Doctrine

Could you provide a list regarding leavened and unleavened products?

As many of our readers know, the Church of the Eternal God and its affiliates, the Global Church of God in the UK and the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada, as well as the Kirche des Ewigen Gottes in Germany, observe the annual Festival of the Days of Unleavened Bread. God commands us that during the seven days of that Festival, all leavened products have to be removed from our houses, and that only unleavened products are to be consumed during that time.

We explain in our Statements of Beliefs that we observe “The Days of Unleavened Bread once a year by not partaking of any food prepared with leaven for a period of seven days following the Passover. The partaking of the unleavened bread symbolizes the commitment to live a sinless life (Leviticus 23:6-8; Acts 20:6; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).”

For a general overview as to this Festival, please read our Q&A, which asks and answers the question: “Exodus 12:18, among other Scriptures, commands us to eat unleavened bread for seven days. Is this command still valid today? If so, how is it to be applied?”

For a more thorough presentation, please read our two free booklets, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” and “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days.”

As the Question in this particular Q&A suggests, new people who become acquainted with this Festival and want to obey God’s injunction, might not have yet a clear understanding as to what constitutes leavened products, which need to be removed and avoided during the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread.

In a previous Q&A, we discussed, in general terms, what constitutes leaven, and we addressed some specific areas, such as beer or toothpaste. We also addressed some areas where the understanding of the Jews differs from the understanding that God reveals in His Word.

That particular Q&A asked and answered the question: “We are commanded in the Bible to remove all leaven from our houses during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Is it true that your understanding and the understanding of the Jews are different, as to what constitutes leaven that needs to be removed? If so, could you explain your position and the reasons for it?”

Please make sure that you read or re-read that Q&A in conjunction with the material that is presented herein.

In addition, we are now providing you with a list as to what constitutes leaven which should be removed from our houses and which should not be partaken of during that time. Although quite thorough, we still would like to mention that this list must be viewed with caution; that is, it is critically important that one looks at the ingredients of each product.

For instance, just because the word “puff” or “puffed” is in the label (for instance, “puff pastry”) does not necessarily mean that the product is leavened. In the USA, there are normally four main ingredients in puff pastry: flour, butter, salt, and water; that is, it would contain no leaven. However, in the UK, “puff pastry” DOES include leaven, as reflected on the label, which means that it must be avoided. In any case, even in the USA, labels need to be checked to ascertain whether the product contains leaven.

Some pie crusts are unleavened, but one needs to be careful here, because most crusts do have leaven in them. We are informed that Marie Calendar’s does not have leavening in their crusts. Again, it is important that the labels are carefully reviewed to ascertain what the products contain.

The following lists items which contain Baking Powder and/or Baking Soda (or Sodium Bicarbonate) and/or YEAST and/or Baker’s Yeast. All of these need to be avoided during the Days of Unleavened Bread:

Crackers; Bread; Bagels; Muffins; Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns; Garlic Bread; Baguettes; Cheese Straws; Sausage Rolls; Corn Dogs; Sour Dough; Biscuits; Pretzel; (some) Cereals; Cheese Puffs; Cake; Pastry; (some) Pies; Cookies; Ice Cream Cones and Wafers; (some) Ice Cream with added Cookies; Pancakes; Waffles; Puff Pastry [in the UK, see comments above]; Self-Rising Flour; Graham Crackers; Bread Crumbs; Deep-Fried Chicken; Anything battered, i.e., Onion Rings or Fish; Croutons; Flour Tortillas; Burritos; Soft Tacos; Kit Kat; Wafer Biscuits; (some) Candy; (some) Candy Bars; Chinese Orange Chicken; Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Breaded Chicken; (some) Cereal Bars; Granola Bars; and (most) Bacon Bits.

Note that in the UK, the reference to “bacon” in “bacon bits” is understood as meaning pork. Of course, pork must not be eaten at any time. In the USA, the reference to “bacon” can also apply to beef and to turkey. But “beef bacon bits” or “turkey bacon bits” must not be consumed during the Days of Unleavened Bread, when they contain leaven (as distinguished from “autolysis yeast,” which is not a leavening agent, and therefore appropriate for consumption, see below).

Also, we need to point out that many restaurants have leavening in unsuspected products, for instance in meat. Most of this information is readily available online. For instance, in checking the ingredient statement on Taco Bell’s website, we are informed that in addition to the more obvious items (such as flatbread or chalupa flatbread), their chili and their “seasoned ground beef” contain yeast (which is to be avoided during the Days of Unleavened Bread).

On the other hand, products which contain Yeast Extract [as distinguished from Yeast] (for instance in soups), or “Autolyzed Yeast” or “Deactivated Yeast” are fine (these are not leavening agents, as they provide no fermentation activity. For instance, Deactivated Yeast is strictly designed to be used as a reducing agent for increased extensibility). In addition, Corn Tortillas are fine as well. Also exempt from the injunction to remove items from our houses during the Days of Unleavened Bread are those products which are not used for human consumption, such as dog or cat food, fire extinguishers and toothpaste; or beverages, such as beer.

We hope this list will be of assistance. We cannot overemphasize, however, that it is important to read the labels for the ingredients of each product. When in doubt, we should abstain from eating the item during the Days of Unleavened Bread, for “he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

Would you please explain 1 Timothy 4:1-5? Doesn’t this passage do away with the distinction between clean and unclean animals?

Many try to use this passage to “prove” that we are allowed today to eat whatever man in his twisted mind has decided to devour—including the meat from pigs, dogs, monkeys, rats, cats, squirrels, as well as frogs, snails, ants, scorpions, snakes, lobster, shrimp, shellfish and oysters, just to name a few. However, this is most certainly not what the passage conveys.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 reads, in context:

“(Verse 1) Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, (verse 2) speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, (verse 3) forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (Verse 4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; (verse 5) for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

In our booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound,” we make the following general comments regarding clean and unclean animals:

“…the laws of clean and unclean meat were already in existence at the time of Noah—they did not come into existence at the time of Moses. Noah was specifically told by God to take with him into the ark ‘seven each of every clean animal, a male and a female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and a female’ (Genesis 7:2. Compare also verse 8). Noah offered a burnt offering to God ‘of every clean animal and of every clean bird’ (Genesis 8:20).

“The covenant that God made later with Israel had no effect on the laws of clean and unclean animals—they were already in force long before that covenant was made. And nowhere does God teach us that we are now permitted to eat unclean animals. Notice the curse that God pronounces over those who, at the time of Christ’s return, eat swine’s flesh (Isaiah 66:17; 65:3–4).”

In our Q&A, discussing the consumption of unclean animals, we explain that Jesus Christ did not abolish the distinction between clean and unclean animals. Let us quote a few excerpts from this article:

“Some refer to Mark 7:18-19, stating that Christ made all animals clean and proper for consumption. However, the context of this passage is that the Pharisees criticized Christ’s disciples for eating food with ‘unwashed hands’ (verse 2); that is, without washing their hands first ‘in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders’ (verse 3). Christ said in verses 18-19: ‘… Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?’

“This passage does not teach, as some erroneously claim, that Christ made all foods clean. Rather, the word for ‘purifying’ is ‘katharizo,’ meaning ‘cleansing.’ It is used in James 4:8, where sinners are told to cleanse their hands. The Authorized Version translates Mark 7:19 as, ‘… and goes out into the draught, PURGING all meats.’

“Christ was addressing a situation where a little bit of dirt might have been attached to our hands or the CLEAN food. When we eat this, it does not defile us inwardly, as it is eliminated out of the body into the draught. The clean food will be ‘cleansed,’ in that little particles of dirt will be eliminated out of the body. To use the passage in Mark 7 and say that Christ made all unclean animals clean is a willful and deliberate distortion of Scripture.

“Others claim that Acts 10 teaches that God made all food clean. In that passage, Peter had a vision, seeing a great sheet of clean and unclean animals, and a voice asked him to eat. Peter refused and did not eat, although the voice told him that he should not call common what God had cleansed (verse 15). Subsequently, Peter went to the Gentiles, which were treated as common or unclean by the Jews, and baptized them. When confronted by the disciples, who were, at that time, exclusively of Jewish background and descent, Peter explained the meaning of the vision. It had nothing to do with declaring unclean animals as appropriate for human consumption. Rather, Peter said, in verse 28: ‘… God has shown me that I should not call any MAN common or unclean.’ And so, the disciples recognized the purpose of the vision–it was to show the New Testament Church that God had ‘granted to the GENTILES repentance to life’ (Acts 11:18).”

As mentioned, 1 Timothy 4:1-5 is another Scripture used by some in an attempt to “prove” that there is no longer any distinction between clean and unclean animals. But note that this is not what that passage says.

Rather, we learn that some false demonic-inspired preachers prohibit marriage (saying it is defiled or polluted and not as holy as celibacy), and other deceiving teachers say that one must abstain from FOOD which God has created to be received with thanksgiving (compare verse 3). But God never created unclean animals for food. As we have seen, the distinction between clean and unclean animals already existed under Noah, long before Moses; it still existed long after Christ’s death, when Peter refused to eat unclean meat; and it will still exist at the time of Christ’s return, as God will punish those who consume the flesh of pigs and other unclean animals, calling such a practice “abominable.”

In 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is not permitting the consumption of the meat of unclean animals, but he addresses those false preachers who teach against the consumption of meat of CLEAN animals, because of religious reasons. Paul is condemning the concept of that version of vegetarianism that is taught by people believing that they must not eat meat because they perceive it to be holy. (We might think of the belief in “holy” cows in certain parts of the world.) God says through Paul that every creature CREATED FOR FOOD (verse 3) is good and can be eaten, AS IT IS SANCTIFIED BY THE WORD OF GOD (verse 5). God’s Word, the Bible, never sanctified or set aside for consumption unclean animals, but it DOES sanctify or set aside for consumption the meat of every CLEAN animal. We are permitted to eat the flesh of clean animals with thanksgiving, for we believe God and His Word, and we know the truth (verse 3). And such consumption is good (verse 4) and also sanctified by prayer (verse 5), as we thank God (verse 4) and ask Him to bless the food and to set it aside for the nourishing of our bodies.

At least some commentaries are honest enough to admit that the Scripture in 1 Timothy 4:1-5 does not even address, let alone abolish the distinction between clean and unclean animals.

For instance, Barnes’ Notes on the Bible recognizes that the statement in verse 4, “For every creature of God is good,” can be grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted, when taken out of context; and so the following is stated:

“Nor does it mean that all that God has made is good ‘for every object to which it can be applied.’ It is good in its place; good for the purpose for which he made it. But it should not be inferred that a thing which is poisonous in its nature is good for food, ‘because’ it is a creation of God. It is good only in its place, and for the ends for which he intended it. Nor should it be inferred that what God has made is necessarily good ‘after’ it has been perverted by man.”

The creation of unclean animals, even though it is described as good in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, did not occur for the purpose of consumption through man. But a clean animal is “good” for consumption.

Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible adds:

“For every creature of God is good – That is: Every creature which God has made for man’s nourishment is good for that purpose, and to be thankfully received whenever necessary for the support of human life; and nothing of that sort is at any time to be refused.”

In addition, the People’s New Testament comments:

“Commanding to abstain from meats. The ascetic practices which began to grow up in the church a little later extended to foods. To eat the least palatable food which would sustain life was counted a virtue. These ascetics generally forbade animal food, and some lived only on bread and water. These practices are still found among certain orders of the Latin and Eastern churches.”

A similar explanation is given by Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible:

“… to abstain from meats: not from some certain meats forbidden by the law of Moses… but from all meats at some certain season of the year, as at what they call the Quadragesima or Lent, and at some days in the week, as Wednesdays and Fridays; and this all under an hypocritical pretence of holiness, and temperance, and keeping under the body, and of mortification; when they are the greatest pamperers of their bodies, and indulge themselves in all manner of sensuality: the evil of this is exposed by the apostle…”

For instance, it is well-known that ultra-orthodox Catholics refrain from eating meat on Fridays—and especially on “Good Friday”–claiming that they do so in remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion. They prefer to eat fish on that day. But apart from the fact that Christ was not crucified on a Friday, but on a Wednesday [for proof, read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ—a Great Mystery”], the Bible does not prohibit us to eat the meat of a clean animal on the day of His crucifixion. For the real origin of Lent and the Catholic “custom” to eat fish on Friday, please read our Q&A, “Why do some Christians eat fish on ‘Good Friday’?”.

However, God still requires that we abstain from consuming the meat of UNCLEAN animals. For further study, please read our Q&A, listing clean and unclean animals; our Q&A, discussing the use of medicines, vitamins and mineral supplements derived from unclean animals, and the use of gelatin products, which might be derived from parts of unclean animals; and our Q&A, pertaining to the prohibition of eating certain parts of clean animals, such as food and fat.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

You say that God consists of two Beings, the Father and the Son. How do you explain passages in Isaiah, where the LORD says, “I am God, and there is no other?” (Isaiah 45:5)

In Isaiah 45, “the LORD” (“Yahweh” in Hebrew) speaks to Cyrus and tells him that he will be an instrument in God’s hands to fulfill His Will. He specifically prophesies that and how Cyrus will conquer Babylon (compare verse 1) and that he will allow Jerusalem to be rebuilt and Judah to be released from captivity (compare verse 13). He also emphasizes that Cyrus did not know God, when He called him for his special mission (verses 3-5).

It appears that Cyrus was an idol worshipper of the Persian sun god Mythra (whose day of worship was Sunday, and whose birthday was celebrated on December 25). He apparently also worshipped the Babylonian god Marduk. It is in that context, that the LORD (“Yahweh”) says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me” (verse 5, compare verse 6).

It is true that Yahweh’s comments are more encompassing than just referring to Cyrus. He repeats His claim that He is God, and that there is no other God besides Him, in several verses throughout the chapter (verses 14, 18, 21, 22; compare also Isaiah 46:9).

All these passages deal with the true God in contrast with false “gods” or idols. The “LORD” is stating that He created the universe and everything that exists; that He is carrying out His Will and that His prophecies will come to pass; and that no other “god” had or will have any part in any of this. But does this mean, as some have suggested, that Isaiah taught that there was only one God Being—the “LORD”?

We have seen in previous Q&As that God is a Family, consisting of two Beings. We also pointed out in our booklet, “The Book of Zechariah—Prophecies for Today,” that the “LORD” (“Yahweh”) can refer to any one of the two Beings within the God Family. Although normally referring to Jesus Christ, it can also refer to God the Father.

It is therefore obvious that when the LORD says that He is “God,” and that there is no other, this must be referring to either one and including both of the two Personages, who are both identified as “LORD.” The word for “God” is “elohim” in the Hebrew, describing a (family) unit. Remember, God (“elohim”) said in the beginning: “Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). Here, God (“elohim”) is used as a plural word, describing a unity of more than one being.

The LORD—whether the reference is to the Father or to the Son—is declaring that He—as the representative of the God Family—is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. (We discussed before that God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ, compare Colossians 1:12-16). No other god or idol must be worshipped or thought of as having participated in any creation process. But as we saw in a previous Q&A on Deuteronomy 6:4, the Father and the Son are “one”—totally unified in approach, purpose and goal—so that when the One speaks, He speaks likewise for the Other.

Several commentaries have clearly understood that the passages in Isaiah 45, as quoted above, do not teach that God consists of only one person. For example, we read in Isaiah 45:22 that Yahweh says: “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

Clarke’s Commentary to the Bible states:

“This verse and the following contain a plain prediction of the universal spread of the knowledge of God through Christ; and so the Targum appears to have understood it; see Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10. The reading of the Targum is remarkable, viz., … look to my Word, … the Lord Jesus.”

To explain in passing, “Targum” is defined as, “Any of several Aramaic translations or paraphrasings of the Old Testament” (The American Heritage Dictionary, copyright 1992). The above quote from Isaiah 45 is an adaptation from such Aramaic paraphrased translations of the original Hebrew Old Testament. Aramaic was the commonly spoken language in Judah during the time of Jesus.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds:

“’Look unto me,’…. And not to idols, nor to any creature, nor to the works of your hands… all must be looked off of, and Christ only looked unto… He is to be looked unto as the Son of God, whose glory is the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; as the only Mediator between God and man; as the Saviour and Redeemer…’for I am God, and there is none else’; and so mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost, all that come to him, and to God by him, be they where they will; since he is truly God…”

These commentaries explain that Yahweh, who is speaking here, is actually Jesus Christ; they also understand that Christ is God—but not the only God Being, of course, because the FATHER later impregnated Mary with the Christ child through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35).

Christ—Yahweh—exclaims that He is God, and there is no other—not in reference to God the Father, but in reference to pagan idols and gods who were invented through the maneuvering and under the influence of Satan the devil to create a substitute for Jesus Christ. That is the reason why pagans believed in Savior “sun-gods,” such as Mythra or Attis, who died around Easter time, on a Friday, and who were believed to have come back to life on a Sunday.

Sadly, orthodox Christianity absorbed those pagan concepts and applied them to Christ, claiming that Christ was born on December 25; that He was crucified on a Friday and resurrected on a Sunday; and that He must be worshipped today on a Sunday. All these unbiblical practices and beliefs are of pagan origin, and the Bible strongly condemns this kind of syncretism (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

Likewise, we read in Isaiah 46:9, that Yahweh says: “Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.”

Again, this is not teaching that there is only one God Being, but that we must not worship any pagan gods, as they are of no relevance.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible remarks:

“Remember the former things of old… which are so many proofs of the true deity of the God of Israel, in opposition to the idols of the Gentiles…”

In conclusion, Isaiah does not teach that there is only one God Being, but that both the Father and the Son, referred to as “Yahweh,” are members of the one true God Family. Isaiah also teaches that no “god” or “idol” must be viewed as a helpful way to salvation; rather, whatever is not of, or belonging to the true God, is to be avoided and rejected.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Would you please explain Mark 2:27-28? In what way is Jesus “Lord of the Sabbath?” Since man was not made for the Sabbath, can we therefore work on the Sabbath?

(Español: ¿Podría explicar Marcos 2:27-28? ¿De qué manera es Jesús el “Señor del sábado”? Ya que el hombre no fue creado para el sábado, ¿podemos por lo tanto trabajar en el sábado?)

To answer these and related questions, it is important to explain some of the background and to look at the context of the Scripture.

Jesus said that He did not come to do away with the Law of God (Matthew 5:17). He told a young ruler that he was required to keep the commandments of God if he wanted to enter into eternal life (Matthew 19:16-17). He then listed many of the Ten Commandments, so that there could be no doubt what “Law” he was referring to (verses 18-19). James, half-brother of Jesus Christ, later stated that we are a transgressor of the entire Law of God, if we violate just one of His commandments (James 2:10). He clearly identified the “Law” as the Ten Commandments, quoting two of the Ten (verse 11). In the letter to the Hebrews, we find the express confirmation of the ongoing validity of the Sabbath commandment, when we read: “It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath” (Hebrews 4:9, Lamsa Bible).

Whatever the meaning of Mark 2:27-28 may be, we can already safely state from this overview that Jesus did not teach the abolishment of the Sabbath—the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

Since Christ said that He did not come to abolish, but to fulfill the Law, He did not at the same time come to abolish the rules and regulations defining how to keep the Sabbath. The Fourth Commandment says very clearly that we are not to do servile or customary work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). As God rested on the seventh day from His ordinary work of creating plants, animals and men, so we are to rest from our ordinary labor and to be spiritually refreshed on the Sabbath.

Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man. It was God’s gift to man. It was not supposed to be a burden, but a blessing. As God blessed and sanctified for holy use the seventh day (Genesis 2:3), He did so for man, so man will be blessed when he properly keeps and enjoys the seventh day.

However, the Pharisees at the time of Jesus Christ had made a burden out of the Sabbath. Their motives might have been good, but the result was catastrophic. They remembered that the Assyrians and Babylonians had enslaved the ancient houses of Israel and Judah because of their idolatry and Sabbath-breaking. They wanted to make sure that the people would not again break the Sabbath. In trying to accomplish this, they added many rules and restrictions to God’s Sabbath commandment, reasoning that one had to break first those restrictions, before reaching the core of the Sabbath Law, and that it would be very difficult to peel off the layers of their man-made rules to ever reach the substance of the Law.

They felt that these additional man-made rules constituted a “fence” to protect the substance of the Sabbath. They reasoned that no one would violate the heart and core of the Sabbath Law if they were prevented from breaking certain provisions that “fenced in,” and thereby “protected,” the Fourth Commandment. As stated, their motives might have been laudable, but they had in effect placed a yoke on the people which they were not able to bear.

To give you a better understanding as to the nature of these burdensome pharisaical rules and regulations, we are quoting a brief excerpt from our free booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days”:

“The Pharisees totally misinterpreted the prohibition against carrying burdens on the Sabbath. They decreed that a person was guilty of breaking the Sabbath if he carried a sheet of paper, or any food that weighed as much as a dried fig, or if he carried more than one swallow of milk, or enough oil to anoint a small part of the body. If a fire broke out in a person’s home on the Sabbath, he could carry out only the necessary food to be consumed on the Sabbath. This meant that if the fire broke out at the beginning of the Sabbath—right after sunset—the person could take out enough food for three meals; but if the fire broke out on the afternoon of the Sabbath, he could only take out enough food for one meal. The rest could not be carried out and had to be left behind, to burn with the building. Further, only necessary clothes could be taken out of a burning house on the Sabbath.”

Jesus came to make God’s Law great and honorable (Isaiah 42:21) —to show the spiritual intent of the Law. He confronted the Pharisees on many occasions regarding their restrictive interpretations of the Sabbath command. He chided them for transgressing the Law of God to uphold their own traditions (Mark 7:8-9). As stated, God intended the Sabbath to be a blessing for man, not a curse or a burden. In light of this understanding, Christ healed many sick people on the Sabbath—but the Pharisees condemned Him for that, claiming that He should heal them during the six days of the week, but not on the Sabbath. Their idea was that a sick man could not be freed from illness on the Sabbath—preventing him from really enjoying the intent of the Sabbath Law. But Jesus declared to them powerfully and unequivocally: “… it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12).

At the same time, the Pharisees’ interpretation and practices lacked in consequential teaching and application. They would allow a baby to be circumcised on the Sabbath—if the eighth day after birth fell on the Sabbath–but they would not allow a sick person to be healed on the Sabbath. They would also allow an ox which had fallen into the pit to be rescued on the Sabbath, or to water their animals on the Sabbath, but they would not allow the healing of a human being on the Sabbath, who was created in the image of God.

In addition, they criticized the disciples of Christ for plucking the heads of grain on the Sabbath, to satisfy their hunger (Mark 2:23-24; Matthew 12:1-2). It was their position that they should rather go hungry than to pluck a few heads of grain, falsely interpreting such conduct as prohibited “harvesting.”

It was this kind of environment and philosophy that Jesus was addressing, when He made the profound statements in Mark 2:27-28: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

In the parallel account of Matthew 12, He adds the following: “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (verses 6-8). As an aside, the word “even” is not in the original Greek and was added by the translator.

Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man—the One greater than the Temple—the Lord of the Sabbath. As we have seen in a previous Q&A [“Did Jesus Exist Prior to His Human Birth?”] it was He who created the Sabbath. We read that God the Father created everything through and by Jesus Christ—and that includes man and the Sabbath. Jesus created the Sabbath for man, and as the Lord of the Sabbath, He can tell us with authority how to keep it. The discussion did not evolve around whether or not to keep it—Jesus kept the Sabbath, as was His custom (Luke 4:16). Later, Paul kept the Sabbath, as was his custom (Acts 17:2), and he told Gentile converts in Corinth to follow or imitate him as he followed Christ (compare 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1). Christ never allowed or authorized man to change the Sabbath to Sunday. In fact, He condemns this kind of religious worship (compare Matthew 5:19). Those who think they can worship God the Father and Jesus Christ on Sunday, instead of the Sabbath—thereby upholding their own traditions, while transgressing and abolishing the commandments of God—are engaging in a kind of worship which is NOT acceptable to God (Matthew 15:7-9, 13-14).

Christ placed mercy over strict pharisaical restrictions, pointing out that David ate from the showbread of the temple, when he was hungry, although it was not “lawful” for him to eat it (Matthew 12:3-4). But Christ did not condemn David for this. He also taught that the priests in the temple had to fulfill their responsibilities on the Sabbath, which—according to pharisaical consequential reasoning–would have been tantamount to “breaking” or “profaning” the Sabbath, but Christ said they were “blameless” in doing so (Matthew 12:5). When today God’s ministers “work” on the Sabbath in preparing and delivering sermons, they are equally blameless and guiltless.

On the other hand, Christ did not teach that we can violate God’s Sabbath by just trampling it under foot—by working in our jobs to earn a living and by pursuing our own pleasures and hobbies. Isaiah 58:13 states to you (according to the New International Version) that you are to “keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day” and to “call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable” and to “honor it by not doing as you please or speaking idle words.” The Living Bible clarifies that “doing as you please” refers to “your own fun and business.”

Yet, in emergencies, we can and should take care of our personal needs, but this does not mean that we should create emergencies in the first place, so that we can then “break” the Sabbath in order to take care of them. We are not to throw a sheep into the ditch on Friday so that we can rescue it on the Sabbath day.

Jesus is the LORD of the Sabbath. He tells us with authority that we must keep it—and how to do so. Jesus made the Sabbath for MAN (not just the Jew), to be a blessing for man. The Sabbath was not made to be a curse or a burden for us. Man was not made for the Sabbath, to be under a cruel and merciless pharisaical yoke. The Pharisees, through their legalistic approach, had placed undue restrictions on the Sabbath, teaching in effect that man was made for the Sabbath. But Jesus came to show that the Sabbath was made FOR man, to be joyfully observed and to be called “a delight.” In keeping the Sabbath properly, we draw closer to God and are reminded of His great love for us, who created us in the first place with the potential of entering His very Family. See our recent Q&A, “Why was man created?”

None of His commandments are to be viewed as a burden for us (1 John 5:3). Rather, God’s love in us enables us to keep all of His commandments properly and from the heart (2 John 6). God’s entire Law is an expression of His love, and God IS love (1 John 4:8).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

You teach that both the Father and the Son are God. What about the Holy Spirit? Isn't the Holy Spirit also God — the Third Person within the Trinity?

The short answer is, no — the Holy Spirit is neither God nor a Person. Rather, the Holy Spirit is God’s POWER emanating from God the Father AND from God the Son.

The Trinitarian concept of Greek Orthodox Christianity is that God is one Person who manifests Himself in three “modes of being” — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They basically teach that God is only one BEING — but that He can represent himself in three different ways — as a person can be functioning in his capacity as a bank executive, as a father and as a husband. However, as we have seen in previous Q&As, (Who Was Jesus When On Earth?, What Was Jesus Before His Birth as a Man?, Is Jesus God? and How Can There Be Two Gods?) this concept is biblically incorrect. God is not just one Being, but God is a Family, consisting of TWO Beings — the Father and the Son. God is not schizophrenic, nor is He suffering from a bipolar personality, speaking to Himself in His “capacity” as Father to His “capacity” as Son, and vice versa.

The Trinitarian concept of Roman Catholic Christianity, which has been almost universally adopted by Protestant churches, is that God is “one Person in three Persons.” This is an utterly confusing and illogical idea, which makes no sense at all. How can one person consist of three persons? God is not one Being, but a FAMILY, consisting of TWO persons–not three–and the Holy Spirit is NOT a Person.

Also, the Roman Catholic church teaches that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all equal in authority. This is biblically incorrect, as we saw in the previous, above-quoted Q&As (and we will again address this point herein). The Father is the HIGHEST in the Godhead.

We discuss the erroneous Trinitarian concepts of the Roman Catholic church and most Protestant churches in our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”. We show that even Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians admit that the Trinity is nowhere taught in the Bible:

“The Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth… wrote in, ‘Doctrine of the Word of God,’ p. 437: ‘The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence and therefore in an equal sense God Himself. And the other express declaration is also lacking that God is God thus and only thus, i.e., as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These two express declarations which go beyond the witness of the Bible are the twofold content of the church doctrine of the Trinity.’…

“Dr. William Newton Clarke, who wrote a book entitled, ‘An Outline of Christian Theology’… states… on page 167, when discussing the first few verses of the first chapter of the book of John: ‘There is no Trinity in [John’s prologue]; but there is a distinction in the Godhead, a duality in God… ground for the divineness of the Spirit is nowhere shown. Thought in the New Testament is never directed to that end’…

“German theologian Karl Rahner… [said] in a book called, ‘The Trinity,’ on page 22: ‘…in reality the Scriptures do not explicitly present a doctrine of the “imminent” Trinity (even John’s prologue is no such doctrine).’

“… the New Catholic Encyclopedia supports Professor Rahner’s and Prof. Barth’s statements. In an article entitled, ‘Trinity,’… [it admits:] ‘The [Old Testament] clearly does not envisage God’s spirit as a person, neither in the strictly philosophical sense, nor in the Semitic sense. God’s spirit is simply God’s power… The majority of [New Testament] texts reveal God’s spirit as something, not someone; this is especially seen in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God…'”

After explaining in our booklet that the Roman Catholic church adopted the concept of the Trinity from pagan Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, we point out that none of the New Testament writers include the Holy Spirit, when passing on greetings from God. They ONLY refer in that context to the Father and the Son. This would have been quite an insult, if the Holy Spirit were also God.

We continue quoting from our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”:

“Another Biblical proof against the Trinity is that the Holy Spirit is nowhere identified as God. No one is recorded in Scripture as having prayed to the Holy Spirit.”

As we pointed out in the previous, above-quoted Q&As, we are generally to pray to the Father, as He is the Highest in the God-Family. But we do this in the name of Jesus Christ (John 15:16), who is our only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5-6). In addition, there are a few recorded incidents when Christians prayed to Christ (compare Acts 7:59-60). But there is no record in the Bible that anyone ever prayed to the Holy Spirit.

Let us focus on another important proof that the Holy Spirit CANNOT be God or a person. We quote again from our booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”:

“Notice in Matthew 1:18: ‘Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.’

“God’s inspired Word tells us clearly that the Holy Spirit made Mary pregnant. Notice the words of an angel to Joseph, as recorded in Matthew 1:20: ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived… in her is of the Holy Spirit.’’

“Turn now to Luke 1:32 and 35, where we find more of the inspired words of the angel to Mary: ‘He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David… The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’ These Scriptures in Matthew and Luke tell us that, IF the Holy Spirit were a person and God, then Christ would have been the SON of the Holy Spirit, and NOT of the Father.

“However, John 1:14 says that it was the Father who begot Christ: ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’… we see that GOD the FATHER begot Christ through the power of His Spirit. This proves that the Holy Spirit cannot be a person—otherwise, we would have a contradiction here, with Christ having two fathers—the ‘Father’ and the ‘Holy Spirit’—and with the ‘person’ and third member of the ‘Trinity,’ the Holy Spirit, being Christ’s ‘main’ Father.

“Remember, too, that the angel told Mary in the book of Luke that Christ would be called the Son of the Highest. If the Holy Spirit were a person, then the Holy Spirit by which Mary was impregnated would be the HIGHEST in the Godhead. This, of course, is absurd! No one who believes in the Trinity has EVER stated that the Holy Spirit is the highest! Quite to the contrary, they claim that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all EQUAL. That none is HIGHER than the other. “

Another proof that the Holy Spirit cannot be a person is the fact that the Holy Spirit, which dwells in converted Christians, is not only the Holy Spirit of the Father (compare John 14:16-17), but also of Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1;19). Quoting from our booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”:

“That the Spirit of the Father and of Christ dwells in us becomes very clear when reading Romans 8:9: ‘But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of GOD dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of CHRIST, he is not His.’ Here we read that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and when we do not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, we are not even Christians…

“Notice Christ’s words in John 14:23: ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’ Both the Father and Jesus Christ live in us. John 14:16-18 confirms too that not only the Father, but also Jesus Christ live in us… through the Holy Spirit…”

Remember this: The Spirit of the Father and of the Son lives in us. If the Holy Spirit were a person, then two persons would live in us (the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Holy Spirit of the Son). In that case, the Godhead would not consist of only three persons, but of four — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit of the Father, and God the Holy Spirit of the Son. But no one teaches, to our knowledge, that God consists of four persons.

In passing, it is true that the Bible speaks of “one” Spirit, as it speaks of the fact that the Father and Jesus Christ are “one.” We explain the concept of “oneness” in our booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”:

“When we read that there is one Spirit, then the reference is to the oneness or harmony between God the Father and Jesus Christ. It is exactly the same when Christ said, ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10:30). Christ did not mean, the Father and He were ‘one’ being—but that they were ‘one’ in purpose and goal and mindset and character. When Christ spoke these words, He was clearly a separate person from God the Father. Christ said in John 17:11, that we all should be one, as the Father and Christ are one in spirit—not in the sense that we all would become one being, but rather, that we all be of the same spirit. God the Father and Christ are one in spirit, and so are we to become one in spirit.”

When the Bible speaks of “one” Spirit, it cannot and does not mean that the Holy Spirit is one God being. Rather, the Holy Spirit is “one” in that it is God’s power, emanating from both God the Father and Jesus Christ, and the Father and Christ are “one” — totally unified.

Another biblical proof that the Holy Spirit CANNOT be a person can be found in John 7:37-39. It reads, in the Authorized Version: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost [better: Spirit] was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

Note that the word “given” is in italics—this means, it is not in the original Greek; it was added by the translator. Other translators recognize this fact and render the passage in quite a different way. The New Revised Standard Version states: “…for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” The New American Bible says: “There was, of course, no Spirit yet…” The New Jerusalem Bible reads: “…for there was no Spirit as yet…” The Moffat translation says: “…as yet there was no Spirit…”

When we check this in the Interlinear translation from the Greek, we find the following phrase, “…for not yet was Spirit Holy, because Jesus not yet was glorified.”

German translations are all fairly consistent in their renderings. The revised Luther Bible, the Elberfelder Bible and the Menge Bible all state, “The Spirit was not yet there…” The Zuercher Bible even states, “…the Holy Spirit did not exist yet…” They point out in the Appendix: “Some have translated, ‘the Holy Spirit was not yet given,’ because they were offended by the literal original text.”

But how could this be?

We explain this, as follows, in our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”:

“.. only a glorified God being can give His Holy Spirit to others. When Christ spoke those words, the Holy Spirit of the Father was clearly there and dwelling in Him — but Christ was referring here to Himself. He said, ‘Let him who thirsts come to ME.’ And Christ was a man when He said that, and as a man, having given up His glory, He could not give the Holy Spirit, emanating from Him as a glorified God being, to others. Remember, it was the Holy Spirit of the FATHER (as distinguished from the Holy Spirit of Christ) that dwelled in Christ, and through which Christ did the marvelous works (cp. Acts 10:38-39).

“For Christ to bestow His Holy Spirit on others, He needed to be glorified first… As long as Christ was not glorified, He had no Holy Spirit of His own to bestow on others. That’s why the Holy Spirit of the glorified Christ was not there yet — ONLY the Holy Spirit of the Father was there.

“But then, after Christ’s resurrection and glorification, both the Father and the Son dwell in us through their Spirit — the Holy Spirit — which emanates or proceeds from both the Father and the Son.”

In our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?,” we are also discussing several passages which are sometimes used to “prove” the Trinitarian concept. But aside from the fact that Catholic and Protestant theologians admit that the Bible nowhere teaches this concept, we show in our booklet why those passages do not support such a teaching.

For instance, we discuss a spurious uninspired text, to be found in the first letter of John in some older Bible renditions. That passage was added by deceived copyists to “prove” the concept of the Trinity. We also debunk the erroneous and quite silly argument that the Holy Spirit must be a person, since it is referred to as “He” in the New King James Bible. This rendering is just a matter of an arbitrary choice by some modern English translators (The Authorized Version does refer to the Holy Spirit as “it,” not “He.”).

It is important that we understand that God is NOT a Trinity. This false concept does not only convey a totally wrong picture of God — it also hides the purpose of man’s existence. Most don’t understand and believe that it is man’s destiny to become God.

God is a Family — presently consisting of the Father and the Son. Through the power of His Holy Spirit, we can become a part of God’s Family. Rather than being a closed Trinity since and for all eternity, God is enlarging His Family by reproducing Himself in man. The concept of the Trinity that teaches that God is — and that He has always been — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, hides and obscures the fact that God is a GROWING Family.

In the beginning, there were two God beings, God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. But Christ is also referred to as the FIRSTBORN among MANY brethren. It is the potential of man to become members of the God-Family — sons and daughters of God the Father, and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.

We will discuss this awesome truth in a subsequent Q&A.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

You say that Jesus Christ was God since all eternity, and that He is God today. What about the Father? Isn't He God? How can there be two "Gods"?

As we explained in previous Q&As, (Who Was Jesus When On Earth?, What Was Jesus Before His Birth as a Man?, and Is Jesus God?) Jesus Christ–the Word or Logos or Son of God–was “WITH” God since all eternity, and He also “WAS” God. The difficulty in understanding this fact may be easily resolved when we recognize that the word “God” is a NAME that can refer to both the Father and the Son. It is, in fact, a FAMILY name. Ephesians 3:14–15 confirms this truth, telling us that it is “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole FAMILY in heaven and earth is NAMED.”

Note, too, how the New International Version renders Hebrews 2:11: “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy ARE of the same FAMILY.”

In addition, the German Menge Bible includes in the annotation to Ephesians 2:19 that the term “household of God” means “members of the FAMILY of God” (in German, “Mitglieder der Gottesfamilie”).

In a subsequent Q&A, we will discuss the awesome and little-understood truth that it is man’s potential to ENTER the very FAMILY of God.

Most people do not realize that God IS a Family. However, the Bible clearly reveals this truth.

For instance, in the Hebrew, the word for “God” is many times “Elohim,” but it is a word with plural meaning. That is the reason why we read that God (“Elohim”) said in Genesis 1:26 : “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness.” And God also said in Genesis 3:22: “Behold the man has become like one of US, to know good and evil…”

Please note what we wrote in our free booklet, “God Is a Family”:

“The very Hebrew word translated ‘God’ in Genesis 1:26 reveals that God consists of more than one person. That Hebrew word is ‘Elohim,’ which can be used as a plural word. It can be singular in grammar, but plural in meaning. For example, some English words that are singular in grammar are ‘church,’ ‘club,’ ‘family,’ ‘school,’ ‘government,’ or ‘nation.’ However, these words are all plural in meaning, or at least, the plural meaning is included… Unless there is more than one person, it is not considered a family, or a nation, or a church, etc.

“The same is true for the Hebrew word ‘Elohim.’ Grammatically, it can be a singular word, but it can have a plural meaning… many commentaries… explain that the Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ is the plural form of the singular Hebrew words ‘El’ or ‘Eloah,’ concluding that many theologians have understood this to refer to a plurality within the Godhead… there are several words in the Hebrew, all ending with ‘-im,’ which are derived from a grammatically singular word that conveys plural meaning. One of these words is ‘Cherubim,’ the plural form of ‘Cherub.’… Other words are… ‘mayim,’ meaning ‘water.’ The concept of water, in particular, is very interesting, as it can refer to a single drop of water or to a vast ocean. We understand though that it is the same kind of water in either case, and it is always referred to as ‘water.’ In that sense, water is both singular and plural… the same is true for the word ‘Elohim’…

“We also need to remember that the word ‘Elohim,’ or ‘God,’ can refer to either one of the two beings in the Godhead. Each one is called, and referred to as ‘Elohim,’ or ‘God.’ In Genesis 1:26, God, or ‘Elohim,’ says, ‘Let US make man in OUR image.’ One God being speaks to the other God being, referring to both of them as ‘Us’… and we… know from the New Testament that God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ.”

This truth that God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ is confirmed in many New Testament Scriptures (Compare Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:1-2; Colossians 1:16). In this regard, please review again our previous Q&A’s, quoted above.

Continuing with our booklet, “God Is A Family”:

“God the Father said to Christ, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’… It was Christ, then, who did the actual work of creating man, and He created man in His image. Remember, though, that Christ is also the image of the Father (compare 2 Corinthians 4:3–4 and Colossians 1:15). Therefore, when Christ created man in His image, He also created man in the image of the Father. [Note, too, that Christ told His disciple Philip in John 14:9: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son look the same.] Man, then, was created in the image of GOD—in the image of both God the Father and God the Son…

“Ecclesiastes 12:1 reads, ‘Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth.’ In the original Hebrew, the word for ‘Creator’ is in the plural, which should be translated as ‘Creators.’ Both the Father and the Son are Creators. God the Father created everything, including man, through Jesus Christ…

“We find a similar statement in Job 35:10, ‘But no one says, Where is God my Maker…?’ In the original, it says, ‘Where is God my Makers?’…”

It is also interesting to note, in this context, that BOTH the Father AND the Son dwell IN a converted Christian (John 14:23) through the Holy Spirit, which emanates from BOTH the Father AND the Son (Romans 8:9; John 14:26; Galatians 4:6). In a subsequent Q&A, we will discuss who and what IS the Holy Spirit.

We have already pointed out in previous Q&As, quoted above, that Jesus Christ was the “I am”– the Eternal or Ever-living One. HE was the God of the Old Testament, dealing directly with the people, speaking to them and even manifesting Himself to them. It had to be Christ who did this, because He Himself said that no one has ever seen the form of “God” (the Father) or heard the voice of God (the Father). (Compare again John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46; 1 John 4:12).

The Jews thought that they worshipped the Father, erroneously thinking that He was the God of the Old Testament. That is why we read that Christ came to REVEAL the Father to them (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22). The Jews thought they knew the Father, not realizing that the God of the Old Testament was Jesus Christ—not God the Father.

It is important to understand, however, that God the Father is, always was and always will be the HIGHEST in the Godhead. As we state in our booklet, “God Is A Family”:

“In fact, we read that God the Father created everything THROUGH Jesus Christ—so the highest God being created everything, including the spiritual world, through a God being ‘lower’ than He.”

Jesus confirmed this fact when He stated in John 14:28: “The Father is greater than I.” After His resurrection, He told Mary: “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to MY GOD and your God” (John 20:17). In Ephesians 1:17, Paul refers to the Father as the “GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And Luke 1:32 refers to Christ as the Son of the HIGHEST.

Note, for additional proof, the following statements in our free booklet, “God Is a Family:”

“It is He [Christ] who created man, but in doing so, He followed the instruction of God the Father, who is the Highest in the God Family (compare 1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 11: 3; 1 Corinthians 15:20–28; John 14:28)… Several decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we find a statement that was recorded by John, an apostle of Jesus Christ: ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which GOD GAVE HIM to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John’ (Revelation 1:1). Jesus is not doing this by Himself. Rather, the revelation is received from God the Father, and Christ, as Spokesman for the Family of God, then sends it through His angel to John.

“We read in 1 Corinthians 15:24, 27–28, ‘Then comes the end, when He [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father… For “He [the Father] has put all things under His [Christ’s] feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.’” The head of Christ is and will be—and always has been—God the Father…”

The understanding that God the Father is the HIGHEST within the God Family is also important for the reason that we are commanded to pray to God the Father. As we point out in our free booklet, “Teach Us to Pray”:

“Jesus teaches that we should address our prayers to the Father… When Jesus and His disciples had come to a certain city in Samaria, He discussed the subject of worship with a Gentile woman from the area. Jesus stated: ‘… the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’ (John 4:21-24)…

“He told His disciples that, following His death and resurrection, they were to pray to the Father–asking in the name of Jesus Christ (compare John 15:16; 16:23). Jesus opened the way for His followers to pray directly to the Father…

“The Book of Hebrews… reveals that Jesus Christ opened the way to the Father, and that He continues as High Priest on our behalf when we come before God the Father in prayer… As the Scriptures show, Christ Himself directed us to pray to the Father—the HIGHEST BEING in the God Family.”

Both the Father and the Son have been GOD–members within the God FAMILY–since all eternity. And as we will discuss in subsequent Q&As, it is the Will of GOD to enlarge His Family–through man.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Who was Jesus Christ when He was here on earth about 2,000 years ago?

We have discussed in previous Q&As http://www.eternalgod.org/qa/9508 http://www.eternalgod.org/qa/9483 that Jesus Christ was God before He came to this earth, and that He is God today. From this it follows that He was and had to be God–the “Immanuel” or “God with us”–when He came to this earth during His First Coming. As we saw in the last Q&A, He confirmed this fact to the Jews at His time, when He called Himself the “I am”–the Everlasting One–the God of the Old Testament.

But in what way was He God, when He was here on earth? The fact that He was God since all eternity–with no beginning and uncreated–has confused many who think that He was still “fully God”–as well as “fully man”–when He came to this earth. Of course, one cannot be fully something and fully something else, if these two characteristics are incompatible. And indeed, being fully God and fully man would be inconsistent.

What then, was Jesus Christ, when He came to this earth?

We are discussing this question in much detail in our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery.” We would recommend that you read the entire booklet, and for the purpose of this Q&A, pages 7-22. Because of space limitations, we can only quote here pertinent excerpts and highlights, summarizing the biblical understanding as to who and what Jesus was, when He was here on earth:

“Notice the clear revelation of this mystery in John 1:14: ‘And the Word [the ‘Word’ referring to Jesus Christ, Who in the beginning was God and was with God the Father, John 1:1–2] BECAME flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’…

“God clearly tells us that the Word—Jesus Christ—who was God before His human birth, BECAME flesh. Christ came in the flesh by BECOMING flesh. This means that He became totally and fully flesh and blood, like you and I! This is CRUCIAL for you to understand! When Christ BECAME flesh, He was no longer Spirit. He was no longer fully God, because He had become fully man!…

“When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, how did that happen? We read that the Holy Spirit of God, the Father, came upon her—that the power of God overshadowed her (Luke 1:35). From this we can understand that through the Holy Spirit, God, the Father, changed the all-powerful Spirit being, Jesus Christ, into a tiny physical human sperm, fertilizing the egg in the womb of Mary, thus impregnating her. The fetus grew within Mary’s womb like any other human fetus. Jesus was born as a little baby like every other human baby. He was fully flesh, just like you and I are fully flesh…”

The Bible teaches clearly that Jesus Christ–the God of the Old Testament–“emptied” Himself and became a human being. We read in Philippians 2:6-7, in the Revised Standard Version:

“[Jesus Christ]… though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (better: retained), but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men…”

The New International Version renders the phrase in verse 7 as follows: “…taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…”

The New Jerusalem Bible leaves no doubt in its translation as to what Jesus became:

“… he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being…”

In spite of these powerful words, most commentaries simply deny what is being said here, and resort to some incredible “explanation” as to what this passage allegedly means. Listen to these astonishing statements by the Nelson Study Bible:

“This phrase can be translated ‘He emptied Himself.’ Christ did this by taking on the form of a servant, a mere man. In doing this, He did not empty Himself of any part of His essence as God. Instead He gave up His privileges as God and took upon himself existence as a man. While remaining completely God, He became completely human.”

This is utter nonsense. As mentioned, you cannot be completely something and be completely the exact opposite at the same time.

The Bible is very clear that Christ emptied Himself of existing as a Spirit Being, and He emptied Himself of the glory that He had before the world was (compare John 17:5). He BECAME a human being. He was no longer “completely” or “fully” God–rather, He had become “completely” or “fully” man.

We read, for instance, that man–flesh and blood–cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). We also read that we must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5), and that flesh and blood cannot even see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). In order to be IN the Kingdom of God, one must BE Spirit (John 3:6). Jesus came in the flesh; He WAS flesh, when He was here on earth. He became born again at the time of His resurrection as a Spirit Being–no longer flesh and blood–and it was THEN that He entered the Kingdom or Family of God as a glorified Spirit Being. He was NOT (yet) in the Kingdom of God when He was here on earth as a man. It is true that some of His disciples saw Him on the mount of transfiguration as a glorified Being in the Kingdom of God–together with glorified Moses and Elijah–but that was in a vision, picturing what would occur in the future.

We continue quoting from our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery”:

“Christ had God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within Him… He had God’s Spirit without measure or limit—given at conception—which is how He was able to overcome sin in the flesh… Jesus said that He could do nothing of Himself (John 5:19, 30). When in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to God, the Father, for strength and God sent an angel to strengthen Him. He knew that the Father could do everything and that nothing was impossible for the Father (Luke 22:40–46; Matthew 26:39–42)…

“It was absolutely NECESSARY for Christ to become FULLY MAN, because only in that way could He become the Savior of man. Notice this in 1 Corinthians 15:21: ‘For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.’… We read that Christ was DEAD. HE HIMSELF had died—the person that He was—the Son of God Who had become Man. Revelation 1:18 confirms that HE was dead, not just a part of Him…

“Philippians 2:8 adds that ‘He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of DEATH, even the death of the cross.’ … Romans 14:9 adds: ‘For to this end Christ DIED and rose and LIVED AGAIN, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.’…

“Hebrews 2:9 teaches very powerfully that Christ died just as all humans die. In fact, He HAD to die that way in order to ‘…taste death for everyone.’ We read: ‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.’

“The only way that Christ—who had been GOD since all eternity—could die, was to become flesh. When He became flesh, He was totally human!… When Christ became flesh, He gave up all of His divine attributes and powers. Simply put, He became a man so that He could die! He was no longer a Spirit being, He was no longer God as we think of God, since God, a Spirit being, cannot die (compare Luke 20:35–36; Isaiah 57:15; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Timothy 1:17)…

“Christ became flesh so that He could overcome sin in the flesh. He had to prove that it is possible for man, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit within him, to overcome sin!…

“Christ was tempted in all points, as we are, but He stayed sinless (Hebrews 4:15, ‘[He] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.’). He overcame sin in the flesh, resisting temptation (Revelation 3:21). God, a powerful perfect Spirit being—cannot be tempted (compare James 1:13). But we read that Christ WAS tempted. This proves that He was not the all-powerful perfect Spirit being when He was here on this earth that He HAD been prior to His birth as a human being…

“Romans 8:3 tells us: ‘For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh [human beings, all by themselves, without God’s Spirit dwelling in them, are too weak to keep the law], God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.’ In other words, He OVERCAME SIN as a human being.”

“… why, then, do we read that Christ would be called ‘Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23)?…

“Christ had been an immortal God being. He was changed into a human being, but He was still the same personage He had been since all eternity. Christ, who became human, was still the personage He had always been. He was still the one who had previously met with Abraham, the one who created Adam and Eve, and the one who spoke to Moses face-to-face. He lived as a human being—growing as children do, developing into a young man, and then becoming a rabbi, or teacher, in Judah. But He was still the same individual that He had always been. He had been an immortal God being and He knew that He would become an immortal God being again, subject to qualifying by being and remaining sinless… Christ, when He was here on earth, was, quite literally, Immanuel, or, ‘God with us.’…

“Christ was God Eternal, who BECAME man, so that man COULD ultimately become God! Christ was tempted, He suffered, and He died as a man.

“Who IS Christ now? Christ is God. Christ, the man, was resurrected by God, the Father, as the mighty and powerful God being that He had always been before His days in the flesh. He is now the mighty God for whom we wait to bring us redemption, salvation, and eternal life in the very Kingdom of God (Titus 2:11–14)!”

Christ–very God–became man so that you and I could become God. That is quite a thought to ponder. In subsequent Q&As, we will discuss and explain the very fact that it is the potential of man to become a mighty God being.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Why do you teach that Jesus Christ is God? Others say that He is an angel, or that He is an immortal or glorified man, but not God.

The Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus Christ is God. As we will see in future Q&A’s, the Bible also explains that Jesus Christ was God before His birth as a human being; who and what the Father is; and what is the potential of man. In this Q&A, we will address the biblical proof that Jesus Christ is God today.

In our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery,” we are stating the following:

“… the Bible is very clear that Christ IS God! For undeniable proof, notice Titus 2:11–14: ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.'”

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary confirms that the entire phrase “Great God and Savior” refers to Jesus Christ:

“There is but one Greek article to ‘God’ and ‘Savior,’ which shows that both are predicated of one and the same Being… Also… ‘appearing’ (epiphaneia) is never by Paul predicated of God the Father… it is invariably applied to Christ’s coming… Also… in the context… there is no reference to the Father, but to Christ alone… Also… the expression ‘great God,’ as applied to Christ, is in accordance with the context, which refers to the glory of His appearing…”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible adds:

“There can be little doubt, if any, that by ‘the great God’ here, the apostle referred to the Lord Jesus, for it is not a doctrine of the New Testament that God himself as such… will appear at the last day.”

This is true. The Bible says that God the Father will descend to earth AFTER the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment–not at the time of Christ’s Second Coming.

In addition, we are making these comments in our free booklet, “God Is A Family”:

“John 1:18 tells us: ‘No one has ever seen God [the Father]. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known’ (New Revised Standard Version). Notice the rendering of this passage in the New American Bible: ‘No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.'”

Similar rendering is also used in the Luther Bible: “No one has seen God at any time; the only Begotten, WHO IS GOD and who is in the Father’s bosom, has revealed Him to us.” The Elberfelder Bible comments in an annotation that many old and good sources render the phrase, “the only-begotten Son,” as “the only-begotten GOD.”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds: “The Syriac version here renders it, ‘the only begotten, God which is in the bosom of the Father’; clearly showing, that he is the only begotten, as he is God.”

Continuing with another quotation from our free booklet, “God Is A Family”:

“Additionally, Romans 9:5 refers to Jesus Christ as ‘the eternally blessed God.’…”

To add further comments to this passage, please note the exact rendering: “… Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible states the following:

“‘Who is over all’ – This is an appellation that belongs only to the true God. It implies supreme divinity; and is full proof that the Messiah is divine: Much effort has been made to show that this is not the true rendering, but without success. There are no various readings in the Greek manuscripts of any consequence; and the connection here evidently requires us to understand this… of the divine nature.’

“‘God blessed forever’ – This is evidently applied to the Lord Jesus; and it proves that he is divine.”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible agrees:

“As this verse contains such an eminent proof of the deity of Christ, no wonder that the opposers of his divinity should strive with their utmost skill and cunning to destroy its force. And it must be truly painful to a mind that has nothing in view but truth, to see the mean and hypocritical methods used to elude the force of this text. Few have met it in that honest and manly way in which Dr. Taylor, who was a conscientious Arian, has considered the subject. ‘Christ,’ says he, ‘is God over all, as he is by the Father appointed Lord, King, and Governor of all.'”

Note, too, the following statements by Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible:

“Mentioning Christ, he interposes a very great word concerning him, that he is over all, God blessed for ever. Lest the Jews should think meanly of him, because he was of their alliance, he here speaks thus honourably concerning him: and it is a very full proof of the Godhead of Christ; he is not only over all, as Mediator, but he is God blessed for ever. Therefore, how much sorer punishment were they worthy of that rejected him!”

Continuing with another quote from our booklet, “God Is A Family”:

“Hebrews 1:8 refers to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as ‘God’…”

In the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, overwhelming and indisputable proof can be found that Jesus Christ is God today. Beginning with verse 5, God the Father is quoted (compare verse 1) as saying: “(verse 5) For to which of the angels did He [God the Father] ever say… (Verse 7) And of the angels He [God the Father] says… (Verse 8) But to the Son He [God the Father] says: ‘Your throne, O GOD, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.'”

So, clearly, God the Father, speaking to Jesus Christ the Son, calls Him “God.”

Also notice how the next verse (verse 9) is rendered in some translations (still quoting God the Father’s words to the Son, Jesus Christ). For instance, the Revised English Bible writes: “You have loved right and hated wrong; therefore, O God, your God has set you above your fellows…”

This rendering (“Therefore, O God, Your God has anointed you…”) is also used in the Luther Bible; the Zuercher Bible; and the Menge Bible.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary makes these comments:

“Jerome, Augustine, and others translate [Psalm 45:7:] ‘O God, Thy God, hath anointed thee,’ whereby Christ is addressed as God. This is probably the true translation of the Hebrew there, and also of the Greek of Hebrews here; for it is likely the Son is addressed, ‘O God,’ as in [Hebrews 1:8].”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible agrees, stating, “The original… may be thus translated: Therefore, O God, thy God hath anointed thee. The form of speech is nearly the same with [sic] that in the preceding verse [of Hebrews 1:8]…”

Similarly Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible:

“‘Therefore God, even thy God.’ The word ‘even’ inserted here by the translators [in the Authorized Version], weakens the force of the expression. This might be translated, ‘O God, thy God hath anointed thee’…

“The Greek will bear this construction, as well [as] the Hebrew in [Psalm 45:7] In the margin in [sic] the Psalm it is rendered ‘O God.’ This is the most natural construction, as it accords with what is just said before. ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever. Thou art just and holy, therefore, O God, thy God hath anointed thee,’ etc.”

Also, in our free booklet, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” we make the following observation about Christ’s divinity and His role in the future:

“The angel Gabriel quoted here [in Luke 1:30-35] in part from Isaiah 9:6-7: ‘For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God…'”

So we see that Isaiah prophesied, under inspiration, that Jesus Christ would be called the “Mighty God,” when He rules here on earth. In Isaiah 10:21, we read that a remnant of Jacob will return to the “Mighty God.”

There is still much additional proof for the biblical teaching that Jesus Christ is God today. Christ is called the “image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:1-3). Thomas calls the resurrected Christ “My Lord and My God,” and Christ responds that he believes now since he has seen Him (John 20:28-29). What did Thomas believe? That Christ was his Lord and his GOD.

1 John 5:20 is another text showing that Jesus Christ is God. It says: “And we know that the Son of God has come… and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Some claim that the reference of “true God” refers here to the Father, but as Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible points out, the grammatical construction of the sentence favors the view that the reference is to Christ. He continues to state:

“No doubt would have been ever entertained on this point, if it had not been for the reluctance to admit that the Lord Jesus is the true God. If the assertion had been that ‘this is the true Messiah;’ or that ‘this is the Son of God;’ or that ‘this is he who was born of the Virgin Mary,’ there would have been no difficulty in the construction.”

Barnes also makes this additional convincing argument:

“… this interpretation accords with what we are sure John would affirm respecting the Lord Jesus Christ. Can there be any doubt that he who said, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;’ that he who said, ‘all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made;’ that he who recorded the declaration of the Saviour, ‘I and my Father are one,’ and the declaration of Thomas, ‘my Lord and my God,’ would apply to him the appellation ‘the true God!’…?”

In conclusion, the Bible is very dogmatic that Jesus Christ is God today. In fact, this is an essential and salvational issue! In the future, we will address in these Q&A’s related questions, which are likewise of a salvational nature; such as, among other issues, what Jesus Christ was before His birth; who is God the Father; and what is the purpose of man’s creation.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

If Isaiah 53 prophesies about the first coming of Jesus Christ, why do the Jews reject this understanding?

It is true that most Jews today do not consider the passage in Isaiah 53 as a prophecy pertaining to the first coming of the Messiah. We will discuss their rationale later in this Q&A. First, let us briefly point out that Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah; and that He fulfilled precisely the prophecy in Isaiah 53.

For instance, Isaiah 53:1 (“Who has believed our report?”) is quoted in John 12:37-38 in reference to Jesus.

Isaiah 53:3 (“He is despised and rejected by men”) finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ (compare John 1:10-11; Luke 19:14; Mark 6:3).

Isaiah 53:4 (“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”) is quoted in Matthew 8:17 in reference to Jesus.

Isaiah 53:5 (“And by His stripes we are healed”) is quoted in 1 Peter 2:24 in reference to Jesus.

Isaiah 53:6 (“All we like sheep have gone astray”) is quoted in 1 Peter 2:25 in reference to the Sacrifice of Jesus.

Isaiah 53:7 (“He opened not His mouth”) was fulfilled in Jesus during His “trial” (Matthew 26:63; 27:12-14), and the passage is directly quoted in Acts 8:32.

Isaiah 53:7 (“He was led as a lamb to the slaughter”) is a clear reference to Jesus Christ (John 1:29, 36)–“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Isaiah 53:8 was fulfilled in its entirety by Jesus Christ. It reads: “He was taken from prison and from judgment… For He was cut off from the land of the living.” It is quoted, in reference to Christ, in Acts 8:33. Our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery,” explains that Jesus’ “arrest” and “trial” were illegal, even under Jewish law at the time, and it shows in what way He was taken “from prison” and from a “just” sentence.

Isaiah 53:9 (“He had done no violence. Nor was any deceit found in His mouth”) was fulfilled in Christ, and even Pilate admitted repeatedly that Jesus was innocent (Mark 15:14; John 18:38; 19:4, 6).

Isaiah 53:9 (“And they made His grave with the wicked–but with the rich at His death”) was fulfilled, even in death, by Jesus Christ, as stated in Matthew 27:57-60. He was placed in the grave of a rich man, while He was meant to be buried or disposed of like any other “criminal” (Luke 23:33) in the fire of the valley of Hinnom–“Gehenna.”

Isaiah 53:9 (“Nor was any deceit in His mouth”) is quoted in 1 Peter 2:22 in reference to Jesus.

Isaiah 53:12 (“And He was numbered with the transgressors”) was fulfilled by Christ in two different ways, compare Mark 15:28 and Luke 22:37. He was numbered with the transgressors because He was crucified as a criminal, together with two criminals, and also, because Peter used His sword to defend Christ at the time of His “arrest.”

Isaiah 53:12 (“And made intercession for the transgressors”) was fulfilled by Christ, as recorded in Luke 23:34.

In addition, there are further passages in Isaiah 53 which find their direct fulfillment in Christ’s first coming.

Isaiah 53:2 said that the “Servant” (Isaiah 52:13) did not have special beauty or comeliness in His appearance as a man. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, looking like an ordinary Jew who had to be identified to the soldiers by Judas Iscariot.

Isaiah 53:3 also predicted that men would despise the “Servant” of God and hide their faces from Him. We read in the New Testament that when Jesus was bleeding on the cross, onlookers, as it were, hid their faces from Him and despised Him (Matthew 27:39). Likewise, even His closest disciples fled from Him (Matthew 26:56), and Peter flatly denied that he knew Him (Matthew 26:75).

As Isaiah 53:5 prophesied that His “chastisement” was for our peace, the New Testament confirms that Jesus Christ fulfilled and fulfills this prophecy (Romans 5:1).

As Isaiah 53:5, 8, 11, 12 pointed out that the Messiah suffered and died for our sins, so the New Testament confirms in various places that Jesus did just that (Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13).

And it is of course well known that Jesus Christ died for our sins and transgressions, and that through His death and life we obtain forgiveness and justification–as this was clearly prophesied to happen in Isaiah 53:8, 10, 11.

In its introduction to Isaiah 53, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible states:

“This chapter foretells the sufferings of the Messiah, the end for which he was to die… the Messiah was to suffer for sins not his own; but that our iniquities were laid on him, and the punishment of them exacted of him… He shows the meekness and placid submission with which he suffered a violent and unjust death, with the circumstances of his dying with the wicked… and that, in consequence of his atonement, death, resurrection, and intercession, he should procure pardon and salvation to the multitudes… and ultimately triumph over all his foes… That this chapter speaks of none but Jesus must be evident to every unprejudiced reader who has ever heard the history of his sufferings and death.”

Why, then, do Jewish commentaries reject the clear meaning of Isaiah 53?

It should be pointed out that not all Jews do or did this. In fact, in ancient times, the Jews understood the passage to apply to the Messiah. The Ryrie Study Bible explains:

“Traditional Jewish interpretation understood the passage to be speaking of the Messiah, as, of course, did the early Christians, who believed Jesus to be the Messiah (Acts 8:35). Not until the 12th century did the view emerge that the NATION ISRAEL is referred to, a view that has since become DOMINANT JUDAISM. But the servant is distinguished from the ‘people’ (Isaiah 53:8). He is an innocent victim, something that could not be said of the nation (53:9).”

Sadly, however, as stated above, Judaism today rejects Isaiah 53 as applying to the Messiah, but teaches that it refers to the JEWISH NATION.

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible states in his introduction to Isaiah 53: “The Jews have endeavored to apply it to their sufferings in captivity…”

The Jewish commentary, Soncino, states this view, as follows:

“The Babylonians, or their representatives, having known the servant, i.e. EXILED ISRAEL IDEALIZED, in his humiliation and martyrdom, and now seeing his exaltation and new dignity, describe their impressions and feelings…”

In line with this thinking, the Soncino commentary “explains away” rather obvious passages in Isaiah 53 in the following “unique” way:

Regarding verse 8 (“He was cut off from the land of the living”), the commentary says: “He was cut off from his homeland by the Babylonians.” Regarding verse 9, referring to “His grave,” the commentary says that this means “the graves of the Jews in exile.”

As the idea is that the “servant” refers to the people of Israel or Judah, passages which refer to the innocence of the “Servant” are interpreted in this way:

“[Regarding verse 9:] On account of his [the people of Israel’s] sufferings he was deemed to be a sinner, and, therefore, classed with them. He was, therefore, OFTEN put to death as a criminal… [Regarding verses 10-12:] The servant’s [the people of Israel’s] patiently borne suffering for other people’s sins will culminate in the spiritual uplift of many and in his own physical or spiritual rejuvenation. He will enjoy a glorious future, offspring, long life, prosperity and influence… [Regarding verse 11:] The servant will live to use his knowledge of God to justify his ways to man…”

These terrible misinterpretations do not only totally reject the saving work of Jesus Christ and with it Jesus Christ Himself, they even apply all what Christ would do FOR the people TO the people. According to their false understanding, it is now the PEOPLE of Israel and Judah–rather than the GOD of Israel and Judah–whom Isaiah is allegedly describing. It is the PEOPLE–NOT GOD–who will bring about the work of salvation!!!

Some who teach that the “servant” refers to the people–and not the individual Messiah–refer as proof to a passage in Isaiah 53:8, which reads, “For the transgression of My people HE was stricken.”

The Jewish Soncino commentary renders the passage as, “For he was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to WHOM the stroke was due.”

The highly unreliable Jewish Tanakh translation renders the English as follows, obscuring the true meaning even more: “For he was cut off from the land of the living, Through the sin of my people, who deserved the punishment.”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explains that the phrase in Isaiah 53:8, “HE was stricken” is to be rendered, literally, as “the stroke upon HIM.” The commentary continues: “[The word for “HIM”] is properly and usually in the PLURAL FORM, and it has been seized upon by those who maintain that this whole passage refers not to one individual but to some collective body, as of the people, or the prophets… as decisive of the controversy… Aben Ezra and Abarbanel… maintain the same thing, and defend the position that it can never be applied to an individual.”

However, after a lengthy discussion, Barnes summarizes: “These considerations show that it is proper to render it in the singular number, and to regard it as referring to an individual.”

The Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary sets forth the rationale for this conclusion, as follows:

“‘…was he stricken’ — Hebrew, ‘the stroke (was laid) upon Him.’ Gesenius says the Hebrew means ‘them’; the collective body, whether of the prophets or people, to which the Jews refer the whole prophecy. But Jerome, the Syriac, and Ethiopiac versions translate it ‘Him’; so it is singular in some passages [compare Psalm 11:7 ‘His’; Job 27:23, ‘Him’; Isaiah 44:15, ‘thereto’ (in the New King James Bible, the word is translated as “to it.’)].”

Another explanation is that, as we explained in our last Q&A on Zechariah 12:10, when Christ was stricken, so was the Father:

“Rather, we need to understand that the Father suffered when Christ suffered. Even though Jesus Christ was pierced, it was God the Father who GAVE His only begotten Son to DIE for the world (John 3:16). We read that the Father was IN the Son (2 Corinthians 5:19). He experienced the Son’s suffering as well. When the Son was pierced, the Father was pierced too in that sense–God the Father who loved the Son felt the pain and suffering of His Son; He suffered WITH Christ; He felt the piercing as Christ did. Today, in the same way, both the Father and the Son feel also our pain and suffering when we go through severe trials (compare 2 Corinthians 1:5).”

But even some of the ancient Jewish commentaries which did understand Isaiah to be speaking of the Messiah–an individual–and not the nation, terribly misunderstood the meaning of the prophecy.

Let us note the following misapplications of some Jewish and other commentaries regarding the “servant,” as described in Isaiah 53.

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible states regarding Isaiah 53:3:

“Mourners covered up the lower part of their faces, and their heads… and lepers were commanded by the law… to cover their upper lip. From which circumstance it seems that the Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, and the Jewish commentators have taken the word nagua, stricken, in the next verse, as meaning stricken with the leprosy.”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds the following in his comments to verse 4:

“‘yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted…’ it was not for any sin of his own, as the Jews imagined, but for the sins of those for whom he was a substitute; they looked upon all his sorrows and troubles in life, and at death, as the just judgment of God upon him for some gross enormities he had been guilty of; but in this they were mistaken… the Jews call the Messiah a leper… ; they say, ‘a leper of the house of Rabbi is his name’, as it is said, ‘surely he hath borne our griefs’… which shows that the ancient Jews understood this prophecy of the Messiah, though produced to prove a wrong character of him…”

The concept that the Messiah was a sinner and that He was punished for His own sins, is, of course, blasphemous. Both Isaiah 53 and the New Testament establish that Jesus Christ was sinless (Hebrews 4:15) and that He suffered and died for OUR sins (Hebrews 9:28)–not for any sins which He had committed. The concept that the Messiah was “a leper” is equally preposterous. Isaiah 53 and the New Testament confirm that the Messiah bore OUR sicknesses; not, that He suffered Himself from sicknesses such as leprosy.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible sheds more light on the Jewish misconceptions regarding the Messiah, when making the following comments regarding Isaiah 53:12:

“‘And he shall divide the spoil with the strong’-… It is language derived from the conquests of the warrior, and means that his victories would be among the great ones of the earth; his conquests over conquerors. It was from language such as this that the Jews obtained the notion, that the Messiah would be a distinguished conqueror, and hence, they looked forward to one who as a warrior would carry the standard of victory around the world…

“Notwithstanding the evidence that it refers to the Messiah, yet it is certain also that the Jews expected no such personage as that here referred to. They looked for a magnificent temporal prince and conqueror; and an impostor would not have attempted to evince the character, and to go through the circumstances… here described. What impostor ever would have attempted to fulfill a prophecy by subjecting himself to a shameful death?…

“We are then prepared to ask an infidel how he will dispose of this prophecy. That it existed seven hundred years before Christ is as certain as that the poems of Homer or Hesiod had an existence before the Christian era; as certain as the existence of any ancient document whatever. It will not do to say that it was forged – for this is not only without proof, but would destroy the credibility of all ancient writings…”

The clear answer is that Isaiah 53 refers to Jesus Christ who, being God, became man to die for our sins. He was brutally tortured, murdered, buried and resurrected. He is acting today as our merciful High Priest, and He WILL return as a conquering hero, as many New Testament Scriptures confirm (compare Revelation 19:11-16).

There is no “salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The time will come when everybody will understand this, and also, that Isaiah prophesied about the true and only Messiah–Jesus Christ. Then, everyone will bow his knee “at the name of Jesus,” confessing that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

What does the Bible teach about the "spirit in man"? Is that human spirit the same as an immortal soul?

The Bible does indeed teach that every human being has a spirit, but that spirit is neither immortal nor a soul.

I. The Spirit in Man

We discuss the biblical concept of the “spirit in man” extensively in our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–a Fairy Tale for Adults”.

In this Q&A, we are quoting the following excerpts:

“Most people know nothing about the existence of the spirit in man—even many religious people—lay persons and theologians alike. When they read passages in the Bible describing the spirit in man, they assume the Bible is talking about the soul. But the soul is not a non-physical component of the human being. The soul, according to the Bible, is totally physical. The Bible does not teach the concept of an immortal soul. Rather, we read in Ezekiel 18:4, ‘The soul who sins shall die.’ The word ‘soul’ in the Bible refers to the living body of both man and animals…

“In the book of Isaiah we are told that each human being has a spirit within him. ‘Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it…’ (Isaiah 42:5).

“We also learn that God sometimes influences man’s spirit for His purpose. We could say that God inspires or motivates a person by ‘stirring up’ the spirit in that person. Note 1 Chronicles 5:25-26, ‘And they [Israel] were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria…He carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into captivity.’

“Another example is found in 2 Chronicles 21:16-17, ‘Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians…And they came into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives.’

“Later, when God saw to it that His word and promise would be fulfilled to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem and the temple, He inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue a decree, permitting the Jews who were captured in Babylon, to return to Jerusalem. Both 2 Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 1:1 record what exactly happened. ‘Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.”‘ Even King Cyrus realized that God had influenced his spirit to make this proclamation.

“But the work of rebuilding the destroyed temple progressed very slowly. There was a lack of leadership to motivate the people to accomplish the task at hand. Let’s read how God intervened, in Haggai 1:4, ‘So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua…and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.’

“The Bible strongly indicates that God gives the human spirit at the time of conception, and then takes it back at the time of death. We read in Zechariah 12:1, ‘Thus says the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.’ Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, ‘Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.’ When the spirit in man leaves a person, that person is dead. James 2:26 says, ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also’…

“Understand though, that when a man dies and his spirit returns to God, that spirit does not continue to live consciously, apart from the body. Rather, God ‘stores’ it, so to speak, in heaven, until He unites it at the time of the resurrection of man with a new spiritual or physical body. The concept that man’s soul is immortal is as wrong as the concept that man’s spirit continues to live consciously after death…

“Note Ecclesiastes 9:4-6, ‘But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope… For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing…Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished…’ And verse 10, ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.’ In other words, there is no conscious activity after a person dies. The spirit does not continue in the realm of consciousness…

“The spirit in man records all the human characteristics of the person, as well as his or her outward appearance. At the time of the resurrection, the spirit of the dead person is combined with a new body of the dead person. This means, all the experiences and memories and ideas of the former life are back in the resurrected individual, and the resurrected person will also look the same way he or she did in their former life…

“When a person dies, his body returns to dust. But the spirit of man in him has recorded the appearance of the person, the personality, the personal attributes, and God gives the spirit of that person back into the newly created physical body.

“Let’s read Luke 8:49-55, ‘While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher. But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid, only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James and John, and the father and the mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately’…

“One of the writers of the Psalms, Asaph, also understood that it was the spirit within him that motivated him to think and gave him intelligence. He says in Psalm 77:6, ‘I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.’ King Solomon, who wrote the books of Proverbs, likewise confirmed that it is the spirit in man that grants human understanding and is responsible for self-awareness. He says in Proverbs 20:27, ‘The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.’ The New Jerusalem Bible renders this verse, ‘The human spirit is the lamp of Yahweh—searching the deepest self’…

“Paul says in Romans 8:14-16, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God [the Holy Spirit], these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear [a reference here to Satan, the god and spirit of this world], but you received the Spirit of adoption [or better, sonship] by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit [God’s Holy Spirit] Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’

“Paul speaks very clearly about two spirits—the spirit of man and the Holy Spirit. Notice in 1 Corinthians 2:11 and 14, ‘For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God… But the natural man [a person who does have the spirit of man, but who does not have the Holy Spirit of God] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.'”

As mentioned, each person has a human spirit which God gives to each human, apparently at the time of conception, and which goes back to God in heaven when the person dies. This spirit is not the person, nor is it immortal or eternal, nor does it have a conscious existence when the person dies.

It is THAT spirit in man which God uses when He resurrects the person from the dead. In this context, we must understand that converted Christians, who have ALSO received God’s HOLY SPIRIT in addition to the human spirit, will be resurrected to eternal life, while unconverted humans will be resurrected at a later time to PHYSICAL life. For more information on the resurrections and the function of the human spirit in that process, please read our Q&A’s on the “three resurrections” and the misunderstood concept of the so-called “bodily” resurrection.

II. The Soul

As mentioned in the quotes above, pertaining to the “spirit in man,” the human spirit is not identical with the soul. In fact, the Bible distinguishes between soul and spirit–but neither is immortal. We are setting forth pertinent excerpts regarding the New Testament teaching of the mortality of the soul from our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”:

“The Greek word translated as ‘soul’ in the New Testament Scriptures is ‘psyche’… As in the Old Testament, we find proof in the New Testament that animals are called ‘souls’ and that those souls can die. Revelation 8:9 states, ‘And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.’ The word for ‘creatures’ is ‘psyche’ in the Greek. So we could say, ‘The souls in the sea that had life, died.’ Although men are included, the primary emphasis here is on sea animals.

“Revelation 16:3 applies the word again to sea animals. Notice, ‘And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea’…

“The New Testament also reveals that people are souls. Souls are not something within the people—rather, souls are people. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, when talking about the resurrection from the dead, Paul quotes from the book of Genesis, telling us what man is and how man came into existence. We read, ‘And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul [‘psyche’].” But this living soul, as well as all other living souls since Adam, died, and have to be made alive again (cp. v. 22). They have to be ‘raised up’ (vv. 35, 42)…

“In the 18th chapter of Revelation, the commercial side of the modern city of Babylon is described. In Verse 13, some of the items are listed with which modern merchants will trade, ‘…And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls [‘psyche’] of men.’ We see that they will trade with people—not only with slaves, but also with ‘free’ men. They are not trading with some immortal element within the men…

“Note, too, Revelation 18:14, ‘And the fruits that thy soul [‘psyche’] lusted after are departed from thee.’ Again, the soul is equated with lusts for physical food, and with special feelings. It is the person, of course, who has those desires and feelings, but special emphasis is given to the psychological aspect of a person here, describing it as the ‘soul.’ (Interestingly, the English word ‘psychological’ is, in fact, derived from the Greek word ‘psyche.’)

“When these psychological aspects are to be emphasized, the word ‘soul’ is sometimes used in combination with other human aspects—but this does not make the ‘soul’ an immortal element or entity within the man… We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, ‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit [Greek ‘pneuma’] and soul [Greek ‘psyche’] and body [Greek ‘soma’] be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

“In dividing the person into three aspects or ‘components,’ Paul did not address the issue as to whether some of the aspects were mortal or immortal. Rather, the ‘spirit’ of the person describes his mind [the human spirit or spirit in man], the ‘body’ describes his physical flesh, and the ‘soul’ describes his ‘temporary physical life.’ The Christians were asked to preserve blameless their minds, bodies and lives…

“We read in Acts 15:26, ‘Men… have hazarded their lives [‘psyche’] for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is clearly a reference to physical life—it could not refer to any immortal soul, as the idea of an eternal soul within the person would of course not allow that the person could endanger his or her ‘immortal soul’ by standing up for Jesus Christ—quite the opposite would be the case…

“Let’s notice what Matthew 10:28 does say: ‘And fear not them which kill … the body [‘soma’], but are not able to kill… the soul [‘psyche’]: but rather fear him which is able to destroy… both soul [‘psyche’] and body [‘soma’] in hell [‘gehenna’]’… We need not fear man who can only kill us, taking away our physical lives. That is all man can do—man cannot prevent God from resurrecting us from death to give us life again. Instead, we must fear God, who not only can take away our physical lives, but who can also throw us—both ‘body and soul’—into ‘hell’ [‘gehenna’], taking away our opportunity for eternal life…

“The word ‘gehenna’ and the very concept of it are derived from the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem in which the corpses of dead people, mainly criminals, would be burned up. It is another expression for the ‘lake of fire’ in Revelation 20:15, in which all who have acted wickedly, and who have refused to repent, will be thrown into, to be burned up or ‘devoured.’ (Remember that Hebrews 10:27… tells us that the wicked wait for God’s fiery indignation that will ‘devour’ them.)…

“Those who sin deliberately, willfully and maliciously, God will resurrect to physical life to throw them—their physical body and their soul or their ‘life’—into ‘gehenna’ or the lake of fire (Revelation 20:13–15; 21:8). They won’t burn there forever—rather, they will be burned up. They are the ‘chaff,’ that will be ‘burned up’ with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12)—that is, no human can quench it… they ‘shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up… that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.’ (Malachi 4:1). They will become ashes under the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:3); it will be as if they had never existed (Obadiah 16).”

In conclusion, the spirit in man is not the soul, but it is residing IN the human soul and body, and it goes back to God when the soul dies–when the temporary physical LIFE ends–and when the body–the physical flesh–ceases to function and begins to decay.

When the soul dies–when physical life ends–and when the body begins to decay, what happens to the “spirit in man,” which goes back to God when man dies? God will use it in the process of the resurrection of the person–He will use the spirit in man to create new–spiritual or physical–bodies. But while beings with spiritual bodies will live forever, beings with physical bodies will be subject to death–they will only be given a temporary existence. While many physical human beings will fulfill their potential and will be ultimately changed into spirit beings, some will commit the unpardonable sin and die the second death in the “gehenna” fire. They will never become immortal, but they will be destroyed and annihilated. What will then happen to their human spirit? This question will be addressed in the next Q&A.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

©2025 Church of the Eternal God
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.