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Jesus Christ 2 the Person and His Roles
Who is this Jesus? Has God sent us the Christ – the anointed Messiah?

God and The Person of JESUS

“JESUS IS and was and will be.

Talk of JESUS .com Jesus Christ IS Lord – 1

JESUS IS God! just as we introduced last time through the beginning in John’s Gospel — “..and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..”

“No one has ever yet seen God..”

John 1:18a Berean Standard Bible

If the Person of Jesus IS GOD, then how was God revealed in HIM? If no one has seen God then how IS Jesus (who the world has seen born, died and risen) the Very Person of the unseen God?

Begotten, NOT made

John continues [John 1:18 BLB].

“.. the only begotten God who is in the bosom G2859 of the Father, He has explained Him.

Gospel of John 1:18 LSB – Strong’s G2859 – kolpos – ‘the front of the body between the arms

Look closely at John’s Gospel and understand that GOD IS ONE, yet God is a God of relationship – THREE PERSONS with very personal roles and relationships to created men and women.

Jesus, himself, confessed:

“I and the Father are one.”

John 10:30

the Personality of JESUS the Son
- Can you attach a Personality to the Face of God who you cannot see?
- Will you relate to a PILLAR OF FIRE or the unseen Hand of the whirlwind?
Even so, the LORD GOD relates to those He loves even as a Father guides and provides for his own.

God the Father of our Lord JESUS Christ reveals from His unseen ever-existence, two Personalities, a loving Father and His only Son, to which created mankind can relate in addition to His unseen Spirit-to-spirit power, Holy and separated from that which He has created.

Roger@TalkofJesus.com

Personality of sons and daughters of man

per·son·al·i·ty (pûr′sə-nălĭ-tē) DEFINITION

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Body, mind and spirit born of a woman
1. The totality of qualities and traits, as of character or behavior, that are peculiar to a specific person.
2. The collection of distinctive qualities of a person, especially those distinguishing personal characteristics that make one socially appealing
3. The quality or condition of being a person.
WE cannot comprehend the TOTALITY of the Personality of JESUS the SON of GOD any more than that of God the FATHER.

Never-the-less the Bible reveals the Face of God in the Persons of the Father and the Son – it is, in part, a relationship to which even sinful man may relate.

Jesus IS God from God

The PERSON of JESUS — perhaps a little difficult to understand, but we can relate to HIS relationship as SON of the One Father of all, even Almighty God.

And as mysterious and illusive is God’s power, so we must hear from what God has said through Scripture about the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Our basic CHRISTIAN teaching and belief, including study of GOD [theology] as THE TRINITY is outlined in several creeds of the church, including the NICENE CREED written by our Church fathers in A.D. 325.

JESUS Christ explained by the Nicene Creed

We believe in one God..

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

Begotten from the Father, only begotten,

that is, from the substance of the Father,

God from God, light from light, true God from true God,

begotten not made,

of one substance with the Father,

through Whom all things came into being,

things in heaven and things on earth…
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THINK about these TEACHINGS of our Church Fathers living just a few generations after the incarnate JESUS, Son of Man.

Consider in your heart for a moment of our mortal time: 
WHY would GOD show His Face to mankind as a Son, our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST?
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- We cannot be like GOD; but why would GOD want to become as one of us?
Why not consider JESUS in your heart rather than dismissing the God you cannot see simply in your self-created thoughts?

JESUS the Person of relationship with our personality

JESUS did this for ME?
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Hear the theology of our our Church fathers as you embrace the mystery of God in more of the Nicene Creed:
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Jesus Christ..

Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate

[Embodied in human form; personified – American Heritage Dictionary]

and became man,

and suffered,

and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens,

and will come to judge the living and dead…

JESUS.. the GOD-MAN!

Returning to the unseen.. in the heavens..

Christ ascended

AND WILL COME AGAIN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD..

which is of course the ROLE and right of GOD ALMIGHTY, Creator of all men and Maker all things.

the Role of Christ Jesus

Even though we cannot fully understand incarnation, that is, GOD becoming a MAN — let’s not confuse the PERSON of JESUS (of one substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit) with the ROLES of JESUS.

Χριστὸν – Christ

And He [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

Gospel of Luke 9:20 LSB [vs. 18-20]

Χριστὸν θεοῦ – christos theos

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah [Or the Christ. Messiah (a Hebrew term) and Christ (a Greek term) both mean “the anointed one.”] sent from God!”

Gospel of Luke 9:20 New Living Translation
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MORE about JESUS the Messiah or Christ of God NEXT time, God-willing.
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Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
September 14, 2024
From now on I will go ethnos
ACTS 18 continued..

ἔθνη – ethnos
“Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
ACTS of the Apostles 18:6b ESV – Paul’s curse toward the Jews rejecting the Gospel in Corinth

Paul’s persistence in ACHIA for 18 months

Our 2nd mission to Jews and the ethnos so far..

As we near the end of Paul’s second missionary journey the author of Acts who is also witness to this part of it shows his readers how the ethnos (gentiles) continue to be a challenge to the Jews.

Once again Paul began this second mission from Antioch Syria where the apostles’ depart with an epistle to all the churches from church leaders in Jerusalem.

Previously:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
ACTS of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

Even an epistle from Jerusalem from leaders of the church did not solve this issue of the ethnos joining the Jews in worship.

[In Derbe] Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 16:3-4 ESV

6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia..
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By the way, as all this has happened Paul writes a letter back to the Galatians addressing some of these same issues of ethnos.
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“This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

.. they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagog ESVue of the Jews.. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures..

4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks.. 5 But the Jews were jealous..

.. the Jews from Thessalonica.. came [to Berea], agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
excerpts from ACTS 17 ESV

more about the resurrection?

with the Jews of Corinth
- Paul waits in Athens for Silas and Timothy to return by separate sailing from Macedonia.
- 17:34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
- 18 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ²And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla..
- 18:5 ..Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia..
- (Most Biblical scholars believe that Luke, author of LUKE-ACTS, arrived with them.)
Luke – an ethnos physician from Antioch Syria

Luke was a frequent companion of the Apostle Paul, at least from the time of Paul’s Macedonian vision (Acts 16:9, 10) right up to the time of Paul’s martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:11).
BlueLetterBible.org commentary of John MacArthur

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
ACTS of the Apostles 18:5 ESV

6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

We will go to the ethnos!

Some Jews chained to the cultural teachings of first century synagogues believed that having been chosen by God then the ONLY way to please God was to stick together.

AND leaders of synagogues (NOT places of worship, but of teaching) stuck to select old testaments of certain ancient Scriptures.

The Jews had updated their LAW with rules replacing a broken OLD Covenant which God’s chosen had abandoned long-ago.

SO HOW DOES THIS LOOK TO A GENTILE like Luke REDEEMED BY and worshiping Jesus, THE JEWISH MESSIAH?

HOW DID GENTILES (ETHNOS) like LUKE view THE CHRIST (Greek for Messiah) OF THE JEWS?

We CONTINUE with LUKE’s 2nd account from this juncture between the FIRST TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS OF PAUL and a THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY with the Apostle’s focus into all the world directly pointed to the ethnos – the gentiles of the Roman Empire even beyond Greece.

From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

The Gentiles (ethnos) ἔθνος
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Lexicon :: Strong's G1484 - ethnos

Before we conclude our 2nd Missionary Journey with Paul let's look at what the Apostle's gentile physician meant in his 1st century account of the early church.
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The KJV translates Strong’s G1484 in the following manner: Gentiles (93x), nation (64x), heathen (5x), people (2x).
- a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  - a company, troop, swarm
- a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  - the human family
- a tribe, nation, people group
- in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
- Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
LUKE’s NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNT:
- ethnos – 13x in his Gospel
- Greek ἔθνος (ethnos) – 43x in ACTS of the Apostles
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation^G1484 under heaven. – ACTS 2:5

And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles G1484 also. – ACTS 10:45

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles G1484. – ACTS 13:46 [from Paul’s 1st missionary journey]

“Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

To be continued…

NEXT: more from Corinth & the conclusion of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey to the ethnos
June 22, 2023
Blood on the night in which He was betrayed
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,
first Letter of Paul to the church at Corinth 11:23 New English Translation Click here for other translations

Hear, O Isra-el

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
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We suppose here (though possibly not specifically in celebrating this Last Seder) that JESUS at various times during His three-year leading of the Apostles routinely recited Scripture from their Jewish Bible to these Jewish disciples of the Messiah.

Excerpts to Bible Translations linked below from: NASB; Somali Bible; Orthodox Jewish Bible;The Westminster Leningrad Codex 
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Exodus 12:

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male.. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month,

then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.

Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

They shall eat the flesh that same night.. and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the Lord’s Passover.

For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn…

The Lord’s Supper (Blood of a New Covenant)

and after he had given thanks he broke it and said,
“This is my body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
first Letter of Paul to the church at Corinth 11:24 NLT + Click here for other translations

The Gospel of Matthew

“How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 16:11-12 NKJV

The New Covenant of Matthew 26: KJV

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

“This cup

is the new covenant

in my blood.

Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” – 1 Corinthians 11:25 NET

διαθήκη + a covenant

the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will

“This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.”

And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and

וַיִּקַּח מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הַדָּם וַיִּזְרֹק עַל־הָעָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה דַֽם־הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר כָּרַת יְהוָה עִמָּכֶם עַל כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵֽלֶּה׃

Shmot (Exodus) 24:8

בְּרִית

covenant, alliance, pledge
- between men
- between God and man
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant H1285 which I have made with them.
Deuteronomy 31:16 KJV

Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Letter to the Hebrews of the Church, redeemed saints of the Messiah, 13:20-21 NASB20
April 14, 2022