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Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201721A
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01:36 >> Dear friend, thank you so much for joining 01:38 "It Is Written Canada." We have been studying 01:43 the very character of God, the essence of His oneness yet 01:49 while being three persons. To help me continue to understand this subject more 01:55 deeply, I want to welcome once again Dr. John Peckham. Dr. Peckham, thank you so much 02:00 for being here today. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Dr. Peckham, we have been 02:04 studying on this very issue of the Trinity, the Godhead, the oneness of God in the 02:14 context of being three persons. >> Mm-hmm. >> The last program, we were 02:18 talking about the divinity of Christ. We see clearly that the Bible 02:23 is abundant in evidence that Jesus was fully divine while being fully human. 02:29 >> Mm-hmm. >> Not only do the Bible writers write about Jesus being 02:32 fully divine and fully human, but we see from the very life of Christ in his actions that 02:38 He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to be God, performed actions that only God could 02:45 perform while yet experiencing the flaws of humanity -- becoming weary, becoming tired, 02:51 becoming thirsty, becoming hungry. Where we were ending, because 02:57 one of the confusing texts and some of the confusing phrases are where the Bible refers 03:04 to Jesus as the firstborn or as the only begotten. We laid out a number of texts 03:14 in our last program where we saw clearly that those phrases are phrases 03:21 that mean something more than being literally the firstborn, 03:26 literally the only born, but have a more in-depth meaning. Let's continue on that. 03:34 Are there some other passages that help us understand more clearly that 03:39 this firstborn means a status, and then, in particular, only begotten would be better 03:48 translated as the only unique one, the one and only unique one? 03:53 >> Yeah. Let's go to 1 John 4 beginning in verse 7. 03:56 The way you've said it is quite correct. 03:57 It's very important to understand that this language, 04:00 even though if it was taken literally, would refer to some 04:04 kind of literal coming into being, is used metaphorically 04:07 or figuratively all over Scripture to refer 04:10 to this particular status. It refers to David. It refers to Abraham's unique, 04:16 one-of-a-kind son, Isaac, even though Isaac wasn't his only son. 04:20 And so this language is consistently used in metaphor speaking of a spiritual 04:25 relationship with God or a particular status or title. >> Okay. 04:30 >> So 1 John 4 is another one of these instances that shows us that we shouldn't take this 04:35 language to be referring to the origin of the Son. 1 John 4 beginning verse 7, 04:41 "Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God, and every one who loves is born 04:48 of God and knows God." >> Mm-hmm. >> Now, what kind of birth is 04:51 that talking about? >> That is talking about the born-again experience that a 04:55 Christian has when they make a decision for Jesus. >> This is what Nicodemus 04:58 stumbled over, right? I mean, he meets Him in John 3, and he says, "Can a man be born 05:01 again?" Jesus talking about a spiritual birth. 05:03 So you see the problem. Nicodemus' problem was taking it overly literally when it's 05:08 referring to a particular kind of being born again. Now, if we keep reading there, 05:13 verse 8 says, "He who does not love does not know God for God is love. 05:18 In this, the love of God was manifest toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son into 05:23 the world that we might live through Him." Now, it's clear in the very 05:28 verse that the language of birth that's being referring to the spiritual birth of those 05:32 who believe in God in verse 7 is not the same kind of status of the one of a kind, this 05:38 monogenes term that we talked about in the last episode. This monogenes really should be 05:46 translated, I think, one of a kind. This is the near consensus 05:50 of New Testament scholars, that it means unique one, one of a kind, uniquely beloved, 05:56 and again, it's a term of the Messiah. And so, in this passage, you 06:00 have these juxtaposed with one another. >> Yes. 06:02 >> You have the spiritual birth of those who become children of God throughout Christ, 06:07 and you have the one who really is the unique Son of God not because he came into being 06:13 but because that is His status as the Messiah, the one who through whom all can 06:18 become children of God, but He's always been God. He's always existed as we've 06:23 seen taught in previous times together. >> So what we see clearly then, 06:28 firstborn, this -- Excuse me. This word used to describe Jesus as the firstborn refers 06:36 to Jesus' status. >> Yes. >> And then we have the phrase 06:42 only begotten, which would be better translated the one and only unique one, the 06:47 one-of-a-kind one, and again, is a reference to Jesus' status, not to Jesus being created 06:58 or literally being born out of God. >> Right, and as you say that, 07:06 it reminds me that some viewers might be asking, "What status is that?" 07:09 We talked very briefly last time about this Davidic covenant. The Son of David was to be the 07:14 Messiah, and that's the status we're talking about, the one who would fulfill the covenant 07:18 that God made with David about the everlasting kingdom that will be ushered in 07:22 by "the Son of David," not David's literal son, a descendant of David through the 07:26 incarnation. That's the status of the firstborn. 07:29 That's the status of the unique Son of God. That is the only one who could 07:34 usher in God's kingdom for eternity. So Christ was born literally 07:38 as a human in the incarnation, but apart from that, he's not born in any literal way. 07:44 This was referring to Him as the fulfillment of that covenant promise of the Messiah 07:49 who would come to usher in a kingdom that will never end. >> And there have been a number 07:53 of statisticians that have done studies taking the breadth of prophecies about the Messiah, 08:00 putting them together, and then putting together the probability 08:05 that one individual could fulfill them, and Dr. Peter Stoner 08:10 is one of the more famous. When you think about -- And he studied -- Not only did he study 08:15 all of them, but he took the probability of just one person fulfilling eight of the 08:19 prophecies, the Messianic prophecies, and the odds of that, I believe if I recall 08:25 correctly, are one to the tenth, 1 times 10 to the 48th power or something like that, which is 08:32 a one with 48 zeros after it. >> Mm-hmm. >> And the challenge with that 08:37 is, is the probability of that happening for one individual is not just a statistical 08:42 improbability. It is a statistical impossibility. 08:46 >> Right. Right. >> Yet, in Jesus, he didn't just fulfill the eight, 08:53 but he fulfilled the over 100 Messianic prophecies, as you said, to fulfill the Davidic 09:00 covenant to bring in and usher in the everlasting covenant. >> Yes. 09:05 >> And so when we think about Jesus' status as the one and only unique one, we understand 09:10 it in that context, that there is no other individual in the history of the humanity or in 09:17 the future of humanity that could fulfill what Jesus fulfilled. 09:21 >> And it would've been understood that way to any native hearer who was familiar 09:25 with the overall flow of the Biblical material from the Old Testament. 09:28 It sounds strange to us in English because it's translated, and we take the terms literally 09:32 initially, not realizing that this is technical language that the New Testament is using 09:36 to signal to all hearers that, "Hey, this is the guy. This is the one whom we've been 09:41 looking for." You remember in John where the disciples say, "Is He the one 09:44 who we're looking for?" >> That's right. >> That's the one, the Son of 09:48 God, the Son of David, who actually is the one who can usher in the kingdom. 09:51 >> Yes, and we see that, and we can spend a lot of time as, while a professor, 09:57 you are also a preacher, and I'm being drawn to Acts chapter 2 in the great sermon of 10:02 Peter where they come to this point where you have these individuals that hear that Jesus 10:08 fulfilled, and then they're left with the question, "What then shall we do?" 10:12 >> Yes. >> And that is the uniqueness of Jesus. 10:16 Now, while I'm very excited about that, I will tell you, there's something that may 10:22 trouble some viewers, though. While Jesus says, "The Father and I are one," while we see 10:28 clearly that Jesus is divinity, that Jesus is one person of the Godhead, Jesus said something 10:37 kind of interesting. While He did say, "The Father and I are one," there are other 10:41 places where Jesus says, "The Father is greater," so how can Jesus and the Father 10:50 be one while the Father is still greater? And how does that play out in 10:56 our understanding of the doctrine of the Godhead? >> Yeah, so as you said, 11:00 in John 14:28, Jesus just says, "The Father is greater than I," and those who have believed and 11:05 taught a belief that's called subordinationism, subordinationism is the belief 11:11 that the Son is less than the Father by nature, have said, "Oh, well, 11:17 that's just a clear case. He just says explicitly, 'I'm less than the Father.'" 11:22 But we need a number of things on the table. We need to understand, first of 11:25 all, I believe the Bible does not contradict itself. >> That's right. 11:29 >> So the Bible doesn't just say where Jesus says, "The Father is greater than I." 11:33 He also says, as you said, "The Father and I are one." Colossians 2:9 also says, 11:39 "In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," and in the same Book of John, 11:45 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," so somehow, 11:49 these things must be true together at the same time. Now, there's a theme throughout 11:55 the New Testament of Jesus being fully God, then lowering himself for us 12:01 and then being re-elevated to His status. That is the narrative, 12:05 the story line of redemption. He's already God. >> Yes. 12:10 >> Then He lowers Himself, and then He's elevated again. We tend to call that 12:16 a functional subordination... >> Okay. >> ...functional meaning he's 12:22 subordinate not in nature or by nature but in the matter of function, right? 12:28 So here in the studio today, or in It is Written ministry rather, you have people who work 12:36 for you in the ministry, right? >> Yes. >> But they are not, by nature, 12:39 less than you. >> No. >> Right? They're equals, 12:42 fellow human beings, but they might be subordinate in the organization, right? 12:47 For a function only... >> That's right. >> ...which doesn't mean that 12:50 they're less than as a matter of nature. The same thing is happening 12:54 in the New Testament. We've already been told that He has the very nature of God. 12:57 He can't be less than by nature. You can't be partly God... >> That's right. 13:02 >> ...by definition if God is a supreme being. He's fully God. 13:06 He becomes less than for a function. What is the function He became 13:10 less than for? The very function we were talking about in the last 13:12 program and we'll talk about again now. Let's go to Philippians 2, 13:17 again, just to make sure that this does not get missed, that I'm not just making up the 13:24 fact that He's already God, and then He lowers Himself, and then He's elevated again. 13:28 This is what we saw in Philippians 2, that He -- Philippians 2 beginning in verse 13:34 6, "He being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." 13:39 It would be robbery if any of us claimed to be equal to God. In fact, that's what the Enemy 13:42 claimed. It starts the entire conflict between the kingdom of God 13:46 and the kingdom of the Enemy. "He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made 13:51 Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant and coming in the likeness of men, 13:57 and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of 14:03 death, even the death of the cross." So He's already God, 14:06 but He doesn't hold on to that, doesn't grasp it. He lowers Himself, 14:11 but then in verse 9, "Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the 14:15 name which is above every name, that, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those 14:20 in Heaven and of those on Earth and of those under the Earth and that every tongue should confess 14:24 that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." So He's fully God. 14:30 He lowers Himself, and then He's elevated again and receives worship, which only God can 14:35 receive. Now, that's not the only place where we see that this is only 14:38 a functional subordination. >> Okay. >> We have both the text that 14:42 we've already seen in previous programs, that Jesus is fully God and that there's no name 14:46 above Him. There's other text that talk about the kingdom being His 14:50 kingdom and having no end, which tells you that He cannot remain just in that subordinate status 14:58 as the Son of God eternally. >> Okay. >> No. 15:01 He's going to be re-elevated to His proper status. Let's go to another verse 15:06 together on this, John 17:5. We've been in John 17 in previous programs. 15:12 Some of your viewers might remember where we talked about the love that was shared between 15:16 the Father and the Son before the foundation of the world. That's in John 17:24, 15:22 but in John 17:5, this is what Jesus prays, and this is Jesus' own prayer. 15:28 He says, "Now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with 15:36 You before the world was," so when Philippians 2 and other texts are talking about the Son 15:43 being exalted after He has accomplished redemption, they're not talking about a new thing, 15:48 about Him receiving glory He didn't have before. John 17:5 explicitly says He is 15:52 to have the glory that He already had previously, right? >> Yes. 15:57 >> You see this, and it must be a temporary functional subordination. 16:02 It's a subordination for the purpose of His ministry as the incarnate Son of God, 16:07 as the Messiah who is to save us once and for all. >> And so, with that then, 16:12 what else do we see? What other places in the Bible do we see that this functional 16:19 subordination and understanding the context of Jesus' statement, "The Father is greater than I"? 16:27 >> Yeah, so let's look at Revelation. Revelation, a couple texts 16:32 there are very significant here to show us that Christ, even after the incarnation, 16:40 is still fully God and still has the authority as the ruler of His kingdom. 16:47 Revelation 22:3, Revelation 22:3, and this is what it says, 16:54 and this is talking about the promises about the age to come, the world to come. 16:58 >> Yes. >> "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God 17:03 and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him." 17:06 The throne of God and of the Lamb. >> Lamb. 17:09 >> It's His throne. >> Yes. >> God's throne is the Lamb's 17:12 throne... >> Yes. >> ...in the eschaton. 17:14 That is in the end times, in the last days, in the new Earth. It is His throne, the Lamb's 17:19 throne, which tells you He's not in a subordinate state anymore. >> That's right. 17:22 >> He is the second person of the Trinity. It is His throne. 17:27 Earlier in the same Book of Revelation, Revelation 11:15, Revelation 11:15, 17:37 "Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in Heaven saying, 'The kingdoms of 17:41 this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign 17:46 forever and ever,'" which tells you that He's re-elevated, and His kingdom continues forever. 17:54 There's no end to the kingdom of the Son. He's re-elevated to the throne 17:59 that was His rightful throne in the beginning in the end. Some other passages that teach 18:05 the same thing, Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9, and this is a Messianic passage, 18:13 a prophecy about the Messiah. Isaiah chapter 9 beginning in verse 7. 18:25 I'll just begin in verse 6 because this is such a powerful Messianic prophecy. 18:28 >> Sounds good. >> "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given, and the 18:32 government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, 18:37 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Then versus 7, "Of the increase 18:42 of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David 18:48 and over His kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that 18:53 time forward even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." 19:00 There again, we see no end to His kingdom. He is fulfilling the Davidic 19:03 promise, and His kingdom never ends. >> And that's interesting. 19:07 It reminds me of Daniel 7:14 where you have this, again, a prophecy of Jesus where it 19:14 speaks of His dominion being an everlasting dominion. And so Jesus' subordination 19:23 clearly functional as Jesus is fully God yet becomes human, 19:29 in that becoming human, subordinated Himself. >> Yes. 19:33 >> And now He's back as He has ascended to Heaven that equality of God. 19:40 Are there any other things that speak of His throne and His dominion lasting forever and 19:44 ever? >> Yes. Hebrews 1:8, and we saw Hebrews 1 already earlier 19:50 in our earlier program, which is talking about this full divinity of Christ, taking on 19:54 the status as the fulfiller of the Davidic covenant, the one who would fulfill 20:01 the Davidic covenant, and in Hebrews, we are going to see here 20:09 in Hebrews chapter 1 that Christ is referred to by the Father as God, and 20:15 something else is said about His throne. Hebrews 1:8, "But to the Son, 20:19 He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" Now this is the Father speaking. 20:25 >> Yes. >> To the Son, He says, "Your throne, O God, 20:29 is forever and ever," so this, again, tells us that it's His throne. 20:34 His kingdom lasts forever, and even though He comes as the one who takes on the status of the 20:40 firstborn, the status of the unique Son of God, He will be re-elevated and sit 20:45 on the throne that belongs to Him and the Father by His right as a member of the Trinity. 20:50 >> So let me ask you this question then, Dr. Peckham. In this functional, voluntary 20:55 subordination of Christ, did He divest Himself of His divinity then? 21:01 Was there was a time where Jesus wasn't God? >> No. 21:05 When Christ takes on humanity, He does not become any less than God. 21:10 >> Okay. >> Some people misunderstand Philippians 2, the lowering of 21:14 Himself, of that meaning He emptied Himself of some aspects of divinity, but this is not the 21:19 case. It's true that He did not use some of His divine powers for 21:23 His own benefit, but He did not divest Himself of any powers. One place to see that He still 21:29 has divine powers very clearly is, like, in Luke chapter 4. >> Okay. 21:33 >> Luke chapter 4 is a good example for us of others, Luke chapter 4. 21:38 Another would be -- We won't go there, but in the garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers are 21:42 sent to arrest Him, it says that they were, like, fell down. >> Yeah. 21:47 >> Divinity flashes through humanity in that scene, so you see He's clothing His divinity 21:52 with humanity, becoming fully human without being any less than fully God in a way we don't 21:56 fully understand, but He does not divest Himself of divine properties or of His divine 22:02 essence. Luke 4:3, this is in the context of Satan tempting Jesus. 22:06 >> Okay. >> And one of the temptations is in verse 3. 22:08 "And the Devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.'" 22:14 Now, this is after Jesus has fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, so He would be kind of 22:18 hungry as a human. That's an understatement to say the least. 22:22 >> Yes. >> And Satan tempts Him to turn stones into bread. 22:26 Let me ask you, Chris, how many times have you been tempted? You may have wanted to turn 22:30 stones into bread, but how many times have you been tempted to turn stones into bread? 22:33 >> Never. >> Never. Why? >> Because I can't. 22:36 >> Because you can't turn stones into bread. The only way this makes sense 22:39 is if Jesus possesses the power, but He somehow wasn't supposed to use that power for His own 22:43 benefit to overcome the temptations of the Devil, and He never used that power for His 22:48 own benefit, but He had that power as God. He never divested Himself of it. 22:53 >> So what other things -- When, you know, as we talk about this relationship between the 22:59 Father and the Son, did the Father delegate things to the Son? 23:03 How does this all work? As we have about 5 minutes left in the program, let's really 23:08 explore this and kind of wrap this up in understanding this relationship. 23:13 >> Yeah, so we have at least three parts to this relationship of the Trinity. 23:16 You have the Father who delegates to the Son, and if we go over to, say, 23:21 John 5, John 5 together, we'll see this again, and it's all throughout the Book of John, 23:28 but we'll just take an example here. The Father delegates to the Son 23:32 by sending the Son. In John 5:22, Jesus Himself says, "For the Father judges no 23:39 one but has committed all judgement to the Son that all should honor the Son 23:43 just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who 23:47 sent Him," so He's given judgement. It's delegated to Him, but He's 23:50 also received the same honor as the Father, which, again, would be blasphemous if He wasn't God. 23:54 Then in the same chapter, turning over to verse 36 of John 5, Jesus says, "But I have 24:02 a greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very 24:08 works that I do bear witness of Me that the Father has sent Me, and the Father Himself 24:13 who sent Me has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form." 24:19 Okay? So the Father sent Him. You have this delegation of the Father, and everything in the 24:24 plan of redemption rests upon the shoulders of the Son to fulfill this particular role 24:29 in the plan of redemption, but the Son is not sent against His will. 24:33 If we turn over to John chapter 10, John chapter 10, the Son obeys the command of the 24:40 Father, but He obeys it of His own will, of His own volition. >> Yes. 24:45 >> John 10:17-18 says, "Therefore, My Father loves Me because I lay down My life 24:50 that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of 24:55 Myself or of My own initiative. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 25:02 This command I have received from My Father," so in the same context of Him 25:07 obeying the command of the Father, He's talking about His own initiative, of His own 25:11 power. So He's sent, and the Father delegates to Him. 25:16 He commands Him to come. He sends Him, but the Father also delegates to Him the 25:20 authority of the judgement, the authority of carrying out the plan of redemption, so there is 25:24 a reciprocal relationship between the Father and the Son here. 25:28 In addition to that, we see that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father 25:34 and by the Son. We'll see more about that in our next program as about how the 25:39 Spirit comes as another one like Jesus to replace Him among the disciples, but He's sent by the 25:44 Father and the Son, not because He's any less than God. He's also fully God, as we'll 25:48 see in text, but because He's fulfilling this role in the plan of redemption, that the three 25:53 persons of the Trinity take on different roles without being any less than fully God. 25:58 >> And so it would seem that, as you just summarized quite well, there is the oneness of 26:04 God, yet the three persons and those three persons having distinct roles and functions, 26:11 most particularly in the plan of salvation. >> That's right. 26:15 >> As we wrap up the program today, let's talk about Jesus. How did He manifest what God was 26:24 like? Did Jesus teach us or resemble God? 26:28 >> Yes. We see in the New Testament that Jesus displays the very love of 26:33 God that is displayed in the Old Testament, the very language that is used over and over again 26:38 in places like Matthew 9:36 and others where Jesus sees the crowd, and he felt compassion. 26:43 That's the exact same language that's used of God's love in the Old Testament, 26:47 and it's very important for us to realize that when Jesus said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen 26:52 the Father," in John 14:9, that it's very important that Jesus is God Himself. 27:00 He is the second person of the Trinity, and when he asks Peter, "Who do men say that I am, and 27:06 who do you say that I am?" remember Peter, in Matthew, he answers, "You are the Christ, 27:10 the Son of God," and that's the question He asks each one of us, "Who do you say that I am?" 27:17 >> And that's where we're going to leave the program today for our viewer to wrestle. 27:22 Who do we say that Jesus is? Who do we believe that Jesus is? The Bible is clear about who 27:29 He is. The real question is whether we will accept Him as 27:35 He came to save us. Dr. Peckham, can you pray for us as we end our program today? 27:42 >> Dear Lord, we just praise Your name. We are so thankful to You. 27:48 We are not worthy of all that You have done for us. Lord, we know that 27:55 Jesus has been sent to reveal who You are and to reveal Your love for us, 28:00 and I pray that you will just open our hearts to realize who Jesus really was 28:04 and when Jesus really is, our Lord and our Savior who has come as God to save us 28:11 and to reconcile us with God. We thank you, and we pray these things in His name. 28:16 Amen. >> Amen. Friends, we've been talking 28:22 about the doctrine of the Trinity, the beautiful Biblical teaching about the Godhead, 28:27 God being one yet three persons, three distinct persons with roles and functions 28:35 that are all revolving around one thing -- to save you and to save me. 28:42 Friend, as we discover the truth about who God is, it's important for us to delve deep 28:49 into a relationship with Him. Today, I want to offer you the Bible Studies Discover. 28:55 In these lessons, you will find a friend in Jesus. You'll find hope in Him. 29:01 Here's the information you need to receive today's offer. 29:05 >> To request today's offer, just log on to 29:08 www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca. If you prefer, you may call 29:13 toll-free at 1-888-CALL-IIW. And thank you for your prayer 29:19 requests and your generous financial support. >> Dr. Peckham, thank you so 29:24 much for helping us understand the depth and breadth of God's love. 29:28 >> Thank you, Chris. >> My dear friend, I hope that you are sensing 29:35 this God of love doing all He can to save you. I hope that today you have found 29:42 a friend in Jesus. I invite you to join us again next week. 29:47 Until then, remember, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 29:54 that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 29:58 ♪♪ ♪♪ |
Revised 2018-06-18