Jesus is walking on the water. There is a great storm on the Sea Tiberius, and in Luke 6, it doing havoc to the ship the disciples are in. Lake Kinnereth, or Galilee, is very large so that if Jesus walks a mile from them, He will never be seen. It can be argued that Jesus could have just calmed the waters and appeared on the other side of the lake. If there was a lesson in this, what might it be? Was our Lord demonstrating a supernatural power over natural forces? Was it a test for the disciples that without the presence of Jesus, there is always danger? Was it the same test put to His disciples in Mark 4:38 that they will never be in any real danger as long as the Master is present on earth? The English Majority Text translation, that is the Byzantine text-form rendering, says that Jesus said “I AM” Luke 6:20. The Greek is eimi ego, “It is I”. Perhaps the idiom is “I AM”, much the same as God spoke from the burning bush to Moses. The EMTV implies with the translation of eimi ego that Jesus says “I AM God!” He really is you know. I Tim 3:16 in the majority of extant Greek texts, Byzantine type, say, “God was manifest in the flesh.” God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God, manifested in three discreet persons, yet one in essence, purpose, and authority. Much argued is I John 5:7, the “comma” of John, said to be added to the Textus Receptus by Erasmus, but contained in almost none of the extant Greek manuscripts. The Jew had a lot of trouble with this. Taught from childhood, the First Commandment says “Behold; our God is One.” Any attempt to place another being equal or above Jehovah is met with instant rejection. The disciples had to be taught that when Jesus said, “My Father”, He meant someone to whom He was equal. To the disciples He was the Son of God in the way of being the Messiah. Messiah was another “son” of God whose place of origin was Bethlehem. The Rabbins said this “son” of God had supernatural powers, but was not equal to God according to the Law of Moses. So Jesus used a term of endearment, one which Jews did not use; God was too transcendent and holy to be a “Father.” Jesus also said “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” He also said “I and the Father are One;” “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” It took Acts 2 to bring full knowledge of the triune God to the church. The church had seen God the Father in action throughout the Old Testament, Jesus Christ in action throughout the New Testament gospels, and now it was the Holy Spirit’s turn to demonstrate His power as well. Now, all who denied the Trinity unity were without excuse.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 17:26:01 +0000