Oneness Pentecostalism

(1) Sources for the interpretation of "Angel of the LORD" as "the Word of God" The "Angel of the LORD" appeared to Hagar, and was identified as YHWH God. The Jerusalem Targum reads: "She prayed in the name of the Word of YHWH that had spoken to her: the God who sees me..." (Jerusalem Targum, Genesis 16:3) This is one of several dozen examples where the Angelic appearance of God in the Old Testament is called "the Word" in the Targums. Philo echoed this interpretation: "But Hagar fled out of shame. And a proof of this is that the angel—that is the word of God—met her with the intention to tell her what she should do, and to guide her in her return to her mistress's house." (Philo On Flight and Finding From: The Works of Philo Judaeus: The contemporary of Josephus. Translated By Charles Duke Yonge 1854-1890 Public Domain.) Philo also wrote: "we must understand this, that he on that occasion took the place of an angel, as far as appearance went, without changing his own real nature, for the advantage of him who was not, as yet, able to bear the sight of the true God; for as those who are not able to look upon the sun itself, look upon the reflected rays of the sun as the sun itself, and upon the halo around the moon as if it were the moon itself; so also do those who are unable to bear the sight of God, look upon His Image, His Angel-Word as Himself." (61:238-23916) "I believe I understand your point of argument now. God existed to two beings, human and Divine. But He was never fully human." I never said that Jesus "never was fully human." Where do you get that from my words. He was God who became fully human, inhabiting or using a human brain as any man to experience a conscious human life. "A consciousness of God inhabited Christ but God Himself never fully was man." I never said this either. And, it appears that you interpret my words to mean that before the incarnation, God projected Himself into a separate angelic being permanently and existed in a separate consciousness, which entered Christ. This is a hyper interpretation of my words. I never said, neither do I believe this. However, the tradition of Philo and the Targums that the image of God formed man from the dust of the earth must be correct, because God is Spirit and He dwells outside of this universe. In order for God to appear on the earth, He must have appeared in His image inside of creation to form man from the dust of the earth. Philo also wrote: "Now the image of God is the Word, by which all the world was made" (41:81) God did not exist in two consciousnesses until He became a man. The Angel of the LORD that existed in the Old Testament was either a Theophany (a temporary manifestation of God) or the immutable God used the glorified Christ to represent His glory on the earth throughout all times. If Einstein's theory of time is correct, God could accomplish this feat. Yet, whether this occurred or not, the Apostle Paul believed that the ascension of Christ took Him to the "immutable beginning and ending"—the presence of God Himself. I asked you previously whether ancient Jews and Greeks believed that God and heaven always exist before and after all things. Kittle's Theological Dictionary proves that this is the case: "As the Creator and Consummator God is the eternal One. His eternal being stretches beyond the time of the world. He is from eternity to eternity ...Before the world was created, He was (ψ 89:2); and when heaven and earth have vanished, He will be ...Thus the unending eternity of God and the time of the world, which is limited by its creation and conclusion, are contrasted with one another. Eternity is thought of as unending time—for how else can human thought picture it?—and the eternal being of God is represented as pre-existence and post-existence9." (Kittle's Volume 1:201-202) God always exists as the beginning and ending. For this reason, the Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus "IS" before all things IN THE PRESENT TENSE: Colossians 1:17 17 And he is [present tense] before all things, and by [in, with dative means at, near or among] him all things consist. Paul wrote that Jesus IS before all things. In the Greek, this is in the present indicative case. When a word is in the present indicative case in the Greek, it means that the one writing or making the statement is describing something that is occurring at the time the statement is being made. This means that Paul believed that the resurrected Son of Man dwelt "before all things" as he wrote these words. The only way that this is possible is if he believed as all Jews of his day believed. This is that heaven always exists before all things—and Jesus (God incarnate in human flesh) ascended into heaven! Therefore, He is the image of God that was present with God in the beginning, in Genesis 1:26 and John 1:1—which used the term "Word"—which means "image"! For this reason, we read that before the incarnation, Jesus was in God's "form" (the verse in Philippians you quoted: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" This describes "Christ Jesus" as the one who was "being in the form of God." In the Greek, this phrase is in the present tense, which means "subsisting." This means that Christ continues to exist in the "form of God." Some Greek dictionaries try to interpret the word "Form" to mean "inner essence." Kittle's and Thayer's disagree with them. They say for means "what strikes the vision." The Septuagint proves that this is correct, the word morphe is used for idols, which have no "inner essence." Therefore, "form" means "image." And, because the Son of Man ascended into heaven, and was raised up in a body similar to the angels of God, he is the "image" with God in the beginning! We also read that this "image" "thought it not robbery to be equal with God." In the Greek, this means that "equality with God was not something to be" "stolen" or "grasped." This means that God's image or form could not grasp equality with God. Of course, God existing as a glorified man was in a state of being billions of times lesser than the omnipotent, omniscient Spirit of God. In the words that follow, Paul identifies Christ with the angel of the LORD when He wrote: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: In this verse, the word "made" means "to copy." This is different than the incarnation, which Paul describes in the verse that follows. Since Paul wrote that the Rock that followed Israel was Christ, he identified the Messiah, the Son of Man with the angel of the LORD. This is consistent with numerous Jewish texts that teach this concept. It was obviously a tradition that the apostle embraced. "Jesus ‘CHOSE" to become this. Did the alter consciousness of God chose to do this? Or did the Image of God decide?" Again, I do not believe that God projected Himself into a different angelic consciousness before the incarnation, but that God really became a man, and therefore existed in a separate human consciousness in the Son of Man, who was transformed into a new creation, and ascended into heaven, which always exists before all things. The passage you quoted in Revelation simply shows a distinction between God as Spirit and God incarnate in human flesh. The term "Lamb" means "Son of Man" not "God the Son" because only a man can give His blood. However, you stopped quoting too soon. We read: Revelation 5:12 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. The Lamb RECEIVED power, wisdom and strength. God apart from the incarnation does not need to RECEIVE wisdom—because He has it all! Only in the form of a man did God need to RECEIVE wisdom, because a human mind cannot hold it all!