Is Jesus God? (part 2 of 4)

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Description: The second in a four part series discussing the biblical evidence that Jesus is not God.

By IslamReligion.com
Published on 16 Jan 2006
Last modified on 06 Jul 2014
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7. The Bible says that the disciples did not believe Jesus was God

The Acts of the Apostles in the Bible details the activity of the disciples over a period of thirty years after Jesus, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, was raised to heaven. Throughout this period, they never referred to Jesus as God. For instance Peter stood up with the eleven disciples and addressed a crowd saying:

Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know."

For Peter, Jesus was a servant of God (confirmed in Matthew 12:18):

Acts 3:13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus."

Acts 3:26 "God raised up his servant..."

When faced by opposition from the authorities, Peter said:

Acts 5:29-30 "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus..."

The disciples prayed to God just as they were commanded by Jesus in Luke 11:2, and considered Jesus to be God’s servant,

Acts 4:24 "...they raised their voices together in prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.’"

Acts 4:27 "...your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed."

Acts 4:30 "…of Your holy servant Jesus."

This is exactly what the Quran states of Jesus:

Quran 19: 30 "…I am indeed a servant of God."

8. The Bible says that Jesus was God’s servant, chosen one, and beloved

Matt. 12:18 "Behold, My servant, whom I have chosen, in whom My soul is well pleased."

Since Jesus is God’s servant, Jesus can not be God.

9. The Bible says that Jesus could not Do Anything by Himself

John 5:19 "The son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing."

John 5:30 "I can of mine own self do nothing."

Jesus did not consider himself equal with God, rather he denied doing anything by himself.

10. The Bible says that God performed miracles through Jesus & Jesus was limited in what he could do

Matt. 9:8 "But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men."

Acts 2:22 "a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst."

Acts 10:38 "…he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

If Christ was God, the Bible would simply say that Jesus did the miracles himself without making reference to God. The fact that it was God supplying the power for the miracles shows that God is greater than Jesus.

Also, Jesus was limited in performing miracles. One time when Jesus tried to heal a blind man, the man was not healed after the first attempt, and Jesus had to try a second time (Mark 8:22-26). Once a woman was healed of her incurable bleeding. The woman came up behind him and touched his cloak, and she was immediately healed. But Jesus had no idea who touched him:

Mark 5:30 "At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’"

Mark 6:5 "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them."

Quite obviously, someone with such limitations can not be God. The power of miracles was not within Jesus.

11. The Bible says that at times of weakness angels strengthened Jesus; God, however, does not need to be strengthened

Luke 22:43 "An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him [in the garden of Gethsemane]."

Mark 1:13 "And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him."

Men need to be strengthened; God does not because God is All-Powerful. If Jesus had to be strengthened, he must not be God.

12. The Bible says that Jesus wanted God’s will to be done, not his own

Luke 22:42: "not my will but Yours be done."

John 5:30 "I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent me."

John 6:38 "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."

Are some members of the coequal Trinity subservient, and less than equal, to other members? Even though they have different wills ("I do not seek my own will"), do they obey without question the others’ commands ("the will of Him who sent me")? Jesus admits to subordinating his own distinct will, yet according to the Trinitarian doctrine they should all have the same will. Should one of the triune partners have to forgo his own will in favor of the will of another member of the Trinity? Should not they all have the exact same will?