The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-03-01
ter than he knew? Are we wiser
than our Master?

e--C ~1RooAASSy eAC1S1 AOS LOOOAoCN
in the Gospels. Peter, on the day
Of Penticost, Acts ii, %, says
f'Jesus of Nazareth, a man approx.
ed Of God, and Acts e, 50, -sHheEe.
fore being by the right hand Of God
exalted and having received from
the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit )" and in the same chapter
36V, 9GOd hath asGde that same
Jesus both Lord and Ghrist.s Acts
iii, ~, Peter speaking of Jesus, says
"For Noses truly sale to the Faith.
ers, "A Prophet will the Lord your
God raise up to you, of your 6reth.
rem, hksmea" Stephen, the proto-
| martyr, just before death, exclaims
Acts vii, Sc, Behold, sec the hea-
vens opened and the Son of Man
standing It thu right hand Of Goa
Paul says, Acts xiii, %, "Of this
mans (David's) offspring, hath God.
according to his promise, raised up
to Israel, . Savior Jesus." A favor
ite benediction Of Paul. Is: Grace
be to you from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ" James
writes. CHI. !, v. I, @James, q servant
of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
John writes, LIST John, ii, l, eve
have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous" and
CHI. ', I, "Whoever belieyeth that
esus Is the Christ is bern of God
James 4, 1. writes To them that
are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Jesus Christ"
Acts xviii, IS, 'tHe (God) will judge
the world in righteousness by that
man, whom he hath ordained"
Romans v, Is, Tho gift by grace,
by one man Jesus Christ hath
abounded to many" 1 Cor. XIV,
81, "For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection
of the dead" I Cor. viii, 6, 'To us
there Is but one God, the Father"
Rom. viii, q, ''Jesus, the first born
among many brethren" that Is The
Son Of God. From all the writ
ings of Christ's disciples, we thus
gather abundant evidence that they
never entertained the idea of a God
man, nor called Jesus God. The
Apostles speak of Jesus as a man,
and are careful to distinguish be-
tween him and God. Jude calls the
Father God, but Jesus the Christ
Not only does Jesus never call
himself God and claim the attri-
butes of Deity, but the Apostles
after his death make no such claim,
and it was not until the year 1926
A. D., at the council of Nice, that
such a doctrine was pronounced
Orthodox. And then at the insti-
CATION of Athanasius, and through
the power of the African church !;
which was largely Influenced by the
Egyptian idea of a God man, whom
the Egyptian priests worshipped.
Jesus Is called Christ, or the Mes
siah this epithet we find frequent
ly in the Old Testament applied to
future Savior. What do the pro-
phets say of this Messiah? That
God will send man, specially en-
dowed, prophet of great power,
who shall establish the kingdom of
heaven. They never IL this Mes
siah God. Such conception was
abhorrent to Monotbeists, strict as
were and are the Jews. The Mes
siah was a divinely empowered
man. But where does Jesus say
that the prophets had wrong con-
ception of the Messiah? Nowhere.
SUCH being the idea implied by the
word Messiah, a divSle man, and
the Jews believing that God could
not be seen in bodily form. If
Jesus were God, if the Apostles be-
lieved him to be God, why do we
not find plain teaching OF a doc
trine which the Jews would never
willingly have accepted? Because
Jesus was not God. No other an
swer can be given.
But in the first chapter of Johns
Gospel we read: Sin the beginning
was the word and the word was
with God, and the wOrd was God,
and the word became flesh and
dwelt among u.s." What sense has
this passage, if we read, ''In the be-
ginning was God, and God was
with God, and God was God" as
Trinitarians must translate it if
Christ Is God. Logos translated
word, had at that time awelis de-
fined meaning, viz: the manifest
ing power, referring to the attribute
of Deity, by which he reveals him
self, translated in the Old Tesla
ment the wisdom of God. evils
dom was with God. and was God"
When we study the FIRST chapter of
John In the light afforded By mod
ern research, and learn, what was
the well.establlshed meaning of
Logoa, understood by ell to whom
the Gospel was addressed, we be-
come convinced that this Logos was
no person, but the revelation of
God, which was manifested in
Jesus. Trinitarian scholars admit
that no argument for the Deity OF
Christ can be founded upon this
passage.
But Jesus says: 81 and my Faith
er are one." In John xvii, q, Jesus
prays to the Father, aAs thou Faith
er art in me, and l in thee, that they
may be one in US, that they may be
one, even as we are one" Here
Jesus very clearly explains what he
means by oneness with God; it is a
spiritual union, the result of ODE
dience, in which the Disciples could
share. Were the disciples God?
But Jesus worked miracles, there
fore he must have bean God So
did other religious tsachsrs, 90 did
the prophets, so have saints In the
Catholic church, so do meE to-day.
II the power of working miracles
is proof of Deity then the men,
who perform the -ssme wonders
that Jesus performed, aud do them
before our very eyes, are God.
But Jesus was miraculously born.
Does this mean that the body OF
Jesus was God3 This cannot be,
for flesh Is flesh, matter is matter,
aud God cannot convert matter into
spirit, being limited by the laws,
which he has established. Jesus,
we read, was born of q virgin, SO
were some Of the heroes Of Greece,
an vZaa KhFfahua an Vyaa Maharahs.