This is a 3rd attempt to start a thread, in a part of the site that will allow discussions about the validity of the trinity. St Worm2 asked me to start this thread, so that we could discuss the issue in an appropriate thread, according to Forum guidelines.
So, to kick things off ... I have copied a portion of a previous post;
Please explain
John 20:17, and Rev 3:12, in that Jesus CLEARLY states he has a God!
Please explain
John 4:22, in that Jesus CLEARLY states he worships the God of the Jews!
Some have objected `How can Jesus be divine if He acknowledges God to be His God, as in the words to Mary, `Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God"'' (John 20:17)
It is to be noted that when Jesus said `I am ascending to My Father and your Father and to My God and to your God', He did not to say `I am ascending to our Father and our God.' Jesus had to make the distinction between My Father and your Father and My God and your God.
It is also to be noted that in Jesus' statement we see the two natures of Christ. The statement, "My Father", points to the divine nature of Christ. When Jesus healed the man who was paralysed for 38 years the Jews objected to the healing because it took place on the Sabbath.
For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, `My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.' Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)
The Jews understood the statement `My Father' as a claim to divinity. Had the Lord Jesus said `Our Father has been working' there would have been no problem. However, Jesus intentionally made the distinction as He did in John 20:17.
When Jesus said, `My Father ', there was the reference to the divine nature in Him. When He said, `your Father', it was because they were adopted as children due to His work of redemption. When Jesus said, `My God', there was the reference to His human nature which He acquired through the incarnation. When He said, `Your God', it was because they were His creatures. Thus the one who is a Son by nature becomes a slave by the incarnation, in order that those who are slaves by nature become sons by adoption.
(M. N. Anderson, used by written permission.)
Look at what else Jesus says in Revelation:
Revelation 1:17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
Yet it is YHWH who is the First and the Last.
YHWH:
Isaiah 48: 12 "Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am he;
I am the first and I am the last.
