Book can be purchased at <Prev
They Never Told Me This in Church! - Page 2
by Greg Deuble - (New expanded edition, 2010)
“There is no verse in the whole book of Acts (or any other New Testament book) that requires you to believe that Jesus is the Lord God, Jehovah, in order to enter the Kingdom and be saved. In all the book of Acts there is no preaching of the Trinity. Yet in Acts thousands were saved according to the Scriptural record. This should be conclusive proof that the Trinity was not a part of early apostolic doctrine. Nor should it ever be taught that unless we believe that ‘Jesus is the Lord Jehovah’ we cannot be saved. What is essential to salvation -— that is, essential to entrance into the Kingdom of God when it comes -— is to confess that God has made this Jesus ‘both Lord and Christ [Messiah, King] -— this Jesus whom you crucified’ (Acts 2:36).”
“In the NT Christians are designated as ‘anointed ones,’ that is, ‘christs’ (see 2 Cor. 1:21). There is no hint that the title ‘messiah’ designates the Deity. To be a messiah is to be an agent of the one God.”
“As Don Cupitt captures the problem of Jesus’ double nature, ‘It is as if Jesus were at one moment Clark Kent and at the next Superman.’”
“Never does the Scripture use the term ‘God-man’ to tell us who Jesus is. The Greek language of the day had a perfectly good word for ‘God-man’ (theios-aner) but it never appears in the NT.”
The New Bible Dictionary on Incarnation: “It appears to mean that the divine Maker became one of His own creatures...”
In asking in what sense the confession “Jesus is Lord” is to be taken, Deuble points out that it correlates to being called “Sir” as Mary called the gardener at the tomb and as the Philippian jailer addressed Paul and Silas. This could be food for thought! Psalm 110:1 provides the basis for this title ‘lord’ (adoni), which is never used of Deity.
One of Greg’s many gifts is to identify what the Scriptures do not say. We have, perhaps, become so accustomed to what we think the Bible says that we actually cannot hear Truth. Trade in your tradition-bound ears for some listening ears. For example, does the Bible say that only God can forgive sin? Mr. Deuble answers in this way: “The fact that the Pharisees say that only God can forgive sins does not make this an established Bible doctrine. The Pharisees often had wrong doctrine and were often corrected by our Lord Jesus.” He quotes from John 20:23 where authority to forgive sin is given to the apostles. We pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Allow yourself to consider other very well-known “truths” such as: If Jesus wasn’t God, then his sacrifice would not have been acceptable. Deuble quotes Dr. Colin Brown of Fuller Seminary to further explain what the Scriptures do not say: “Indeed to be ‘Son of God’ one has to be a being who is not God!” Are we listening?! Every time we read “Jesus Christ” we are being told who he is, but we are not listening and are turning him into God. Another example Deuble gives is John 1:14 which does not say that God the Son became flesh and yet is thought to saythat. Another example of what the Bible does not say is in Phil. 2:6. The verse does not say of Jesus, "who, being God…" Deuble gives five examples to substantiate alternate explanations of the word “form,” the most remarkable being that of Kuschel in Born Before All Time? when he points out that a better translation might be “He who has his origin in God’s ‘world.’” You will find that the work that the author has put into his study of these passages will bless you enormously. And of course, if you are of the opposite persuasion, you have nothing to lose — the iron sharpening iron principle.
In his desire to have you really think, Deuble quotes Barrett who writes, “It is intolerable that Jesus should be made to say, ‘I am God, the supreme God of the OT, and being God I do as I am told!’” Or in the same vein, “I am God, and I am here because someone sent me.” Deuble does not ask that you believe him but that you check out what he is saying and examine the evidence. Your homework has not been done for you, even in this book.
This is a gem of a fact: “The ‘word’ is used about 1450 times in the Hebrew Bible to mean promise, decree, proposal, plan or message. Not once does it refer to a preexisting Son of God. Not once does it mean a person. Not once!” I believe that he just said that in the Hebrew Bible “word” is never a person! Check it out! Following that is a truly fascinating study on what the word “with” means. You will be amazed!
A marvelous summary from Deuble: “Trinitarianism, the idea that God is three in one, is a post-Biblical development which finally became the creed of the fourth-century Church. It was a part of the apostasy that developed from the second century on, finally reaching creedal status under Constantine. But when Christ returns the world will return to the foundational doctrine that ‘God is One.’ Zechariah 14:9 predicts that the Shema will be the fundamental creed of the Age to Come. The other creeds of Christendom will be swept away!”
It is my prayer that this book achieves the degree of circulation it deserves. I applaud the author's courage and integrity, to say nothing of his downright hard work, a mammoth challenge cheerfully accepted. From this labor of love comes a book which is a must read.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Buzzard
<Prev