20h • General discussion
A Thought on Scripture, Distinction, and Why Some Push Back.
Over time, I’ve read several works by others, listened to different voices and I’ve come to understand why many people especially Jews and careful students of Scripture struggle with modern Christianity. The issue is not Jesus. It is distinction.
Judaism does not reject agency, embodiment, or divine expression.
What it rejects rightly is collapsing categories Scripture itself keeps distinct.
When Christians say “Jesus is God” without qualification or distinction, it creates immediate resistance. Not because others are closed-minded, but because Scripture never speaks that way.
This resistance is not hostility. It is textual integrity.
And nowhere did this happen more decisively than in John 1.
Many read John 1 like this:
“The Word became flesh… therefore Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is God.”
But John never says that.
John never says:
• “Jesus is the Word”
• “Jesus is God”
• “God became a man”
Those conclusions were imported, not read.
What John actually says:
John says:
“In the beginning was the Word…
And the Word was with God…
And the Word was God…”
This is Genesis language.
John is echoing Genesis, not introducing a new ontology.
The Word (Logos) is:
• divine life
• creative expression
• self-communicating being
This Word is Christ-life, not a human name.
“The Word became flesh” does not mean “Jesus became God”
When John says:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
We assumed “flesh” meant one man.
But Scripture uses flesh to mean humanity, not a single body.
“Dwelt among us” echoes Genesis 2:7:
God breathed His life into humanity.
John is saying:
Divine life (Christ) expressed itself in human form.
This aligns perfectly with Jesus’ own words:
• “The Father in me”
• “I can of myself do nothing”
• “The Father does the works”
Jesus knew what we later assumed incorrectly.
Christ is life, not a last name.
“Christ” is not Jesus’ surname.
Christ is:
• the anointing
• divine life
• the Logos
• God’s self-expression
Jesus embodied Christ.
He did not equal the Father.
This is why Paul never says:
“Jesus in you, the hope of glory”
He says: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Paul understood the difference between life and form.
“Only begotten Son” — another assumption
We assumed “only begotten Son” meant “Jesus exclusively.”
But Scripture already calls:
• Adam → son of God
• Israel → son of God
• Humanity → sons of God
So, what is unique?
Not the vessel.
The life.
“Only begotten” refers to Christ—the unique, divine life expressing through humanity.
This is why Jesus says:
• “My Father and your Father”
• “My God and your God”
Jesus does not hoard sonship.
He reveals it.
“I AM” statements — not self-reference
When Jesus says “I AM,” we assumed he was referring to himself as God.
But in context, Jesus is always pointing through himself to the Father.
“I do nothing of myself.”
“The words are not mine.”
The I AM is the Father expressing, not the vessel self-declaring.
What is Immanuel?
“God with us” does not mean: God turned into a human.
It means: God’s life is present within humanity.
Both Isaiah and Matthew are careful with their language.
We were not.
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”
This is not repetition.
It is sequence.
• Child is born → form
• Son is given → life
Life precedes form.
Christ precedes embodiment.
This is why Scripture remains consistent when read carefully.
Messiah, Savior, Redeemer — functions, not vessel worship
These are functions of the Father, not titles of the body.
Jesus says it plainly:
“The Father in me does the works.”
Follow me does not mean imitate me Jesus but the life I embodied.
Scripture never contradicts this.
We contradicted it by collapsing categories.
Peter’s confession was not deity language
When Peter says: “You are the Christ”
He is not saying: “You are God.”
He is saying: “You are the embodiment of divine life.”
Anything else would contradict Jesus’ own testimony.
Paul never collapsed the distinction
Paul consistently writes:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He never says “Jesus is God.”
He never needed to.
Because he understood identity language.
Why this matters for interfaith dialogue?
When Christians say: “Jesus is God”
Jewish readers hear: “God became a man and replaced Himself.”
That is not biblical. That is later theology.
The resistance and mockery we encounter are not hostility.
They are textual integrity.
And they deserve humility, not defensiveness.
Scripture was never contradictory
The Bible is coherent.
Jesus was consistent.
The apostles were precise.
What failed was how we were taught to read.
We made assumptions.
We forced conclusions.
And then we defended those conclusions loudly.
This teaching is not an attack.
It is not superiority.
It is not dismantling faith.
It is a call to:
• restore distinction
• honor Scripture
• respect Jewish literacy
• and allow the Gospel to speak as it is written
When we stop forcing Scripture to say what it never said, resistance softens, dialogue opens, and truth becomes intelligible again.
Not because we lowered truth—but because we finally listened to it.
1
0 comments
A Thought on Scripture, Distinction, and Why Some Push Back.
powered by
skool.com/christ-within-collective-9194
Welcome to The Awakening Academy — a space where you learn to remember who you truly are in Christ.
Suggested communities
Powered by