Are we little gods?

[missmuffet]

 

By Faith

 

 

The Bible does not say we will be "just like Jesus" when he appears.   That is a misquotation.

 

Paul quoted pagan writers more than once.  Don't see the problem you are having with that.

 

Jesus was not affirming that mankind are gods.  He was quoting Scripture and making a point about corrupt leaders.   I think I made that point clear, but you are unwilling to address that point.

 

We are created in God's image, but we are not "like God."  The Bible is clear that no one is like Him.   Show that the verses I posted say otherwise.

 

Where does the Bible say we are in the angelic class????   The Bible says we are created a little lower than angels!

 

 

I completely get what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees.   He is quoting Psalm 82 which is a condemnation of unjust judges (elohim).  Jesus is drawing on that as a criticism of the unrighteous Pharisees.    That is the only correct exegesis of that passage.

 

You can't (so far) offer up any kind of refutation of any point I have made.   All you have done is parrot the same false teachings and complain that I have the audacity to expose them

 

Well, posting scriptures to refute you is not going to help. 

 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

(1Jn 3:2)

 

If we are not like him, then what is John talking about?

 

I also never said we are in the Angelic class, and no we are not lower than angels, Jesus was made lower than the angels..... Made, because at one time he was not. We judge the angels. They are servants, we are sons. If God wanted more servants, he would have made the. He wanted Sons and Daughters, Like him. A family. 

 

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 

(Act 17:28-29)

 

Paul is not disputing that their poets are wrong, they just picked the wrong god to be offspring of. Paul was using their concept of god, and compared the right concept to the Godhead. Now if we are not God's offspring because Paul quoted one of their poets as it's pagan, then the Godhead also must be a Pagan concept. 

 

However, if your called a Son of God, your still His offspring. Born of the Word, which according to John is God, the same. 

 

I could be approaching this wrong.

 

What do you think you are? 

 

I said though your approach is wrong, I play the video and see my favorite preacher "Benny Hinn" is being put down, then you just discredit yourself for me because I have been following Benny Hinn for 20 years and your just some guy on a forum. 

 

Now if you want me to understand that praying at Kathern's tomb to gain anointing and power is messed up, and you want to help me, you don't start off by slamming the guy I have been following for 20 years. 

 

Great post in the Hell thread, but then the same level of quality you used there is not here. Be consistent. 

 

 

 

 

There is your first mistake.Find yourself a pastor who is reputable and not a false teacher.

[Ezra]

Doesn't the Mormon religion believe they will become gods?

There are a numbers of groups which teach "the deification of man" including the Mormons, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Word of Faith teachers.  See article below for details.

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/godsrus.htm

 

The Bible teaches that we will be transformed into "the likeness of His Son", but that is not the same as becoming "little gods".

[Willa]

We worship one God in 3 persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit. They are One God. While we are adopte as children of God when we are born again, we are not and never will be God Himself. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.

We did not create the universe, and we cannot speak anything into existance. As said, it is satan that tempts people to want to be as God. It is pride and is sin.

It is sin to confess we are healed when at the time we are very sick. It is lying. God told me that we can only testafy to that we have seen or experienced in fact, like when we are in a court of law. How are we to pray for each other if people only confess nothing is wrong? Positive confession is evil if it is not a fact in our time.

People who do these things are deceived. We can only pray that God open their eyes. He is faithful to correct His own and reveal the errors of these teachings.

[Guest Fish Catcher Jim]

By faith,

 

I you don't think you sin, you have a problem with Scripture, that's all I can say on that.  Where did I claim I am not immortal???  I am a regenerated person, a new creation.  I will live eternally.  I have never said anything contrary to that.  

 

Kenneth Copeland teaches that we are in the god-class. He teaches that God was reproducing Himself.  I have even have him saying so in the OP, if you listened to what he said.  He may not claim that we are all powerful, but he claims that we are reproductions of God, which is heretical and is not in Scripture.   The Bible never says that we are exactly like God.

 

To the contrary, the Bible says that there is NO ONE like Him.   "No one is like you, Lord.  You are great and your name is mighty in Power." (Jer. 10:6)   Is. 40:18, 25; 46:5,9 all declare that there is no one like God and that he is the only deity in the universe.

 

When Paul said that Jesus felt it was not robbery to be equal with God, Paul was saying that Jesus, though he was equal in deity with God the Father did not exploit his deity to his own advantage.   You need to check that out in the Greek.   the KJV does a very poor job of translating that verse in Phil. 2.

 

We are created in God's moral image, but not in His exact image.   You need to be careful how far you take that "image" thing.

 

Jesus did not say, "ye are gods."   You are ripping that from the context.    Jesus was quoting from Ps. 82:6.  The word for "god" is elohim and it is a word that, depending on the context refers to angels and to judges/magistrates.    Jesus was comparing the unrighteous judges mentioned in Ps. 82:6 with the corrupt Jewish leadership in John 10:34.   Jesus was not calling men "gods"  in the sense you are using that word. You need to study up a bit on exegesis.  

 

We are not born of the same "word" that Jesus was born of.   The Bible NEVER says that what you claim is theological heresy.

 

When Paul was saying that we are "his offspring"  in Acts. 17:28-29,   Paul was quoting a pagan poet and he was making a different point.  He was challenging the stoic pantheism and epicurean materialistic deism that was part of Greek philosophy.   He quoted the poet to make a didactic point that God was the creator and sustainer of the entire material universe including mankind.   The point the poet was making about us being the offspring of the gods was Paul used to make the case that God is the source of all life. 

 

Paul was not saying that we are offspring of God in the sense that we emanate from Him/His deity.  That would make us part of God and that would be pseudo pantheism.   So your argument that we are little gods runs into contradiction to the point Paul was trying to make with the Greek stoics there on Mars Hill.

 

So I am not throwing  away Scriptures.  I am showing why the notion that we are little gods is a heresy and is not part of the authentic new testament faith.   It is all part of a huge false gospel.

So when it says I am born of incorruptible seed the word of God it is wrong for you say Jesus was not born with the same word. How many different sets of words does God have. Scripture tells us the word was always with Him and ther word was Him.

You also claim it is heresy to say faith of God or the God kind of faith.. To say that is false would say God does not have faith.

[Marilyn C]

Hi Fish catcher Jim,

 

Faith is like a spiritual muscle that God gave us. He doesn`t need to have `faith,` He is omniscient - all knowing. We need to have faith, & exercise it, but of course you need to know what you are using this `spiritual muscle` for. What has God actually asked you to believe Him for. That is the question, not whether you or anyone has `faith.` It is what do you believe in. That is what we will be accountable for.

 

Marilyn.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Marilyn C

[Guest shiloh357]

By Faith,

 

To your first point...    You said earlier that we would be "just like Jesus."    I am familiar with I John 3:2.  But you are overstating what the verse actually says.  John is communicating the same idea as Paul expressed in Rom. 8:29.    We are being conformed into the image of His Son.   But this is a moral image.   It refers to our character.    It is NOT claiming that we are being turned into miniature deities.   In fact, this point is re-enforced in I John 3:3.  That we will one day reflect the characteristics of Christ, should be the motivation for living a life of purity.  We should be looking forward to the hope of the realization that we will stand fully sanctified, fully and inherently righteous as Christ is, and conduct ourselves accordingly, today.

 

Secondly,, the Bible makes it clear that we are made lower than the angels (Ps. 8:4-5).   Jesus was made lower than the angels as well when He condescended to our level and took on human flesh (Heb. 2:6-7).   Both are true.    We not made higher than the angels, and there is no Scripture that claims we are in some kind of "god-class."   That is just something that is being penciled into the biblical text.

 

The problem with the WoF  theology is that it is, at times,  based on what amounts to  a "hyper-literal"   interpretation of certain theological concepts.   WoF  want to be "little gods,"   so they take selected phrases and verses from the Bible and they run with them and push them to the extreme outer limits and completely ignore their immediate context and the intent of the author.  Case in point is the way they handle handle Acts 17:28-29 and the notion  of being God's offspring.

 

Paul's point about us being God's offspring was meant to  counter Greek stoicism and the materialism.   "Materialism"  in a philosophical sense is not referring to our modern definition  usually applied to people who are materialistic, who only care about amassing wealth and possessions.   "Materialism"  as I am using refers to those who think the material world is all that exists.  Materialists are what would call "naturalists."    Paul's point to them was that God is the source of all life, unlike the pagan gods they revered.  The unknown god is in fact the Creator of the universe and we are his "offspring" only in the sense that He is our Creator.   We are  not offspring  in the paternal/maternal sense.  We are not His offspring directly as if humanity emanated out of God.   You should understand that in Acts. 17:28-29, Paul is speaking philosophically.   He is debating philosophers and is making a philosophical argument for the existence of God and why they should follow Him and abandon their gods.' Paul makes it clear in Romans 8 that we are God's adopted children.   He uses the concept of adoption twice in that chapter.   That agrees with John 1:12 which says that those who believed on Christ were given "the right"  to be sons of God."    "The right"  is reference to adoption.    Being a "son of God"  for us is not a matter of being of the same substance as God is.   To claim that we are the same divine substance is heretical  to the core, and the Bible never claims that we are sons of God in the same sense that Jesus is.

 

The Gospel of John is very careful in the Greek to distinguish between the way "sons of God"  used in John 1:12 and the way "Son of God" is used when referencing Jesus.    John uses "Son of God"  in a way that it can ONLY apply to Jesus and never to anyone else.    So Jesus is the unique, one of a kind "Son of God." 

 

The WoF  teachers make a blasphemous claim that just like  Jesus, we are the "Word made flesh."    The Bible never says that we are born of the same Word that Jesus was born of.   There is no Scripture that makes that claim.

[Guest shiloh357]

Jim,

 

God does not have faith.   Where in the Bible does it ever claim that God has "faith?"    Secondly, it is says we are born of incorruptible seed,  "seed" is a metaphor.  He is comparing the incorruptible regenerating work of the Holy Spirit vs. the corruptible seed that is part of human reproduction.    Peter says, in I Pet. 1:23 that this happens through or by the Word of God.   He is referring to the preaching of the Word of God.  When we hear the preaching of the Gospel, and we say "yes" to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior and Lord, we are born again, spiritually.  We are regenerated (made alive).   We are new creation.

 

It is not saying that we are born of the same "seed" that Jesus was born of.   You are pushing Peter's metaphor further than is intended by text.

[Matthew T.]

There are those who teach that since we are made in God's image that God was reproducing himself when He created Adam, that Adam was miniature "copy" of God Himself.

 

This is based partly on Psa. 82:6 and John 10:34.  

 

Are these Scriptures being handled properly??

 

If I'm not mistaken, that is "Word of Faith" doctrine, which is something other than the Truth. Scripture has been twisted, thus distorted. God created "man". Had it been the way of the Word of Faith followers, God would have created God.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Matthew T.