Summary
God exists beyond the time, space, and matter of the creation. For that reason, He cannot be seen and always interacts with the creation through His Son. Through Him, God created all things, redeems sinners, resurrects believers, judges the world, and fulfills His promises. Through His Son, God reveals Himself, speaks to His creation, and rules the universe.
Through Him, God provides everything that the creation needs and, through Christ, the adoration and thanksgiving of the creation flow back to God. Jesus Christ is “the Word of God” because He alone is the communication between God and His creation.
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Introduction
Jesus Christ is not just “the Word:” He is “the Word of God.”
God exists beyond the time, space, and matter of creation. For that reason, He cannot be seen. Most certainly, He is able to cause an appearance of Himself to be visible to His creatures, but it remains only an appearance. God is omnipresent and can never be limited to one place in His universe. For example:
Jesus Christ “is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).
“The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim 1:17);
“No one has seen God at any time” (1 John 4:12)
“The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim 6:15-16);
Therefore, in all respects, God interacts with His creation ONLY through His only begotten Son:
God created all things through Jesus Christ:
“All things came into being through Him”
(John 1:2-3; cf. 1:10)
“There is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things
and we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things,
and we exist through Him” (1 Cor 8:6).
“By (Gr. en = in) Him all things were created,
both in (Gr. en = in) the heavens and on earth …
all things have been created through Him” (Col 1:16).
“God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son …
through whom also He made the world”
(Heb 1:1-2; cf. 2:10).
God saves through Jesus Christ:
“God did … send the Son into the world … that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16)
“He (Jesus) is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
“God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus” (Acts 13:23).
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by
His grace through … Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24).
“What the Law could not do … God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin” (Rom 8:3).
“God … gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57).
“God … reconciled us to Himself through Christ” (2 Cor 5:18).
“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing … in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world … He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3-5).
“It was the Father’s good pleasure …
through Him to reconcile all things to Himself”
(Col 1:19-20).
“God has … destined us … for obtaining salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:9).
“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …
has caused us to be born again …
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3).
“God has sent His only begotten Son into the world
so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).
God did miracles through Jesus Christ:
“Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst” (Acts 2:22).
God resurrects believers through Jesus Christ:
“An hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:25-26).
God will judge through Jesus Christ:
“God … will judge the world … through a Man whom He has appointed” (Acts 17:30-31).
“He gave Him authority to execute judgment,
because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:27).
“God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16).
We glorify God through Jesus Christ:
“I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all” (Rom 1:8).
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:25).
“To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ,
be the glory forever” (Rom 16:27).
“Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Col 3:17).
“In all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).
“To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory” (Jude 1:25).
“Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).
God fulfills His promises through Jesus Christ:
“For as many as are the promises of God,
in Him (the Son of God, Christ Jesus) they are yes”
(2 Cor 1:19-20).
Through Christ, we trust God:
“Such confidence we have through Christ toward God” (2 Cor 3:4).
God sends the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ:
“The Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:4-6).
“Having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33).
We draw near to God through Christ:
“Jesus … is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him” (Heb 7:24-25).
“You also … are being built up … to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).
God is revealed through Jesus Christ:
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
“He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).
“He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:3).
God speaks through Jesus Christ:
“I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak” (John 12:49).
“God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb 1:2).
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place” (Rev 1:1).
God rules the universe through Jesus Christ:
“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ … raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Eph 1:17-21).
“God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW” (Phil 2:9-10).
Conclusion
God always interacts with the creation through Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God provides everything that the creation needs and, through Christ, the adoration and thanksgiving of the creation flow back to God. This is the true circle of life. Jesus Christ is “the Word of God” because He alone is the communication between God and His creation:
“There is one God,
and one mediator also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).
Is Jesus God?
There are many texts that identify “God” as our Savior (e.g., 1 Tim 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3). But there are also many texts that identify Jesus Christ as Savior (e.g., Eph 5:23; Phil 3:20; 2 Tim 1:20). This is one argument that Trinitarians use to say that Jesus is God. But when you look at verses that differentiate between the roles of God and of Jesus Christ in salvation, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Means through which God saves as shown by many texts quoted above.
This same principle applies to creation. The Bible identifies both the Father and the Son as Creators but if one considers texts that differentiate between the roles of God and of Jesus Christ in creation, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Means through whom God creates.
In other words, the Son is always presented as subordinate to the Father. In fact, while the Trinity doctrine teaches that Jesus is God and that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one single Being, the verses quoted above maintain a clear distinction between God and Jesus Christ. This the New Testament always does. See, Head of Christ.
I wonder why people are able to read the New Testament and come to a different conclusion. One reason is that the church has been brainwashed. Another is the extreme hostility that Christians experience when they reject the Trinity doctrine. They are often regarded as condemned. But I think another reason is simply that people are unable to conceptualize a being that is not God but is as exalted and as divine as Jesus Christ is described. In this respect, I think that it is important that people better understand the Logos-Christology that the church adopted during the first 300 years of its existence, while it still was persecuted by the Roman Empire. I think that explains the evidence in the Bible of the relationship between God and His Son better than what the Trinity doctrine does. For a discussion of Logos-Christology, see Hanson or The Real Issue.
Nice to see it all put together like this. Thank you.