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The Bible describes God as: God is the All-Powerful Creator of the universe.

If the God is All-Powerful

  • how would a human (who is the less powerful) be able to crucify the All-Powerful God (Jesus)
  • how would I worship a God who can't protect himself and one day when he was baby, he needed the human to protect him and feed him to stay alive!
  • what was he before he becomes an embryo? and where was he? was he nothing?
    • if yes, how was he created?
    • if yes, who then created the human before he gets created?
GratefulDisciple
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Mo Haidar
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3 Answers3

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Here's how a Trinitarian answers your questions. First a few foundational concepts:

  1. Jesus is the human being of God. Per Chalcedon definition he is BOTH God and human: one person in two natures (one WHO and two WHAT). Per @NigelJ's comment, the hypostatic union of Jesus is the "manifestation or the manner of the coming into the world". To preserve Divine Simplicity and God's transcendence, God's presence in Jesus can also be conceptualized as God's "temporal effect" on earth in bodily form in human history.
  2. Before Jesus's human nature was born, his Divine Nature (Logos) already exists, because this nature is shared with the Creator God.
  3. It was God's intention (which is also the intention of the Logos, one nature implies one will), that the Logos takes on a bodily human nature (we call Jesus), who is like us in everything but sin. This human nature is filled by prophetic knowledge and divine love ("full of grace and truth", John 1:14) by the Holy Spirit (who is the same being as Logos and shares the divine nature). In this way Jesus was equipped to reveal to us the inner nature of God who is not only powerful, but full unfailing love and faithfulness.
  4. Out of love, this human being of God (Jesus) assumed NOT the most powerful human on earth (like an earthly King Herod or Roman Emperor Augustus), or a wealthy merchant, or a respectable scholar, but in solidarity with us living with all the bodily limitation in a society where they were oppressed by much stronger colonial power (Rome) and befriending the sick, the sinners and the social outcasts who repented from their sins and wanted to be healed. That's why he let himself to be killed, so in solidarity he suffered injustice like many of us not only at the time but today too (victims of discrimination, crime, human trafficking, even genocide).
  5. Another reason that Jesus let himself to be killed is so he can be the spotless sacrificial lamb of God who died on our behalf to take our sins away (John 1:29) so we don't have the burden of having to repay our offense to God, but simply receive the love of Jesus with gratitude so it is easier for us forgive other people's offenses against us and as a result free us to love other people better ("pay it forward").

Now I'm ready to give you short answers to your questions (which I paraphrase):

  1. How would a human (who is the less powerful) be able to crucify the All-Powerful God (Jesus)? Because God let the human to kill the human nature of Jesus, although no one can kill the divine nature of Jesus. John 10:18, Jesus said about his life:

    No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. ...

  2. How would I worship a God who can't protect himself and one day when he was baby, he needed the human to protect him and feed him to stay alive!

    • He was weak in solidarity with us, but through providence Jesus had the nurture and protection of his earthly mother and father.
    • We worship Jesus because he is the human being of God, meaning he is not just human but primarily divine. Through the added human nature Jesus (the human being of God) went through the full cycle of being born, growing up, suffering together, died a heroic death, and resurrected to give us an example of how to live like an ideal human being created by God.
    • Through his example we also see (with our own bodily eyes) the love of God. Don't you think it's EASIER to worship a loving God than a powerful, vengeful, judgmental, and tyrannical God like how some other religions portray?

  3. What was he before he becomes an embryo? And where was he? Before incarnated as an embryo within Virgin Mary's womb, he has always been Logos (his divine nature) "with God the Father" in heaven (John 1:1). The way Trinitarians work this out, is to imagine Logos using psychological analogy of God the Father "eternally generating" the Son, whom we can also see as the Knowledge & Wisdom of God.

  4. Was he nothing? Was he created?

    • With respect to the human nature of Jesus: Yes. Before the incarnation as a single cell zygote in the womb of Mary, the human nature of Jesus was non-existent, just like how we were before conception.
    • With respect to the divine nature of Jesus: No. The Logos (Eternal Son of God) coexist eternally with the Father. That's why in the Nicene creed, Jesus's divine nature is described as follows:

      God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.

  5. Who then created the human nature of Jesus?

    • God did, as a "temporal effect" of Himself in history. This is God's way of revealing his spiritual nature in bodily form, to fit OUR preferred way of perceiving and knowing as a human being. So the contemporaries of Jesus literally "saw God" walking along the sea of Galilee, enter Jerusalem on the donkey, crucified on the cross, etc.

For further study

I hope I could bring some clarification. Please comment if you have questions, and I'll edit this answer.

GratefulDisciple
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    'the human being of God' is not correct. The person, the being, the essence - is Divine. The humanity is the manifestation or the manner of the coming into the world. – Nigel J Jul 07 '23 at 19:39
  • @NigelJ I meant exactly the same way; "human being of God" is a shorthand so I can focus on his question. I'm following the language of a Trinitarian & Christological expert Fr. Thomas Joseph White who wrote 2 recent books on both topics and was interviewed at Church Grammar. I'm adding both episodes in my answer soon, which will be a good resource for the OP too. – GratefulDisciple Jul 07 '23 at 19:55
  • @NigelJ Another term that Fr. Thomas White used that I like it a lot to highlight the unity of the spiritual Logos and bodily Jesus in the context of protecting the "unchanging nature" of the transcendent God and God's simplicity, even though Jesus was in historical time. The term is: "temporal effect". Jesus is the "temporal effect" of the Incarnation of the Logos, which is another expression of your phrase "manifestation of the coming into the world". This term is also helpful to understand one of the 3 ways that God is present to us, which he talked about in the Trinity episode. – GratefulDisciple Jul 07 '23 at 20:04
  • Thanks All,

    Still does not make a lot of sense to me, why the God has to show as a human to us? is that to believe that he exists? can't the God let us know of his existence without being embodied as a human, I guess he can?

    And still, he was killed, how do I know he allowed others to kill him not others overcome him, they might be more powerful Gods?

    A god who have a human nature and divine nature would have two parts, the human part, and as we know the human is not that strong, a disease would kill him so that is a weak part of this God which means he is not All Powerful.

     – Mo Haidar Jul 08 '23 at 20:30
  • And regarding the below verse, If I understand correctly, we have more than one God, right? which God should I believe in? Why the Father God has only one Son God, which of those Gods is the decision maker of what is going on in this universe? God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father. – Mo Haidar Jul 09 '23 at 09:44
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How would a human (who is the less powerful) be able to crucify the All-Powerful God (Jesus)?

Max is the most skilled Judo practitioner in the world. In thousands of matches, no one, no matter how skilled, has ever managed to land a hit on him.

Nancy is an average woman with absolutely no martial skill. One day, Nancy walks up to Max and strikes up a conversation. A few seconds later, Nancy slaps Max across the face.

How did Nancy manage to strike Max? The most logical explanation is that Max allowed her to do so.

How did a bunch of puny humans crucify the All-Powerful God? Obviously, because He permitted it. There are many indications in Scripture that this is exactly what happened.

How would I worship a God who can't protect himself and one day when he was baby, he needed the human to protect him and feed him to stay alive?

Why should this be an issue? Just as a military commander who leads from the front earns greater respect for being willing to place himself in danger, how much more ought one respect God for willingly placing himself in such a situation!

Of course, this wasn't really the case; Scripture tells us that Jesus could turn rocks into bread (Matthew 4:3) or multiply food to near infinity (Matthew 14:13-21 among others), and it seems likely He could have done so even as an infant... had He chosen to do so. Instead, He chose to rely on His human parents, just as He chose to allow Himself to be cruficied.

What was [Jesus] before he becomes an embryo? Where was He? Was He nothing?

"He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:2) Multiple passages indicate that Jesus was present since (before) the beginning of Creation. "Where" was He? The question makes as much sense as asking where God is at present; the answer is both everywhere and nowhere, as God does not exist in space in the same way humans do. (While He was incarnate, one could have reasonably asked this about Jesus, but not before or after.) Was He "nothing"? Certainly not, no more than God the Father is "nothing".

Matthew
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Let's consider what the Bible teaches.

We know that Jesus was a man, but the Bible tells us that God is not a man.

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19, KJV)

And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. (1 Samuel 15:29, KJV)

Jesus calls himself "the son of man" in many places.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (Matthew 16:13, KJV)

But God says He is not "the son of man."

Therefore, Jesus cannot have been God.

But who was he, then?

Jesus was a human, just like ourselves, but who was born into our world as God's Son--a son who already existed. He had not previously existed in human form, but entered human flesh upon his birth in Bethlehem, when he came into the world.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5, KJV)

If Jesus had been God, Jesus could not have died, for God is immortal.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17, KJV)

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16, KJV)

And this makes sense, because a God who could die would not really be God at all.

While Jesus is not God, God has given us permission to worship him.

5For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (Hebrews 1:5-6, KJV)

Even this text that gives us permission to worship Jesus helps us to understand that Jesus is not God, because if he had been God, no permission to worship him would be needed. Furthermore, the angels of heaven, who already worship God, would not need to be told this.

But God was in Jesus Christ.

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19, KJV)

And Jesus taught this himself.

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:10, KJV)

The God who dwelt in Christ has, of course, always existed. God was never created. But Jesus' human body was "prepared" for him, i.e. created, according to the Bible. So within the person of Jesus we find both the created and the Uncreated, both the finite and the Infinite.

If Jesus had been God, he could not have been tempted.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (James 1:13, KJV)

But Jesus was tempted.

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (Matthew 4:1, KJV)

It was not God who was tempted in the wilderness. Jesus, as a man, endured temptation on our behalf--and was victorious. This was our example. We do not need to sin; we can quote scripture, as Jesus did, and maintain our loyalty to God.

Everything Jesus did was to be our example. And he taught us who God was.

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17, KJV)

Jesus' father was his God.

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. (John 14:28, KJV)

Undoubtedly, your questions are well-founded, based on the confusing errors that abound. The Bible, however, is unconfusingly clear, and we can trust it.

Biblasia
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