The Christ descended on Jesus at his Baptism Matthew 3-16
In contrast to orthodox Christians, Valentinians did not believe that Christ was joined to Jesus at his birth. Instead, they insisted that Christ became joined to Jesus only at the beginning of his ministry i.e. at his baptism. The dove which descends upon Jesus at the baptism was understtod as Christ descending on Jesus and joining with him (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2, 1:15:3, 3:16:1, 3:10:3, Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6,26:1 Hippolytus Refutation 6:35:3). Christ is "the Name which came down upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:6 cf. Gospel of Philip 70:34-36).Jesus was anointed with the Spirit of God at his baptism in the Jordan.
And he died at the .departure of the Spirit which had descended upon him in the Jordan, not that it became separate but was withdrawn in order that death might also operate on him, since how did the body die when life was present in him? (Theodotus 61:6)
Proof:
And he died at the .departure of the Spirit which had descended upon him in the Jordan, not that it became separate but was withdrawn in order that death might also operate on him, since how did the body die when life was present in him? (Theodotus 61:6)
Proof:
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38). (Christadelphian Instructor 1891)
The dove represented the anointing spirit of God. This spirit entered the body of Jesus Christ and remained in him until Jesus was crucified.
So we read...
Matthew 3:16 Having been baptized, Jesus immediately rose up from the water and look! The heavens were opened up and he saw the spirit of God descending as if a dove coming upon him.
God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him," John 3:34
Again, in his gospel narrative (John 1:14), he says: —" The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth," from which it is evident that Christ was a divine manifestation—an embodiment of Deity in flesh—Emmanuel, God with us. " God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him," says the same apostle (John 3:34). (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
The spirit descended upon him in bodily shape at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of him. This was the anointing which constituted him Christ (or the anointed), and which gave him the superhuman powers of which he showed himself possessed. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
This is clear from the words of Peter, in his address to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius —(Acts 10:38)—" God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed." (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
This statement alone is sufficient to disprove the popular view of Jesus been co-equal and co-eternal. If he were "very God" in his character and nature as Son, why was it necessary he should be "anointed" with spirit and power? (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
Jesus did no miracles before his anointing. He had no power of himself. This is his own declaration: "I can of mine own sell do nothing" (John 5:30). "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). At his death Jesus was left to the utter helplessness of his own humanity, he felt the severe mental and physical pain of his suffering that hour and cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
Before his anointing, he was simply the " body prepared " for the divine manifestation that was to take place through him. The preparation of this body commenced with the Spirit's action on Mary, and concluded when Jesus, being thirty years of age, stood approved in the perfection of a sinless and mature character. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
After the Spirit's descent upon him, he was the full manifestation of God in the flesh. The Father, by the Spirit, tabernacled in Christ among men. "God was in Christ," says Paul, " Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
When raised from the dead and glorified, he was exalted to "all power in heaven and earth"; his human nature was swallowed up in the divine; the flesh changed to spirit. Hence, as he now exists, " In him dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily " (Col. 2:9). He is now the corporealisation of life-spirit as it exists in the Deity. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
Matthew 3:16 Having been baptized, Jesus immediately rose up from the water and look! The heavens were opened up and he saw the spirit of God descending as if a dove coming upon him.
God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him," John 3:34
Again, in his gospel narrative (John 1:14), he says: —" The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth," from which it is evident that Christ was a divine manifestation—an embodiment of Deity in flesh—Emmanuel, God with us. " God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him," says the same apostle (John 3:34). (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
The spirit descended upon him in bodily shape at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of him. This was the anointing which constituted him Christ (or the anointed), and which gave him the superhuman powers of which he showed himself possessed. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
This is clear from the words of Peter, in his address to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius —(Acts 10:38)—" God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed." (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
This statement alone is sufficient to disprove the popular view of Jesus been co-equal and co-eternal. If he were "very God" in his character and nature as Son, why was it necessary he should be "anointed" with spirit and power? (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
Jesus did no miracles before his anointing. He had no power of himself. This is his own declaration: "I can of mine own sell do nothing" (John 5:30). "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). At his death Jesus was left to the utter helplessness of his own humanity, he felt the severe mental and physical pain of his suffering that hour and cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
Before his anointing, he was simply the " body prepared " for the divine manifestation that was to take place through him. The preparation of this body commenced with the Spirit's action on Mary, and concluded when Jesus, being thirty years of age, stood approved in the perfection of a sinless and mature character. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
After the Spirit's descent upon him, he was the full manifestation of God in the flesh. The Father, by the Spirit, tabernacled in Christ among men. "God was in Christ," says Paul, " Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
When raised from the dead and glorified, he was exalted to "all power in heaven and earth"; his human nature was swallowed up in the divine; the flesh changed to spirit. Hence, as he now exists, " In him dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily " (Col. 2:9). He is now the corporealisation of life-spirit as it exists in the Deity. (Christendom Astray Chapter 6)
The effluent spirit (out-flowing spirit) forsook Jesus when he exclaimed upon the cross, "My AIL (EL), my AIL (EL), why hast Thou forsaken me?" The effluent power by which he had taught and worked was withdrawn from him for some time before he died. The Spirit no longer rested upon the Cherub, yet that Cherub continued to live as other men. In process of time he expired.(Phanerosis)
Dr Thomas in Phanerosis is saying that the out-flowing anointing spirit was taken away from Jesus when he cried out upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
The out-flowing power by which he had taught and worked was withdrawn from him for some time before he died. The Spirit no longer rested upon Jesus, yet Jesus continued to live as other men. In process of time he expired.
By Cherub Dr Thomas understands this as a vehicle for the spirit to ride
not that the spirit became separate from him but was withdrawn in order that death might also operate on him, since how did the body die when life was present in it? (Theodotus 61:6)
Jesus did not become the Christ until His baptism. Jesus, up until his baptism, was simply the body that God had prepared for the Christ to indwell. The Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of Him. This was the anointing which constituted him as the Christ, and which gave Him the superhuman powers which He demonstrated during His ministry.
Jesus did not become the Christ until His baptism.
ReplyDeleteJesus became officially Christ on His death.
It is through death itself that Jesus, the Son of Man became Christ.
Without His death/resurrection Jesus would have been a normal human being.Also it is though Jesus own death that He became powerful and resurrected!
IT IS THROUGH WEAKNESS THAT GOD'S POWER WOULD BE PERFECTED.
There would be a great deal of talk about the Logos, and John in effect, says in the opening of this chapter, there is no other Logos but God.
Delete“In the beginning was the (true) Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.”
But why Logos? Logos means word, speech, or reason. What is there that sustains the relation to God that a spoken word or reason does to a man? We have not to go far in our readings of the Scriptures to discover. The most common form of speech in the prophets is—
“Thus saith the Lord.”
When we enquire how God spoke to the prophets—how the word of the Lord came to them—we get the answer:
“By His Spirit.”
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,”
“The Spirit of the Lord came upon Oded,” &c.
“By thy Spirit in the prophets.”
Hence the word (or Logos) and the Spirit are convertible terms; but this is a different Logos from the classical Logos. The “Logos” of Platonic philosophy had as little to do with the actual creatorship of the universe as the Platonic immortal soul had to do with the immortality brought to light by Christ in the Gospel. The real Logos was that which John proclaimed:
“The Logos was God.”
The true “word” or voice of the Almighty was the Spirit—which in its immensity is God Himself, for God is Spirit, and the Spirit is God. To say the Logos or Spirit was with God was not to interfere with this identity, but merely to intimate that other aspect of the matter in which the Father in Heaven is apparently one, and the Spirit everywhere present apparently another, though both are one, as the sun and the light are one.
To say then that “ the Word was made flesh” in the appearance of Jesus Christ among men, was to give Jesus a very high rank. It was to say what Paul afterwards said, that “God was manifest in the flesh,” and what Jesus himself said,
“My Father dwelleth in me.”
Those who think “the Word made flesh” merely means that the truth in the abstract became flesh, that the word preached was no longer announced through a prophet but manifested in a man wholly consecrated to it, fail to realise the key-note struck by John in his opening verses. It is not a question of the spoken word that John deals with, but of the creating word and the eternal word.
“All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
It is the idea expressed in the psalm:
“He spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast.”
“By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
The spirit descended upon him in bodily shape at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of him. This was the anointing which constituted him Christ (or the anointed), and which gave him the superhuman powers of which he showed himself possessed.
DeleteThis is clear from the words of Peter, in his address to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius —(Acts 10:38)—" God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed."
Don't forget, there were three manifestations of the Spirit in relation to Christ. (1) at his birth. He was begotten "of the spirit" ..... therefore styled "holy". (2) at his baptism and (3) after his resurrection when he was made immortal, his body being changed from "flesh and blood" to "flesh and spirit". It's a deep and profound subject but the fact he was begotten of the Spirit of Yahweh made him of quick understanding and enabled him to be perfectly sinless throughout his life.
DeleteThus Jesus was begotten 3 times at his birth at his Baptism and at his Resurrection from the dead
Delete