Subject: Proverbs 3:5 |
Bible Note: Hi Richard, I think you make some very good points and I just joined this forum and noticed the following rule that we agreed to follow, it says: You must abide by the following rules in connection with your use of the Forums: * Postings must be Biblically based and not opposing the Bible's sole authority (sola Scriptura), Christianity, or the deity of Jesus Christ. So, if "deity of Jesus" is here understood as being Jesus as the "Almighty God", then rule number one would be broken if we post otherwise. But if "deity of Jesus" means what Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon says, ""the Greek word "thei o tes" means “divine nature, divinity.”" (P. 788) then there is a basis for rendering "thei o tes" as referring to the quality of being a god (mighty one, Gr. theos), not the person of Almighty God. The Bible shows us at John 5:18, Revised Standard: “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.” It was the unbelieving Jews who reasoned that Jesus was trying to make himself equal with God by claiming God as his Father. While referring to God as his Father, was Jesus claiming equality with Almighty God? Well, what he next says to the Jews might make that clear, he says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” (John 5:19) It was those unbelieving Jews, too, who claimed that Jesus broke the Sabbeth, but they were wrong also about that. Jesus kept the Law perfectly, and he said: “It is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” Jehovah's Witnesses certainly believe in the deity of Jesus Christ just as Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon defines it because of what Jesus himself next says in verse 19 of John chapter 5; "... Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing." I hope we all are blessed by God for "searching" his Word for truth and that includes you Richard. |