Question:
I have been studying about the fundamental doctrine of the
Trinity so that I can defend the faith. My
girlfriend’s parents are christadelphians and as I have studied in the web
page, they deny this basic doctrine.
I
have found a lot of biblical proofs of Jesus Christ’s deity, but there is a
passage where Jesus said that he himself did not know when the day of His return
would be, only the Father. I need to know how this could be interpreted, because these
people say it is because Jesus is divine but not God himself.
I
appreciate your help.
Alexander
Answer: Dear Alexander
This
example is but one of many that illustrates the incarnation of God.
Jesus Christ was the God-man, very man and very God.
That is, he was fully man and fully God in some unique way.
His humanity was not diminished nor was his deity.
He was son of man and Son of God. We
are told in Philippians 2:1-8 that he voluntarily humbled himself, that he
emptied himself – that is, he voluntarily veiled his divinity in order that he
might be flesh. It was not normally
obvious to most who saw him and talked with him that he was God in the Flesh –
he looked like any other Jew of that day. As
a human he submitted to the needs of the flesh – he became tired, hungry, etc.
It was possible, obviously, for him to be killed.
His humanity – the son of man, not the Son of God – did not know the
hour of his Second Coming – but his deity did and does, for the three persons
of the Triune God are one. Distinct,
but one.
In
Christ,
Greg Albrecht