The belief that Jesus is completely God and completely man is a major tenet of Biblical Christianity, yet it is a doctrine which has had its opponents throughout history. Around A.D. 361 the bishop of Laodicea, whose name was Apollinaris, taught that though Jesus had a human body and a human soul, he did not possess a human mind. Instead it was replaced by the “Logos”, or “Word” as mentioned in John 1.  In short, Jesus had a human body but only a divine nature. Read the rest of this entry →

Wherever there is truth, there will be a counterfeit designed to lead people astray.  Arianism like any and every heresy is an example of this. Three hundred years after Christ death Arius, a priest from Alexandria, propagated the idea that Jesus was not God. His teaching can be followed to its modern version in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Read the rest of this entry →

Pastor Ruben Hooi shares from the Word.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
-Isaiah 7:14

The virgin birth of Christ is a central truth in Christology. Often in evangelical circles it is a neglected doctrine that is assumed to be understood. Its biblical roots go back to the prophet Isaiah who foretold of the virgin giving birth to the savior of the world. It stands out on the biblical landscape as an affirmation of a divine event in human history. Isaiah says, “the Lord himself will give you a sign….” The doctrine itself, simply put, is that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin mother, Mary, without the involvement of a human father. Read the rest of this entry →

“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law….”–Galatians 4:4

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself….  Philippians 2:6-8 Read the rest of this entry →

Pastor Rubén Hooi shares from the Word.

Pastor Dana Arledge shares from the Word.

In Philippians 2 Paul says that Jesus emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant when He became incarnate.  The noun form of the word he uses there (“kenosis”) has come directly into theological discussion in the last century and a half and is filled with controversy.

Originally, the idea seems to have been used by liberal thinkers to assert in effect that Jesus emptied himself of the essential attributes of deity and thus, was not truly God while he was on earth. Read the rest of this entry →