"The Arm of God"
The Correcting Scripture: John 8:28 "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he,
and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things”.
As we know that the Man, the Lord Jesus, the Ordinal Last, had a diversified "spirit", and was anointed by his, "Spirit", the Ordinal First in designation. so what's the difference in "spirit", small case “s” vs "Spirit", capital, "S" in Spirit. and what's the difference, in "Lord", and, "LORD". simple answer, POWER, (G1411, dunamis, MIGHT and, G1849, exousia), authority. Lets look at these two sets of words. just like in math, fractions are reduce to its simplest form. so shall we do the same with these words. scriptures. Isaiah 63:5 "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore
mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me”.
Who, or what is
the Arm of God?. the term right hand, or arm of God, is a anthropomorphism. meaning the attribution of human form or behavior given to a deity to understand
its actions, here it means in Power, (the "authority” and the “ability”, or “might”, to do something). definitions of these word can be found in most bible dictionary, for example Vines gives a good definition of “POWER”. most people misunderstand this word anthropomorphism and take it literal. but it is a figurative term. we will see this in scriptural context as given above in Isaiah 63:5. and here in Isaiah 53:1 "Who hath believed our report?
and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?. 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not". so we can see that the arm of the LORD will be flesh and blood, as a human, or in LIKENESS of a man, (HIS OWN ARM IS REVEALED, he himself in flesh). for the LORD said in Isaiah 42:13 "The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies". if one will notice, the scripture, said,"go forth AS a MAN". but be in the “likeness” as a man. so being as a man God was in flesh and blood. so lets understand the Arm of God, or this flesh and blood man, who is GOD. and in reference to A. do the WILL of the Spirit, while in flesh.
The arm of flesh vs The Arm of the LORD, “authority”
2 Chronicles 32:7 "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8 With him is an
arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah".
one of the failing prompts of the Unitarians, JW belief, and others is this. they say, "Jesus is not God", and one of there excuses, "he could do nothing of himself", John 8:28 "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things”. as the "the ARM of God", he was not authorized to act alone. this is clear as with the Assyrian army. no army act alone, or on their own power. not even our, the American Army. it do not just get up and go to war with another country
without authorization from the commander in chief, or congress. just as my own arm don't wave, or move, unless I authorized it to wave, or move, (THIS IS AN EXAMPLE ONLY). the head gives direction to the body. this is (why our Lord and saviour is the example….
we do nothing on our own). this is explained in the understanding of the use of POWERS, the G1411 dunamis, and the G1849 exousia. just as the Army, or any army
can do nothing of their own, so do the Lord Jesus, he don't act alone, as the ECHAD of himself in flesh. hence one of the reason why he was in G2758 keno, (to abase, neutralize, or make of none effect). but at his baptism he was authorized with G1849 exousia to act in the NAME or the POWER of God, HE the Spirit, (Remember John 3:13 while on EARTH in FLESH, he was in HEAVEN at the same TIME") "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.", to do his will, yes
his own will. and it is HIS “Spirit”, who doth the work. as to forgive sin, heal the sick, raise the dead, and so on. he is our example of how the G1849 exousia works. and that's why we, as 1 John 3:2a states, "now we're the Sons of God". Just as the Lord Jesus did, listen, John 17:4 "I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." hold it I... have finish the WORK?, but I thought many said, "Jesus could not do anything of himself?". well I put and end to that nonesense. he, as well as us are now under obedience and we now are called the sons of God ... now, also. because we, not him, but we was not under his obedience before, (we was violators of his will, sinners). by default we was the son of the evil one. our Lord Jesus having the NATURE, (see Phil 2:5) of God. yes, HAVING, as stated in the bible, BEING IN THE FORM of God, having his nature, he took on our humanity. so that as the "KINSMAN" redeemer in flesh and blood, he then could give that BLOOD, which is the LIFE of the flesh, (see Lev 17:11), and redeem man, (US), from sin. this is the "OBJECTIVE" of God, his concrete plan of salvation, which is his will. and “being in that flesh, (the ARM of FLESH,empowed, he carried out his plan of salvation for Man. again his "OWN" arm "the ARM of FLEH, brought salvation unto him, (see Isaiah 63:5 again). so that answers the “if Christ is God, how come he could do nothing of himself). because as the example, God came in Flesh as the "ARMY, or the POWER of God", in Flesh. supportive scripture, 1 Corinthians 1:24 "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.". yes, Christ, (the ARM of FLESH), an ARMY of ONE accomplish the objective of God ..... as a man. and that ARM is the POWER of GOD in Flesh boy Oh boy the bible just certifies itself over and over.
again, the Good hermeneutics in the Holy Spirit, of the near and far application explains the "I can do nothing of myself.", excuse, that many cannot understand, well that mystery is no more.
the ARM of God is GOD himself in his POWER, in Flesh to do his OWN WILL, Isaiah 46:9 "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,"
another excuse vanquish, and laid to the side.
Isaiah 46:10 "
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"
PICJAG, 101G.