The scriptural paradigm is that from Moses and all the Prophets we are instructed and commanded that God alone holds these positions and powers. We are then confronted with a man born of a woman who 'claims' to have all the authority, positions and powers that only God alone could have.I am getting the distinct impression that even if I showed you a verse where it did say just that, it wouldn't dislodge you even momentarily from your paradigm. I have already shown you where the Scriptures say that it was God the Father that granted Jesus "all authority"; "all judging"; to "have life in himself", etc. etc. and these haven't as much as dented your mental bullwork, so why should yet another verse? (Brenden)
It would be another thing if God had not made such a point of His own Oneness, and had also revealed that He would at least 'share' His positions with at least one other being, or two, but there is no case for that (unless you are hold to Greek mythology, Hinduism etc.)
There is a OT case for His being plural, and instances where God showed up in the 'form' of man and angel.
Jesus has taken the 'form' of a servant, a man, and a sacrifice. This is not Jesus’ previous place, yet in this humble state God glorifies the work of the servant by giving him all the robes of His previous place.
This was done because God is not confused about the nature of Himself and the nature of man.
This was done so that we would 'not' believe the nature of God and the nature of a created being were equal with the nature of God. And this is why we are 'not' confused about the nature of Christ, because we believe scripture says 'God will not share His Glory and that God has no equal', and that Christ in the form of man made himself out to be God. If He did not claim to be God, and was a being other than God, we would have to discern he was not from God. And may well be the Angel who told us we could also be like God
Prophet after Prophet declare Gods Oneness and the sin of proposing an equal to God. God goes to extremes to convince them that other gods are futile and the reason of their rebuke and idolatry. Do we then toss that all aside as a mistake because ‘now’ he has an equal in Jesus?
In the middle of Isaiah’s bulwark of passages proclaiming Gods Oneness, and the repeated statements of His being alone - with no one beside Him - with no equal, even promising humiliation to any that suppose such equality with Him, God promises He will send an exalted suffering servant.
There is a bulwark of Gods commands that we shall have no-other gods, know no other gods, and neither imagine or create anything in His image, all under the penalty of death. This is indeed a mental bulwark.
I have much more respect for Judaism and Islamic beliefs than for Arianism, at least they hold to the basic understanding that God has no equal or co-partner, and they recognize that being a unique Son makes Him equal and of the same nature. They just need to hear Jesus, and 'believe Him' and the Words of God that He claimed equality with
