The Word, the Son and God Manifested

Some words in the Torah and the Bible, which some people assumed that they mean that the Absolute Deity settles in the worlds of creation by a man, and the clarification of their truth.

The Word: In the book of The Divinity of Christ by Shenouda III (The Pope of the Orthodox), Shenouda III said: “‘Chapter One: His divinity in relationship to his position in the Holy Trinity - he is the Logos (the Word).’ (John 1:1) [In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God], the talk about his divinity is absolutely clear here.”

Response: I have clarified in this book^[1] that Jesus℗ is a worshipper, not an absolute deity. The unmistakable conclusion will be mentioned and from a firm explicit verse of the Gospel.^[2] Hence, this passage and others cannot be interpreted and explained with exaggeration that Jesus℗ is an absolute deity as it is proven from the aforementioned that Yeshua℗ or Jesus℗ cannot be light without darkness, but he is light and darkness. Thus, he is a creation that is needy and poor to the Absolute Deity, the Almighty.

The explanation of this passage: [In the beginning was the Word]: the Absolute Deity, the Almighty has no beginning in order to say “In the beginning”; rather, the one that was in the beginning was the creation. So, Jesus (Yeshua℗) is a creation and this verse shows clearly that he is a creation. Yes, it can be said that the intended here is the first creation or the first intellect and so this matter can be discussed, was Jesus (Yeshua℗) the first Word? Or was Jesus (Yeshua℗) one of the Words of God that came later after the first Word? [And the Word was with God]: the Absolute Deity is not a compound reality, and saying it is compound or saying that which necessitates its composition is invalid. Believing that the intended from saying, [And the Word was with God], is that the Word is the Absolute Deity itself means that the Absolute Deity is compound. Whereas, believing that the Word is God^[3] - He is it and it is He without differentiation - along with saying that He is not compound, makes this statement foolish and devoid of any wisdom, as there is no sense in saying that the thing is with itself. [And the Word was God]: Here is the object of confusion, and here is the allegory that Shenouda has fallen into just as those before him. And the truth is that after it has been clarified that the Word is a creation and cannot be the Absolute Deity himself, nothing is left except that God used here is not the Absolute Deity, but the intended is “God among the creation”, meaning the image of God as mentioned in the Torah or the Old Testament, [26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”], [27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him]. Genesis, Chapter 1.

Emmanuel or God with Us: [7 Therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your

land, O Emmanuel.” 9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.] Isaiah 8:7-10. Yes, as God is with the believing people who support the vicegerent of God in every time. [22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means, God with us).] Matthew 1:22-23. The vicegerent of God on His earth is the representative of God, and if he is the hand of God and the face of God, then he is God among the creation. But he is not an absolute deity, rather a poor and needy creation. And he is not light within which there is no darkness; rather, he is light and darkness. And even if all that was added to the New Testament of Letters and Acts was accepted, the non-working clerics would still not be able to prove that a human is an absolute deity, except by following what confused them in meaning and by interpreting it according to their desires. Otherwise, it is negated in these Letters and Acts themselves with that which is explicit and accepts no doubt. And it is clear that Jesus℗ or Yeshua℗ is a created worshipper. Moreover, it is negated in the Old Testament that they believe in and in the sayings of all the previous prophets that they claim to believe in. Jesus℗ (Yeshua) did not claim that he was an absolute deity and neither did the earlier ones. Rather, the matter is new and it came after hundreds of years and was established in the Council of Nicaea on 325 A.D.^[4]

been stamped by the title “Enemies of Christianity” until today. And what resulted from the Council of Nicaea was the first presentation of the law of belief in the divinity of Christ by an absolute divinity. And the relationship of the Church and the authority began to form after the Church was a religious entity. And after three centuries of progress in the thinking of the Church and its mixing with surrounding ideas and religions in all directions, including Roman paganism which was the former religion of Constantine, the Church supported by the Roman emperor became the authority and reference in determining who enters the spectrum of faith and who does not.} These words are almost identical to everything that has been published by the Church and historically published about this council. So I do not believe that a fair researcher would ignore that Constantine supported Alexander and established his pagan ideology in Christianity. And after half the Christian priests were supporting Arius, their fear of the anger of Constantine caused them to withdraw. And whoever does not know who Constantine was and how mighty he was and that he killed whoever disagreed with him, even the closest person to him, let him refer to the history of this tyrant who spread the distorted form of Christianity in Europe, and who did not hesitate to kill his family and the people closest to him once they disagreed with him. Whereas you find the priests today overlooking the bloody history of Constantine and portraying him as a meek lamb who held the Council and gave freedom to all who agreed and disagreed with him. Although exiling and oppressing Arius and forbidding his ideology after the Council [was held] is enough to recognize the purpose and goal of holding this council: eradicating Arius and the belief that Christ is a mere creation, and spreading the pagan belief about Christ, and that he is God. And this is what was acknowledged in the Council of Nicaea: {Translation of the Greek text:We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance [ek tes ousias] of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father [homoousion to patri], through whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men and our salvation descended, was incarnate, and was made man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into heaven and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost. Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made out of nothing (ex ouk onton); or who maintain that He is of another hypostasis or another substance [than the Father], or that the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change, [them] the Catholic Church anathematizes.} And all of the bishops present signed this creed except for two of them - and perhaps more - in addition of course to Arius and his group. The Pope of the Orthodox Church in Egypt, Shenouda III, says in his book The Nature of Christ, “Arius used to deny the divinity of Christ and saw that he was less than the Father in essence and that he was a creation. And the roots of Arianism remain established until today even after being denounced by the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. After that, Arius and the Arians remained a reason of fatigue, hardship and doubt for the holy Church.” Of course, Shenouda III here criticizes Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Christian creed that started spreading widely in the Christian world and especially in the West. And Jehovah’s Witnesses do not acknowledge many of the deviations of the Church such as the Trinity, and that the Word is God, and other innovations. This proves that speaking of the divinity of Christ is an innovation established in the Council of Nicaea and that half of the attendants in the Council of Nicaea were supporting Arius or they were neutral, and that the belief that Jesus℗ (Yeshua) was a mere creation was the prevailing and common belief in the time of Arius. And this is a matter acknowledged by the priests in their books and until today: In the book by Bishop Bishoy titled Researches in The Christian Ecumenical Council, {… 4-The Council of Nicaea: 1. The reasons it was held … B. As for the direct reason why the council was held, it was the innovation of Arius, because the empire almost divided due to that

And many people opposed it at the time. And since its acknowledgement in the Council of Nicaea until today, there have been Christians who reject it and do not acknowledge this deviation in ideology.

God Manifested in the Flesh: This is one of the letters that the non-working clerics use as proof for the deviation they reached and the claim that the absolute deity manifested in the flesh, [1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.] 1 Timothy 1:1-2. [16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.] 1 Timothy 3:16. First: Chapter 1 of 1 Timothy did not give Jesus℗ except the attribute of lordliness, and there is no problem in giving this attribute to

innovation … The Ecumenical Council was held by the command of Emperor Constantine fearing strong division in the empire because of the innovation of Arius. And it was held on 325 A.D in Nicaea with 318 bishops. St. Athanasius, who was a witness and a member of the council, mentioned at the beginning of his speech that sixteen bishops were supporting Arius and twentytwo bishops were supporting Pope Alexander. And the rest of them had not yet determined their position. But at the end of the Council meeting, only two bishops remained supportive of Arius: Secundus and Theonas, who refused to sign the [law of] belief of the council along with the priests who followed them. And in the days of St. Epiphanius, the signatures of the 318 present in Nicaea still existed. This is thanks to St. Athanasius’s explanation of the belief and his refutation of the fabrications of Arius. Here, we see the greatness of the Alexandrian defense in the council. And reaching the decision of the council was not an easy matter, it rather took tremendous effort … 5- The Council of Nicaea: 2. Arius and his heresies … A time had passed in which almost the entire world was about to be Arian except for Athanasius. At one time, the Emperor deposed the Roman Pope and assigned another in his position to sign the Arian Creed. And when the Pope returned after imprisonment to his throne, he signed the Arian Creed which he had refused to sign before. This is the stage in which only Athanasius and his bishops in Egypt remained firm upon the correct belief. This is why it is not strange that Isaiah the prophet said, “Blessed be Egypt my people.” Isaiah 19:25. But in many other times, the throne of Rome supported the Alexandrian Pope, like the Popes who lived in the time of Pope Athanasius who supported him. Christianity collapsed throughout the entire world and submitted to the Arian tyranny and only the throne of Alexandria remained, represented by the exiled Alexandrian Pope and his Egyptian priests. And we must follow in the footsteps of our fathers … } The Ecumenical Christian Councils - “The Ecumenical Councils and Heresies” by Bishop Bishoy.

a prophet and a messenger, as they℗ are the lords of people and more worthy of this attribute than a father, who has this attribute, and in relation to his family is called a lord. Moreover, the chapter clarified that the sending does not occur except by the command of Almighty God, and that Jesus is commanded (by God). Therefore, Jesus℗ is commanded and works by the command of God. This means that God is higher and more knowledgeable and more capable than him, proving that Jesus℗ needs one other than him and the page of his existence is tainted with imperfection. Otherwise, there is no sense in him being commanded while he is an Absolute and a Perfect, this goes against wisdom. As how can the Absolute and the Perfect benefit from one other than him?! As for what was mentioned in this same letter in Chapter 3, it is supposed to be - after I started with what we have already seen - understood from the manifestation of God in the flesh to be exactly as His manifestation in all the created worlds and His appearance in them and their appearance by Him. Yes, there is a uniqueness for this saying here because it means that Jesus represented “the rise of God in Mount Seir”, meaning that he is the hand of God and the face of God and the image of God. But he is a created worshipper and not Almighty God. There is a major difference between the truth and the image, exactly like the difference between something and nothing. So God, as I clarified previously, manifested in the worlds of creation and appeared in them and caused them to appear. And this does not mean that he settled in them, or that they became an absolute deity, or that some of them can be an absolute deity no matter how great their light is, because they remain a creation and remain a light mixed with darkness. So the highest rank that a human can ascend to is to be God among the creation, ﴾whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Light” 24:35. It almost glows independently. This is why Abraham℗ was confused in the beginning, until God made him know the truth.^[5] But it never glows independently. And the narration from Almighty God is, ﴾“My sky and My earth did not encompass Me, and the heart of My believing servant encompassed Me.”﴿^[6] This means that he is the face of God and the hand

of God as mentioned in the Quran, ﴾Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] - they are actually pledging allegiance to God. The hand of God is over their hands.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Victory” 48:10, ﴾And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Abundantly Merciful” 55:27, and this is also clear in the aforementioned passages of the Torah and the Gospel.

The Son: In the Torah and the Gospel: (My Father, your Father, the Son, the Father, the sons of God). [4 … the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!” 6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’”] Malachi 1:4-6. [21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”] Luke 10:21-24. [1 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.] Psalms 29:1-2. [1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”] Matthew 5:1-12. These are the words mentioned in the Torah or the Gospel and they were confusing in some places to the one ignorant of their truth, and they were interpreted by the non-working clerics in order for them to claim that a human was a son of Almighty God or to claim absolute divinity for a human, and they do not in any sense indicate the divinity of a human being an absolute divinity. Rather, they all negate the true sonship of any human.^[7] And if a person were to turn to these passages with an open heart, requesting to know the truth like Almighty God who created him wants, he would see that Jesus℗ praises God and glorifies Him before saying these words. And if the human were to look with the eye of justice, he would know that these words apply to all the prophets and the messengers and successors who were the proofs of God upon His creation and His vicegerents on His earth, for each proof from the proofs of God is the most knowledgeable of God from among the people of his time, thus it is true that he is the one who knows God from among the people of his time. It is also true that no one knows the vicegerent of God and the proof of God like he should be known except God who created him, [“and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”] This is what you find in the saying of the Messenger of God Muhammad℗ to his successor Ali bin Abi Talib℗, ﴾“O Ali, no one knew God except for me and you. And no one knew me except God and you. And no one knew you except God and I.”﴿^[8]

Also, the human would know the truth that all the creation are the children of Almighty God, as He is merciful toward them like the father is merciful toward his children. Moreover, He is more merciful toward the creation than the mother toward her only child. And, certainly, the sincere ones from the prophets, successors and supporters℗ are the most beloved of the creation to Almighty God. Thus they are more worthy of Almighty God being their father in this sense. And because they obeyed Him and did not go against Him, like the good son obeys his father and is kind toward him, it is true that they are the children of God in this sense. And they are not an absolute deity, but honored worshippers because they are thankful. ﴾And they say, “The Abundantly Merciful has taken a son.” Exalted is He! Rather, they are honored servants.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Prophets” 21:26. ﴾If God had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Exalted is He; He is God, the One, the Conqueror.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Troops” 39:4. And the Quran clarified that they℗ ﴾whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Light” 24:35. This means that they are God among the creation, meaning a manifestation of God and an image of God as mentioned in the narration from them℗, ﴾“God created Adam upon His image.”﴿^[9] [26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.] Genesis 1:26. And they are not Almighty God. Therefore, looking at them is looking at God, and seeing them is seeing God, and in the Gospel, [“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”] And in the Quran, you find the same words, ﴾Faces, that Day, will be radiant, Looking at their Lord.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Rising” 75:22-23. Abu al-Salt al-Harawi narrated from Imam al-Retha℗ that he said, ﴾“The Prophet℗ said, ‘Whoever visited me in my lifetime or after my death has visited Almighty God.’ And the rank of the Prophet℗ in heaven is the highest rank, so whoever visited him in his rank in heaven from his own house has visited Almighty God.” Abu al-Salt said, “So I asked him, ‘O son of the Messenger of God, what is the meaning of the narration that “the reward of ‘there is no god except God’ is looking at the face of Almighty God”?’” He℗ said, “O Abu al-Salt, whoever describes

Almighty God to have a face like the faces commits disbelief. Rather, the face of Almighty God is His prophets and messengers and proofs, may the prayers of God be upon them. They are the ones with which one directs to Almighty God and to His religion and knowledge. And Almighty God said, ﴾Everyone upon the earth will perish, And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Abundantly Merciful” 55:26-27, and the Almighty said, ﴾Everything will be destroyed except His Face﴿.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Story” 28:88.”^[10] The Almighty said, ﴾Say, [O Muhammad], “If the Abundantly Merciful had a son, then I would be the first of worshippers.”﴿ Quran Chapter “Ornaments” 43:81. ﴾Say, [O Muhammad], “If the Abundantly Merciful had a son, then I would be the first of worshippers.”﴿: This means that Muhammad℗ is the closest thing to Almighty God, and the first creation that Almighty God created, and the first to worship Almighty God. So if Almighty God were to have a son (God is far above that), it would have been Muhammad℗, because they say that the closest of creation to Almighty God is the Son or the Word, so Muhammad℗ who says that he is the closest of creation to Almighty God did not say that he was a son who separated from Almighty God, he did not say that he was an absolute deity, he said that he is the servant of God and the son of the servant of God. ﴾And they say, “The Abundantly Merciful has taken a son.” Exalted is He! Rather, they are honored servants.﴿ Quran Chapter “The Prophets” 21:26. So whoever searches for the truth must research with accuracy and sincerity in order to reach the truth and save himself from the anger of Almighty God. ﴾88 And they say, “The Abundantly Merciful has taken a son.” 89 You have done an atrocious thing. 90 The heavens almost rupture therefrom and the earth splits open and the mountains collapse in devastation 91 That they attribute to the Most Merciful a son. 92 And it is not meet for the Most Merciful that He should take a son.﴿ Quran Chapter “Mary” 19:88-92. The words of Imam Ahmed al-Hasan℗ end here. And these are passages from The Book of Monotheism under the title “Passages from the Torah and the Gospel proving that God is One and Alone and not

compound” that I convey to complete the benefit:

He℗ says, “These passages are clear, explicit and evident. It is meaningless to interpret them so that they coincide with passages whose meaning confused the non-working clerics, and they misguided the creation of God by interpreting them falsely and according to their desires,

1. Some passages of the Torah (The Old Testament): [Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.] Deuteronomy 4:39. [“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”] Deuteronomy 6:4. [“‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me”] Deuteronomy 32:39. [“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”] Isaiah 44:6. [“I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself”] Isaiah 44:24. [Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.] Isaiah 45:21. [Has not one God created us?] Malachi 2:10. [“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”] Exodus 20:2-3.

2. Some passages of the Gospel (The New Testament): [And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.”] Mark 12:32. [“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”] John 5:44.

Passages from the letters attached to the Gospel: [Since God is one] Romans 3:30. [And that “there is no God but one.”] 1 Corinthians 8:4. [But God is one.] Galatians 3:20.

[For there is one God] 1 Timothy 2:5. [You believe that God is one; you do well.] James 2:19.