Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 33
the context of the Jewish religion. He even regarded his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the Jewish people past, present and future, as suggested in Jewish scripture. Had he been part of God, this would have been surely ridiculous, for how could God satisfy Himself for the sins of that one race by sacrificing part of Himself in that way? The Jewishness of. Jesus shone through his ministry and at times his description of Gentiles suggested second-class citizens, and though it is true that occasionally he praised the faith he found in a. Samaritan or a Roman, his strong preference for Jews lingered among his disciples after his death. It took some time and a lot of persuasion before the Jerusalem Church would agree that the message of Jesus was meant for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. These points would argue for Jesus being a complete Jewish man rather than part of the Universal. God. (p. 88) ". Jesus was a complete man, therefore, and in no way a part of God during his life on earth. . It is as a man that Christ is more relevant. True he was the son of God and addressed God as Father but he was also the son of. Man, and made it clear that we are all sons of God. (p. 95). Muslims who believe Jesus to have been a great prophet of God, will no longer need to be offended by dogmatic Christian insistence on his divinity. (p. 118). Jesus was the last prophet in Israel. He was called the son of. God, an expression that was in common use in scripture but was always employed metaphorically and in no single instance did it connote God. Nowhere in the Gospels or the Epistles is it said that Jesus referred to himself as God or implied that he was God. . The expression, Lord, was applied to him but there is no evidence that those who made use of this expression with reference to him believed, or meant to convey, that he was God. It was used as a synonym for master. . It was long after his time that the expression son of God was transmuted into God, the Son, meaning thereby that Jesus was the second person in the Trinity. The entire concept of the. Trinity was foreign to the thinking of Jesus. He always referred to himself as having been sent by God, meaning that he was a divine messenger. For instance:. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (John 17:3) 35