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1st Peter 1:3
June 28th 2015
Okay we left off last week with Peter’s salutation, which said:
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
He continues at verse three saying:
1st Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
So much to discuss in these eleven words so let’s get to it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
I suppose we could just read this first line and take it a face value:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Buuuut that would be impossible. The line is really full of implications and its not unique.
Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 1:3:
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.”
Again he wrote in Ephesians 1:3
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
Reading these and other descriptions we are given the opportunity to think and converse.
Does Jesus have a God? I thought Jesus was God in the flesh? If so, why would He have a God? The same reason Jesus has a Father.
Remember, when Peter and Paul were writing they always – always – spoke of God the Father and Jesus as two separate beings. Why?
Because they are.
Let’s cull through each introduction of every epistle beginning with Romans.
Now the reason I am not including any of the Gospels or Acts is because they, being part of the Old Testament, are not written under the umbrella of grace reaching out to guide and direct and instruct believers.
They are more like accounts, historical accounts, written to testify. So while there are definitely instructions in the Gospels and Act and histories and witnesses in the Epistles, they were not composed specifically for these reasons.
The salutation of Romans says:
Romans 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1st Corinthians 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2nd Corinthians 1:2 says “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Galatians 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:2-3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
1st Thessalonians 1:1 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2nd Thessalonians 1:2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1st Timothy Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
2nd Timothy Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Titus Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Philemon 1:3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews – an exception – no formal salutation.
This lead to the doubts as to authorship AND to whether the epistle was written to believers or not or by Paul who is certainly consistent.
James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ . . .
And then to our text today
1st Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
First John, because the apostle seems to be mirroring the introductory verses of his gospel do not contain the salutation, but 2nd John opens with
2nd John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
Third John, like first, Hebrews, doesn’t use it either – neither does Revelation but Jude says
Jude 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
A couple things to note about the salutations.
First, The Father is always mentioned first and He is always always always referred to as God, God the Father, or God our Father.
Secondly, in relation to Jesus, who is always mentioned second, He is called in 1st Peter, “the Father and the God of Jesus Christ.”
Does Jesus have a God?
Of course. Jesus, the man, had a God and a Father – God the Father – like us. And in and through Jesus we too have a God and a Father.
The hierarchy presented in almost every salutation shows the Father . . . God . . . and then the Son.
Interestingly enough, Jesus is never referred to as God but instead that is reserved for the Father.
Jesus is referred to as:
“The Lord,” “our Lord” and “the Savior.”
In the Greek Lord comes from “kuros” (supremacy) and it means “supreme in authority,” (as a noun) “controller;” and throughout scripture there is implications of the word tied to “Master (as a respectful title):– “God, Lord, and even Sir.
I won’t go into the Old Testament meaning here and Jehovah but one Hebrew word translated Lord is “adon” and it means someone with absolute authority and from it we get the plural “Adonai,” Lord.
Reverencing the “name of the Lord” the Jews, whenever they say the YHWH translated it Adonai.
I think it is so symbolic that Adonai in the Old Testament was substituted for the tetragrammaton with Adonai meaning the one with Supreme authority and that is the name by which Jesus is referred to in all these salutations.
The Greek term kurios means Adonai – Lord.
I don’t think the lack of the term God being assigned to Jesus is significant at all. His place – as the one becoming flesh, overcoming sin and the grave for us – properly garners Him the title Lord – which is truly just another title for God.
But we do always see present – mentioned – Father and Son in all of these gracious salutations of honor.
That being said we have to note, since we are talking about it, the absence of a mention of the Holy Spirit.
This is not significant if we consider the Holy Spirit as the spirit of God, or God in the Spirit OR if we consider the Holy spirit as the Spirit of Christ?
Huh?
Romans 8:9 says:
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Here we see that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are used synonymously.
If we subscribe, however, to creedal Trinitarianism, we have to admit that the Holy Spirit is a separate being or person, as different in individuality as Manny, Moe and Jack.
My problem is if there are three separate and distinct persons then why isn’t the Holy Spirit also mentioned and honored in any of these salutations.
Similarly, when we go to Revelation 5 we read a chapter of worship – and who is being worshipped? God and the Lamb. Once again the Holy Spirit is excluded.
What do we say?
It seems that within Christianity – from one far extreme to the next – there are three main views on how to see or understand God:
The Trinitarian, the Binitarian, and the Unitarian views.
I would say that all have merit and all ought to be included into our understanding of the make-up of God.
A dogmatic approach to any singular stance tends to lead to fails but elements of all three certainly seem valid.
While instances like I just mentioned tend to make us wonder about the Trinitarian stance relative to the Holy Spirit I think we can all agree that whenever God is operating – either as Father, or as Son, or as Holy Spirit, that it is God.
In this manner we can agree that God, at least in His relation to man, is three and that the three are one.
Others have stepped back on the three person’s – some step back so far that they admit to one – God. Unitarians.
And while most of us have trouble with definitional Unitarianism (which tends to exclude Jesus from being God) we can agree with Unitarianism on the point that there is ONE God (with a capital G) and no more.
Then there are the not so prevalent Binitarians.
Larry W. Hurtado of University of Edinburgh uses the word binitarian to describe the position of early Christian devotion to God, which ascribes to the Son (Jesus) an exaltedness that in Judaism would be reserved for God alone, while still affirming as in Judaism that God is one, and is alone to be worshiped.
Hurtado writes:
…there are a fairly consistent linkage and subordination of Jesus to God ‘the Father’ in these circles, evident even in the Christian texts from the latter decades of the 1st century that are commonly regarded as a very ‘high’ Christology, such as the Gospel of John and Revelation. This is why I referred to this Jesus-devotion as a “binitarian” form of monotheism: there are two distinguishable figures (God and Jesus), but they are posited in a relation to each other that seems intended to avoid the ditheism of two gods.”
Hurtado does not cite “binitarianism” as antithetical to Nicene Christianity, but rather as an indication that early Christians, before Nicea, were monotheistic (as evidenced by their singular reference to the Father as God), and yet also devoted to Jesus as pre-existent, co-eternal, the creator, embodying the power of God, by whom the Father is revealed, and in whose name alone the Father is worshiped.
He adds, “The central place given to Jesus…and…their concern to avoid ditheism by reverencing Jesus rather consistently with reference to “the Father”, combine to shape the proto-orthodox “binitarian” pattern of devotion. Jesus truly is reverenced as divine” (Ibid, p. 618).
Hurtado’s view might be interpreted as urging that, at this stage of the development of the Church’s understanding, it could be said that God is a person (the Father), and one being; and that Jesus is distinct from the Father, was pre-existent with God, and also originating from God without becoming a being separate from him, so that he is God (the Son).
This view of a binitarian pattern of devotion would posit a unity of God’s being, and a oneness of the object of worship, which is sympathetic to its predecessor view in Judaism; and it also displays a plurality of simultaneous identities which is sympathetic to its successor in trinitarianism.
It is a development of understanding of Christ, in other words, from which arose several understandings in the course of development, that eventually came into conflict with one another.
Before Hurtado’s influential work, one classic scholarly theory of binitarianism was that the Holy Spirit was seen as in some sense identical to the Son, or uniquely embodied in him.
The Shepherd of Hermas, a writing popular and included in the list of Apostolic Fathers supports the theory. In one of the parables, for example, an angel declares:
“The preexistent Holy Spirit, which created the whole creation, God caused to live in the flesh that he wished. This flesh, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit lived served the Spirit well, living in holiness and purity, without defiling the Spirit in any way. … it had lived honorably and chastely, and had worked with the Spirit and cooperated with it in everything.”
The classic theory of Christian binitarian theology, assumed by most dictionary definitions of binitarianism, asserts that some early Christians conceived of the Spirit as going out from God the creator, and is the creator: a person of God’s being, which also lived in Jesus (or from other sources, appears to be thought of as Jesus’s pre-existent, divine nature). This view further asserts that the same Spirit is given to men, making them a new creation, and sharers in the same hope of resurrection and exaltation.
This interpretation of early Christian belief is often cited in contrast to trinitarianism.
However, trinitarians cite the same sources as examples of pre-Nicene Christian monotheism, not orthodoxy, but “proto-orthodox” – that is, one of several versions that existed among Christians, which explain monotheism as a plurality (Father, Son, Spirit) in one being, prior to orthodoxy’s settlement in Christianity.
By the time of the Arian controversy, some bishops defended a kind of dual conception of deity, which is sometimes called “Semi-Arianism”.
The Macedonianism or Pneumatomachi typifies this view, which some prefer to call binitarian, as at that time it was the Semi-Arians who were the main binitarians.
None of the Semi-Arian views were strictly monotheistic (one being). All asserted that the God who speaks and the Word who creates are two beings similar to one another, of similar substance (homoiousia), and denied that they are one and the same being, or two persons of the same substance (homoousia) in which two are distinguished, as Nicaea eventually held.
Many “Church of God” Binitarians (see below) believe that their Christology perspective most accurately reflects that of the “original” Jewish Christians.
They note, as we have today that, “Earliest Christian worship specifies two figures, God and Jesus, as recipients” and that early rabbis considered early Christianity to be binitarian.
Near the end of the 2nd century, Melito of Sardis (whom Catholics and others consider to be a saint) wrote,
“No eye can see Him, nor thought apprehend Him, nor language describe Him; and those who love Him speak of Him thus: “Father, and God of Truth.”
Melito also wrote, “For the deeds done by Christ after His baptism, and especially His miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the Deity hidden in His flesh. For, being at once both God and perfect man likewise…He concealed the signs of His Deity, although He was the true God existing before all ages”
This clearly shows that Melito considered Christ to be God, as well as the Father.
There is no indication in any of the surviving writings of Melito that he considered that the Holy Spirit was also God.
After the 325 Council of Nicaea defeated Arianism, the Council of Constantinople was called in 381 in order to attempt to deal with the binitarians, who were referred to as “Semi-Arians”.
However, as the Trinity was finalized at this time as official Christian doctrine, the offended Semi-Arians walked out.
Hurtado writes:
“They rejected the Arian view that Christ was created and had a different nature from God (anomoios dissimilar), but neither did they accept the Nicene Creed which stated that Christ was ‘of one substance (homoousios) with the Father’.
Semi-Arians taught that Christ was similar (homoios) to the Father, or of like substance (homoiousios), but still subordinate”
In the mid-4th century, orthodox apologist Epiphanius of Salamis noted,
“Semi-Arians…hold the truly orthodox view of the Son, that he was forever with the Father…but has been begotten without beginning and not in time…But all of these blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and do not count him in the Godhead with the Father and the Son.”
Binitarians believe that other later groups throughout history such as some who were called Paulicians, Albigensians, and Bogomils were holders of a binitarian view. These names were assigned to those who differed with the Catholic demands of allegiance to the Trinity Doctrine.
The Seventh day Adventists started off as binitarians before Ellen White published a pamphlet declaring the Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead.
By the latter half of the 19th century, binitarianism was held by a relatively small group of church denominations.
There are a few churches today who continue to hold to the Binitarian view, the most noted being the United Church of God. The World Wide Church of God lead by Herbert W. Armstrong, also hold to a binitarian view of God.
God’s plural identification in Genesis as “Elohim”, as the Father, and the Word or Logos (John 1:1–18) who became the Son of God, the firstborn of many brethren, leaves room for untold numbers to be added to God’s family.
This binitarian view posits that humanity eventually will have access to become members of God’s family in their own right each with the power of the Holy Spirit, however, not equal to Father, or Son.
As part of the binitarian view it is also believed that, as the Bible states, the Father is greater than Jesus.
Because we like our positions, it is no wonder that trinitarians sometimes describe the modern binitarian view as “ditheist” or “dualist”, instead of binitarian.
This stems from the “us verses them” mentality thriving in all of us and it is due to their misunderstanding of binitarianism.
Some claim that binitarianism teaches that God is “multiple beings.” Not so.
But listen – and this is key – Semi-Arian binitarians do not believe that Jesus “was fully human and fully God”, which is the position held by trinitarians.
They believe that Jesus was God (the Word) prior to His incarnation, that He became fully human (finite) yet he was not “fully God” during the pre-resurrection incarnation as He did not have the powers (etc.) of God at that point having emptied Himself and then, all authority was restored to Him (as well as his infinite God-status) shortly after the resurrection.
They make three major claims to support that position:
Semi-Arian binitarians believe that Jesus emptied Himself of His Divinity while in the flesh, citing the same Scriptures which trinitarians cite to the opposite conclusion: that he denied himself the honor and glory he deserved, and hide the fact that he is equal to the Father, in order to serve those who were undeserving. 2 Corinthians 8:9 states that Jesus became poor, yet God is rich (Haggai 2:8), while Philippians 2:7 states, “…Christ Jesus, who subsisting in (the) form of God thought (it) not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking (the) form of a slave, becoming in (the) likeness of men” The Semi-Arian view of these texts is called kenosis, referring to the idea that what Jesus “emptied” himself of was his divinity (rather, than, say, his exalted position in Heaven).
They deny the trinitarian teaching that Jesus possessed two wills and two natures. For this reason they view the assertions of Jesus that He “could do nothing” without the Father, prior to His resurrection (John 5:19,30; 8:28), as a denial by him that he had all divine rights until after the resurrection, when he claimed that he had “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). They conclude that it is because he had overcome the temptations of Satan and upon living the perfect sinless life would be “all powerful”.
Similarly, they note that the Bible claims that Jesus was tempted in all points as humans are (Hebrews 4:15) and that in another place the Bible claims “God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13). Denying the trinitarian view of two natures, Semi-Arian binitarians see the assertions as contradictory if posited of the same person, and therefore, since “scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) Jesus could not have been fully God while in the flesh. But still that is contrary to Colossians 2:9 which says “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” and Luke 4:12 “And Jesus answered, and said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
In other words, Semi-Arian binitarians believe that in the flesh Jesus was not who He was prior to His incarnation (God the Word), not what He was (i.e. not fully God with all authority) prior to His resurrection. He was God, then he was not fully God, then he was God again.
Trinitarians teach that the Holy Spirit is another person like the Son, who comes from God without becoming a separate being from him (Matthew 28:19–20; John 16:5–7; Acts 1:8, 2:4).
Most binitarians teach that the Holy Spirit is essentially the power of God, with no distinct identity within God, and not a separate Being or Person as they conceive the Son to be.
In its Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs, the binitarian Living Church of God writes,
“The Holy Spirit is the very essence, the mind, life and power of God. It is not a Being. The Spirit is inherent in the Father and the Son, and emanates from Them throughout the entire universe (1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139:7; Jeremiah 23:24).
It was through the Spirit that God created all things (Genesis 1:1–2; Revelation 4:11).
It is the power by which Christ maintains the universe (Hebrews 1:2–3).
It is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized (Acts 2:38–39) and is the power (Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:6–7) by which all believers may be “overcomers” (Romans 8:37, KJV; Revelation 2:26–27) and will be led to eternal life.”
As stated, scripture mentions prayer to the Father, and to the Son, but the Holy Spirit is never prayed to nor worshiped in the Bible; in the Revelation of John, there is praise to the “One who sits upon the throne” (God), “and to the Lamb” (Jesus), but the Spirit is not mentioned; modern binitarians conclude that this is because the Holy Spirit is not a person of the God family, but the mind of God.
Binitarians believe that statements from early Christian leaders such as Melito of Sardis and Polycarp of Smyrna were binitarian, though most mainstream scholars do not accept this assertion.
Binitarians point out, for example, while both call the Father and Son “God”, not only do neither refer to the Holy Spirit as God, Melito’s Oration on Our Lord’s Passion suggests that the Holy Spirit is simply the power of God in action.
Binitarians have noted that Paul honors the Father and the Son towards the beginning of every book he wrote, but never does so for the Holy Spirit.
Trinitarians use the following passsages to support their view that the Holy Spirit is a person:
Romans 1:4 “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:”,
Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,”
1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost(cor. gk. pneuma, air, breath, breeze, Spirit), and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit):”
By not considering that the Holy Spirit is a person of God, or God’s mind, some form of binitarians were also called the Pneumatomachi – which unfortunately means, “Combators against the Spirit.”
I’m certain that this title was created and assigned by pro-trinitarians in defense of what they believed was right.
Unitarianism – sure – there is one God.
Binitarianism – I think so – the Father and Son, honored and worshipped and prayed to – not the Holy Spirit.
Trinitarianism – absolutely – because if you are dealing with any of the three essenses God has related to humans by – the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, – we are still dealing with the One God.
But see it as you will.
