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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Jesus was not "good"?

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Jimm
Member



Joined: 2004/4/27
Posts: 498
Harare, ZIMBABWE

 Jesus was not "good"?

Hey everyone

I was reading the scripture when I came to something I was unsure about and hope that someone can help me. Luke 18:18-30 18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Now, we know that Jesus was without sin but he refuses to be called “good”. Is this a case of him acknowledging that his lack of sin was due to the spirit of the Father in him? We know that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God (as John1 begins). When the word was made flesh, did this remove him from the deity until the time of his sanctification?

Your son in Christ
James


_________________
James Gabriel Gondai Dziya

 2004/5/30 11:05Profile
riki
Member



Joined: 2003/11/30
Posts: 78
Sweden

 Re: Jesus was not "good"?

I believe that Jesus was rebuking the ruler for calling him "good teacher" and nothing more.

Something like: "Why do you call Me good if you do not acknowledge that I am God? It is only God who is good."

Therefore, the reason why Jesus refused to be called good was not because He was not good, but it was a way of confronting the ruler who had a wrong view of who Jesus really was.


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Rikard Eriksson

 2004/5/30 12:36Profile
matthew
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Joined: 2004/4/22
Posts: 57


 Re:

Well said.

Jesus' arguement did not say He wasn't good. Only that God was. Therefore--since he IS God--He is good.

matthew


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matthew bauer

 2004/6/1 10:54Profile
Matthew2323
Member



Joined: 2004/5/17
Posts: 235
Colorado

 Re:

James,

Was Jesus really refusing to be called "good", or was this a question of the man's heart? No where in the Bible do we see God refusing praise from those whose hearts are sincere.

If you read the passage carefully, you will see that Jesus is calling this man's motives into question. Why do you call me good? Do you really know what it means to be good? Do you really know who I am? (These are serious questions that need to be asked by all of those seeking God. Why are you coming to Christ? For your own benefit or the glory of God?)

Jesus knew this man's motives. Jesus responded, "You know the commandments." As if to say, "You know the truth. You know what the Law requires. . . You know it is impossible." For this poor fellow wished to justify himself!

After Jesus lists a few of the 10 Commandments the ruler responds, "All of these I have kept from my youth."

Not missing an opportunity to teach, the Great Teacher goes to the heart of the problem. "You still lack one thing." What could be lacking in a man who has kept the Commandments since his youth?

Well, his heart was amiss. His heart was with his treasure on earth. He would not give all he had to follow Jesus. He had missed the heart of the Law of Moses; a schoolmaster pointing lost souls to their need of redemption in (the coming) Christ. The Law was not instituted so we could save ourselves by our obedience to it, but to reveal our innate wickedness and need of a Savior.

The Great Teacher seizes this opportunity to teach His followers. He states that it is impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. He declares that a large camel could more readily fit through the tiny eye of a needle than the rich be saved.

The Holy Spirit is a work in the hearts of the hearers. "Who then can be saved?" they ask. Remember, these were probably not wealthy people following Jesus (see verse 28).

So, how were they "rich"? Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. We all have something(s) we revere more than God alone. This is our treasure. We are rich with success, greed, lust, power, laziness, apathy, hatred, ourselves, etc.

So, how do we "rich" people get saved? "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God." (Verse 27) Regeneration is a miracle of God. It is His gift, not of works that none should boast.

Jesus wasn't refusing to be called good. He wanted His followers (and potential followers) to realize just who and what He was. "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus wanted them (and us) to count the cost before we follow Him. What is the cost of obedience? Even worse, what is the cost of disobedience?

Will [b]you[/b] take up [b]your[/b] [u]cross[/u] and follow Jesus?


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Matthew

 2004/6/2 12:01Profile
smichael
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Joined: 2004/5/23
Posts: 21


 Re:

I agree. Jesus was without saying, "Hey buddy, I'm God" saying I am God. He was trying to prepare this man to receive the idea that He was the Son of God therefore God. By the way we are the Sons of God too. That makes us God too. "As He is, so are we in this world." He is God, so are we in this world.
On a sideline, there is no morality associated with God. He is holy. Morality is a earthly, temporal concept. God is righteous and holy. That is why it is not in our interest to be a "good" Christian, but to be a holy and righteous Christian. That keeps us seated in heavenly places.

 2004/6/2 14:35Profile
Matthew2323
Member



Joined: 2004/5/17
Posts: 235
Colorado

 Re:

Quote:
He was trying to prepare this man to receive the idea that He was the Son of God therefore God. By the way we are the Sons of God too. That makes us God too. "As He is, so are we in this world." He is God, so are we in this world.



Could you clarify the statement, "That makes us God too.", please?


_________________
Matthew

 2004/6/2 14:40Profile
Jimm
Member



Joined: 2004/4/27
Posts: 498
Harare, ZIMBABWE

 Re:

Hey everyone

I appreciate everyone’s statements; you have all helped me tremendously. I think the general consensus was that Jesus was questioning the man’s motives for calling him good, since he could not have know that he and the father are one. Perhaps it was even customary to call all teachers good and so Jesus may have spoken with a slight exasperation.

I still have a question for smichael though. You say that we are God. Surely this is not true as long as we are in our earthly tabernacles. As the scripture say in Ephesians 5 “30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” It has always been my belief that as long as the Church (Christians) are on earth we are the bride and not the wife, so to speak. Am I mistaken?

James


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James Gabriel Gondai Dziya

 2004/6/3 14:16Profile
nobody
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Joined: 2003/9/16
Posts: 64


 Re:

In my opinion, we are "called" sons of God not because we really are, but because we have been adopted as sons. It is very out-of-line with Scripture to say that we are God in any way. We are created (not begotten) fallen worthless men who deserve hell. Be cautious about falling into Mormon doctrines here.

 2004/6/3 18:47Profile
smichael
Member



Joined: 2004/5/23
Posts: 21


 Re:

what does it mean to be a son of someone? It means you are the same species. Like gives birth to like that is repeated again and again in Genesis. Is it that God is the only being in existance that gives birth to something less than Himself.
The question is not have we become members of the Godhead but do we live up to it?
Here are some scriptures to suport this truth:

Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
offspring = genos (strongs 1085) it means kindred, offspring, family, stock, and the aggregate of many individuals of the same nature, kind, sort
We are the God kind and sort. His literal children.
The word Godhead used here is Theios (strongs 2304) A general name of deities used by the Greeks and spoken of the only and true God.

II Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

divine here is again Theios
but it is neat what nature is
phusis (strongs 5449) nature of things, force, laws As oppposed to monstrous, abnormal, perverse: birth, physical origin and more.

That is why the communion is such an important part of the Christian life. We are joining symbolically with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the other Christians around us in one body, one mind, and one spirit. Unity must happen or we would call that a diseased body.

 2004/6/3 23:04Profile
smichael
Member



Joined: 2004/5/23
Posts: 21


 Re:

Jimm our bodies are here as the manifest presence of God. That is why where we walk is holy ground. We change things. Was the tabernacle in the desert any more holy than the temple? It is the presence of God that sanctifies. We have the Holy Spirit resident in us slowly changing us into Jesus. Remember, Jesus is the only kind of man that God can live with forever. Our immaturity does not change the fact that we are of the Godhead making us the species called God. That was the Spirit that I was born again from. That born again is not just polite rhetoric. I must think, act, walk, and do exactly as Jesus did on earth. It is a tall order and I die daily.
Regarding the bride thing: I hear many people refering to their wives as their bride. But, I think we must look to marriages as they were in the Bible times. People were engaged for a year typically before they consumated the marriage. these women were not independant. They were considered the wives of their intended.
We are only physically manifest on earth, spiritually we are even now seated in heavenly places. Christians need to get their thinking out of the physical that they see and see the physical from God's view.

 2004/6/3 23:14Profile





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