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Another
look at Jesus, the Father, and two wills
Oneness theology teaches that there is only one
person in the Godhead whose name is Jesus. Jesus is the Father and
the Holy Spirit. Regarding His incarnation, oneness people say that
Jesus was in heaven at the same time that He was on earth. Unfortunately, the oneness position presents a
serious problem.
In the Garden
of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42), Jesus
prayed to the Father saying, "Father, if You
are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be
done." See also, ""And he went a little
further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 'O
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not
as I will, but as thou wilt'" (Matt. 26:39).
Notice that Jesus says that he has a will and
that the Father has a will. That is two wills: one of the
Son and the other of the Father. Furthermore, notice that the
wills were in opposition. Jesus did not want to have to go to
the cross and endure the suffering, but he submitted not to his own
will, but the will of the Father. If this is so,
then how can Jesus, who is the Father in flesh (and therefore, they are
one person) have two separate and opposing wills on the
same subject at the same time?
The response is generally that Jesus was fully a man
and that in his humanity he was not the everlasting Father.
But if this is so, then what was Jesus if not God incarnate?
If He is not fully God incarnate, then the atonement is void since
it isn't God making the sacrifice but a mere man. This is the
danger of oneness theology. Ultimately, it denies the true
incarnation of God.
Sometimes oneness people say that Jesus had
another existence outside His existence as a man because he also was
existing as the Father. But this implies that there are two beings
since each has its own existence different than the other.
Furthermore, the Oneness position would have a will of the Father and a
will of the
Son which are in opposition to each other -- yet they are
supposed to be one person? This makes no sense. If the
oneness people state that Jesus' flesh was at odds with His own
presence as the Father in heaven, then again we have no true
incarnation.
The problem with the oneness position is serious
and the fact that Jesus' will was separate from the Father's demonstrates
that the Father and the Son are different persons within the
Godhead. The oneness people are very wrong.
Questions:
- If
it was the flesh side of Jesus speaking to the divine side of Jesus in
heaven, then that denies the true incarnation of God in Christ and
invalidates the atonement.
Return to Oneness Theology
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