[QUOTE=chuck010342]
"Before Abraham was I am"
"I and the father are one"
"Nobody gets thru the father execpt thru me"
please explain how those verses don't show that Jesus is God.[/QUOTE]
Hi, i'm back in now, so here goes...
On your scripture "Before Abraham was I am".
As glascowchick already pointed out, some other translations put the text more in harmony with the context. ie, like this:
Jesus answered, "The truth is, I existed before Abraham was even born!"
also: Jesus answered, `I tell you the truth. I already was before Abraham was born.'
So, you see, as i've said before, it's very important to consider the context surrounding certain verses. if you think about what the Jews were asking him, you'll see that it was a question about age, not identity. Jesus reply dealt with his age, and the length of his existence. He was simply stating that he was in existence before Abraham, which is true, (being the firstborn of creation, created by God) and is not a reference to what God said to Moses.
Also on your point of God's name. I AM is not his name, but more description of what he becomes. if you read the very next verse, it tells you 'God also said to Moses, "Say this to the Israelites: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.'
Cross reference this with Hosea 12:5
Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name. and cross reference that with Psalm 83:18 'May they know that You alone whose name is Yahweh
are the Most High over all the earth.'
Tie that in with Jesus words at John 17:6 'I have made Your name known to the people You have given Me from the world. They were Yours but You gave them to Me. They have obeyed Your Word.'
Now to the next scripture quoted
"I and the father are one"
Once again, context! Is it in harmony with other scriptures? For instance at John 17:21, 22, Jesus prayed regarding his followers: My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
What does that say to you? And the next verse says "I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are'
He used the same Greek word (hen) for "one" in all these instances. Obviously, Jesus disciples do not all become part of the Trinity. But they do share a oneness of purpose with the Father and the Son, the same sort of oneness that unites God and Christ.
As a side point Genesis 2:24 says 'Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.'
We know that by saying that, he didn't mean that they would literally become one and that same person, but that they would be united in purpose and thought, as a team.
and now finally 'Nobody gets thru the father execpt thru me' John 14:6
This reminds me of what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount. Jesus compares the way to life to a road that a person enters through a gate. He said it wouldn't be easy: Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many are they who enter in through it.
For narrow the gate and straitened the way that leads to life, and they are few who find it.' Mathew 7:13,14
Do you see what he's saying? there is only one road, or way, leading to life and that it will require careful attention on our part to avoid straying from that way to life? So then what is this only way to everlasting life?
Well, Jesus has an important role in connection to that way.
Paul said: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) Jesus showed that the only way to everlasting life is through him, so in that sense he could say: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
So it's very important that we accept Jesus role in making everlasting life possible.
