an affirmation of both one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. It should be quite clear that Paul is including the Lord Jesus Christ in the unique divine identity. He is redefining monotheism as christological monotheism. If he were understood as adding the one Lord to the one God of whom the Shema’ speaks, then, from the perspective of Jewish monotheism, he would certainly be producing not christological monotheism but out right di-theism. The addition of a unique Lord to the unique God of the Shema’ would flatly contradict the uniqueness of the latter. (Sam’s note- this is precisely what JWs have done by denying that Jesus is the one Lord of Jewish monotheism, namely Jehovah God) The only possible way to understand Paul as maintaining monotheism is to understand him to be including Jesus in the unique identity of the one God affirmed in the Shema’. But this is in any case clear from the fact that the term ‘Lord’, applied here to Jesus as the ‘one Lord’, is taken from the Shema’ itself. Paul is not adding to the one God of the Shema’ a ‘Lord’ the Shema’ does not mention. He is identifying Jesus as the ‘Lord’ whom the Shema’ affirms to be one. Thus, in Paul’s quite unprecedented reformulation of the Shema’, the unique identity of the one God consists of the one God, the Father, and the one Lord, his Messiah. Contrary to what many exegetes who have not sufficiently understood the way in which the unique identity of God was understood in Second Temple Judaism seem to suppose, by including Jesus in this unique identity Paul is certainly not repudiating Jewish monotheism, whereas were he merely associating Jesus with the unique God, he certainly would be repudiating monotheism (Sam’s note- the very precise thing that JWs are guilty of due to their unbiblical insistence that Jesus is not included in the identity of the one God, Jehovah).” (God Crucified-Monotheism & Christology in the New Testament [Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI/ Cambridge, U.K., 1998], pp. 37-39; bold emphasis ours)
Eminent NT Scholar N.T. Wright concurs:
“The pagan pantheon cannot be simply dismissed as metaphysically nonexistent and therefore morally irrelevant. It signals an actual phenomenon within the surrounding culture that must be faced and dealt with, not simply sidestepped. For this reason-which Paul will deal with in more detail in ch. 10-the allegiance of local paganism to this or that ‘god’ and ‘lord’ must be met with nothing short of the Christian version of Jewish-style, Shema-style, monotheism. It is this that Paul now states. Whatever its links with the Hellenistic-Jewish world of Philo and others, v.6 resonates thoroughly with echoes of the far more ancient and widespread formula from Deuteronomy 6:4. In the Hebrew the confession of faith begins with the words: [Sam’s note- Quotes the Hebrew of Deuteronomy 6:4 here]
In the Septuagint this reads:
Akoue ‘Israel kurios ho theos hemon kurios heis estin.
What Paul seems to have done is as follows. He has expanded the formula, in a way quite unprecedented in any other texts known to us, so as to include a gloss on theos and another on kurios:
all hemin
heis theos ho pater
ek hou ta panta kai hemeis eis auton,
kai heis kurios ‘Iesous Christos,
di’ hou ta panta kai hemeis di’ autou.
Paul, in other words, has glossed ‘God’ with the ‘the Father’, and ‘Lord’ with ‘Jesus Christ’, adding in each case an explanatory phrase: ‘God’ is the Father ‘from whom are all things and we to him’, and the ‘Lord’ is Jesus the Messiah, ‘through whom are all things and we through him’. There can be no mistake: just as in Philippians 2 and Colossians 1, Paul has placed Jesus within an explicit statement, drawn from the Old Testament’s quarry of emphatically monotheistic texts, of the doctrine that Israel’s God is the one and only God, the creator of the world. The Shema was already, at this stage of Judaism, in widespread use as the Jewish daily prayer. Paul has redefined it christologically, producing what we can only call a sort of christological monotheism.
This fact is becoming more widely recognized in recent scholarship, though its omission from some of the older literature remains remarkable.” (Wright, The Climax of the Covenant, Christ and Law in Pauline Theology [Fortress Press, Minneapolis 1993 ISBN 0-8006-2827-6], pp. 128-129 bold emphasis ours)
Hence, Bauckham’s and Wright’s statements affirm that Paul’s use of “Lord” in relation to Christ indicates that the Apostle believed that Jesus is Yahweh.
Paul goes on to say:
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of THE SON THAT HE LOVES, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. HE [the Son]is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him [the Son] ALL things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; ALL things were created by him and FOR (eis) him. He is before all things, AND IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Colossians 1:13-18
Paul acknowledges that Christ was God’s Son even prior to the creation of all things and as the Son Christ brought all things into existence. Interestingly, Paul elsewhere says that all things were created through and for God:
“For from him and through (di’) him and FOR (eis) him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36 NAB
“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, FOR (eis) whom and through (di') whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Hebrews 2:10
Richard Bauckham’s comments on Jesus’ role as the Agent of creation in 1 Corinthians 8:6 are noteworthy in further establishing the Apostle’s belief in Jesus as Yahweh God:
“The description in its undivided, unmodified form is used elsewhere by Paul, specifically in Romans 11:36a: ‘from him and through him and to him [are] all things’. Here the statement simply refers to God, whereas in 1 Corinthians 8:6 Paul has divided it between God and Christ, applying to God two of the prepositions that describe God’s relationship as Creator to all things (‘from’ and ‘for’ or ‘to’) and the third of these prepositions (‘through’) to Christ. Although Paul’s formula in Romans 11:36 does not appear precisely in this form elsewhere, there are enough Jewish parallels to make it certain that Paul there simply quotes a Jewish formulation. That God is not only the agent or efficient cause of creation (‘from him are all things’) and the final cause or goal of all things (‘to him are all things’), but also the instrumental cause (‘through whom are all things’) well expresses the typical Jewish monotheistic concern that God used no one else to carry out his work of creation, but accomplished it alone, solely by means of his own Word and/or his own Wisdom. Paul’s reformulation in 1 Corinthians 8:6 includes Christ in this exclusively divine work of creation by giving to him the role of instrumental cause.” (Bauckham, p. 39; bold emphasis ours)
One final example to show that Paul believed that Jesus preexisted as God’s divine Son:
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
According to the OT the rock that provided for Israel was Yahweh God himself:
“He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, who does no wrong, upright and just is he… The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior… You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth… How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up? For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.” Deuteronomy 32:4, 12-15, 18, 30-31
And:
“For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?” Psalm 18:31
“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4
“Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” Isaiah 44:8
In light of the preceding examples, it is clear that Romans 1:4 does not teach adoptionism. Rather, Romans 1:4 is simply stating that the resurrection was God’s divine seal of approval, that the resurrection was God’s way of authenticating the claims that the Lord Jesus made about himself.
We now turn our attention to Acts 5:30-32. Here is the passage in question:
“The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead-whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Evidently, Nisar erroneously assumes that this passage also supports adoptionism. Before responding to this error, we would first like to highlight the following points. First, this passage affirms the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, something which the Quran vehemently denies. Second, the passage states that Jesus sits enthroned as Prince and Savior, granting repentance and forgiveness of sins. These are all divine functions and indicate that Jesus is God since he does what God alone is able to do. Fourth, this passage reveals the functional or economical Trinity, namely the Trinity in action: the Father is the One that raised Christ, Jesus is the Savior that forgives sinners and grants repentance, and the Holy Spirit, along with the Apostles, testifies that these things are all true. This in turn affirms the personality of God’s Spirit.
Finally, it becomes apparent that when one reads the entire context of both Luke and Acts the last thing Luke intended to convey was that Jesus only became Savior and Prince at his ascension:
“But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’ ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:30-35
“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of MY LORD should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!’” Luke 1:39-45
While in Mary’s womb Jesus is Elizabeth’s Lord and is worshiped by John while the Baptist was still in his mother’s womb! Interestingly, several prominent Muslim historians and commentators affirm this account of John worshiping Jesus. Al-Qurtubi mentions Elizabeth's visitation (called Mary's sister) shortly after both women had conceived:
“The sister visited Mary and said, 'O Mary, do you perceive that I am with child?' Mary answered, 'Do you see that I am also with child?' Her sister went on, 'I feel the child in my womb bowing down to the child in your womb.'"
Al-Qurtubi continues:
“It is reported that she felt the fetus in her womb bow down with its head turned toward Mary's womb." (Ayoub, The Qur'an and Its Interpreters, Volume II, the House of ‘Imran [State University of New York Press, Albany, 1992], p. 108; bold and italic emphasis ours)
Al-Tabari concurs:
“She [Sam-Mary] came to her sister who was then pregnant and to whom the birth of the Baptist had been announced. When the two met, the Baptist's mother felt that her child was bowing within her in recognition of Jesus …” (History of Al-Tabari, Volume IV, The Ancient Kingdoms, translated by Moshe Perlmann [State University of New York Press, Albany, 1987], p. 114; bold emphasis ours)
And:
“… Her sister, the wife of Zechariah, came to visit her at night. When Mary opened the door for her, the sister clung to her. The wife of Zechariah said, 'Oh Mary, do you know I am with child?' Mary replied, 'Do you know, that I too am with child?' Zechariah's wife then said, 'I felt that the child in me was bowing to the child in you,' as it is written, 'confirming the Word of God.'" (Ibid., p. 119; bold emphasis ours)
Continuing further:
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’” Luke 2:10-11
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, ‘Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…’ He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’” Luke 5:20-26
“‘Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” Luke 7:48-50
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10
Jesus was born the Savior, having power to forgive sins.
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Luke 10:22
Even prior to his ascension all things already belonged to Christ.
“He went on to tell the people this parable: ‘A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I WILL SEND MY SON, WHOM I LOVE; perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. “THIS IS THE HEIR,” they said. “Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.’ When the people heard this, they said, ‘May this never be!’” Luke 20:9-16
This passage explicitly affirms that Christ is God’s beloved Son and Heir even before his heavenly enthronement.
“At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. ‘If you are the Christ,’ they said, ‘tell us.’ Jesus answered, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.’ They all asked, ‘Are you then the Son of God?’ He replied, ‘You are right in saying I am.’ Then they said, ‘Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.’” Luke 22:66-71
“Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.” Luke 23:1-3
Again, these passages state that Jesus was the Christ, God’s Son and King prior to his glorious ascension into heaven.
The preceding citations help us to understand Acts 5:30-32 in its intended context. Even though Jesus was already Christ, Son, Savior and King it wasn’t until after the ascension that Christ began to rule as King. While on earth, Christ set aside his royal privileges in order to assume the role of a servant and die as a ransom for many:
“Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’” Luke 22:24-30
Furthermore, one purpose of Christ’s mission was to atone for sin through his death on the cross. After dying and rising from the dead, Christ accomplished his mission and paid the debt of sin. Hence, Jesus could forgive sinners even before his ascension based on what he was going to accomplish on the cross. And now in heaven Christ applies the benefits of the work he accomplished on the cross by continuing to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to all that believe in him.
This concludes the first part of this rebuttal. Part 3 to follow right after, Lord Jesus willing.
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