Tuesday, January 31, 2012

CHRIST and JEHOVAH, same GOD?

Are Christ and Jehovah one and the same God?

    To begin with, the word "Jehovah" is not the correct rendition of YHWH - the tetragrammaton or the Hebrew word for one of the names of God. The tetragrammaton is never spoken out loud by the Jews, and because it is composed of consonants only, the correct way of pronouncing it has long been forgotten. Whatever it is rendered "Jehovah" or "Yahweh", we firmly believe that it does not refer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
     The conclusion that Christ is God rests the premise that Christ is Jehovah Who appeared before Abraham. Such premise relies on two basic assumptions that are biblically untenable.
     First, others are assuming that the mention of God appearing to Abraham in Genesis 17:1 means that Abraham see God in a flesh as Jesus Christ. However, as have been pointed out, the true God is invisible, which means as clarified by Christ, that God cannot be seen in His form (Jn. 5:37; I Tim. 1:17). The way God manifests Himself to man is by means of His power through the things that He made (Rom. 1:19-20). And so, what Abraham was were the manifestations of God's power and not Christ appearing as true, God or "Jehovah." The belief that Christ as God incarnate is not biblical.
     Second, others are assuming that Christ somehow has pre-existence, yet the Bible teaches otherwise. Christ did not exist during the time of the patriarchs and the prophets; He was not there before He was born (Is. 7:14; Mt. 1:20-24). Hence, Abraham, who lived during the dispensation of patriarchs, could not have seen Christ in the flesh because the promise concerning Christ was not yet fulfilled (Rom. 1:2-3).
     If we were to take the premise that Christ is Jehovah then we would end up with inconsistencies. For example, "Jehovah" is described as the Most High, yet Christ is called the Son of the Highest or the Most High (Ps. 83:18; Lk.1:31-32). How could be such possible if Christ and "Jehovah" were one and the same God? In addition "Jehovah" is God Almighty, yet Christ is not Almighty because He will submit to the Almighty God (Exo. 6:3; I Cor. 15:27-28).
     These biblical verses, and a host of others, prove conclusively that Christ is Himself not God. Christ, therefore, can never be the one true God.
     The teaching of the Bible is very clear, the one and only true God is the Almighty Father in heaven who created all things (Jn. 17:1-3; I Cor. 8:6).
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