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First of all, I don't see any justification for daqq being 'banned' for posting 'gobblety gook' in post #158
here, (see Woodshed report
here) when anyone with a standard English education could understand his commentary, and its clear conclusion (especially clarified in his last paragraph). Granted quoting from concordances naturally will be more complex in their lay-out, but this is for those who really want to be more stringent in the research. But 'gobblety gook'?....come on.
To touch on the passage concerned,....it can be interpreted in various ways,
but it does not necessitate that Jesus is claiming to be 'God Almighty' here, since Jesus specifies his distinction from the person of God the Father here (in context) as the one whom He sent (his anointed agent or messenger),
and to reject Jesus is surely to reject the one who sent him, which is what Jesus is driving home here in so many words. - that's whats being communicated here, NOT that Jesus must be 'God' somehow. Jesus doesn't say this,....but ever reiterates that he and God's testimony or joined in harmony and this joining of their 'word' (2 witnesses) validates his message as being from 'God', he being God's
representative. Anything 'extra' tossed in is 'eisegesis'.
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But back to Daqq's post mentioned above, as far as all things being created
'thru' Jesus, as opposed to
'by' Jesus, again this is a grammatical issues of how one 'translates' the text, among other 'semantics' (apples, oranges?),...but still.....
God creates thru his 'logos', translate that any way you like,....AND Jesus is still God's Son, God's anointed messenger/prophet, God's representative...
the one whom God sent, the one who speaks for God. Add into the mix your own brand of 'Christology' as you wish,....many perspectives are included in this, in various contexts. One point of view, may be just as good, or not as appropriate as another, hence applying reason and textual criticism as needed.
So daqq's conclusion still holds, and could be further researched of course -
Split hairs as you like,....one will die in their sins because they reject God by rejecting Jesus, that's the point. To reject Jesus is to reject God. That God creates all thing thru his 'logos' (creative thought/word, divine reason/wisdom, ordering intelligence, plan/purpose/design) is another subject.