Jesus’ Favorite Creed

Do you have a favorite creed? Maybe you like the Nicene Creed best of all and recite it every Sunday in church. Or do you prefer the Apostles’ Creed? Lots of Christians like the Apostles’ Creed and it is easily one of the all time top creeds. And who could ignore the Athanasian Creed? Wow! It’s such an impressive creed with serious heft and real teeth. The Athanasian Creed says you better start thinking about God like Athanasius decreed or you will be lost and damned! That may sound harsh but according to the Athanasian Creed it’s just the way things are. Perhaps the disciples of Athanasius should properly be called Athanasians instead of Christians. If the words of Athanasius can decide your salvation they might be even more important than the words of Jesus! Have you ever wondered if Jesus has a favorite creed?

Jesus Has a Favorite Creed!

It turns out that Jesus has a favorite creed too. It is pretty straightforward really. “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is one LORD!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The ancient Jewish Shema was deeply upsetting to proponents of the trinity! They preferred, “The Lord your God is Three and One”. In spite of all the church councils over the centuries no one has ever figured out a way to get rid of that pesky old Shema once and for all. In spite of the decisions of church councils and human governments throughout history, Jesus was (and is) so committed to the truth of the Shema that it formed the basis of what He declared was the greatest commandment of all.

Jesus’ Personal Creed Was Outlawed by Rome!

Like a lot of things He said, Jesus’ favorite creed caused some serious controversy. As a result, Jesus’ personal creed was outlawed by Rome! The Justinian Codex or Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) banned the Shema in 529 AD because it was deemed much too Jewish. Unfortunately Jesus’ creed also implied criticism of the Trinity… so it had to be banned under penalty of death. Strangely enough, Christ’s adversaries on this issue still claimed to be His disciples! The prohibition against the Shema was written into Roman law during the reign of Justinian I thereby overruling the clear will of the Savior. We think promoting trinitarian dogma by outlawing Jesus’ favorite creed (at the point of a sword) doesn’t seem like God’s way at all… but it does seem like something Satan would approve of. As Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.”

PS: I suppose Justinian’s prohibition against the Shema made a lot of sense to the emperor and to the trinitarian bishops who ruled the state church. It doesn’t make much sense to the rest of us though. Now that you know this interesting bit of history why not share it with your friends? They should know about it too. Thanks and God Bless.

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The LORD Said Unto My Lord…

Has Psalm 110 Been Hacked?

Psalm 110 is a familiar but poorly understood scripture about the coming Messiah, and Trinitarian commentators have had a field day with its meaning. Jesus Himself quoted it to confound and silence His opponents. (Luke 20:42-44) Here’s how it reads in our English Bibles, “The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Psalm 110) In Hebrew it reads “YHWH said to Adawn…” translated “Adonai said to my Adoni….” Our English translations replace YHWH and Adonai with “LORD” and replace Adawn and Adoni with “Lord”. This might have pleased them but it doesn’t really give the reader a good idea of what is going on in this verse. We wonder, has Psalm 110 been hacked? Let’s take a minute and sort it out.

Adonai is Used Exclusively for God the Father

The conversation in Psalm 110 is between two distinct beings. One Being is God the Father and the other is His Christ. One Being is divine and the other is human. There is no question or debate that YHWH applies exclusively to God the Father. Likewise Adonai is used exclusively for God the Father. So far so good.

Adoni is Used for Human Superiors

There is another word, however, that describes human lords and superiors. It is the word Adoni and it is never used to describe God Himself. Understanding the distinction between Adonai and Adoni will help you make good Biblical sense out of the phrase “The LORD said to my Lord”. This is not complicated but it is important! The man Jesus Christ is our Adoni but He is not Adonai. He is our Lord but He is not LORD. What emerges from this is a clear understanding that Jesus Christ, the Son of God is a man. Our Savior came in the flesh and He is one of us. Jesus is God’s Anointed One and God’s only begotten Son, the Christ. He is our Brother and Master and Lord but He is not God.

Psalm 110 Reveals the Mystery of God and Christ

Jesus never claimed to be God but He did claim to be the Christ. Psalm 110 reveals the Mystery of God and Christ. “For us there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5) We don’t have to resort to the tortured logic of trinitarian philosophy to make sense of this! We honor and exalt Jesus as God’s unique agent on our behalf and for what He has done for us. “For God has made him both Lord and Christ”. (Acts 2:36) “For us there is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ…” (I Cor 8:6) Well dear friend, there you have it. Psalm 110 sheds light on the mystery of God and Christ, Jesus is not God, Jesus is Lord!

PS: God surely intended for us understand his Word. This seems at odds with the work of many theologians and translators but we are convinced God will eventually have His way! If this post has helped you see things more clearly please share it with a few friends. God Bless.

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Will He Find Faith?

“When the Son of Man returns will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) This enigmatic question sounds a little surprising to us since there are about 2.5 billion believers in the world today. Still, Jesus posed this question to His disciples so there must be something to it. What exactly did He mean? Was He wondering if anyone would still believe in Him when He returns? Did He wonder if people would eventually lose their ability to have any faith at all? Or was He wondering if the “faith that was once delivered to the saints” would still be around?

What Will Believers Choose to Believe?

We proclaim a simple faith in the God of Israel and His only begotten human Son Jesus Christ the Messiah. This is assuredly the “faith that was once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) Still, we wonder “Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) What will believers choose to believe in the days before Jesus returns? We know there is One God and there is no other God beside Him. Jesus made it clear that this knowledge of God was the first and greatest commandment given to Israel. “Hear O Israel! The Lord your God is One Lord.” (Mark 12:29) This is emphatically and exclusively true in spite of the overwhelming influence of a theological tradition that insists otherwise. Should we believe the words of Jesus that God is One or should we choose an opposing vision that claims God is Three and One?

This is Eternal Life

The Gospel of John records this statement of Jesus, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) This verse reveals that knowing and believing in One God and His only begotten Son is somehow linked to eternal life. Could it be that trinitarian theology is an unfortunate departure from what Jesus taught? Many believers think these words of Jesus hold the answer but you’ll just have to decide for yourself.

PS: Perhaps God is leading you to a better understanding of Himself and His beloved Son. We sure hope so! If these thoughts help you see Him more clearly why not share this post with a friend? That way God can bless both of you.

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High Minded Nonsense

Jesus’ identity and His relationship to God has gotten confusing thanks to the work of men we commonly call “Church Fathers.” These philosopher/theologians left us a ruinous legacy of unscriptural language and ideas in the heady and high-minded nonsense they promoted. Here is something that will help you see things a little more clearly. Unbiblical teachings are essentially anti-biblical because they replace Biblical truths. There is nothing benign about unbiblical doctrines and understanding this is liberating! The Trinity is not only unbiblical, the trinity is anti-biblical and it does not deserve your allegiance.

The Words of Jesus Are Wonderfully Clear

Jesus declared that heaven and earth would pass away but His words would never pass away. The words of Jesus are wonderfully clear and understandable! They tell us that there is one God, the Father and that Jesus Himself is God’s only begotten Son, the Christ (Anointed One). This agrees completely with what Jesus said was the first and greatest commandment, “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord!”

The Fabric of Trinitarian Thought

The fabric of Trinitarian thought is woven together with the obscure vocabulary and impossibly confusing notions of Greek philosophy. The so-called “Church Fathers” used their mastery of Platonic philosophy to create a Trinitarian vision of God that the Church ultimately swallowed hook, line and sinker. It is a great tragedy that a Platonic vision of God has replaced the clear teachings of Jesus Christ. Declaring that God is One Essence in Three “Persons” stands in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ who stated emphatically that God is One.

The Trinity is Anti-Biblical

Look in the scriptures yourself. Can you find any support at all for ideas like an essence or substance of God… as if He is made of some eternal spiritual stuff? Do you see words like homouousious on the pages of God’s eternal word? Can you discover the words created for the Trinity like Triune, Co-equal Persons, Trinity, hypostasis or hypostatic union in the Bible? We can’t either. Yet these are the teachings that hold sway in the Body of Christ. These profoundly unbiblical notions have largely replaced the teachings of Jesus who once said “In vain they worship me, teaching the traditions of men” The verdict is in and the ruling is clear. Not only is the trinity un-biblical, the trinity is anti-biblical.

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The Man Christ Jesus

If Jesus Isn’t God….

“If Jesus isn’t God…. are you saying He is just a man?” The Trinitarian view of God insists that Jesus is a divine “person” who has existed from all eternity. We think this idea rules out any chance of Him being truly human like the rest of us. (I haven’t existed from eternity and none of my friends have either). We are saying that “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5-6) Our mortal lives begin at birth and end at death. If Jesus was truly one of us He should have followed the same pattern… and He did! His mortal life began with His birth in Bethlehem and ended when He was crucified on Calvary. Jesus then revealed a gloriously new pattern of life and death when He rose from the dead. Now He invites us to share in His immortality!

Jesus Christ is Unique Among Men

Skeptics dismiss Christian belief by saying, “The Bible is just a book filled with myths and stories that aren’t really true.” Most Christians believe that although the Bible is indeed a book it is much more than “just a book”. Calling the Bible “just a book” implies that the Bible is simply one book among many and no different than all the rest. We affirm that the Bible is indeed a book, but not just a book! It is a unique book, in a class by itself and distinct in its anointing from all others… and we can say the very same thing about our Savior. Jesus Christ is unique among men. He is in a class by Himself; sinless, perfect and distinct in his anointing from all others… but he is still thoroughly and completely a man. He was most definitely one of us but He is not “just a man”.

Jesus is the Christ of God, the Anointed One

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. The Father called Him “My Beloved Son” (NOT “My partner in the Godhead”). Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Light of the World. No other man “ever spake like this man!” He raised the dead, walked on water and stilled a tempest with His words! He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We know Him as the Good Shepherd, our High Priest and the Great Physician. Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Kinsman Redeemer, and He is our brother. He is the Christ of God, the Anointed One. Today He is exalted and sits at the right hand of God and yes… He was a man, but fortunately for us He was not “just a man”.

PS: Jesus is no less than the very Christ of God! This is who He claimed to be and this is what God revealed to the Apostle Peter. Jesus declared He would build His church on the rock of this simple truth. He never claimed to be more than Christ and most definitely never claimed to be God Himself. Please don’t be offended by this! If Jesus was content to declare Himself to be the Christ we should be content to believe Him.

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