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A few days ago I began re-reading J.I. Packers book "Knowing God". I first read it twenty years ago, and early after "converting" from Arminianism to Reformed theology. I blame the fact that I was so new to the theology that much of his book did not resonate or register. Or if it did, I don't remember that it did. I am only on page 58 and am wondering why I had so little of it underlined!
In dealing with the deity of Christ, Packer uses John 1, as is often done, but in a simple way that bypasses the historical and Greek nuances that don't exist in the English language, and through it identifies that the meaning of Son of God, beyond a shadow of doubt, when applied to Christ is a declaration of his deity.
John 1:1 is an echo of Gen 1. "God said 'Let there be---be" and there was. The actual statement of God's purpose had power in itself. The word of God is the work of God. What he is doing and his purpose and the "it was so" is the power of the word, come to pass.
John says seven things about the Word that show he is God and Jesus is God incarnate. The following is a direct quote from Packer.
1. " In the beginning was the Word." (John 1:1) Here is the Word's eternity. He had no beginning of his own: when other things began he -was.
2. "And the Word was with God"(1:1). Here is the Word's personality. The power that fulfills God's purposes is the power of a distinct personal being, one who stands in an eternal relation to God of active fellowship (this is what the phrase means).
3. "And the Word was God" (1:1). Here is the Word's deity. Though personally distinct from the Father, he is not a creature; he is divine in himself, as the Father is. The mystery of personal distinctions within the unity of the Godhead.
4. "Through him all things were made" (1:3). Here is the Word creating. He was the Father's agent in every act of making that the Father has ever performed. All that was made was made through him. (Here incidentally is further proof that the Maker, does not belong to the class of things made, any more than the Father does.)
5. "In him was life" (1:4). Here is the Word animating. There is no life in the physical realm of created things except in and through him. Here is the Bible answer to the problem of the origin and continuance of life, in all its forms: life is given and maintained by the Word. Created things do not have life in themselves, but life in the Word, the second person of the Godhead.
6. "And that life was the light of men (1:4). Here is the Word revealing. In giving life he gives light too; that is to say, all people receive intimate knowledge of God from the very fact of being alive in God's world, and this no less, than the fact that they are alive, is do to the work of the Word.
7. "The Word became flesh" (1:14). Here is the Word incarnate. The baby in the manger at Bethlehem was none other than the eternal Word of God.
And now, having shown us who and what the Word is--a divine Person, author of all things--John indicates an identification. The Word he tells us, was revealed by the Incarnation to be God's Son. (End of quote from Packer.)
So we learn that every time the Bible uses Son of God in reference to Christ, it means that he is God incarnate. Therefore confessing that Jesus is the Son of God is confessing his deity.
1 John 4:13-15 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son, to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
In dealing with the deity of Christ, Packer uses John 1, as is often done, but in a simple way that bypasses the historical and Greek nuances that don't exist in the English language, and through it identifies that the meaning of Son of God, beyond a shadow of doubt, when applied to Christ is a declaration of his deity.
John 1:1 is an echo of Gen 1. "God said 'Let there be---be" and there was. The actual statement of God's purpose had power in itself. The word of God is the work of God. What he is doing and his purpose and the "it was so" is the power of the word, come to pass.
John says seven things about the Word that show he is God and Jesus is God incarnate. The following is a direct quote from Packer.
1. " In the beginning was the Word." (John 1:1) Here is the Word's eternity. He had no beginning of his own: when other things began he -was.
2. "And the Word was with God"(1:1). Here is the Word's personality. The power that fulfills God's purposes is the power of a distinct personal being, one who stands in an eternal relation to God of active fellowship (this is what the phrase means).
3. "And the Word was God" (1:1). Here is the Word's deity. Though personally distinct from the Father, he is not a creature; he is divine in himself, as the Father is. The mystery of personal distinctions within the unity of the Godhead.
4. "Through him all things were made" (1:3). Here is the Word creating. He was the Father's agent in every act of making that the Father has ever performed. All that was made was made through him. (Here incidentally is further proof that the Maker, does not belong to the class of things made, any more than the Father does.)
5. "In him was life" (1:4). Here is the Word animating. There is no life in the physical realm of created things except in and through him. Here is the Bible answer to the problem of the origin and continuance of life, in all its forms: life is given and maintained by the Word. Created things do not have life in themselves, but life in the Word, the second person of the Godhead.
6. "And that life was the light of men (1:4). Here is the Word revealing. In giving life he gives light too; that is to say, all people receive intimate knowledge of God from the very fact of being alive in God's world, and this no less, than the fact that they are alive, is do to the work of the Word.
7. "The Word became flesh" (1:14). Here is the Word incarnate. The baby in the manger at Bethlehem was none other than the eternal Word of God.
And now, having shown us who and what the Word is--a divine Person, author of all things--John indicates an identification. The Word he tells us, was revealed by the Incarnation to be God's Son. (End of quote from Packer.)
So we learn that every time the Bible uses Son of God in reference to Christ, it means that he is God incarnate. Therefore confessing that Jesus is the Son of God is confessing his deity.
1 John 4:13-15 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son, to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
