OZTheology

  Have you ever walked down a street and seen small black & white posters with a person’s picture on them and a caption, “MISSING!”?  I have in Los Angeles.  They were nailed to wooden telephone posts in a main street in Burbank.  You could find similar posters throughout most cities and even on TV screens.  Pain and loss accompany these posters.  Did you realise that many Christians, and even churches, have a missing person?  There is also pain and loss accompanying this missing person.  You are probably asking the question - Who is this person?  The answer is staggering, because this person is the Holy Spirit.   At this point you may be thinking I’ve lost it, but hold your judgment, at least for a few more minutes.  Non-Charismatic evangelical Christianity has reacted to the extreme emphasis on the Holy Spirit within Charismatic Christianity by steering well clear of that topic with the result that the Holy Spirit has become a...

I had promised to consider divine attributes and the book of Revelation in presenting the deity of Jesus but interrupted that with a necessary interlude.  So, I am now delivering on that promise in today's blog. God possesses attributes, which are uniquely His and cannot be communicated to His creation.  These include His degree of knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), presence (omnipresence) and existence (eternal, without beginning and end).  God is also unchanging (immutable) in contrast to His creation.  These attributes are expressions of God's infinite being; One who is unlimited, in stark contrast to our human existence. At this point, the mystery of Jesus as both God and human is most obvious.  How could Jesus as a genuine human being be God in view of these incredible divine attributes?  I think this is the stumbling block for many.  It also presents a challenge when interpreting statements about Jesus, because as a man, Jesus lived in...

I am back again and I think it is worthwhile commenting on the comments from Corey, whom I have known for quite some time as he is married to the daughter of longstanding friends.  He clearly rejects the deity of Jesus the Messiah and has some comprehensive responses to my blog, which may be challenging for uniformed readers, but truth must stand the test of opposition. Despite significant differences, Corey and I strongly agree on the humanity of Jesus, which has a beginning, being at the virgin conception.  That is why the New Testament often refers to Jesus in that context and those descriptions necessitate the limitations of humanity.  Jesus as human is dependent on God the Father, is obedient to God the Father, is able to die, rise from the dead and be rewarded by God the Father.  None of these realities prohibit nor contradict Jesus' identity as God. Certainly, we cannot comprehend the joining of an infinite God with a finite humanity, which our human logic wou...

Previously, I focused on the Old Testament and Gospel records in consideration of the deity of Jesus the Messiah.  More support is found in the New Testament epistles, which reinforces the true identity of Jesus as God incarnate.  Perhaps the strongest affirmations of His deity are found in the books of Colossians and Hebrews, although other New Testament books also contribute some important data. Colossians addresses the error of proto-Gnosticism, which held that matter was evil and spirit was good.  This meant that for Jesus to be God, He needed a non-physical existence, which denied His true humanity.  Rather than conceding this perspective, Paul strongly teaches both the humanity and deity of Jesus using targeted terms. First, he portrays Jesus as preeminent in His deity as creator of all things (Colossian 1:16), as preceding all things and holding all things together (Colossians 1:17).  Jesus is "the image of the invisible God", which corresponds well with ...

Jesus asked a question of His disciples concerning His identity - "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" (Matthew 16:13).  The disciples responded with various answers drawn from the populace and then Jesus asked, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15).  Peter declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), which Jesus affirmed as a revelation from His Father in Heaven.  Obviously, Jesus' identity was important and thus the interaction with His disciples, but what exactly did Peter's statement communicate? Was this a statement of Jesus' deity or was it merely a statement of His mission as God's anointed one, come to provide salvation for Israel as their Messiah and also the world?  Was the declaration of Sonship indicative of deity or just a reference to His humanity as God's Son?  You will no doubt guess that I believe the confession by Peter is not merely affirming Jesus' mission or humanit...

 G'day All, Greetings!  I am restarting my venture into the world of blogging, which began over a decade ago, but sadly stalled with my neglect.  Recent trends on social media and other communication platforms have prompted me to resume my contribution to the discipline of theology, which I believe is often corrupted by subtle and even blatant heresy, prejudice and erroneous thinking. My background is theological and biblical training, having been an academic dean for many years and currently the Australian Director of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry Australia.  My passion is truth, its understanding and proclamation.  As a husband, father and grandfather, the need for generational transmission of truth is paramount and often lacking. I hope to post on current theological issues as well as reminders of critical theological topics.  One that has been prominent in my Facebook feed is the denial of Jesus Christ's deity, which is as fundamental an issue a...