There have been many famous people in the world. It can be said that one of the most controversial figures is Jesus Christ, the man born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, having toured Galilee to end up and die in Jerusalem.

Lots of people may know the name Jesus Christ, but may not know him really very well. People around the world have heard something about Jesus Christ, even though he lived on earth some 2,000 years ago. Yet, many are confused about who Jesus really was. Some say that he was merely a good man. Others claim that he was nothing more than a prophet. Some claim he was a fraud or even go so far to say he never existed. Still others believe that Jesus is God and should be worshipped.

Christadelphians or Brothers in Christ, are convinced that it is very important that people do know the exact position of Jesus Christ and of his heavenly Father, Jehovah whom we consider the Only One True God.

It is important for you and others around you to know the truth about Jesus, because this means everlasting life. Really coming to know Jehovah God and His only begotten beloved son Jesus Christ can lead to everlasting life on a paradise earth.

“ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (Joh 14:6 ASV)

It is by getting to know Christ, coming to believe that he is the way to God and not to himself, that people shall be able to get on the right road and also the Truth, which shall enable that person to have a better life and a hope for the future.

For centuries people had spoken about some one to come who would bring light in the world and a better prospect for man. It is that man from Nazareth, born in the city of David, that the fulfilment of the promises has brought us Good News.

Long before Jesus was born in 4 B.C.E., the Bible foretold the coming of the one whom God would send as the Messiah, or Christ. The titles “Messiah” (from a Hebrew word) and “Christ” (from a Greek word) both mean “Anointed One.” This promised One would be anointed, that is, appointed by God to a special position.

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isa. vii. 14). The comment of the Apostle Matthew, in detailing the birth of Jesus, reads:

"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel " (Matt. i. 22, 23).

We cannot go behind that, unless we reject, as do the "Josephites", the genuineness of the opening chapters of Matthew, for which rejection there are no grounds.

Of 335 Greek MSS., all but one contain the chapters questioned. The Ebionites who rejected them, also rejected all the Gospels, as well as the Epistles of Paul.

F. G. J.Read

" The Jew Debate ", between R. Roberts and L. Stern.

In the first century C.E., the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were fully convinced that the Nazarene who had asked them to follow him, was the foretold Messiah.

“ He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ).” (Joh 1:41 ASV)

When Jesus walked around telling about God, some thought he was Elijah, others thought he was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. One of the disciples, a fisherman named Simon Peter, openly saw in his master teacher the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

“13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? 14 And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16:13-16 ASV)

The men Jesus had chosen to be his disciples were all Jews, who, like him believed only One God, the God of Abraham, the God of gods Who is One.

Those disciples could be so sure that their master was the promised Christ or Messiah because they clearly saw in him the one spoken of in the scrolls they knew. The prophets of God who lived before Jesus foretold many details about the Messiah. These details would help others to identify him. By means of the Bible prophets, Jehovah gave a rather detailed description of what the Messiah would do and what he would experience. The fulfilment of these many prophecies would help faithful ones to identify him clearly. They also were aware of what happened when Jesus got baptised in the river Jordan.

“16 And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; 17 and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:16-17 ASV)

That was just one event where the Spirit of God, God's Power declared Jesus to be His son. At an other event the disciples could witness again such a declaration that God called Jesus His son.

“32 Now Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. 33 And it came to pass, as they were parting from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said. 34 And while he said these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye him. 36 And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen.” (Lu 9:32-36 ASV)

Jesus very well knew Who had made it possible him to be and to act here on earth. The Bible teaches nowhere that Jesus would be equal to God or that Jesus would be God.

God has no beginning and no end.

“ Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Ps 90:2 ASV)

God took care that Jesus could be born. Jesus had a beginning. The only-begotten son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father. The Bible clearly teaches that the Father is greater than the Son.

“ Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I.” (Joh 14:28 ASV)

“ But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (1Co 11:3 ASV)

Jehovah alone is “God Almighty.”

“ And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Ge 17:1 ASV)

“ And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.” (Re 16:7 ASV)

Jehovah God is also a Spirit, no man can see, whilst Jesus made it clear he is no spirit or ghost, and has been seen by lots of people.

“ And he {Jehovah God} said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live.” (Ex 33:20 ASV)

“ and I {Jehovah God} will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back; but my face shall not be seen.” (Ex 33:23 ASV)

“ Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Ti 1:17 ASV)

“ who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.” (1Ti 6:16 ASV)

Therefore, God is not Jesus and Jesus is not equal to God.

Jesus was a man of tender warmth and deep feelings. Others thus found him to be approachable and kind. Jesus was also willing to listen to everybody who wanted to say something to him or had a question for him. He was genuinely humble. On one occasion, he washed the feet of his apostles, a service usually performed by a lowly servant.

He always gave honour to his heavenly Father, Whom he considered His but also our Father. Jesus set the finest example of loyal obedience to God. He remained faithful to his heavenly Father under all kinds of circumstances and despite all types of opposition and suffering. Jesus firmly and successfully resisted several temptations of adversaries of God.

No matter what people thought or said about him, Jesus continued to do the work for God and remained faithful to Him until death ​— a cruel and painful death at the hands of his enemies.

“ and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross {death on a torture stake}.” (Php 2:8 ASV)

"In favour with God and man" (Luke ii. 52) is absolutely true of Jesus. Even the Infidel cannot refrain from expressing a favourable verdict in the case.

Tom Paine (the writer of the " Age of Reason "), was constrained to add that,

"Nothing that is here said can with the most distant disrespect apply to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a most virtuous and amiable man."

Colonel Ingersoll, too, wrote:

"For the man Christ, for the man who believed in an infinite Father, who would shield the innocent and protect the just; for the martyr who expected to be rescued from the cross; for that great and suffering man, mistaken though he was, I have the greatest admiration and respect".

John Stuart Mill wrote:

"Religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching upon this man as an ideal representative and guide of humanity, nor even now would it be easy to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract to the concrete than to endeavour so to live that Christ would approve our life".

Theodore Parker admitted:

"It would have taken a Jesus to forge a Jesus".

Josephus, in his "Antiquities of the Jews" (Book xviii., chap, iii., par. 3), says:

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, etc" . . .

This paragraph is in the original Greek of Josephus. There is not a single copy of the original in which it is not to be found. There is no ground for the suggestion that it is an interpolation or spurious. The suggestion has been thrown out as the mere haphazard of unbelief. The argument of unbelief has been that, as Josephus was not a Christian, he could not have written such a paragraph. But there is nothing in this, as Dr. Thomas has shown in "TheHerald" , 1851, p. 154, and reproduced in "TheChristadelphian", 1889, pp. 513-516.

Robert Roberts

"For Your Sakes Became Poor"

Paul's statement to the Corinthians that Christ,

"though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (2 Cor. viii. 9),

will be better understood in the light of the fact that the verb "was " is in the present" being".

A more correct rendering would cause the verse to read thus:

"Ye know the loving kindness of the Anointed Jesus, our Lord, that on your account he impoverished himself, being rich, in order that ye, through his poverty, might become rich".

The sense in which believers are rich is seen in what Jesus said to the Church at Ephesus:

"I know thy works .... and poverty (but thou art rich)" (Rev. ii.9).

So that poverty and riches co-existed. A parallel statement is made by Paul in Phil. ii. 7. Christ

"made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant".

Joshua's Filthy Garments

Joshua was the representative man of God's people. His "filthy garments" (Zech. iii. 3) represent the native "iniquity" of himself and of his people. Such cannot make of themselves a fit habitation for the Lord.

Joshua has his iniquity taken away, and we are told that the work is to be "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord" (Zech. iv. 6).

The Branch being of our stock

So also "the Branch" was to be of our stock, other-wise He would be no branch. He was to be of our sin and death-stricken nature, otherwise no "filthy garments".

He was to be Representative Man of man-kind, otherwise His life and work would be for Himself alone. He was to withstand the great Adversary and to come out of the contest victorious "through the Eternal Spirit" (Heb. ix. 14).

W.J. Young

Read "The Slain Lamb", by R. Roberts

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“ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14 ASV)

The doctrine of Substitution is an unscriptural one.

Christ did not die as our substitute, but as our representative. If Christ had died as a substitute, there would have been no forbearance on the part of God, for when a debt is paid, there is no room for forbearance. Jesus died as a member of a sinful race. All that can be affirmed of the nature of his brethren can be affirmed of him (Gal. iv. 4; Heb. ii. 17; iv. 15; Job xiv. 4).

"Christ died for (not instead of) us" (Rom. v. 8).

All he did was "for us", in the sense of, "on our account". But, in order so to do, he had to "partake" of the same nature, and, hence it was, he himself had to obtain salvation (Psalm xci. 16).

For evidence that "for us" does not mean as a substitute, or "instead of us", see the following texts: Luke i. 69; Rom. viii. 32; 1 Cor. v. 7; 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal.iii. 18; Heb. vi. 20; ix. 24; x. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 21.

Read " The Blood of Christ ", by R. Roberts.

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“ And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David” (Lu 1:69 ASV)

“ He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?” (Ro 8:32 ASV)

“ Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ:” (1Co 5:7 ASV)

“ Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2Co 5:21 ASV)

“ For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise: but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise.” (Ga 3:18 ASV)

“ whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb 6:20 ASV)

“ For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us:” (Heb 9:24 ASV)

“ by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;” (Heb 10:20 ASV)

“ For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:” (1Pe 2:21 ASV)

"That Rock was Christ"

"They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. x. 4).

Nobody can possibly accept this literally, and therefore must seek an explanation. The Trinitarians naturally see evidence of the pre-existence of Christ, but those who know the Bible will interpret the word "was" as meaning "represented". It seems there is no Greek equivalent for the word "represent". Thus Christ said,

"This is my body" (Luke xxii. 19),

meaning

"This represents my body".

Again, Christ says,

"The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches" (Rev. i. 20),

meaning they represented such. And so the Rock, from which flowed the water,represented Christ.

F. G. J.

"If I be Lifted Up".

When the Lord said,

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John xii. 32),

our minds immediately revert to the many declarations of Deity that there will come a time when unto Him "every knee should bow" (Phil. ii. 10). For instance, the death-bed prophecy of Jacob,

"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet (' among his posterity ', Peshito Version), until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the obedience of the nations be " (Gen. xlix. 10, R.V.).

That will be

"in the Dispensation of the fulness of time",

when

"he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth; even in him" (Ephes. i. 10),

and then

"all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" (Isa. lii. 10).

The idea that everybody will ultimately be saved because Christ "gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim.ii. 6), will not for a moment be contended for by those who are acquainted with "What is written".

On many of our lecture cards we distinctly say, "All will be welcome"; but, clearly, we should not welcome a drunken man, or a filthy woman. The "Welcome"is conditional, and so is the "ransom".

Christ gave himself as a ransom for all those who comply with his conditions; and, those conditions (Mark xvi. 15) are available for all; and, that, too, without money and without price (Isa. lv. 1; Matt. xi. 28).

F G J.

Read "Russellism Reviewed", by C. C. Walker

Christ not now a King

True, the wise men from the East asked,

"Where ishe that is born King of the Jews?" (Matt. ii. 2);

and,true also that when Pilate asked Jesus,

"Art thou the King of the Jews?"

Jesus replied,

"Thou sayest "(Mark xv. 2).

Such statements, however, must be interpreted in the light of facts; for it would be an empty title if a king had no subjects; or, having subjects, not make them do his bidding, or comply with his will; and who will ascribe either to Jesus, in the days of his ministry?

At his first appearing, Jesus was prospective King, or King Elect, and therefore did not exercise any of the prerogatives of a monarch. When he does, the world will be a different place from what it is now (Psalm Ixxii. 4, 9, 11; cxlix. 7, 8; Isa. xxvi. 9; Rev.xvii. 14).

Those who talk about Jesus being now a King, and want to make others bow to their form of words, should be given a back seat in the Ecclesia.

Without doubt Jesus was "crowned with glory and honour" (Heb. ii. 9), after his ascension, in the sense of being "exalted to the right hand of God, and made both Lord and Christ", for Paul and Peter so declare; but it is also true, as testified by Paul, that

"all things are not yet put under him".

The Twelve Tribes are some of those things; and we see them at this day as rebellious as they were, or even more so, than when he wrote his letter to the Hebrews. But David says of them,

"they shall be willing in the day of his Son and Lord's power" (see Psalm ex. 3).

This, then, is not the day of his power, for his people Israel is not willing to submit to him: therefore the Kingdom was not set up on Pentecost, nor since, but remains to be established : for when his Kingdom exists, where that is, there will his power be.

Dr. John Thomas

The Greek word proskuneo doubtless means "to worship" in the highest sense; but it also means "to prostrate oneself in respect, or humility".

The Septuagint Version has such in Genesis xix. 1 ("bowed himself"); also in Gen. xxxiii. 3, 6, 7; Daniel ii. 46; 1Chron. xxi. 21; 1 Kings i. 16, 23.

There are also many examples in the New Testament which show that the Greek word does not mean solely to worship God. In any case, we may worship and adore Christ, not because he is God, but because all power is given him in Heaven and Earth; and because he is exalted above all (Ephes. i. 20-22). Matthew iv.10 has reference to the command against false Gods. Not only so; there is the later command to "serve" Christ; to "honour" him because God has exalted him, and not because he is God (Rev. iv. 9; v. 13).

F. G. J.

No one who knows what the Scriptures teach concerning Jesus Christ will find fault with the Apostle Thomas addressing the Lord as "My Lord and my God" (John xx. 28); for such a description is explained by Paul when he says that in Jesus God was "manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii. 16). That is what is signified by the name "Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matt. i. 28). David was therefore justified in the language he used,

"Thy throne, Ο God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy Kingdom is a right sceptre" (Psalm xlv. 6, 7),

which we are told had reference to Christ (Heb. i. 8).

We have no doubt but Jesus did really eat the passover with his disciples. This appears from his sending Peter and John, saying,

"Go, and prepare us the passover, that we may eat".

Afterwards, being seated at the table, he said:

"I have heartily desired to eat this passover with you before I suffered: for I say unto you, I will not any more (that is, after eating) eat there-of until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God" . . ..

The Law did not require the passover to be killed on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan: but "between the evenings" of that day ....

If the Law had confined the eating of the passover to the second evening of the 14th, Jesus would not have eaten; but as it was to be eaten between two evenings, Jesus could both eat the passover and be slain as such.

Dr. John Thomas