There are scriptures the Russellites try to use that support, they think, their position concerning the non-deity of Christ. The scriptures we will study, as you might expect, do NOT in any way teach their false doctrine. Their big argument is one not necessary to make; Jesus is the Son of God. They think that put Christ in an inferior position to God the Father. No one dis-believes this truth, but in what seems is He the Son?
To study again the truth on this will hurt none of us. Christ BECAME the Son of God at the resurrection from the grave!! “But God raised Him from the dead. And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses (notice none are these were from Brooklyn or were members of the Watchtower Tract and Bible Society!!) unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee’. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to see return to corruption, He said on this wise, ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.” Acts 13:30-34 we guess the real question is ‘when did Jesus become the Son of God”? It was NOT at His physical birth, it was NOT at His crucifixion, it was at His resurrection from the grave!! You might counter: “yet He repeatedly called Himself ‘Son of Man’ and ‘Son of God”? True, and that He was, but one has to remember that God “calls those things which be not as thought they were”! Romans 4:17b There might have been questions in the minds of some that God would raise Jesus from the dead, but those questions were NEVER in the Christ mind!! Again, the verb begotten in the Greek is in the perfect indicative active tense which tells us He became that FROM THAT MOMENT, not before that moment! The indicative mood in the Greek language is the only mood in which distinctions can regularly be made about the TIME WHEN an action occurs. The perfect indicative is that special tense where the significance of the perfect tense is at its height. The context of the Greek may emphasize either the completeness of the action or the finished results, NEVER REPEATED ACTION!! Jesus was begotten from the dead ‘And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Romans 1:4 If He became the Son of God at the resurrection, what was He BEFORE He resurrected? Thomas adroitly answered the question very admirably. “Thomas answered, MY LORD AND MY GOD”!! John 20:28
Again, Jesus was playing a role. He BECAME flesh for one reason, John 1:14, to “dwell among us”. Before His physical birth, Christ was in every sense God. Christ is the God of the Old Testament the Jew offended. Matthew 23:34 Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. John 8:58 Christ was the I AM that made Moses take off the shoes from off his feet in Midian! Acts 7:31-37 Christ is the Lord of David. Psalms 110:1-2 Christ is one of those who have the nature called God in the Old Testament referred to as JEHOVAH. Isaiah 9:6 Most often when I get to try to help a Russellite, I begin with Acts 17:23b, “whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”!! If you need more help on this, read the first of the next verse: “God that made the world and all things therein…” If you do not know who made “everything that is made”, let me introduce you to Him!! “For by Him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, were created By Him, and For Him.” Colossians 1:16
