Behold, Man has become like us...

Iconoclast

Genesis 3:22 - And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Within this scripture lies a very perplexing statement to me. Who is "Us" and if Jesus is not godlike in his status and makeup, or, is not part of the Trinity, who is God speaking to? He couldn't be speaking to Jesus if he was merely the son of God since Jesus would not "BE LIKE GOD" but a lesser being.

When I was in, I kept asking the Janitors By Day Kings By Night this question and I got the canned "Have Faith" response.

Responses?

Iconoclast

And on that same thought, why would it be bad for Adam to know "good from evil?" Wouldn't that be a good thing??

clarity

Wow yeah, you'd sure think so. We start teaching our children to know what is bad and what is good, from an early age. Not to do this, is bad parenting!!

clarity

Iconoclast

"YOU JUST SHOT YOUR NEIGHBOR!!"

"So?"

"Don't you know that's bad?!"

"What's bad?"

"Shooting your neighbor!"

"What's bad about it?"

WontLeave

if Jesus is not godlike in his status and makeup, or, is not part of the Trinity, who is God speaking to?... Jesus would not "BE LIKE GOD" but a lesser being.

Reaching much? By that logic, if man has become "like us", does that make him part of the Trinity too? Jesus is more than "godlike"; he is a god, as is the Father, as are the angels. JWs try to bring Jesus down; Trinitarians try to raise Jesus up. Why can't anyone just let the Bible's description of the Father/Son relationship be? Stop trying to add to or take away from God's Word. It's complete, it's refined, it's holy. All these theologians need to stop trying to "fix" it, because it's not broken.

would it be bad for Adam to know "good from evil?"

Knowing evil requires it to be in mind. Before that, Adam gave no thought to evil. Now, evil infiltrated man's thoughts and the very first one born of that - Cain - became a murderer. With no knowledge of evil, there could be no evil.

Be babes as to badness. - 1Cor 14:20

But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin - James 1:14-15

Iconoclast

Reaching much?

That's not reaching at all. It means that the Father and the Son are equivalents in the means of being LIKE each other. And thank you for raising such a point. If we became Godlike, what attributes did we actually acquire while knowing "good and evil?" Just because you acquire a singular attribute does not mean that we are exalted to such a status or being as God himself.

And I have never heard of an angel being referred to as a god or even godlike, other than Satan whose main focus is to become a god, regardless of the lower status of being an angel.

And do you not agree that the Bible says, "All Scriptures are INSPIRED of God?"

If inspired, and not dictated, it is not perfect, as human tendencies tend to get in the way of perfection. God did not dictate the Bible to man. There is a difference, a vast difference, between Dictation and Inspiration.

sd-7

Well, even JWs believe Jesus is "a god", and even appropriately referred to as "Mighty God", "the image of the invisible God", and "the First and the Last". So it would hardly be inappropriate for God to be addressing Jesus this way.

Adam had taken upon himself the right to decide what was good or bad. He had now moved beyond utter dependency on God. This brings up a separate issue, namely, that God here acknowledges that Satan was telling the truth. Adam and Eve did indeed "become like God, knowing good and bad". That didn't mean they'd make the best or the right choices for themselves; it meant they had taken the right to make their own choices whether God approved or not. They'd seized an authority God didn't want them to have, and really, their capacity for living forever was too dangerous to God's position, so he put guards on the tree of life to make sure that didn't happen. There'd be no indefinitely living beings who stood in defiance of God. It would be a slap in the face.

Back on topic, Jesus has the nature of the Father--obviously the Father made him directly from his own nature, unlike all the other stuff, which was handcrafted by Jesus. So Jesus carries the nature of God and is the closest representation of God other than the Father. Otherwise, his being the Only Begotten has no meaning. But I don't suggest a Trinity or that Jesus is Almighty God in saying that; I just say that Jesus is more than appropriately termed "godlike".

--sd-7

Iconoclast

Excellent post sd! So God pretty much included Jesus because he was derived directly from God rather than an offset form or a secondary source. I don't feel that Jesus is on par with God himself but, from what I get out of speaking with Greek Orthodox, they believe that Jesus isn't the absolute equal to God, nor the Holy Spirit equal to God, but he perfectly reflected God's qualities as he was a human on Earth and became Human absolutely and God in the flesh absolutely. Is that a more accurate understanding of the Trinity?

transhuman68

LOL. Genisis is just a myth about the creation of the world, like 'how the leopard got its spots.' When Elohim refers to 'us' it could be any of the sons of god, mentioned in other places in the Hebrew Scriptures.

WontLeave

Is that a more accurate understanding of the Trinity?

Not even close. According to the Athanasian Creed, which defined the Trinity:

For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.

But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.

Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit

Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God:

And yet there are not three gods, but one God.

Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God

And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other

I believe I have come to a conclusion which includes all Bible texts, leaving nothing out, not forcing the Bible to argue both for and against it. I have repeatedly attempted to share it with a rabid, dogmatic, obnoxious Trintarian on the board, but he refuses to read it. He'd rather argue against his straw men, because his copy-and-paste soap box falls apart under scrutiny.

Here is my theory about the Father/Son relationship, in keeping with all Scripture. It's the 5th post down. Perhaps it will provide food for thought or spur an epiphany of your own. Or (you never know) it may be correct. I would never presume to demand someone else adopt my personal view, like JWs or "born-agains".

Behold, Man has become like us...

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