The Christadelphian Instructor/Concerning Christ

41. Who was Jesus Christ? Answer: Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

Proof:

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matt. 3:17).

Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? (John 10:36).

Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (John 1:49).

And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. (Mark 15:39).

And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. (John 1:34).

42. Was Jesus Christ a man, as well as the Son of God?

Answer: Yes, he was a man also, made in all things like unto ourselves, yet without sin.

Proof:

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (Acts 2:22).

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Tim. 2:5).

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: (Acts 13:38).

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Heb. 2:17).

43. How was Jesus Christ both man and the Son of God? Answer: Because he was begotten of a human virgin-mother by the power of the Spirit of God, and not by a human father. Mary, a damsel descended from David, and betrothed to Joseph, also a descendant of David, was his mother; and God was his father. So that on his father's side he was the Son of God, and on his mother's side he was the son of David, and, therefore, a man partaking of David's nature, which was the nature common to all.

Proof:

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (Matt. 1:20).

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35).

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matt. 1:1).

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Gal. 4:4).

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philip. 2:8).

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15).

44. Was Jesus both divine and human then? Answer: He was human as to the substance of which he was made; but divine as to the source from which he came; the Spirit from which he derived his wisdom; and the pattern of the character which he possessed.

Proof:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Heb. 2:14).

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38).

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40).

And the Word was made 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. (John 1:14).

45. Was there a connection between Jesus and the Father that does not exist between God and other men? Answer: Yes. Jesus and the Father were one by the Spirit, which, proceeding from the Father, embraced them both. God was thus in Christ, and Christ was thus the manifestation of God: which things cannot be said of any other man.

Proof:

I and my Father are one. (John 10:30).

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:9-10).

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:19).

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Tim. 3:16).

46. Was Jesus a God co-equally and co-eternally distinct from the Father, as Trinitarianism teaches? Answer: The man Christ Jesus, begotten of the Father and endowed immeasurably with His spirit, was distinct from the Father, though one with Him in the sense expressed in the last answer. But as to co-equality and co-eternity, these are ideas that owe their existence to the speculations and disputations of Church theologians in the third and fourth centuries. They do not belong to the New Testament system of doctrine concerning Christ. This system teaches that the divinity in Christ was the Father who fills heaven and earth by His Spirit. Christ disowned co-equality with the Father; and co-eternity is impossible in a son.

Proof:

The passages quoted under answers 41-45, also the following:

I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. (John 8:18).

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:11).

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. (John 14:28).

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Cor. 11:3).

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28).