Two wills or One will?

Tim Ashley (tashley@erc.cat.syr.edu)
Wed, 6 Dec 1995 16:56:08 -0600 (CST)


Hi Mike,
  I believe this is the first message of yours I've responded to:

On Wed, 6 Dec 1995, Mike Murphy wrote:

> I know what you mean, believe me, but Gabriel and Michael are also valid
> manifestations of God. But they are not God per se. 

HEBREWS 1

4 ...having become so much better than the angels, as He has by 
  inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:

	"You are My Son,
	Today I have begotten You"?    (cf. Ps. 2:7)

 And again:

	"I will be to Him a Father,
	And He shall be to Me a Son"?  (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14)

6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
 
	"Let all the angels of God worship Him."

7 And of the angels He says:
 
	"Who makes His angels spirits
	And His ministers a flame of fire."  (cf. Ps. 104:4)

8 But to the Son He says:
 
	"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;..."
		 (cf. Deut. 33:27; Ps. 45:6)

13 But to which of the angels has He ever said:
 
	"Sit at My right hand,
	Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"? (cf. Ps. 110:1)

The author of Hebrews makes a very clear distinction between angels and 
the Son.  Jesus was not simply a glorified angel, as some assert.  The 
author asks a series of rhetorical questions, with the implied answer to 
each of them being "none of them."  As such, the office of the Son is 
clearly unique, and is filled by none other than God Himself (Heb. 1:8, 
cf. John 1:1-18).
 
For the record, although I have in times past attended "Oneness" churches 
and understand the concepts behind it, I do not consider myself a 
traditional Oneness theologian.  On the converse, I am not a traditional 
trinitarian either.  The truth, I am convinced, lies somewhere betwixt 
the two extremes.  I can see and appreciate the distinctions within the 
Godhead, but I can not intellectually describe the mechanics of how a 
being can be at once decidedly one and at the same time three.  I simply 
accept it as a given in the New Testament revelation.  If I had to apply 
a label to myself (which I am typically loathe to do), I suppose one 
could refer to me as a triunitarian.
 
Best regards, Mike! :>


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