Dr Paul Allen

Over the past two centuries, much has been written in evangelical circles on the deity of Christ. This has been good and necessary, for many people deny that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate. Sometimes I fear, however, that this emphasis on Christ’s deity has led to an imbalance in our doctrine of Christ. It’s proper to highlight our Lord’s deity, but Scripture also emphasizes His humanity. If Jesus were only God and not truly man, He could not save us. His humanity is inseparable from His being the second Adam, fulfilling all righteousness, and taking upon Himself all the obligations of God’s law that must be fulfilled for us to receive life eternal ( Lev. 18:5 ; Rom. 2:13 ). The New Testament proclaims Jesus Christ as vera homo, truly human, as well as vera Deus, truly God. References to Jesus’ true humanity abound. John numbers those who deny a real incarnation with the antichrist ( 2 John 1:7 ). Paul speaks of Christ as “born of a woman” ( 1 Cor. 11:12 ; Gal. 4:4 ). The Gospe...

"I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 Corinthians 12:1–11   The doctrine of the Trinity is an important cornerstone of Christian belief . In 1 Corinthians 12:4–6 , Paul refers to the deep relationship among the three persons of the Trinity: the Spirit, the Lord (Christ) and God (the Father). He illustrates how unity in the church — in terms of spiritual gifts, kinds of service and kinds of working — should reflect the unity of the Trinity. But how does the relationship among the persons of the Trinity provide evidence of Jesus ’ divine nature? Although the term Trinity is never used in the Bible, the early church fathers discerned the concept from verses like Matthew 28:19 2 Corinthians 13:14. In fact, the relationship of the Trinity can be traced throughout Scripture. For instance, consider how all were present at Creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth … the Spirit of God wa...

In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.  The New World Translation This is one of the most common verses of contention between the  Jehovah's Witnesses  and Christians. Their false assumption is that Jesus is not God in flesh, but Michael the archangel who became a man.  Therefore, since they deny that  Jesus is divine , they have altered the Bible in  John 1:1  so that Jesus is not divine in nature.  The New World Translation has added the word "a" to the verse so it says, "...and the Word was a  god."  The correct translation for this verse is " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  This is how it is rendered in the NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, etc. The New World translation is incorrect in its translation of this verse for several reasons.  First of all, the Bible teaches a strict monotheism.  To say that Jesus is "a god" i...