There is a common belief within professing Christendom that Jesus of Nazareth retained a portion of His deity status and powers when He came to earth in the form of a man. The series titled Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man? dispels this error using numerous Scriptural proofs. Let it be known with Biblical surety that Jesus was 100% man, which is why He is the perfect example of what God commands of every human being who seeks to live with Him throughout eternity. The Scriptures make it clear that if a God-seeker is to have any chance of making the cut, he/she must be a true disciple (follower) of the man, Jesus Christ. See Be Ye Therefore Perfect, The Resurrections and The Kingdom of God. Righteousness=being right with (obedient to) the Lord. The Scriptures make it clear that righteousness isn’t everything. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE ONLY THING.

Question: Do the Scriptures at any time speak of God the Father praying? The answer is no, for to Whom would He have prayed? One prays to a being Who 1) is higher in status than oneself, and 2) has more power than oneself. A God does not pray, for there is no one higher or more powerful to whom He can pray. However, Jesus prayed. Question: Why did Jesus pray and to Whom? The answers are 1) because He was in need, and 2) God the Father–the only God in the universe to Whom He could pray. The Holy Spirit, not being a God, was never the one to whom Jesus prayed. Neither did He instruct anyone to pray to the Spirit. See The Trinity. In the first chapter of Genesis “God” is referred to in the plural sense–Elohim, meaning “Gods.” At no time after the Word came to earth as God’s Son was the word “God” used in the plural sense. God the Father was alone in His God status while the Word walked the earth as Jesus Christ (the anointed One). Notice the word “anointed,” which means to receive spiritual power. Jesus RECEIVED the power He displayed, just as do God’s true servants today. In the New Testament, with God in heaven and Jesus on earth, the word “God” is rendered “Theos” which is singular in form and usage. This shows that 1) there was only one God in the universe after Jesus came to earth, and 2) the Holy Spirit is not a God, otherwise the plural usage would have continued to be used by the New Testament writers. That Jesus was 100% human while on earth having been established, let us study His earthly life by focusing on His relationship with the Father, which was Father and Son, not God and God. In this way we can determine how we must conduct our lives in order to rule and reign with Him throughout eternity. See God’s Very Elect–Future Caretakers of the Universe.

Jesus is depicted by New Testament writers as a man of prayer. Numerous passages show Him in prayer to the Father. This shows us that our earthly walk should involve much prayer. Jesus was known to visit the Mt. of Olives during the early morning hours to pray to the Father. Here, in the solitude of darkness, He could commune with Him without interruption. It was there that He garnered strength from the Father to face the future.

A passage of Scripture that many find hard to grasp (which some refuse to believe) is that Jesus had no power within Himself. He made this known in John 8:28 when He declared: “I do nothing of Myself (by My own power or direction).” He made it clear in various other places that everything He did, said or thought was given to Him by the Father. I wish that we all were as dependent on the God of the universe as was Jesus of Nazareth. This must be a goal of each and every seeker of righteousness. The Almighty, through His prophets and apostles, makes it clear that such soul-saving righteousness will come only to those who “walk as He (Jesus) walked” (1 Jn. 2:6), who “… overcomes even as I (Jesus) overcame ….” and who “purifies himself even as He (Jesus) is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3) by “the washing of the water which is the Word (of God)” (Eph. 5:26). EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO GOD’S WORD–HIS HOLY BIBLE–OUR ONLY SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. We must, like God’s Son, seek God’s will, believe and obey it. L.J.