God & Jesus Christ

Answer: Many have wondered about that. It's often helpful to hear different perspectives on the same event. Some people will focus on one aspect of an event—others will focus on different parts. It's a blessing that God chose to give us four perspectives on the life of Christ to give us a fuller understanding of His actions and words. Whether or not Christ was the Messiah was a big question in the first century. It's interesting that God said a thing would be established at the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1), and He recorded more than that as witnesses to the life of Christ as the Messiah.

To learn more about the life of Jesus Christ request the free booklet, Jesus Christ: The Real Story.

Answer: While the Bible never gives an exact date (day, month and year), there are some general indicators of both the year and season of the year. Obviously the exact date of Christ's birth is not needed for salvation, because the apostle Paul specifically told Timothy he had what was needed for salvation—the Scriptures he had learned since his youth (the Old Testament) with the added understanding of faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior (2 Timothy 3:15). Let's look at the general information, though, that is given.

First, let's start with the season of the year. Luke 2 describes the circumstances of Christ's birth. Verse 8 says there were shepherds living out in the fields with their sheep at that time. Various sources will point out that shepherds around Jerusalem would not stay in the fields past the autumn. They would bring the sheep in for the winter.

For example, according to Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, Luke's account "suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night" (p. 309). Similarly, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary says this passage argues "against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted" shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields at night.

Also, Jesus' parents came to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census (Luke 2:1-4). The Romans would have known better than to have taken such a census in the dead of winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor condition for traveling. Taking a census under such conditions would have been self-defeating.

So from that passage of Scripture we can at least know one season when He was not born—the winter.

So was He born in spring, summer or autumn? A prophecy in the book of Daniel is helpful here. The last part of chapter 9 gives a prophecy about His coming and verse 27 mentions a "week" of His confirming the covenant, but that in the middle of the week He would bring an end to sacrifice and offerings. The book of Hebrews explains how His sacrifice ended the need for the Old Testament sacrificial system (chapters 8, 9 and 10).

A "week" in prophecy can stand for seven years, a day for a year (Numbers 14:34). We therefore conclude that His ministry lasted 3 1/2 years, with the other 3 1/2 years to be completed at some other time. We know Jesus Christ was killed at Passover time and that His ministry started when He was around the age of 30 (Luke 3:23). Putting all of this together makes it most probable that He was born six months before Passover—or sometime in the fall.

An autumn birth is also substantiated, and in fact more positively proven, by the timing of the birth of John the Baptist. Luke 1 tells that story.

John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, was a priest of the order of Abijah. In King David's time the priests had been organized to serve at various times—a week at a time from Sabbath to Sabbath starting with the first week in the month Nisan. They would all serve together during the feast seasons. Abijah was the eighth course (1 Chronicles 24:10).

It is a matter of doing the math to realize he was serving around early June, so when he was able to go home to his wife, Elizabeth, so she could conceive, it would have been around mid-June. That means John the Baptist was born nine months later, probably in late March.

Then in Luke 1:26 we're told the angel appeared to Mary telling her she would conceive her Son in Elizabeth's sixth month. So Jesus Christ was six months younger than John the Baptist—meaning He probably would have been born in late September when Jerusalem was crowded with people coming to observe the autumn feasts. This would explain why there was no room for Joseph and Mary at the normal hotels or "inns" near Jerusalem (Luke 2:7).

Now for the year. This has been the subject of some controversy, but again we seem to be able to find some clues. Luke 2:1-2 tells us Jesus Christ was born during Caesar Augustus' reign at the time of the first census when Quirinius was governor. Matthew 2 also tells us that Herod (the Great) was still king immediately after Christ's birth. Since Herod died somewhere around 4 or 3 B.C., and some records indicate Quirinius was ruling in 4 B.C., we believe Christ was probably born in late September of 4 B.C.

Although it's difficult to determine the first time anyone celebrated Dec. 25 as Christmas, historians are in general agreement that it wasn't until sometime during the fourth century. This is an amazingly late date. Christmas was not observed in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, until about 300 years after Christ's death. Its origins show that it cannot be traced back to the earliest Christians.

Answer:The book of Luke makes this statement quite clearly. The religious leaders of the time were upset with Jesus and charged Him with being a "winebibber." "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber [an excessive drinker], a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Luke 7:33-34).

Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words says the Greek word for winebibber, oinopotes, means "'a wine drinker' (oinos, and potes, 'a drinker')."

In the Old Testament the word winebibber is used to describe those who abuse the use of alcohol (Proverbs 23:20). Since Jesus drank a little wine from time to time, this opened Him up to the charge of abusing it. Christ, of course, always drank in moderation; He never abused alcohol.

The Bible teaches that it is the misuse of alcohol that is a sin (Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:21; 1 Peter 4:3). Reflecting its use in moderation, Judges 9:13 speaks of wine that "cheers both God and men."Psalm 104 also presents moderate alcohol use in a positive light: "And wine that makes glad the heart of man" (verse 15).

It's also noteworthy that Christ's first public miracle was turning water into a fine quality wine (John 2:1-11), something He surely would not have done if drinking any alcoholic beverage were a sin.

Christ instructed Christians to take wine as part of the Passover service (1 Corinthians 11:25-26). In the context of this instruction, Paul corrected some of the Corinthian congregation for getting drunk at the Passover (1 Corinthians 11:21).Clearly, they were using fermented wine in the observance of the Passover or it would not have been possible for them to become drunk.

People with a proclivity toward alcoholism and those who cannot drink in moderation should not drink, nor should anyone whose conscience would be violated by doing so. Christians of legal age who choose to drink should do so in moderation.

Answer: Jesus addressed His prayers to the "Father." At Jesus' baptism, an angel spoke from heaven calling Jesus the "Son." How could these passages be true if Jesus and the Father are the same being? The logical answer is that they are not the same. They are two separate beings in the family of God. Ephesians 3:14-15 mentions the Father of Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family is named.

Much to the surprise of many people, the Bible actually teaches that God is in the process of adding more members to His family. Notice that Hebrews 2:10 talks about God "bringing many sons to glory."

We read in Romans 8:14-17, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption [sonship, NIV] by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father. 'The Spirit Himself [itself, KJV] bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."Those are incredibly important words and point out that God is expanding His family through human beings.

God the Father and God the Word (who later became the Son) have existed for all eternity. John 1:1-3 explains that the Word was with God the Father from the beginning. For someone to be with someone else requires there to be two individuals—not just one.

If you're interested in learning more, request or download a copy of our free booklet Who Is God? from our literature request page,www.ucg.org/booklets. The question, "Is God a Trinity?" is answered in greater detail on pages 47-52 of this booklet.

We do not believe God requires us to use only the terms Yahweh and Yahshua in reference to the Father and Jesus Christ, as if only these two terms spelled and pronounced exactly correctly constitute the only "true" names of God and Jesus Christ.The original text of the Bible contains not only Hebrew but also Greek, Aramaic and Chaldean. The references to God that are included are from those languages.

Even in the Hebrew it isn't possible to be precisely accurate, because the consonantal pronunciation (YHVH or YHWH) has been lost. Also, since the original Hebrew writings included no vowels, we don't really know the vowels that should go between the consonants or even whether the name has two or three syllables (for example, whether Yahweh, Yahuweh or Yehowah).

Furthermore, there are no ancient manuscripts of the New Testament that have Hebrew names for God in place of the Greek names.

Christ used the name for God that was commonly understood by His audience. It is reasonable to assume that the apostles in Acts 2 used commonly accepted terms as they spoke in different languages to those from various regions who were hearing the truth of Jesus Christ's role for the first time.

As to His own name, the Oxford Dictionary records that "Jesus" comes from the Latin Iesus, which comes from the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yehoshua or Yeshua (Joshua).

An important question to ask people who have expressed concern that Yahweh is the only name that we may use when addressing God is, "Why is He called by several names in the Bible?" Elohim, El, Yah, Eloah, Elyon, Shaddai, Adon, Adonai and Adonim are various Hebrew expressions for our Father.

Moreover, the question above presumes that the name Yahweh refers exclusively to God the Father. While this name in the Hebrew Old Testament could refer to the Father, it often referred not to the Father but to the One who would later be born as Jesus Christ (see John 1:1-3, 14; 1 Corinthians 10:4).

Studying about and meditating on all the names and descriptions of God that we have been given in the Bible helps us better grasp the awesome greatness, power and holiness of God—both Father and Son.

This study requires translating into our own languages. Following the logic that it is appropriate to use only Yahweh and Yahshua, it would be inappropriate to address our Maker as "Father" and our Messiah as "Savior." It is not sound reasoning to believe that God expects us to speak in our own languages (which He divided at Babel), yet when it comes to saying His name, we are supposed to say only Yahweh and Yahshua, even though we may be from America, French Guiana, Borneo or Togo.

If you would like to learn more about God, go to www.gnmagazine.org/booklets. Then scroll down to the booklet Who Is God? You can read it online or request a personal copy by mail.