THE STUBBORN ARIUS

By:

Martin E. Cruz

“Arianism is a fourteenth century heresy which denied the divinity of Christ; the strongest heresy which the early Church had to contend.  It takes its name from Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who began to promulgate this doctrine about the year 320, arguing that since the Son is begotten, He is only a creature and that in His own nature He is liable to sin and limited in intellect.  Arius taught that the Son was not of the same nature as the Father, but was merely a superior creature used by God as an instrument in other creative acts.  The doctrine spread with astonishing rapidity in both the East and the West.  It was condemned in the First Council of Nicea (325) but continued to flourish for more than forty years.  The Arians exiled Pope Liberius, banished, killed or deposed many orthodox bishops and completely ousted the Catholics from the Church of Constantinople.  The heresy began to decline in the east after the death of Constantius (361) but survived for more than a century among the Goths, who had been converted to Christianity by the Arian Ulfilas.” - The Catholic Dictionary.  Item: Arianism, pp.17-18. 

The great majority of people in the world of faith and religion possesses a certain amount of knowledge about Jesus Christ: that He was born one cold night in a little town in Bethlehem, brought forth from the virgin womb of Mary; grew up and was known as the carpenter’s son; and then went around teaching His gospel with His chosen disciples.  Jesus Christ had been wrongfully accused, charged and summarily convicted of rebellion whereby He was bodily abused and finally nailed to a cross on a mountain top called Golgotha.  He was accused of rebellion primarily because He had been propounding the coming of a kingdom that is not of this world - the kingdom of the only true God whom He went on to reveal as His Father who sent Him into the world.  The Biblical accounts speak of one such incident which manifests the people’s resentment of His revelations:

“Now there took place in Jerusalem the feast of the dedication; and it was winter.  And Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s portico.  The Jews therefore gathered round him and said to him, ‘How long dost thou keep us in suspense?  If thou art the Christ, tell us openly.’  Jesus answered them and said, ‘I tell you and you do not believe.  The works that I do in the name of my Father, these bear witness concerning me.  But you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.  And I give them everlasting life; and they shall not perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.  What my father has given me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch anything out of the hand of my Father.  I and the Father are one.’ 

“The Jews therefore took up stones to stone him.  Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works have I shown you from my Father.  For which of these works do you stone me?’  The Jews answered him, ‘Not for a good work do we stone thee, but for blasphemy and because thou, being man, makes thyself God.’” - John 10:22-33. 

The Jews asked Jesus if He was the Christ.  But they refused to believe Him when He told them that He is.  Jesus did not actually say, "Yes, I am the Christ."  But He rather underlined the truth of His words by telling them that it is the works that He does in the name of His Father which bear witness that He is indeed the Christ they seek to know.  But when Jesus called God "my Father," the Jews accused Him of blasphemy and wanted to stone Him, perhaps to death. 

The Jews have always known from Scripture that God promised to send a Savior who is Christ the Lord.  And so they are convinced that the Christ whom God has anointed and sent must be His only-begotten Son.  They truly believed and expected that the Christ or Messias is to come in the same divine nature of His Father.  But Jesus stood there in their midst - a man of flesh and bones - claiming that He is the Christ and that He and His Father who sent Him are one God.  Yes indeed, that is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, "I and the Father are one."  The Jews correctly understood Him when He claimed that He and His Father are one God.  But Arius thought otherwise.  He refused to believe that Jesus is of the same nature of God His Father.  And if Arius is a Jew, he would not accuse Jesus of blasphemy and seek to stone Him.  But Arius is not a Jew.  And thus he never understood that Jesus Christ must be of the same divine nature of His Father. 

The Biblical revelations will go on to show that Jesus was to go forth from the hands of the Jews that sought and tried to seize Him and put Him to death on several occasions.  And the profound reason is that the time of His prophesied passion and death has not yet come.  Finally, Jesus was betrayed by one of His disciples who sold Him to the Jews for thirty pieces of silver.  He was brought to Pilate, was falsely charged and convicted of rebellion and was nailed on the cross. 

Arius, being an Alexandrian priest at that, was never able to perceive the profound truth of Jesus Christ’s real nature in His actual being: that He is in the same Godly or divine nature of His Father.  It would have been alright, had Arius kept his ignorant belief to himself.  But he went rashly ahead to promulgate his self-conceived and foolish doctrine; and very many believed and adhered to his precepts, all of them being convinced that Jesus Christ is a created being, naturally liable to sin and limited in intellect. 

Arius never had the chance to see Jesus in person and converse with Him like the Jews did.  The Jews completely refused to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  But Arius did.  Now, the Jews and Arius are one in their belief that Jesus is just a created human being and therefore cannot be of the same nature of God.  And both the Jews and Arius have converted very many followers of this specific belief in the person of Jesus Christ during their time.  But their time has long been through.  And it would seem that this erroneous doctrine concerning the real nature of Jesus Christ is no longer being preached in the world of faith and religion.  Or if it did, perhaps it is now confined to a few minor religious organizations. 

After having been declared as a heretical doctrine by the mighty Catholic Council, it was deemed that Arianism began its decline in 361and perhaps existed insignificantly or has today become extinct as a once credible doctrine and precept in the world of faith and religion.  However, this issue of the true realities of Jesus Christ, whether He is God in His true nature, whether He is both God and man at the same time, whether He is God who became a man, or whether He is that one of the three persons in one God, remains unresolved.  But if Arianism is indeed a heresy, nobody has come up with the substance and evidence of its falsity, not even the ruling and teaching authorities of the very influential Roman Catholic Church. 

There is no denying the fact that all knowledge and understanding that man may have attained concerning Jesus Christ are from the Holy Bible.  The expectation then is that all true Christians or all those who believe that Jesus Christ is true and real, must share the same, comprehensive, correct and conclusive Biblical knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ - His nature, His purpose and His glory.  Yet it is also a fact that many wise and prudent men of this world had taken hold of the Holy Bible, read it and then went about interpreting the meanings and intents of the written words.  But man, despite his wisdom and prudence, is naturally imperfect in his being.  How can the imperfect man perfectly interpret the profound revelations of the supreme, almighty, and perfect God?  No way!  There is absolutely no need imposed by God or Jesus Christ for man to interpret the written words in order “to grasp the meaning intended by God, who is the chief author of the Bible” (as the Catholic hierarchs explain).  The Holy Bible, for all its intent and purpose, is a book of revelation.  It reveals its true meanings and intentions but only to those who have been made worthy through perfect and living faith in Jesus Christ.  Consider this:

“The purpose of interpretation is to grasp the meaning intended by God, who is the chief author of the Bible.  Since the Scriptures were written centuries ago in ancient languages, they are often difficult to understand.  Moreover, the ideas proposed in the Bible are frequently above our limited human understanding.  Even Saint Peter confessed that in St. Paul’s letters ‘there are certain things difficult to understand, which the unlearned and the unstable distort, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures also, to their own destruction’ (2 Pet.3:16).  Therefore, special rules of Scriptural interpretations are necessary.  These may be summed up as follows:

1. The Bible is a religious book given to man by God Himself.  Therefore, the reader should prepare his soul for reading and understanding its meaning by prayer and a holy life.

2. The Bible, because God is its author, is absolutely free from all error. Therefore, a) No interpretation can be admitted that supposes an error in the Bible; b) No interpretation can be admitted that supposes a contradiction between one inspired writer and another, or between two inspired passages of the same writer; c) No interpretation can be admitted which contradicts a truth clearly and certainly demonstrated by science. 

3. The Bible has been given to the Church to be guarded and explained. Hence, it must be interpreted according to the mind of the Church. Therefore, a) Whenever the Church officially declares the meaning of a particular text, it must be understood in that sense; b) No interpretation can be admitted which has been condemned by the Church; c) An interpretation must be admitted if it is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers in a matter of faith and morals; d) No interpretation can be admitted which would teach anything contrary to true and certain doctrines of the Catholic Church.” - INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, p.vi. The Holy Angels Edition 1960 (Douay Version) 

And so, how do the Biblical revelations distinguish the true realities of Jesus Christ in His actual nature?  It is not by interpreting its written words, but only by making himself worthy to receive the truth of God’s meaning and intention that one is able to perfectly know and understand that Jesus Christ is undoubtedly in the same nature of His Father, the only true God who sent Him into the world.  Henceforth, everyone who will deny the divinity of Jesus Christ is Biblically distinguished as ignorant, one who will not seek the truth and refuses to see the truth that the Word of God seeks to impart. 

“But you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.  And I give them everlasting life; and they shall not perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.” 

Clearly now, all those who do not believe that Jesus Christ is God in His true nature are NOT His sheep; they do not hear His voice nor follow Him; but most of all, Jesus does not know them.  Yet after all these years and the many generations past since the ascension of Jesus Christ, there still persist and prevail foolish and lying doctrines that mislead and deceive peoples and tongues and nations to ignore the truth of the Biblical revelations concerning the true and real Jesus Christ.  For instead of hearing the voice of Jesus Christ and following Him, these people have willingly chosen and insisted on hearing the voices of organizational church founders, leaders, teachers, priests and pastors who interpret the meanings and intentions of the profound words of God.  But the words of Scripture have already invalidated every human effort to explain the counsel of God that He seeks to impart in His words. It is written:

“Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart; because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.  For perverse counsels separate a man from God, and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy; because into a soul that plots evil Wisdom enter not, nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin.  For the holy spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels; and when wickedness occurs it is rebuked.” - Wisdom 1:1-5.

“For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?  For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.  For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.  And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?  Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?  And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom.” - Wisdom 9:13-18. 

The Word of God that a man hears and believes in true faith consequently imparts to him His Wisdom.  And it is only through that Wisdom of God that man receives by which he is mightily able to know Jesus Christ in the truth and realities of His divine and eternal being.  Certainly then, human interpretations of the intent and meaning of the words of God are only able to impart the limited and vain wisdom of men and never the perfect and supreme Wisdom of God. 

In the human effort to know and understand His true and real nature through human interpretations of the Biblical revelations, the world of faith and religion was met with different man-made distinctions of Jesus Christ: that He is one of the three persons in one God; that He became what He previously was not - a man; that He is a God-Man - both God and man at the same time; that He, as the Son, is also the same Father; that He is not God but a man like you and me in His entire existence - from the time of His conception, to His death and resurrection, to His ascension and until He comes again.  The Catholic doctrine of the Trinity which claims that Jesus Christ is one of the three persons in one God and by which they also acknowledge His divine nature has always been conveniently propagated as a mystery, so that it is no longer necessary to prove it true by the measure of God’s written words.  But such doctrine is at once proven a fallacy in the words spoken by Jesus when He declared to one and all, “I and the Father are one.”  The two, Son and Father, are one.  And Jesus never mentioned more than that.  Thus, the Trinitarian doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the three persons in one God is an absolutely false interpretation of the words of Jesus Christ.  Neither did Jesus Christ, being God in His true nature, ever become a man.  This is another human interpretation gone wrong.  If He is God indeed, God does not and will never change in His divine and everlasting nature.  Now the Father cannot be the same Son, nor can the Son be the same Father as some perceive and teach.  Again, it is Jesus Himself that denies such perception when He said, “The Father is greater than I.”  Common sense dictates that he who is greater cannot be the same one who is lesser.  The word of Jesus Christ is manifesting the difference and not the similarity between Him and His Father.  Besides, He also said, “He who sent is greater than Him who was sent.”  It is the Father who sent His Son and never the other way around.  Without the need to interpret these words, one is easily able to clearly understand the truth: that there are only two persons spoken of here - the Father and the Son - one who sent and the other who was sent, each one existing as individual entities sharing the same divine nature. 

But the most despicable, reprehensible, ignorant and deadly doctrine concerning the true nature of Jesus Christ brought forth by human interpretations of the Biblical revelations is Arianism, the one that denies the divine nature of Jesus Christ, depicting Him as a man who is liable to sin and limited in intellect.  The decline of Arianism many centuries ago seems to manifest the world’s rejection of such unbiblical and false doctrine.  Yet it is highly probable that there are still those who embrace the Arian teaching concerning the true nature of Jesus Christ even today, although perhaps in some clandestine manners which render their present existence inconspicuous.  Certainly, the world of faith and religion finds it completely unacceptable to even consider that Jesus Christ is liable to sin and limited in intellect.  The Biblical revelations have often underlined that Jesus Christ is not liable to sin simply because God in His holy, divine and perfect nature cannot sin.  And Jesus Christ cannot sin simply because He is in the same exact nature of His Father, the only true God.  On the other hand, the inherent intellect of Jesus Christ is unlimited because it is well within His perceptive capabilities to know and understand the beginning and end of all things that God created through Him, visible and invisible, whether in the heavens above or on the earth below and those under the earth.  Jesus Christ have spoken of things that must come to pass long before they come to pass; and they all come to pass as He foretold them.  But Arius limits His intellect and only fools will agree to such an incredible and unfounded proposition. 

But Arius is stubborn, obstinate and immovable.  And the world of faith and religion is wrong in the thought that it has done away with Arianism since its decline in 361 after having been established a heresy by the First Council of Nicea in 325.  Sometime ago, in 1914, a certain Felix Y. Manalo registered his religious group with the government of the Republic of the Philippines under the name and title: Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ).  He found strength and credibility for his novel doctrine and precepts by exposing in every detail the numerous Catholic teachings which he all pointed out as contrary to the gospel of Christ and the Biblical revelations.  And slowly but surely, Mr. Manalo had converted many generous and cooperative followers, so that by the time he passed away and was succeeded by his sons, the Iglesia ni Cristo church organization is today one of the most wealthy, influential, and powerful religious group in the Philippines, with membership that extend to some parts of the globe.  

Basically, the doctrine conceived and promulgated by Mr. Manalo shares that of Arius.  He believes and so teaches that Jesus Christ is a man and never God in His real nature.  But Mr. Manalo slightly deviated from the Arian doctrine by proposing that although Jesus Christ is a man like you and me, He cannot sin and His Wisdom is supreme and unlimited.  The following article, written by one of his ministers in their official magazine, should bring to light the doctrine which Mr. Felix Y. Manalo had conceived and promulgated and which the Iglesia Ni Cristo church organization has been teaching and promoting all these times.  And it says:

“The vast majority of the world’s population professes belief in a certain Christ and appropriate for itself the generic term, ‘Christian’, but insist to be called Catholics, Protestants, Adventists, Witnesses, Methodists, Mormons, etc.  A cursory look at the Christ professed by each of these groups reveals different kinds of Christ. Catholics and Protestants profess a Christ who they believe is both God and man at the same time, a God-man.  He was in the beginning the Word, was with God in the beginning, was God in the beginning.  Note the past tense WAS, but they insist that when the Word who was God became man, he retained his being God-hence, GOD-MAN.  A logic student, with minimum mental effort, will easily see that this term GOD-MAN is a contradiction in terms if viewed from the Biblical point of view.  God is a spirit (John 4:24).  A spirit has no flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).  Christ has flesh and bones and thus cannot be a spirit (Luke 24:39).  Thus Christ cannot be God.  To claim that Christ is a God-man is to claim that Christ has flesh and bones and has no flesh and bones at the same time.  Logic calls this a violation of the principle of Contradiction.  Thus, belief in a God-man is a contradiction or confusion - not God’s work because God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). 

“Who are the Christians?  These are the disciples or followers of Christ who were called Christians for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26) and were called by the apostle Paul ‘churches’ of Christ in Romans 16:16.  The word, churches, does not refer to many different religions because Christ founded only one Church (Matt. 16:18).  It rather refers to individual members of this one Church as enumerated by the apostle Paul in chapter 16 of the book of Romans. 

“The Christ of these Christians or churches of Christ is a man with flesh and bones and not a spirit (Like 24:39), a man telling the truth which he got from God (John 8:40), a man mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5.), a seed of Abraham and not of angels (Hebrews 2:16), a man approved of God by miracles (Acts 2:22), a man more worthy of glory than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-3), a man who died but was resurrected by God (1 Corinthians 15:15), a man who sits by the right hand of God (Psalms 80:17, Colossians 3:1), and the man by whom God will judge the world come the day of judgment (Acts 17:31). 

“Although the Christ of the Christians is a man like you and me, He is greater than any man or angels because He is firstborn of every creature (Colossians 1:15), our only Master (Matt. 23:8-10), Head and Savior of the Church of Christ (Ephesians 5:23), has words of eternal life (John 12:49-50), knows the Father (Matthew 11:17), the only man ordered by God to be worshipped to the glory of God (Philippians 2:9-11), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26), King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:13-16, 1 Tim. 4:15), the only Savior sent by God (Acts 5:30-31), whose name only can save (Acts 4:10-12), the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), heir of all things and cause of all things created by God (Hebrews 1:1-2), the prophet who received in his mouth the words of God (Deuteronomy 18:18, Acts 3:20-22), give all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36, John 1:41), head of all things (Ephesians 1:20-23), the man who sits at God’s right hand, the place of honor (Hebrews 10:12; Colossians 3:1; Psalms 80:17). 

“Although the Christ of the Christians is greater than men or angels, He is less than God, and therefore not God, because He Himself is subject to God (1 Cor. 11:13).  Although He is given power or authority in heaven and on earth, such power or authority do not include power or authority over God (1 Cor. 15:17).  Christ will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords for a thousand years after the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6) or He will reign till all enemies are conquered.  He Himself will be subject to God in the end. 

“This is the Christ of the true Christians, a man like you and me, a man different from you and me, a man greater than you and me and the angels, a man less than God and therefore, not God.  Such a Christ is preached by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ).  He is the true Christ of the true Christians.” 

- “The Christ of the Christians”: by Pedrito B. Placio / Pasugo Magazine (INC), March-April/ pp.13-14.  Quezon City, Philippines.  1989. 

Mr. Pedrito B. Placio ended his dissertation with an assertion that the Christ being preached by his church organization, the Iglesia Ni Cristo, is the true Christ of the true Christians.  He distinguished the true Christ of the true Christians as a man like you and me, a man different from you and me, a man greater than you and me and the angels, a man less than God and therefore NOT God.  Indeed, Arius and his doctrine had been resurrected from oblivion by Mr. Felix Y. Manalo and his church organization since 1914 until today, and perhaps unto the consummation of the world.  Despite all the claims and arguments of the now influential and confident ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo organization in all their powerful media outfits that their doctrine is different and separate from that of Arius, the fact remains obvious and undeniable: that like Arius, Felix Y. Manalo believed in all certainty that Jesus Christ is not God in His true nature but a man like you and me.  But again, for obvious reasons, he rejected the Arian idea which proposes that Jesus Christ is liable to sin and limited in intellect, hoping that doing so will make his novel doctrine more acceptable to most people.  But such rejection does not make any difference at all.  It is sufficient that in recognizing Jesus Christ as a man like you and me, Mr. Manalo has admitted that Jesus Christ is as liable to sin and limited in intellect as he is.  Mr. Placio, on the other hand, got it all distorted, mixed-up, and confused.  His effort to prove that Jesus Christ is a man like you and me, citing so many Biblical verses, is quite admirable if only for his loyalty to his organization.  But anybody who will read his article will have to agree that there is not one verse or phrase in that long list which categorically stated that Jesus Christ is NOT God in His true nature.  What is clearly certain is that the idea that he learned from Mr. Manalo, as founder and teacher of his organization, is nothing more than human interpretations of the intent and meaning of those verses.  Point by point and verse by verse; the thesis written by Mr. Pedrito B. Placio is a dismal failure by the measure of truth of the Biblical revelations. 

Wisdom and prudence would prefer that it is better to bring out into the discussion those salient points in Scripture that should finally establish the divinity of Jesus Christ in His true nature rather than point out the errors and misconceptions of Mr. Placio in his willful denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  That is correct.  But these words written by Dr. Jose Rizal are always worth remembering and taken into consideration in such cases.  And he wrote:

“Father Sanchez, my professor of rhetoric, dared to defend me in public and praise my book (Noli Me Tangere), but secretly he told me that I would have done better writing an ideal book in which I could describe an ideal picture of ideal priests and in this way show the contrast. I replied that I did not write for thinking readers but for the public that did not think; that there were so many books where ideal priests were described and they were utilized by bad priests to conceal their wolfish bodies with the skin of sheep. I told him that I wanted to awaken my countrymen from their profound lethargy; and one who wished to awaken did not use soft and gentle sounds but detonations, blows, etc.

"'Are you not afraid of the consequences of your audacity?’ asked Father Sanchez. (He treats me familiarly.)  ‘Father,’ I replied, ‘you are a missionary. If you go on your mission, are you not afraid of the consequences of its fulfillment?’  ‘Oh, that is entirely different,’ he replied. ‘Not at all,’ I replied, ‘your mission is to baptize the heathen, but mine is to make them worthy.’” - Dr.  JOSE P.  RIZAL: from his letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt from Brussels.  February 2, 1890.  Epistolario Rizalino 5, part2, no.86, pp.536-5

Mr. Placio and others like him must be awakened from their continuing ignorance and denial of the Biblical truths concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ.  And by waking them up to the divine realities, his acquired ratiocinations and erroneous belief must be discussed, considered, and examined in order to establish its conformity or disagreement with the Biblical truth. 

The true Christ of the true Christians is the Biblical Christ.  For there are all kinds of Christs and Christians, but there is only one true Christ that the Bible reveals.  And though the Bible has come in different versions and translations, all of them speak of only one truth concerning Jesus Christ: that He is God in His true nature and not any other that men only think of and suppose.  Mr. Pedrito B. Placio closes his short article with these, his own words:

“This is the Christ of the true Christians, a man like you and me, a man different from you and me, a man greater than you and me and the angels, a man less than God and therefore, not God.  Such a Christ is preached by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). He is the true Christ of the true Christians.” 

The fact alone that there is not one verse, not one sense, that Mr. Placio can find from or refer to in the entirety of the Holy Bible which can support his assumption that Christ is not God should immediately establish that he is speaking of another Christ which Arius preached centuries ago.  Indeed, he is speaking Biblically when he said that God is not the author of confusion.  But he is actually accusing God of speaking confusing words if he will attribute his words to Him just to prove his allegation true: that Jesus Christ is a man like you and me, a man different from you and me, a man greater than you and me and the angels, a man less than God, and therefore not God.  Any professor in logic, with his maximum mental effort, will have to agree that Mr. Placio is a genuine and excellent author of confusion.  How can a man become a man like you and me and at the same become a man different from you in me in his inherent human nature?  Such is confusion.  The testimony of the Apostle Paul is unimpeachable, and he said:

“Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was by nature God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave and being made like unto men.  And appearing in the form of man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God also has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name that is above very name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:5-11. 

Jesus is, by nature, God.  And God will not and cannot change His divine and eternal nature.  Jesus Christ, in His being God never changed His Godly nature to become a man, but remains in the nature of God from everlasting to everlasting.  Now, the Apostle Paul testifies that He emptied Himself and did not consider clinging to His being equal with God by taking the nature of a slave and being made like unto men.  He appeared in the form of man; He humbled Himself and became obedient even to death on the cross.  Yet despite all of these, Jesus Christ will always remain in the nature of God.  Paul even went on further to say that God has exalted and bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name so that every knee of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth should bend at the name of Jesus and every tongue should confess that the ‘Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of the Father.’  And the only justifiable and divine reason for all these is because Jesus Christ is by nature God.  The nature of Jesus Christ is equal to God’s nature.  And so Jesus Christ emptied Himself of His inherent Godly powers - He did not cling to His being equal with God - because of His humble obedience to do the will of His Father who sent Him, but only in that instance when He must die on the cross to save His people from their sins.  For in the nature of God, Jesus Christ cannot die.  How can He die without emptying Himself of the everlasting life that is inherent in Him?  Mr. Placio must have true faith in His words when Jesus said:

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even if he die, shall live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Dost thou believe this?” - John 11:25-26.

Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.  He possesses the power to give life to the lifeless or resurrect the dead back to life.  And if He can do that to those who believe in Him and in His name, then He can do the same to Himself – to resurrect back to life everlasting.  He died indeed because that was within His power to do in obedience to His Father’s will.  It was the process required of Him in His God-given task to save His people from their sins.  His death on the cross was to prove to all men His love and faithfulness to His Father who sent Him.  But most of all, it proved beyond a doubt the truth of His testimony and the reality of God’s promise of an everlasting life for those who love Him.  He emptied Himself of His inherent divine powers specifically at that time and situation when God, His Father, has willed for Him to die.  He emptied Himself, took the nature of a slave and being made like unto men, he appeared in the form of man; he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross; because of His own obedience to His Father’s will and not because God enabled Him to do so.  It is written:

“Therefore in coming into the world, he says, ‘Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast fitted to me: in holocausts and sin-offerings thou hast had no pleasure.  Then said I, “Behold, I come - (in the head of the book it is written of me) - to do thy will, O God.” - Hebrews 10:5-7. 

“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.  And other sheep I have that are not of this fold.  Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down myself.  I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again.  Such is the command that I have received from my Father.” - John 10:14-18. 

And therefore God exalted Jesus Christ and bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name: because of His obedience even to death on the cross.  It is true that He appeared in the form of man, but He never became a man.  Taking the nature of a slave indicated His faithful obedience; and being made like unto men is very different from being made in the nature of man.  He was merely likened to the sinful nature of the human being that must die due to sins.  Yet, Jesus Christ remains forever “in the glory of God the Father”.  And Jesus Christ revealed this truth when He spoke in prayer to His heavenly Father, saying,

“Father, the hour has come! Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, even as thou hast given him power over all flesh, in order that to all thou hast given him he may give everlasting life.  Now this is everlasting life, that they may know thee, the only true God and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ.  I have glorified thee on earth; I have accomplished the work that thou hast given me to do.  And now do thou, Father, glorify me with thyself, with the glory that I had with thee before the world existed.” - John 17:1-5. 

And the Apostle John also testified in this regard, and he said,

“No one has at any time seen God.  The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” - John 1:18. 

Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son who has revealed the only true God whom no one has seen at any time.  Nobody, not even Arius or Felix Manalo, will even try to deny or reject the divine truth of this specific and precise Biblical revelation.  And where is the only-begotten Son situated?  Jesus Christ is in the bosom of the Father!  Now the word, bosom, means:

1. The upper, front part of the human body; breast. 2. The part of a garment covering the breast. 3. Figurative - The heart or feelings. 4. Figurative - The center or inmost part. 5 the enclosure formed by the breast and the arms (The World Book Dictionary).

By these definitions, it is clear that Jesus Christ is in the Father; He is within the heart and feeling and the center or inmost spiritual and divine being of His Father, the only true God.  And thus did the Apostle Paul testify and says:

“. . .so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” 

And Paul’s testimony is validated and proven true by Jesus Christ when He said,

“Now this is everlasting life, that they may know thee, the only true God and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified thee on earth; I have accomplished the work that thou hast given me to do. And now do thou, Father, glorify me with thyself, with the glory that I had with thee before the world existed.” 

The Father who sent and Jesus Christ whom He sent share the same glory with and in each other as the only true God before the world existed.  And this is the divine and perfect truth which the Apostle John seeks to impart to all mankind right in the beginning of his version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it is written:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that has been made.” - John 1:1-3. 

“It was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  But to as many as received him he gave the power of becoming sons of God; to those who believe in his name: Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.  And we saw his glory- glory as of the only-begotten of the Father - full of grace and of truth.  John bore witness concerning him, and cried, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who is to come after me has been set above me, because he was before me.”’  And of his fullness we have all received, grace for grace.  For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

“No one has at any time seen God.  The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” - John 1:9-18. 

So, how did Mr. Pedrito B. Placio, as minister of the Iglesia Ni Cristo church organization, perceive and interpret these profound revelations?  He wrote down his interpretations:

“Catholics and Protestants profess a Christ who they believe is both God and man at the same time, a God-man.  He was in the beginning the Word, was with God in the beginning, was God in the beginning.  Note the past tense WAS, but they insist that when the Word who was God became man, He retained His being God - hence - GOD-MAN.  A logic student, with minimum mental effort, will easily see that this term GOD-MAN is a contradiction in terms if viewed from the Biblical point of view.  God is a spirit (John 4:24).  A spirit has no flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).  Christ has flesh and bones and thus cannot be a spirit (Luke 24:39).  Thus Christ cannot be God.  To claim that Christ is a God-man is to claim that Christ has flesh and bones and has no flesh and bones at the same time.  Logic calls this a violation of the principle of Contradiction.  Thus, belief in a God-man is a contradiction or confusion - not God’s work because God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).  

Of course, there is no such thing as a GOD-MAN in the entire Holy Bible.  Mr. Placio, utilizing his maximum mental effort and viewing the term GOD-MAN from the Biblical point of view, finds it a contradiction in terms for the Catholics and Protestants to insist that the Word who was God retained His being God when He became a man, thus, GOD-MAN.  And the reasons he gave were:

a) The writer of the gospel employed the past tense, WAS, which indicated for Mr. Placio that the Word’s being God has been terminated when He became a man.  The past tense WAS is thus the almighty power that changed the Godly nature of the Word into a human being like Mr. Placio and everyone who believes in the Christ he preaches;

b) God is a spirit and a spirit has no flesh and bones, but Christ has flesh and bones and thus cannot be a spirit.  Thus Christ cannot be God.  

c) To claim that Christ is a God-man is to claim that Christ has flesh and bones and has no flesh and bones at the same time.  Logic calls this a violation of the principle of Contradiction. 

What Biblical point of view is Mr. Placio talking about?  The Holy Bible does not have and does not give out point of views.  The Holy Bible only speaks the truth, be it simple or profound.  And the Biblical truth speaks of no GOD-MAN, no Word becoming a man and most definitely, no Christ who is NOT God!  The true Christ of the Bible is God; and being God, He is not subject to the tenses of time because God commands time.  Consider this testimony of the Apostle Peter:

“But beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing: that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord does not delay in his promises, but for your sake is long-suffering, not wishing that anyone should perish but that all should turn to repentance.” - 2Peter 3:8-9 

The Apostle John cannot err in his choice of words, more so when he is writing his version of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God; and the Word was God,” and NOT, “He was the Word in the beginning, was with God in the beginning; was God in the beginning.”  Mr. Placio has just proven what a very crafty deceiver he is.  It is very different but very cunning to say, “He was the Word in the beginning,” rather than, “In the beginning was the Word.”  John here seeks to impart a certain matter of truth concerning the beginning and the Word.  It is the beginning that was over or has taken place and never the Word.  John is telling his readers that the Word already existed way before the beginning.  And what is that beginning?  It is the creation!  The Word already existed in the beginning, which is the time when God began His creation.  

The correct application of grammatical rules should prove this truth.  WAS is the past tense of the verb, be, which means, to exist or have being.  The past tense of the verb, exist, is existed.  And if John chose the word, exist, rather than, be, then he would have written it, thus: “In the beginning existed the Word and the Word existed with God; and the Word existed as God.  He existed in the beginning with God.”  In this grammatical manner of perception, every foolish idea or ratiocination which presupposes that the Word became a man shall be eliminated.  But in saying that, “He was God in the beginning,” Mr. Placio is cunningly insinuating that it is the Godly nature of the Word that passed away and was changed to the nature of man.  That the word existed in the beginning is perfectly validated by John when he said, “All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that has been made.”  The Word truly existed with God and existed as God even before the beginning.  That is the very truth that John seeks to impart: “In the beginning was the Word.”  Christians of all kinds (including Mr. Placio and myself) are of one accord that God is the Creator.  And thus must they ask and find out: How can the Word become a man and no longer God when the truth definitely states that all things were made through Him (the Word) and without Him was made nothing that has been made?  The Word is God's co-creator.  He was not created; whereas it is through Him that man was created.  Is it so improbable to understand that God is the almighty Creator who creates all things through His Word?  And how can the Word who is God become a man like you and me?  It is not possible.  The Word is the Christ; and the Christ is God because the Word was God.  Consider these words of revelation from Scripture:

"God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image and likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, over all the wild animals and every creature that crawls on the earth. 

"God created man in his image.  In the image of God he created him.  Male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:26-27. 

“Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.  Thou in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands.  They shall perish, but thou shalt continue; and they shall all grow old as does a garment, and as a vestment thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.  But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” - Hebrews 1:9-12 

"In the image of God he created him.  Male and female he created them."  These verses definitely refer to the Word through whom all things that has been made were made.  The Word continues to exist without end with God and in the nature of God simply because there are more wonderful things that God is making and will make even unto the consummation of this world.  And they shall all be changed indeed, but Jesus Christ is the same and His years shall not fail in His divine and eternal nature. 

But then Mr. Placio referred to logic to buttress his rejection of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  He subjected Biblical verses under the terms of logic which is the art of human reasoning and inference.  And he wrote:

“A logic student, with minimum mental effort, will easily see that this term GOD-MAN is a contradiction in terms if viewed from the Biblical point of view. God is a spirit (John 4:24).  A spirit has no flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).  Christ has flesh and bones and thus cannot be a spirit (Luke 24:39).  Thus Christ cannot be God.  To claim that Christ is a God-man is to claim that Christ has flesh and bones and has no flesh and bones at the same time.  Logic calls this a violation of the principle of Contradiction.” 

It is very true: God is a spirit.  And it is likewise true: a spirit has no flesh and bones.  But Jesus Christ has flesh and bones, and logically, He cannot be a spirit, so that He cannot be God.  What Mr. Placio is saying is that, in order for Jesus Christ to be a God-man, He must have flesh and bones and must not have flesh and bones at the same time.  Otherwise, that will violate the Principle of Contradiction.  The argument of Mr. Placio is very well ratiocinated, but deceptively erroneous.  He did not say that every spirit is God.  And if logic indeed requires that every spirit must not have flesh and bones, then it is imperative that every spirit must be God.  But what makes God exaltedly different from all spirits is that He defies logic.  Some call this supreme and unique attribute of God’s divinity as miraculous.  Logic does not comprehend miracles.  And what is logically impossible with men is miraculously possible with God.  

Jesus Christ has flesh and bones and does not have flesh and bones at the same time.  But He is never God and man at the same time.  He has always been and will always be God by nature.  And this truth can only be admitted by those who believe in faith and understand that He is by nature God and not man.  Yet even those who do not believe and understand how He is truly God in His real nature shall be able to, if they will first admit that Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father even before the world existed.  For this divine and perfect truth concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ is vividly taken into account in the Holy Bible.  And these are written:

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.  The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’  But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’  

“And after eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.  Jesus came, the doors being closed, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be to you!’  Then he said to Thomas, ‘Bring here thy finger, and see my hands; and bring here thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.’  Thomas answered and said to him, ‘my Lord and my God’!  ‘Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.  Blessed are they who have not seen me, and yet have believed.’” - John 20:24-29. 

“So that henceforth we know no one according to the flesh; and even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer.  If then any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the former things have passed away; behold they are made new!  But all things are from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.  For God was truly in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, by not reckoning against men their sins and by entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14-19.  

“And obviously great is the mystery of godliness: which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit, appeared to angels, was preached to the Gentiles, believed in the world, and taken up in glory.” – 1^st Timothy 3:16. 

"All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes.  There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but of one kind is the glory of the heavenly, of another kind the glory of the earthly.  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.  So it is also with the resurrection of the dead.  What is sown in corruption rises in incorruption; what is sown in dishonor rises in glory; what is sown in weakness rises in power; what is sown a natural body raises a spiritual body. 

“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  So also it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.  The first man was of the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven, heavenly.  As was the earthy men, such also are the earthy; and as is the heavenly man, such also are the heavenly.  Therefore, even as we have borne the likeness of the earthy, let us bear also the likeness of the heavenly.” - 1 Corinthians 15:39-49. 

These verses of Scriptures first reveal that Jesus Christ as having flesh and bones and having no flesh and bones at the same time; that He must now no longer be known according to the flesh; that the mystery of Godliness shrouding the Word which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in spirit, appeared to angels, was preached to the Gentiles, believed in the world and taken up in glory is Jesus Christ; that His is a spiritual body that is exaltedly different from the physical body of human beings like you and me; and that unlike the first man Adam who became a living soul, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving spirit.  Jesus Christ had flesh and bones because He was manifested in the flesh.  It was through and in that spiritual body that God was seen on earth and conversed with men.  His prophetic name, Emmanuel, means “God with us.”  Indeed, knowing Jesus Christ in this manner will prove His Godly nature beyond any doubt.

Paul testifies that the first man was of the earth; but the second man is from heaven.  Now no man like you and me is from heaven, ever.  Rather, every true Christian’s longing is to go to heaven from his earthly beginning.  But both Arius and Felix Manalo are too stubborn, insistent and persistent in their erroneous perception and false conviction that Jesus Christ is but a man like them.  To believe and so teach that Jesus Christ is a man like you and me is blasphemous because that puts the Son of God down to level of the lowly human being. 

Yet more new and different doctrines and precepts of faith and religion shall come about in this world because very many prefer to hear the words of men more than the words of God.  The stubborn Arius came to life through the teachings of the Iglesia ni Cristo because people chose not to seek the truth from the Bible but from wise and prudent men who took pride and glory in interpreting and explaining the meaning and intentions of its written words. 

Jesus Christ said:

“If you abide in my words, you shall be my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” 

All those who erroneously believe that Jesus Christ is a man like you and me and therefore not God in His true nature are not free nor will they ever be free because they are not abiding in His words.  The words of Jesus are not words of men but of God.  Rather, they abide in the words of men, the words of Arius and Felix Y. Manalo, the words of men and not of God. The true disciples of Jesus Christ are true disciples of God because He is God by nature; and that will never change despite the wealth, the power, the great influence of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) organization that Felix Y Manalao founded in the Philippines. 

THE END