John 5:23 “so that all will honor
the Son even as they honor the Father.
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” In John 5:23 we are called to honor the
Son just as we honor the Father. Don’t
the Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, and Mormon communities also honor Jesus?
No. Do we not honor the Father in a more
privileged way than we would honor anyone else?
In 1 Peter 3:7 God calls us
to honor our wives but don’t we honor the Father with more privilege than our
wives? Despite Exodus 20:12 would it not be blasphemous for us to honor the Father
equally or on the same plain as our mother?
Does God not speak out against honoring anything as equivalent to Him in
multiple places? So why is it not
permissible to honor our wives or anything else “even as…the Father” but it is just fine to honor the Son “even as…the Father.” Isn’t the point that we honor no one “even as” we honor God? To do so would be a violation of even the
foundational 10 commandments which mandate we have no other gods, nor worship
or serve them. If I honor someone “even as” I honor God like John 5:23 makes imperative, then I
would have to honor them with worship and service because that is a critical
part of how I honor God. Now I am being
called in John 5:23 to the honor the
Son “even as” the Father which means
I must worship Him, serve Him, praise Him, pray to Him, be obedient to Him,
know Him, etc. To do anything less would
mean I am not honoring Him “even as”
the Father.
Muslim’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
Mormon’s (among others) do not honor the Son “even as” the Father but only give to Him a special note in the
appendix by comparison. It is certainly
not my attempt to slander any other religion but it is my obligation to be sure
we, as Christians, understand that those faiths are not the same and do not
worship the same God/god. It is also my
privilege to keep them from a blindness that would permit them to see their
handling of Christ as honorable. As an
example let me use the following analogy: Barack Obama was formerly a senator
from the state of Illinois. He was
subsequently elected as the President of the United States of America for two
terms. If I were to approach him now,
with proper Homeland Security clearance of course, and greet him saying, “Good
morning Senator Obama” I would be attempting to honor him, but not giving him
due credit and appreciation of his real value.
In fact my omission of his full achievement and status would indicate
about myself that I did not know him at all and could even be disrespectful due
to the fact that I did not acknowledge his presidency. In much the same way, and don’t take the
analogy too far, recognizing Jesus as a prophet, the Messiah, or possibly even
as the Son of God (although I would argue this statement is a concession of His
deity) still falls short of His divine nature.
In fact God says calling Him by any name at all falls short of His true
value because He has been given the name above all names. Chairperson Obama, Dr. Obama, Mayor Obama and
Mr. Obama sir might all be noble titles but there is none as noble as President
Obama; save for maybe “daddy.”
This is an excerpt
from my book entitled “Logikos: A Comprehensive Reference to The Biblical
Evidence of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ.” If you enjoyed what you read and would like
to contribute to my self-publishing efforts please feel free to follow the link
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