Very God of Very God

Colossians 1:4-9

COL-112

Our subject is the "Hymn in Honor of Christ," number 2 in Colossians 1:15-20.

Mrs. Danish types up my notes for me. When she finished this segment, she said, "There's going to be very heavy stuff this morning," and indeed it is. So, we're going to need a lot of enablement from our great Teacher, the Holy Spirit, but these are the deep things of the Spirit of God, that it is your right and privilege to know, and which you need to know. So, we're going to see if we can hang in there and take the deep things and simplify them.

The apostle Paul begins his refutation of the false doctrines being taught in Colossae by focusing on the person of Jesus Christ, Who is under attack. And he begins that in this segment, beginning at verse 15. The false teachers in Colossae were saying that Jesus was not part of the Godhead, and therefore, He was not deity. Paul begins his reputation of this heresy by quoting an early Christian hymn which honors Jesus Christ as the very Son of God, Creator of the universe, and Savior of all mankind. That hymn is verses 15 through 20.

The hymn declares the sufficiency and the supremacy of Jesus in the work of the redemption of lost sinners. Jesus Christ is declared to be, in verse 15, the very image of the invisible God: "And He is the image of the invisible God." We showed you last week that the Greek word for "image" had two basic meanings. First of all, it connoted that Jesus is the exact representation of God the Father. That's a simple statement that He is deity. Secondly, the word "image" connotes that Jesus is the manifestation of the divine essence of God the Father; that is, Jesus reveals God the Father to us. So, first of all, He is the image of God in the fact that He is God. And secondly, we wouldn't know anything about God unless He made it clear to us – unless He manifested deity to us.

Very God of Very God

So, the word "image" is a very clear declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ, and of His role in revealing God the Father to us. He is "very God of very God," as the old theologians finally formulated the statement. The word "very" is an old English word that means identical: "identical God to identical God." He is not a partial deity. He is identical in the divine essence to God the Father. Jesus Christ is the God-Man who, has the second Adam, He came to undo the tragedy brought into the human race by the first Adam who disobeyed God. Christ, as the second Adam, was completely different. He obeyed, where the first Adam did not. Jesus Christ is not in the image of the false idol gods of Satan who are empowered by demonic angels.

So, the issue before us, first of all, is the image of the true God. The apostle Paul says, "He is the image not of an idol God, but of the invisible God." This is in contrast to the visible image of Jesus Christ. We can see him, but the invisible God, we cannot see. This word "invisible" does not just mean something which cannot be seen. It refers to something which simply cannot be seen by a human being.

1 Timothy 6:16 says, "Who alone possesses immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light, who no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." He is speaking about God. He alone possesses immortality. He is eternal. He had no beginning. He has no ending. He dwells in unapproachable light, reflecting His glory and His absolute righteousness: "No man has seen or can see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen."

So, Jesus as the reflection (as the representation and the manifestation) of the invisible God, is God Himself in a way that the very God that no one can see. And He is the representative of God the Father. Jesus Christ, the invisible God, became visible in His incarnation.

Back in John 1, John says, "No man has seen God at any time." The Only Begotten God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." There you have the very idea of the word "image." No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, Jesus Christ, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained (manifested) Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has always shared the same divine nature as God the Father.

John 1:14 tells us: "And the Word (that's the Greek word 'logos' (log'-os) L O G O S, and it stands for Jesus Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory (glory is of the Only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth." So He had the glory of God's nature. He was God. The Lord Jesus, thus, is God in the flesh, but in one way that is very different from us men – no sin nature. In every other respect, He was human.

Now I want to walk you through a few Scriptures because, to this very day, liberal theology says, "Jesus was not God. He was a great human being; a great teacher; and, a great example, but He was not God." Over against that, you must make your decision to whom you will listen: people; or, the Bible. And if the Bible has been established in your mind as the true Word of God, then that's the final authority. If that is not the final authority, there's no way to know anything about what God thinks.

Notice John 8:58: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." What was He saying? He was saying, "I always existed. Before Abraham was born, I am. It's a technical way of saying, "I never had a beginning, and I never had an ending." And the Jews immediately understood what Jesus was saying. He was saying, "I am deity."

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word. There's that Greek word "logos", L O G O S again, representative of Christ: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God:" "In the beginning." This is language for us to try to grasp what is incomprehensible to us. This is a beginning which had no beginning. This is just trying to say: "Way back there, we have to think of a starting point." But with God, there is no beginning. But that blows our minds. We can't think like that.

So, John simply says, "In the beginning, which was not a beginning, because it never started, was the Word." That tells us that Christ was eternal. If He was eternal, and He has always been, then He is deity: "And the Word was with God." The Greek word "with" there means "face-to-face." That means that the Father was one Person, and the Son was a separate person. And then: "The Word was God." Jesus Christ was God. Is there any question as to what the Bible teaches relative to the deity of Christ?

John 10:30-33: "'I and the Father are One.' The Jews up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, 'I showed you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning Me?' The Jews answered Him, 'For a good work, we do not stone You, but for blasphemy. And because you, being a Man, make Yourself out to be God.'" Unlike the liberal mentality of today, there was no question in the minds of the Jews what Jesus was claiming to be. He was claiming to be One with the Father: One in essence – two persons, but One in essence, and thus One God. The Jews knew what He was saying. There was no question that Jesus claimed to be God.

When you look at these verses, that's what's so amazing – that liberalism, to this day, says that Jesus never claimed to be God, and that that was imposed upon Him by His followers: that was accredited to Him, but He didn't claim that. Well, you can see that that's not true.

How about John 20:28? "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and My God.'" There was no question in the minds of those who saw the resurrected Christ to know that they were looking at God in human form.

Romans 9:5: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen." Here he is talking about Israel's privileges, and the apostle Paul says, "They had many things from God, which were delivered to their fathers. And from this people came the Christ, the Messiah, according to the physical body, the flesh, and He is over all, God blessed forever." So, here the apostle Paul clearly says that Jesus was God, and He came in human form.

Philippians 2:6 has this to say: "Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." We'll get back to this verse a little more because this is a very critical verse about the deity of Christ: "He existed in the form." That word "form" in the Greek ("morphe") means "essence." He had the very essence of deity. And He didn't regard the fact that He was equal with God the Father, a thing to be grasped.

Now, what he's talking about here is that He was willing to put aside his privileges, and to take upon Himself forever a human body, in order to be able to die for the sins of the world.

Colossians 2:9: "For in Him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form."

Now, you can see why the Bible is so hated. If you don't want to believe that Jesus Christ was a God-Man, and that He was full deity, you can't have verses like this in a Bible that's supposed to be the authority: "For in Him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." How could you say it any clearer than that? Here in this Man dwelt full deity – not partial deity, but total deity.

The Blessed Hope

Titus 2:13: "Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." There He is clearly declared to be our God and our Savior – and that blessed hope that we're looking for. What is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ? The rapture of the church, when we're caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That's why it's called "the blessed hope." It is becoming very popular now among some Christian groups to say that Christians are going to go into the tribulation, and that they're not going to escape the tribulation horror that's coming upon this earth – the great environmental nightmares that are going to come upon humanity as God's judgment for their sin. But that's not a blessed hope. What fun is it to look forward to a time when the oceans will turn to blood, and the fresh waters will turn to blood, and the sun will intensify its heat, and the stars will fall from the heavens, and the terrible judgments, one after another, are pounding humanity in a seven-year stretch of time. That's no fun. It's the blessed hope that we're going to be pulled out of here.

However, there is always the idea that somebody thinks that the way you get people to behave right is to try to get them afraid that they're going to have to face some kind of punishing judgment in the tribulation. And you can ask people, "Why would we go halfway through the tribulation?" They'll says, "Well, that's to cleanse you, and to make you fit for heaven." Right away that indicates that they don't understand what Christ has done. And that means that they don't understand that He is "Very God of Very God" – that He is deity. So, He did on the cross was complete for cleansing us from sin, removing our moral guilt, and making us fit for heaven now. You'll never be more fit for heaven than you are right now.

So, He is the full reflection of the invisible God.

Then there's the book of Hebrews, written to a group of Jewish Christians who were having second thoughts about what they had abandoned in the Mosaic system, and turned to Christ in the church system. Hebrews 1:8: "But of the Son He says, 'Thy throne, O God' (whoops – he called Him God?) – of the Son, Jesus Christ, the Father says, 'Thy throne, O God is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.'" The kingdom that will come following the seven-year tribulation period upon this earth, where Jesus Christ will rule over all nations, will be a kingdom that will go on forever.

One more in 2 Peter 1:1: "Simon Peter, a bond servant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ." So I tell you that it is an act of gross blasphemy to deny the deity of Jesus Christ, the God-Man. You do not have any ground from Scripture for challenging the deity of Jesus Christ.

Now it seems to us very simple. We bring these verses together. It seems to us to be quite obvious what Jesus claimed about Himself, and what was true about Him in terms of his life; the experiences that people had with Him; and, what people observed. But in the first centuries of Christianity, the devil was still doing his devilish work. He was moving about to try to now undermine a true understanding of Jesus Christ, so that the faith of people would be in a false Christ, and their hope would be diminished.

Arius

Now, what does Mormonism teach today? Mormonism teaches that all Mormons have preexistence. That's another point you want to notice – that Mormons existed before they were born in physical bodies. And the counterfeit of Satan is trying to make this very much like Jesus – that the preexistence of these Mormons in their spirits (spirits which were children produced by God the Father and His wife in heaven), come into a human body, and they prove themselves on this earth worthy to be transformed into gods. That's why Mormons behave themselves. That's why Mormons are so moral. And people think that if you're moral, you're going to heaven. But Mormons think of Jesus as a spirit brother of Satan – and all the demons: they're all spirit brothers, but they went bad where Jesus went good. So, what are Mormons saying? Mormons are saying that they pre-existed, and that they are in human bodies, and, if they prove themselves worthy by the kind of life they live, they will then be transformed by the Father into gods. And they will be given their own planet, and they will create their own civilization.

Now, as one young woman recently said to me when I said that to her: "Why would they believe that?" Because they're listening to a false prophet, Joseph Smith, and the book of Mormons, instead of the true prophet, Jesus Christ, and the Word of God. Every Mormon child is taught: "As we now are as human beings, Jesus once was; as He now is a god, we shall become." Now, just imagine teaching that to your little kids: "As we now are as human beings, Jesus once was (just a human being – exactly what Arius was saying), and as He now is (a human being who became a god), we shall be. The devil doesn't want you to hear this.

So, now we are faced again here with the same thing. Arius came along, and he said, "God the Father alone is eternal infinite deity. The Father created Christ out of nothing. And so Jesus had a beginning. And if Jesus had a beginning, then He is not eternal." What Arius said was that Jesus Christ was the Father's first and greatest of all His creatures. Christ was viewed as God's intermediary agent through Whom all other things are created. So, Jesus Christ was to be looked upon as if He were God, and to be worshiped. He is God's intermediary between God and creation.

Most Arians even went one step further. They taught that the Holy Spirit was the first and greatest creature which was called into existence by the Son. So, the Holy Spirit had a beginning, and therefore, He is not eternal God. Since Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit had a beginning, you could see that they could also possibly have an end. You have a God who could be terminated.

However, to worship a created Christ was to practice the central principle of hedonism that Satan promotes. What is that? To worship something other than God: to worship a creature – to worship something of the creation. You can see the subtle hand of Satan in this. Instead of worshiping God (a God-Man), they're going to worship someone that was created by the Father. So, it's like worshiping an idol.

Arius furthermore declared that deity could not appear on this earth in a substance. In other words, he said that deity could not be in a human body. Therefore, he taught that Christ was a secondary kind of essence, which he called the "logos," from the Scriptures we read, created by God the Father. So, He was less than deity, but He was pretty high up there. The human element in Jesus was merely his material body. The soul was the "logos," so that Jesus did not have a human spirit and a human soul. So what did that mean? That meant that He was not like us. And the Bible was very clear that if He was not like us, He couldn't die for us. He couldn't pay for our sins. Arias was on a very bad track of heresy being carried along, smart man that he was, by a great deception of Satan.

Please notice Hebrews 2:14-18: "Since then, the children share in flesh and blood (that is the children of Abraham, and the children of Adam), He Himself (Jesus), likewise, also partook of the same, that through death, He might render powerless Him who had the power of death (that is, the devil), and might deliver those, who through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly, He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted, in that which he has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."

Another Scripture says that He was a person (a human being) in all respects such as we are, except that He did not have a signature.

Polytheism

So, here is Arius saying that what Jesus was, was a material body inhabited by a special essence that God created called the "logos," and He was less than God. What Arius was trying to do with all this was to avoid the accusation of polytheism in Christianity; that is, he was trying to get around the doctrine of the Trinity – that God is One Essence, but in Three Persons.

Kenosis

Arius also misunderstood a very significant Scripture. He misunderstood Philippians 2:5-8. Let's take a look at that. There is a great deal to say about this. We're just going to summarize a bit. You can get the tapes on this, and go into full detail. Philippians 2:5-8: "Having this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, though He existed in the form of God." This is the Greek word "morphe." The Greek word "morphe" means "identical essence:" "Jesus, Who existed in the identical essence of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." He was equal to God the Father in His deity, but He didn't insist on remaining in heaven in all the glory; in all the honor; and, in all the prestige that this gave Him. That's what it means when it says: "He did not regard His equality with deity a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself." The Greek word there is "kenoo." And this is where we get the word for the doctrine of the "kenosis." And here's where Arius made his mistake. It says: "He emptied Himself, taking the form (and here it is – the exact essence) of a bond servant, being made in the likeness of men." He was in our likeness as a human being except that there was one thing He did not have: He didn't have a sin nature. Therefore, He was qualified to take on the results of our sin natures, and to pay the penalty for that: "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to the death on the cross."

Well, what Arias did was take this passage and say, "This shows that He was something less than God. He was emptied of deity. No. What He did was set aside the visible evidence of His glory. He set aside His great position, but He did not set aside His deity. He took upon Himself the humble position of a human being, knowing that from all that time forward (from the time of His birth in Bethlehem), he would be forever a God-Man. He would never again be the Spirit God that He was from eternity past. He would now be a God-Man. But He was still 100% deity.

Well, this controversy began to rage. It really got very hot. People were dropping in favor of Arius on one side; and, Athanasius, a deacon, who was the Orthodox party leading the challenge for the deity of Christ – that Christ was fully God.

The Council at Nicea

Athanasius

So, this debate centered actually on two Greek words. And I want to show you how strange is the movement of history. Arius used this Greek word in describing Jesus Christ. The Greek word was "homoiousis" (hom-oy'-o-sis) H O M O I O U S I S. "Homoiousis" means "similar in essence to God, but not deity." Athanasius came up and said, "No. The word is "homoousis" H O M O O U S I S. What's the difference? One letter – that "iota" – that "i." "Homoiousis" means that He's just like (similar to) God – a likeness. But "homoousis" means he is exactly God – God of God – very God – absolute God. It was that one letter. But that one letter was the dramatic difference. One word meant less than deity; and, the other word meant full deity.

The council of Nicea finally supported the concept of "homoousis." He is the full, absolute deity of God. The position of Arius, denying the deity of Jesus Christ, was anathematized. Jesus Christ was declared to be co-equal with the Father. His creation was denied. And His eternal Sonship, or, as we say in theology, trying to again say human things in some kind of theological terms: "His eternal generation was affirmed." What the second word says is that He is the same essence with the Father, but He's a distinct person in the Godhead: "homoousis. If Jesus Christ were not "homoousis" (deity – exact deity), there is no true redemption for mankind. Arius would have destroyed the deity of Christ. . .

So, what the theologians did was that they came together, and they said that the word without the "i" is the true word. He is exact deity. And they used these words: "God of God;" "light of life;" "Very God of Very God;" and, "being of one substance with the Father." And the issue was settled in terms of the biblical position – that Jesus Christ is indeed "Very God of Very God." He is not something less than that.

The Nicene Creed

What they finally put together, then, from this conference about the issue that Paul is dealing with here in Colossians 1:15, of the true deity of Jesus Christ, has come down to us in the Nicene Creed. You can take your hymn books for a moment, and turn to hymn number 717, just as if you were looking for a hymn. It goes right back through those readings. In some churches, this creed (called the Nicene Creed) is repeated at every service. We're going to read at this time. This is what was finally the result of this controversy, which indeed went on even after that. The other side would not give up – that Jesus was not God. And it went on till about 650 A.D. before the thing was finally settled. They sat down, and they wrote it out – a summary of the bottom line beliefs, as a result of this first church conference here in the city of Nicea:

"I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and, in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, Very God of Very God, begotten (not made), being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven; Who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary; and, was made man, and crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day, He rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life; Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who, with the Father and His Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one Catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

They made it very clear, with this concise statement of the Nicene Creed that Jesus Christ was indeed God. There are a few things that I want you to note. There are other theological matters we won't get into, but let's look at how it describes the relationship of the Trinity. In that bottom paragraph: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life; Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son." There is an order of authority. And here is where Athanasius made his mistake again. Yes, God, the Father is the author of salvation. God the Son is under the authority of the Father in relationship to this project, and He has voluntarily taken that position. God the Son is the Provider. He provided the basis for salvation that God the Father authored. The Holy Spirit took a position of subordination between Father and Son, and He is the Executor (the Applier) of the salvation that God has provided. That's why it says: "The Holy Spirit, the giver of life (eternal life) Who proceedeth from the Father." This is their attempt to use human words to describe what are incomprehensible relationships of deity.

Also, when it says, "I believe in the Catholic church," that means "the universal church." They're talking about talking us – and the apostolic church. And when he's talking about one baptism for the remission of sins, he's talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit that puts us into Christ, represented by water baptism as our forgiveness of sins through the work of the spirit of God.

So this is a great creed. It was a great result. And the Nicene Creed made it very clear that Jesus Christ was exactly what he claimed to be. He was God. Jesus Christ is exactly what the writers of Scriptures were led to say about Him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they wrote the Scriptures – that He really was God. And you should not be intimidated by anybody today who comes up with the nonsense (the challenge) that Jesus Christ is not total deity. He is absolute deity, and He is perfect humanity. He is combined as a God-Man. One nature never crosses over into the other. The deity is always separate, and it acts on its own. The humanity is always separate. It acts on its own. But they must always act together. The illustration we have given is that the deity of Jesus Christ is like a steel bar. The humanity (He could be tempted) is like a small wire. Potentially you can break it. But when it is joined and welded to the steel bar, it cannot be broken.

So, the humanity of Jesus Christ could not do anything that His deity would not approve. If that were not the case, all we would've had in the second Adam was another disaster like we had with the first. So, this is a very great declaration that we have in Scripture. He (Jesus), blood-Son from verse 13, is the very image of the invisible God; that is, He is our God.

Now, how should we treat Him? If all this is true, and it is, then as God, He has set aside a position that was His in heaven, and for all eternity, He will be like one of us in His humanity. And we will now be transformed with glorified bodies to be like His body, and we'll be transformed into His character and His image someday. Scripture says, "When we see Him, we'll be like Him." Why should He have done that? Because He had the love that only God can have. This is what He did for us, and this is what He suffered for us. And this is the humiliation and the insults and the blasphemy that are directed against Him, all because of what He did, because, in John 14:6, Jesus declares, "I am the Way; the Truth; and, the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." Who could say that except One who was the God-Man.

That's why we have to be careful how we speak of the Lord; how we worship Him; and, what kind of activities we have surrounding the person of Jesus Christ. In all of this rah-rah, hoopla theater, public relations, monstrosity that you find in churches, where there's emotional domination of the soul under the guise of worshiping and honoring Jesus Christ – that's all an insult. And all of these youth group and activities that are rah-rah, football rallies under the guise of worshiping and honoring Jesus Christ are a blasphemy. Once you understand who it is that we are dealing with, and once you understand that this is God Himself in human form, the One into Whose image we are going to be transformed, that puts a whole different picture on how we should deal with Him; how we should view Him; how we should speak of Him; and, how we should relate ourselves to Him.

Please don't forget that He has told us that because we are in Him, He is in us: "Ye in me; and, I in you." So, He is Himself in our bodies every moment of the day. Even as God the Holy Spirit uses our bodies as His temple, Christ is there as the One with Whom we are the fellowship.

You would not treat a person of significance (of repute) on the human level the way we treat Jesus Christ sometimes. We would not make a mockery of the dignity of some human person who has a great reputation, and who has done a great thing for mankind – we would not treat Him with mockery, to make Him out to be a clown and a good old boy. We are dealing with "Very God of Very God." You should make it very clear to your children that they are to treat this person with great respect.

Therefore, if He tells you not to do something, then don't do it. And what He tells you to do and not to do is what is in Scripture. So, you better find out. What He tells you to do with your body, do it. What He tells you not to do with your body, don't do it. You're not dealing with some good old boy who has his own opinions, and he's out of touch with reality. You are dealing with the Creator God. And He is the One Who, because of His love, has put together the best of all possible setups; of all possible worlds; and, of all possible relationships with us. Be smart enough to stick with the plan.

You have demonstrated that you're smart by being here this morning to be instructed. That's the only way you learn the plan. And if you know the plan, at least you have a chance. But if you don't even get instructed, you don't have a chance. Which side are you going to come down on?

Father, we want to thank You for this time in the Word. And we pray that You will help us to have a great and marvelous new esteem for Your Son. We pray that You will help us to treat Him as indeed we should – as the preeminent Person of all the human race.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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