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Who is Jesus? God the Son?

11 February 2002

From Bruce Williams—NZ, who gave permission for his full name to be published. Although this is not particularly negative, he is not the only one who has asked such a question critical of CMI’s doctrinal position, and the answer could be helpful to some.

His letter is posted below (indented) followed by a response by Dr Jonathan Sarfati.

Dear [CMI] team,

I commend your desire to be used of God to roll back the deception of the evolutionists, or, in Biblical terms, to ‘overcome the world’. Scripture, as you rightly hold to, is our authority in all things, including of course,the way to overcome the world. Isn’t the way in Scripture to do this given in 1 John 4:5 “Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God”?

Having just viewed your Statement of Faith, unless I missed something, it seems you don’t believe Jesus to be ‘the Son of God’, but rather ‘God the Son’, something somewhat different. Can you confidently stand against the world (the ‘spirit of evolution’ in your particular fight) without complying with God’s solution to do so? May I repeat the Scripture, “Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Because you do not confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, am I to conclude that God does not dwell in your ministry? 1 John 4:15 “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

With prayer to God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Bruce. 

Dear Mr Williams

We do confess Jesus to be “the Son of God”, as is clear in many of our articles. But we stand by our use of the term “God the Son”, because this is a logical deduction from Scripture, so it is not negotiable. The two terms are hardly mutually exclusive. E.g. Hebrews 1:8 says (and it’s God talking about Jesus): ‘“But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”’ So there is a person who is God and is also “the Son”, ergo He is “God the Son”.

The articles at Q&A: God—Trinity should be useful in defending the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity against the heresies of Arianism (followed by the Jehovah’s Witness cult) and Sabellianism/Modalism (followed by the One-ness Pentecostal cult).

(Dr) Jonathan Sarfati

Published: 4 February 2006

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