God Made God—
• Most Christians believe that when Christ Jesus is referred to as «Lord» in the New Testament, that this term refers to him as “God”.
Most Christians & Muslims would agree that God is eternally divine, that no one or no entity caused God to become...God.
There's just a small problem though, Acts 2:36, which reads as follows:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that «God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ».”
Yes, the text plainly says two important things:
1. That God «made» (εποιησεν - caused [him]) Jesus to be both Lord & Messiah.
2. That the one crucified was both Lord & Messiah (not Lord or Messiah).
So, where do these two points take us?
• If «Lord» is synonymous with the term «God», then this is a significant contradiction as God is ever-living (eternal) & can have no point at which He is created or made
• If «Lord» is synonymous with the term «God», then the verse teaches that the totality of Christ Jesus was crucified. This would include his “divine nature” & not solely one nature, his human nature. Which means God truly suffered, this is another significant contradiction, as God is meant to be all-powerful.
Historically, Christians agreed that God could not suffer (He is impassible) & considered anyone who believed in the contrary to be heretics with the belief of patripassionism. For them, the only reason Jesus was able to suffer was because he had a second nature capable of experiencing pain, his human nature. However this verse points out that Jesus as Lord was truly crucified & thus assuming only one nature suffered contradicts this verse
• If «Lord» is not synonymous with the term «God», then Jesus isn't God & is a creation of God
This isn't the only passage in the Bible with such a teaching, as another example, Jesus's knowledge is contingent (dependent) upon God the Father. Whereas God is always all knowing and is not ever in a state where He has to learn new knowledge.
Christians who raise passages or other references which they believe read as Christ Jesus being a God fail to realize that such references would not in fact resolve these contradictions (between their beliefs & what the Bible says), but rather that they are introducing further evidence of additional contradictions in the text of “scripture”.
In other words, whether Christians agree with what Acts 2:36 says or not, it is clear that both their theology & scripture are inconsistent, incoherent, & contradictory.
مشاركة
