Nina,
thank you for the kind words.
I will attempt to speak using words that I hope are consistent
enough with classical oneness speak to avoid being perceived as being purposefully "obtuse".
The exact question that will illuminate the aspects of my departure from most outspoken keepers of oneness, is "Is the Son God?" I do not believe that the Son of God is God.
I am one who understands (and teaches) that the witness of scripture reveals that God was IN Christ, NOT that God BECAME the Christ.
Christ is a word that applies to CREATION not creator.
Christ is a word that speaks of the object or recipient of the anointing NOT the anoint-er.
The deity of Christ is the anointing that establishes the vessel as the Christ.
FATHERS do not become their own Sons. To use words in this manner would require that we trash the entire common witness of our familiar language usage. God did not inspire word choices that contradict such a plain understanding of usage.
I believe that scripture plainly instructs that God begat (fathered, supplied the seed) that resulted in a life in the womb of Mary. God's own word became flesh when it found agreement with the ovum of Joseph's betrothed, the lineage of David.
Luke 1:35 provides this witness:
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Why is it so difficult for many oneness folks to believe that God SENT his only begotten Son into the world?
Answer: Because they teach and believe that God BECAME a man, rather than God has a Son in whom he [God] purposed to indwell; to make his own habitation without the hands of men involved. A last Adam, a true kinsman redeemer, must be a man of like persuasion as was the first Adam. The first Adam was not 'God becoming a man', the last Adam was not 'God becoming a man'. God is not a man, nor has God added to himself the form of a man.
God's word and the Sons of God are MANIFESTATIONS of God in the midst of creation. God indwelling his children renders God apparent (able to be preceived)within the created realm. The deity of Christ is the anointing.
If you see the vessel that God is indwelling, you have seen God.
When you see the son, in whom the father is indwelling, you have seen the father.
So, you ask me to answer the question, is Jesus God?
If his Son is where God makes his abode, then looking at Jesus, you were looking at the only visible part of an invisible God. You would be looking at the express
image of an invisible God. When you have seen Jesus you have seen the father. So is Jesus God, YES!, NO!.....it depends on how you speak concerning the scene you are witnessing.
Yes, Jesus is God because the Father is with the Son (the Son is the tabernacle in which God purposes to dwell).
NO, because God did not become the tabernacle.
God did not become the tabernacle, nor did he become the arc of the testimony or the pillar of cloud. If God became a man, or added to himself the form of a man, then God is NOT invisible. If God became a man, God has flesh and bones.
God is a spirit.
The words going forth, and proceeding from, the Spirit, conceived a child in the woman. That which was born of the women is God's word made flesh, the Son of God.
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