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JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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What audacity! Who but God could ask that God the Father would glorify Him? In fact,<br />

the request is that God the Father would glorify Him (Jesus) with the same glory that He (the<br />

Father) has: "with the glory I had with You before the world began." Jesus here asks the Father<br />

to return Him to His previous position of glory, to exchange humiliation for glorification. This<br />

occurred at Christ's resurrection and exaltation to God's right hand.<br />

Some Jehovah's Witnesses have attempted to escape the obvious inference to Jesus' deity<br />

in John 17:5 by claiming that the word "with" (para) really means "through" and thus the "glory"<br />

that is referred to is not proof of Jesus' deity but merely a statement that the glory belongs to<br />

Jehovah and is only shining "through" the Son. It is, therefore, merely a manifestation of God's<br />

glory, rather than a glory which belongs to Him.<br />

This is totally fallacious since para ("with") is used in the dative case. The Greek word<br />

for "through" is dia. Greek scholar Thayer uses this very verse to show that the word para should<br />

be translated "with" and not "through."<br />

Para indicates a possessive quality which points to Jesus as the possessor of divine glory<br />

along with the Father and the Holy Spirit before the world was even formed. Jesus also states<br />

that He intends to appropriate that divine glory once again when God's plan and purpose for this<br />

earth is brought to its completion.<br />

Jesus claimed the same honor and glory as God the Father. Since Jehovah has said that<br />

He will not give His inherent glory and honor to another (Isa 42:8), the unity of essence or<br />

substance—divinity—is undeniable between Jehovah and Jesus.<br />

In the fourth century Theodosius, the Roman Emperor, favored the Arian teachers.<br />

When Arcadius, his son, became sixteen, the Emperor made him full partner with him on the<br />

throne of the empire.<br />

All the great people of the empire came on the appointed day to offer congratulations to<br />

the emperor and his son.<br />

Among them came Amphilocus, an old bishop who had suffered much in the Arian<br />

persecution. He made a very noble speech to the Emperor and was about to leave when<br />

Theodosius exclaimed:<br />

"What! Do you take no notice of my son? Do you not know that I have made him the<br />

sharer of my throne?"<br />

said:<br />

At this point, the old bishop went up to young Arcadius, put his hand on his head, and<br />

"The Lord bless thee, my son."

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