Hebrews 2:9 and the Alleged Incarnation

 It is claimed that Hebrews 2:9 says that Jesus was made for a while “lower than the angels” at his incarnation, which word in trinitarian terminology is used to mean the doctrine that the alleged second person of the alleged trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and is therefore completely both God [Supreme Being] and man [human being], possessing two alleged natures at once. Do  we find anything of such an idea in Hebrews 2:9? No, at all!

Hebrews 2:9: but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death was made a little less than the angels, so that by the grace of God He might taste of death for all. — Jay Green’s Literal Translation.

In context, we find how all had been subjected to man, although, as yet, we do not see all as having been put under man's dominion. (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:5-8; Hebrews 2:7,8) Evidently, as scriptures elsewhere related, the subjection of all to man has been delayed due to Adam's disobedience. -- Romans 5:12-19.

Although we do not yet see all subjected to man, we are able to see that Jesus was made man, having the crown of glory that is a little lower than the angels, as Adam had before Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, he fell short of the glory he had. (Romans 3:23) Jesus, however, was born  into this world without the condemnation of Adam, since God prepared a body for Jesus apart from that condemnation. -- Hebrews 10:5.

If Jesus, unlike Adam, remained obedient to God, he had the price necessary to offer to God to buy back what Adam had lost for himself and the whole race that has descended from him. And this relates to what is written in Hebrews 2:9. There we find that the man, Christ Jesus, gave himself in sacrifice to God; he died for every man. The price needed to redeem man was not, as many claim, the sacrifice of God Almighty Himself to Himself, but rather what was needed to offset what Adam had done was another sinless man who, unlike Adam, remained obedient.

What the trinitarian has to imagine, assume and add to this verse is that it is really saying that Jesus, while he was a little lower than the angels, was at the same time the Most High, above the angels and all creation. They do this by imagining and assuming their “hypostatic union” doctrine and imagining and assuming their “incarnation” doctrine, and then adding those imagined assumption to the scripture and reading those imagined assumptions into the scripture.

The trinitarian, and many others, would then negate the human sacrifice of Jesus by the claim that Jesus is still a man, being, as they would imagine and assume, 100% Supreme Being and 100% human being at the same time. Of course, no such thought is ever presented anywhere in the Bible.

Jesus is not described in Hebrews 2:9, or anywhere else in the Bible, as an incarnation; like the added-on trinitarian dogma itself, the added-on incarnation doctrine has to be imagined, assumed, added to, and read into Hebrews 2:9, as well as any other scripture that might be presented to allegedly support the added-on doctrine, and then by use of the added-on assumptions of the incarnation doctrine, the added-on assumption of the alleged “hypostatic union” are also imagined, assumed and added to the scritpure, so as to make the scripture appear to harmonize with the added-0n trinitarian dogma, or some other dogma about Jesus.

Colossians 1:15 - Firstborn of the World?

Exodus 4:22 – The Firstborn Nation, Israel

 

John 13:18,19, Ani Hu and Ego Eimi

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{John 13:18} I do not speak about all of you. I know whom I have chosen. Yet, that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'The one who eats bread with me lifts up his heel against me.'
{John 13:19} Now I tell you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe that I am he. -- Restoration Light Improved Version.

Many use John 3:19 as a proof text that Jesus is EHJEH of Exodus 3:14, or some claim that in some way that Jesus was saying that he is Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Some use the Christianized Septuagint of some verses where Jehovah expresses himself as being the one who is the one related to the context, using the Hebrew phrase often transliterated as "ani hu" (literally, I - he, with verb supplied in the English and, "I am he"), which is translated into the Greek of the Christianized LXX with the phrase transliterated as EGO EIMI in such verses as Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 41:4; 43:10; 46:4; 48:12. Noting that the phrase ANI HU is only used by Jehovah in the Old Testament, it is imagined and assumed that when Jesus used the phrase EGO EIMI of himself, that this has to mean that Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah who spoke through his prophets, Moses and Isaiah. This idea, however, is contrary to Hebrews 1:1,2, which shows that "God" who spoke through his prophets Moses and Isaiah was only one person, and that this same God now speaks through His Son.

Does the fact the Old Testament only shows Jehovah as using ANI HU of himself mean that no one else could have used that phrase, if such a person had a reason to do so? Obviously, not. More than likely, no situation was ever arisen in which anyone else would have to use the phrase ANI HU. As yet, we have found no scripture that presents any similar phrase used by anyone to identify themselves as being the one referred to, thus it would appear that no similar situation had arisen where anyone else had any need to use the phrase ANI HU of themselves.

But one needs to consider the context. What was Jesus speaking of? In verse 18, he speaks of one among the disciples who would betray him, and he quotes Psalm 41:9 of that one. Did Jesus claim to be Jehovah by quoting Psalm 41:9? Obviously not. Rather, he was claiming to be the servant of Jehovah, the one whom Jehovah anointed and sent. Of course, Jesus was speaking of Judas as the one who "lifts up his heel against me." Thus, when Judas did betray Jesus, Jesus was neither shocked nor alarmed by Judas's behavior because he knew beforehand who would betray him. Nevertheless, but it must have nonetheless been heartbreaking for our Master. 

At any rate, Jesus went on to say that he was telling them this before it happened so that his other disciples would know that he was the one whom he claimed to be. There is no indication that he was claiming to be Jehovah who spoke through the prophets of old. Rather he was claiming to Jehovah's Son, whom Jehovah and anointed, sent and raised up as the prophet like Moses. 

Some claim that, while EGO EIMI is used of others in the New Testament, it was when Jesus used this term that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. The fact is that Jesus used the phrase many times when the Jesus did not seek to kill Jesus. Indeed, the scriptures record only one instance where the Jews sought kill Jesus after he used the phase EGO EIMI, and in this instance it was obviously because Jesus was claiming to have lived before Abraham. 

In this short study, however, it was our goal to mostly discus John 13:18,19. We have links to many other related studies on our page, "Ehjeh and I am".

Luke 1:35 -- Did Gabriel Reveal a Triune God?

Colossians 2:2,3 - Mystery of the Trinity?

- Revelation 1:1-18 - Is Jesus Revealed as Being God?

Ephesians 1:22,23 -- All in All

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.-- Ephesians 1:22,23 King James Version.

Verse 23, especially, is often cited as proof that Jesus is "ominipresent", and thus it is imagined, assumed, and added to the scripture that Jesus possesses an attribute that only belongs to God Almighty.

The word "things" is added twice by the translators.

God is presented throughout this chapter as being only one person, "the God and Father of Jesus". (Ephesians 1:3). It is Jesus' God and Father who put all under Jesus' feet, and who has made Jesus head over all pertaining to the church. In subjecting all to Jesus, Paul elsewhere states that it is evident the God is excepted. -- 1 Corinthians 15:27.

Whatever is being spoken of related to Jesus is referring to what the one person who is "God" has given to Jesus. It is not speaking of what Jesus was while in the days of his flesh, nor even what Jesus was before his God prepared a body of flesh for Jesus. (Hebrews 10:5; Matthew 1:20) Rather than presenting Jesus as being God, Paul speaks of God as being Jesus' God:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him [God]. -- Ephesians 1:17, KJV.

Ephesians 1:19 and what the exceeding greatness of his [God] power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his [God's] might
Ephesians 1:20 which he [God] wrought in Christ [Micah 5:4], when he [God]raised him [Jesus] from the dead, and made him to sit at his [God's] right hand in the heavenly places ,
Ephesians 1:21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
Ephesians 1:22 and he [God] put all things in subjection under his {Jesus'] feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
Ephesians 1:23 which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. -- American Standard Version

1 Corinthians 15:27 For “God has put everything under His feet.” Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One [the God and Father of Jesus] who put everything under Him.

So whatever glory to which God exalted Jesus, it excludes the glory that belongs exclusively to God who exalted Jesus. 

However, it is obviously being imagined and assumed that "filleth all in all" means omnipresence. Actually, it is speaking of the church, the body of Christ, In context, it appears that Paul was speaking of Christ as filling all that is needed in every member of his body.

Of course, in exalting Jesus bodily with the plenitude of power to be head over every ruler and power (Colossians 2:9,10), it would be necessarily that God also give to Jesus the bodily power to -- in some way -- be present in many places at once.

Regardless, any idea that there is anything anywhere in Ephesians 1 (or anywhere else in the entire Bible) that is referring to Jesus as being God Almighty has to be created beyond what is written. There is definitely nothing at all in Ephesians 1 that presents the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Acts 3:13) as being more than one person, or that Jesus is a person of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or that suggests that Paul had any intent of presenting Jesus as being the "one God" from whom are all. -- 1 Corinthians 8:6.