Question: Did God Become Man?
Based on my conversation with your fellow Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) members, I have learned that you are united in the belief that Jesus, as man, ascended to God and that His spirit was welcomed to God's right hand.
For a layman like me, however, I believe that Jesus ceased to be man when He met With God while His spirit stayed on as God's, there being only one God.
With this point of view as premise, I told your brethren that God must have decided to become man in the person of Jesus because he could, otherwise, not make Himself visible to men whom He would save.
Whether or not that indeed was what He decided, only God knows. But I would like to know your view regarding this.
Ven A. Coronacion
Muntinlupa City, Philippines
Answer:
When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the Father, He did not become God but remained a man, as testified by the Holy Scriptures:
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God." (Col. 3:1,NKJV)
"Let Your hand be upon the MAN of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself." (Ps. 80:17,Ibid.,emphasis ours)
It is clear from the preceding passages that Christ remained a man. When He as such even now as He sits in the right hand of the Father. On His return, Christ will come in the same manner He was seen ascending to God in heaven (cf. Acts 1:11). The Scriptures do not teach that the Lord Jesus Christ had changed His nature from man to God.
If Christ became God, as your premise states, then there would be two gods. This would contradict Christ's teaching that there is only one God--the Father (cf. Jn. 17:1,3).
The same doctrine was upheld by the prophets (cf. Mal. 2:10). Consistently, the apostles upheld the teachings of Christthat there is only one God whom we must recognize, the Father (cf. I Cor. 8:6).
The Lord God Himself declared that there is no other God aside from Him:
I am the Lord, and there is no one else; there is no God besides Me. I will gird and arm you, though you have not known Me, that men may know from the east and the rising of the sun and from the west and the setting of the sun that there is no God besides Me. I am the Lord, and no one else [is He]." 9Is. 45:5-6, Amplified Bible)
God is Almighty and nothing is impossible with Him (cf. Rev. 19:6; Gen. 35:11;Mt. 19:26). Thus, He has the power to do all things as He desires.
But, would God allow Himself to become a man? Definitely not, for God said: "I am God, and not man" (cf. Hos.11:9, NKJV). In reference to man, He said: "yet thou art a man, and not God" (cf. Ezek. 28:2,KJV;Is.31:3).
Therefore, to think that God could have decided to be man in the person of Christ is pure imagination.
The Bible further tells us that the Father is distinct in nature from the Son and vice versa. Christ stated that God is spirit (cf. Jn. 4:24) which means that God does not have flesh and bones as what Christ has (cf. Lk.24:36-39). Being spirit in nature, God is invisible (cf. I Tim. 1:17). Moreover, Christ taught that He is a MAN who told the truth which He heard from God (cf. Jn. 8:40).
What Jesus Christ revealed concerning His true state of being--His being a man--is a clear proof that He is not God.
Editor's Reply
Pasugo God's Message p.2