Immanuel
By RUBEN D. AROMIN
THE BELIEF OF THE Iglesia ni Cristo regarding the Lord Jesus Christ nature—that He is a man
as He Himself taught (John 8:40)—has put us at loggerheads with those who
uphold a different view—that He is also God. As we firmly uphold the biblical teaching that Christ is man and
therefore not God, proponents of the Christ-is-God doctrine are also insisting
in their belief because they are convinced that they also have biblical proofs
to back up their claim.
However, if we are
to examine closely the supposed biblical basis of their erroneous understanding
of the Bible. There are verses that they
have misunderstood to mean that Christ is God, as they would like to believe He
is. One of these verses is Matthew 1:23 which says:
“A virgin will
become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel (which means, ‘God
is with us’).” (Todays English
Version)
Apostle Matthew was actually quoting here
a prophecy of Prophet Isaiah (Is. 7:14) which was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Since it was foretold that the name of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
would be called Immanuel, meaning “God is with us,” believers in the deity of
Christ hastily jumped into the conclusion that Christ is God.
Ascribing the name Immanuel (meaning “God
is with us”) to Christ does not imply that Christ Himself is God who is with
us. The meaning of one’s name does not
denote one’s nature or state of being.
For instance, a lady may be named Rose or Daisy but this doesn’t mean
that she is a literal flower. We can
site so many names of biblical characters whose meanings do not in any way
denote the state of being of the persons bearing them. Apostle Peter’s name means rock (Jn. 1:42)
but He is not a literal stone. The Lord
Jesus gave the brothers James and John the name “Boanerges” meaning the sons of
thunder (Mk. 3:17); but they were not literally
born to a thunder. And here is
another which should make the proponents of the Christ-is-God doctrine rethink
their stand: the last of the 13 sons
born to King David was named Eliphelet, meaning “the God of deliverance” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary, p. 167); but
this doesn’t mean that David’s son is the god of deliverance Himself.
Reconciled to God through Christ
Why is it then that Christ was named
Immanuel which means, “God is with us”?
This signifies that God is with us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is in Christ
and through Him, we have been
reconciled to God as what Apostle Paul taught:
“Now all
things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation”
“that is, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (II
Cor. 5:18-20, New King James Version)
Apostle Paul explained that God who is in
Christ is reconciling the world to Himself.
Man needs to be reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus because man was
separated from God and became His enemy on account of man’s sins and evil
works:
“It is because
of your sins that he doesn’t hear you.
It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship him.”
(Is. 59:2, TEV)
“At one time
you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you
did and thought.” (Col. 1:21, Ibid.)
As to how man can be brought near or
reconciled to God through Jesus, Apostle Paul explained further:
“But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the
blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:13, New
International Version)
Man must be redeemed by the blood of
Christ to be reconciled to God. Apostle
Paul testified that it is the Church of Christ which has been redeemed or
purchased by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28, Lamsa Translation). And once man is reconciled to god through
redemption by Christ blood in the Church of Christ and continues to obey His
teachings, man will receive the love of the Father and promise that God and
Christ will dwell in him and make him their home:
“Jesus
answered him, ‘Whoever loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and my Father and I
will come to him and live with him’.” (Jn. 14:23, TEV)
Not only will Christ and the Father love
and dwell in him; he will also be one with Christ and the Father:
“I pray that
they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and
I am in you. May they be one, so that
the world will believe that you sent me.
I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as
you and I are one: I in them and you in
me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that
you sent me and that you love them as you love me” (Jn. 17:21-23, Ibid.)
To be one with Christ is to be one with
the Father because the Father is in Christ.
On the other hand, Christ is in those who are one with Him and with the
Father. Indeed, God is with us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s sending of
the Lord Jesus has made it possible for us to receive the many blessings which
we should have been otherwise denied because of our sins. Hence, if one rejects Christ, he also rejects God:
“For whoever
rejects the Son rejects also the Father; whoever acceps the Son has the Father
also.” (I Jn. 2:23, Ibid.)
God is with us through Christ. Thus, anyone who is separate from Christ—one
who does not belong to the Church of Christ which He redeemed with His precious
blood and which reconciled with God—is without God. This is underscored by Apostle Paul in
Ephesians 2:12:
“Remember that
at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in
the world” (NIV)
Hence,
the name “Immanuel” does not in any way prove the alleged deity of Christ. It simply means that God is with us through
the Lord Jesus Christ.
PASUGO/January 1999/Volume 51/Number 1/ISSN 0116-1636/Pages
4-5
