Hello 37818,
Response to your post #222 in the other thread (Derail from Orthodox Anathema Service on Christology )....
Not according to scripture! Every verse, post resurrection, that directly refers to who caused Jesus' resurrection says that it was his Father that caused Jesus to rise from the dead.
As a bit of speculation: If I ignore scripture I could speculate that God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to empower the Son, so that the Son could physiclly raise himself from the dead (this scenario fits with with the observation in my previous post that "the sender" always gets all the credit. Hence the majority witness in scripture that the Father raised Jesus from the dead).
God the Father
With few if any exception, "God" in the NT is exclusively used to refer to the Father of Jesus Christ, and he is exclusively attributed with the resurrection of his Son. (cp. 1 Peter 1:3 and all the scriptues listed below)
Notice in Acts, Luke differentiates between God and the risen Christ, and says "[You] killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead" (Acts 3:15 cp. Acts 4:10; 13:30; 26:8). From the majority scriptural witness the authors of the epistles exclusively referred to the Father of Jesus Christ as God, and Jesus as Lord (cp. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; Gal 1:1-3; Col 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:2-3). A.Paul links belief that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead to our salvation - "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (cp. 1 Cor 15:15; 2 Cor 1:9; Gal 1:1; Col 2:12; Heb 13:20; 1 Peter 1:21).
Also consider 1 Peter 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead".
The Holy Spirit
I really do wish you would pay attention to exactly what the inspired writers wrote, rather than edit them to fabricate the understanding you want.
Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you". The spirit being spoken of here is the spirit of the Father, not the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 they are two different things.
Have a read of all of Romans 8, it talks of us having the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (particularly contemplate vs9) plus a load of other spirits (flesh, adoption etc).
Jesus Himself
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up...But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said" (John 2:19-22).
Jesus made a few predictions that he would suffer, die and be resurrected (eg: Mt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19) but never had he told the disciples that he would directly cause any of these things to occur. Now, as we read the NT it becomes obvious that God the Father is exclusively the source, cause and direction of the resurrection. As A.Paul regularly states God [the Father] raised Jesus from the dead! The question arises: For what reason? The common answer is so that we could become sons by adoption and received the gift of eternal life.
Speculatively, I can accept that Jesus raised himself from the dead, the problem is scripture doesn't provide any corroborating evidence! In fact the majority witness of scripture contradicts the idea.
Response to your post #222 in the other thread (Derail from Orthodox Anathema Service on Christology )....
Originally posted by 37818
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As a bit of speculation: If I ignore scripture I could speculate that God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to empower the Son, so that the Son could physiclly raise himself from the dead (this scenario fits with with the observation in my previous post that "the sender" always gets all the credit. Hence the majority witness in scripture that the Father raised Jesus from the dead).
God the Father
With few if any exception, "God" in the NT is exclusively used to refer to the Father of Jesus Christ, and he is exclusively attributed with the resurrection of his Son. (cp. 1 Peter 1:3 and all the scriptues listed below)
Notice in Acts, Luke differentiates between God and the risen Christ, and says "[You] killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead" (Acts 3:15 cp. Acts 4:10; 13:30; 26:8). From the majority scriptural witness the authors of the epistles exclusively referred to the Father of Jesus Christ as God, and Jesus as Lord (cp. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; Gal 1:1-3; Col 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:2-3). A.Paul links belief that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead to our salvation - "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (cp. 1 Cor 15:15; 2 Cor 1:9; Gal 1:1; Col 2:12; Heb 13:20; 1 Peter 1:21).
Also consider 1 Peter 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead".
The Holy Spirit
I really do wish you would pay attention to exactly what the inspired writers wrote, rather than edit them to fabricate the understanding you want.
Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you". The spirit being spoken of here is the spirit of the Father, not the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 they are two different things.
Have a read of all of Romans 8, it talks of us having the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (particularly contemplate vs9) plus a load of other spirits (flesh, adoption etc).
Jesus Himself
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up...But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said" (John 2:19-22).
Jesus made a few predictions that he would suffer, die and be resurrected (eg: Mt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19) but never had he told the disciples that he would directly cause any of these things to occur. Now, as we read the NT it becomes obvious that God the Father is exclusively the source, cause and direction of the resurrection. As A.Paul regularly states God [the Father] raised Jesus from the dead! The question arises: For what reason? The common answer is so that we could become sons by adoption and received the gift of eternal life.
Speculatively, I can accept that Jesus raised himself from the dead, the problem is scripture doesn't provide any corroborating evidence! In fact the majority witness of scripture contradicts the idea.
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