Page 4 - January 2023 - Truth & Tidings

“ ruly, truly, I say to you, before nal), then Christ could not have revealed

Abraham was, I am” (Joh 8:58). God to man, we have not been redeemed
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T This is certainly one of the great- by God, nor have we been united to God in
est declarations ever made. “Truly, truly” Christ. In fact, if Christ were not eternally
tells us that what follows is fundamentally God, then we are blatant idolators for wor-
important. And what follows is Christ’s shiping Him. Clearly, Christ’s eternality
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affirming His own eternality and deity! is a fundamental truth!
The Jews heard in His words the language The Apostle John treated it as funda-
of Isaiah 41:4, “I, the LORD, the first, and mental. He opened his Gospel echoing
with the last; I am he.” They understood Genesis 1:1. When time, space and matter
Christ’s claims and tried to stone Him for were brought into existence, there, pres-
blasphemy. ent, John states, “was the Word, and the
In the centuries since, many have Word was with God, and the Word was
thrown stones at these same truths. Arius God” (Joh 1:1). “Was” juxtaposes “be-
taught that the Son was not eternal, lead- came” in verse 14. The Word’s existence
ing to a landslide of heretical conclusions. outside of time contrasts the moment in
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He reasoned that the Son “was begotten time when He “became” flesh. The one
timelessly, before the aeons,” but that whose glory is that “of the only Son from
“there was when he was not.” If the Son the Father,” this one always was, and this
were not “eternal,” and if “begotten” one became the man John knew.
meant beginning, then, Arius concluded, Christ declared His own pre-earthly
“the Son has an origin, but God is unorigi- existence on multiple occasions. For ex-
nated.” This would mean the Father and
the Son are not equals, and that the Son is ample, He told Nicodemus that “no one
not God. Arius slid still further into these has ascended into heaven except he who
diabolical lies and concluded that Christ descended from heaven” (3:13). He asked
was merely a created being. Athanasius His disciples, “What if you were to see the
was among those who countered Arius. Son of Man ascending to where he was
He argued that if Christ were not God ³ My summary of Athanasius’ argument comes
(which He could not be were He not eter- from Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ, ed.
Gerald Bray, Contours of Christian Theology
¹ Bible quotations in this article are from the (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998),
ESV unless otherwise noted. 123. I am indebted to this resource for its
² For more details on Arianism, see “Ancient systematic treatment of Christ’s pre-existence
Errors, Modern Examples: Arianism” by Dan and eternal sonship, and my article touches
Shutt, Truth & Tidings, November 2021. some of the many points that Macleod covers.

4 TRUTH kTidings January 2023