JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Both Christ and God the Father are builders of the house. No distinction can be made
between the Father and the Son in this regard: God the Father, the Maker of all things, is
inevitably the founder of His own household, and it was through His Son that He brought into
being all things in general and His own household in particular.
● He claimed God the Father as "My" Father (Jn 5:17-18).
The account of Jesus' "breaking" or "loosing" the Sabbath shows us the attitude He had
toward His Father:
"So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted
Him. Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at His work to this very day, and
I, too, am working.' For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him; not
only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own
Father, making Himself equal with God" (Jn 5:16-18).
The sacredness of the Sabbath had been established by God (Ex 29:8-11) and thus only
God could abrogate or modify its regulation. Yet we see Jesus doing that very thing. The Jews
understood very clearly what Jesus claimed. This is why they reacted with such great hostility
when, in defense of His having healed on the Sabbath, Jesus called God "My Father" and linked
His work with that of God the Father. If Jesus did not mean what the Jews here understood Him
to say, Jesus could have easily clarified His point by saying, "But this is not what I mean."
Instead He accepts their interpretation as accurate of who He was and is. It is extremely difficult
to escape the conclusion here that Jesus understood Himself as equal with the Father, and as
possessing the authority to do things only God has the right to do.
No Jew ever spoke of God directly as "My Father." Yet that was the form of address
Jesus used on several occasions, especially in His prayers. In fact, it was His only way of
addressing God the Father. It referred to His relationship to the Father exclusively. He said to
Mary Magdalene,
"Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to
My brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to My Father and your Father, to
My God, and your God" (Jn 20:17).
Jesus did not say "to our Father" or "to our God." He is in special relationship to the
Father and thus shares in the triune Godhead.
● He equated a person's attitude to Himself with a person's attitude to God
● To know Him was to know God (Jn 8:19; 14:7).
● To see Him was to see God (12:45; 14:9).
● To believe in Him was to believe in God (12:44; 14:1).