"One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:5-6

The unity of the faith only exists as each person has faith in the
Father and His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ. Each person has called
upon the name of the Lord and has made the full commitment to obey Him
--no matter what the cost. That faithful obedience includes baptism
into the authority of God.

GOD MEANS "RULER"

Many Christians believe that God is the personal name of our Creator.
However, God is not a name; it is a title.

The word God does not represent a person, it represents a position.
For example, in
2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul says that Satan is: "...the god (theos) of
this world."

And again in Philippians 3:19, Paul says there are people: "...whose
God (theos) is their belly"

As you can see, the Greek word "theos" clearly means something akin to
"ruler". This same concept of "God means Ruler" is reflected in our
English dictionaries when they define the word "God". Webster's
Collegiate reads:

"God. The SUPREME being...Creator and SOVEREIGN of the universe.
...4. The Ruler..."

The Winston Dictionary defines God as:

"The creator, RULER, and preserver of the universe.

The Old Testament Hebrew word for God is "Elohiym" which also refers
to "rulers or judges", and is the direct equivalent of the Greek
"Theos".(#1. footnotes) Elohiym was used to designate earthly
magistrates as well as supernatural ones. In both Hebrew and Greek
the basic sense of the word God is ruler, not a personal name for the
creator. The ruler of this universe has a name, but it is not "God".

The concept that "God means ruler" eliminates the confusion about a
subservient Christ and a Supreme Being who are both called "God". A
good example would be the problem found in John 1:1-2 which at first
glance seems to say that Jesus (the Word) was with God and at the same
time was God. On the contrary, what John actually said in the original
Greek was:

"In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with THE God

and the Word was God."

As you can see for yourself in the following illustration, John twice
used the definite article (Greek * #3588) when referring to the
Father, but did not use it when referring to Jesus:

Here (speaking of the Father) John uses the article (3588)

1722 746 2258 3588 3056 2532 3588 3056 2258 4314
In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

3588 2316
*THE* God,

Here the word God (speaking of Jesus) does NOT have the article.

2532 2316 2258 3588 3056
and * God was the Word .

In the next sentence John again uses the article to distinguish
*The* God from Jesus.

3788 2258 1722 746 4314 3588 2316
He was in beginning with *THE* God

We can more easily understand John's meaning if we insert the
definite articles where they belong, using "ruler" to express the
meaning of "theos", and call the Word by His personal name "Jesus"...

"In the beginning was Jesus

and Jesus was with THE RULER,

and Jesus was Ruler.

The same was in the beginning with THE RULER."

John was teaching that Jesus was our Ruler

(our theos) and that Jesus
was with the Father from the very beginning of creation. (Not that
Jesus was one third of some mysterious and mind-boggling "Trinity"
that no one had ever heard of.)

Did you notice how John carefully distinguished Jesus from THE RULER
(His Father) by twice pointing out that the Word was with THE RULER.
Obviously if Jesus was with The Father, He was not the Father.

You see, Jesus, as the Creator is our Ruler (Theos) but at the same
time Jesus also has a Ruler (THE THEOS). That is why Jesus told Mary
that He must:

"...ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
and to MY GOD and your GOD. (John 20:17)
(see #2. notes)

I ask the reader to try an experiment. As you read the scriptures,
substitute "THE RULER" for the word God when it applies to the
Father, and "Ruler" for the word God when it applies to Jesus. This
will eliminate any problem in understanding what the Bible teaches
about our God Jesus - Son of THE GOD.


NOTES:

1. In the Septuagint (The Greek translation of the Hebrew Old
Testament) the
word "theos" translates the Hebrew "elohiym".

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary - ELOHIYM [430]

el-o-heem'; plur. of 438 gods in the ordinary sense; but
spec. used (in the plural
thus especially WITH THE ARTICLE) of the supreme God;
occasionally applied by the
way of deference to magistrates;


Strong's Greek Dictionary - THEOS [2316]


theh'-os; of uncertain afin.; a deity, especially (WITH 3588)
the supreme Divinity; fig, a
magistrate;

Both words reflect the concept that "God" can mean magistrate (heaven
sent Ruler) in addition to (with the definite article 3588) the title
given to The Supreme Being, our Father in heaven.

Griddlestone's Synonyms Of The Old Testament on the Hebrew word
ELOHIYM:

"We have seen that the name ELOHIYM [430] is properly
A TITLE belonging to one Being..." (p.39)

Griddlestone's speaking on secondary uses of the word ELOHIYM:

"In all these passages the word ELOHIYM [430]
indicates...a body of responsible magistrates who are called
by
this name because they represent the only true Elohiym
[430] who is God of Gods and Lord of Lords." (p.37)

Thayer's Greek Lexicon on THEOS:

"4 ...Hebraistically i.q. God's representative or vicegerent,
of magistrates and judges,
Jn. 10:34 sq. after Ps 82:6 ("...ye are gods)

Author's note: I am certain that when the apostle John wrote his
Gospel, he wrote Hebraistically, that is, he used the concepts and
terms found in the only Bible he knew, the Hebrew Old Testament. John
would find nothing wrong with calling the eternal Father THE THEOS and
yet refer to Jesus as Theos (God's representative) in the same
passage. One was the Supreme Being, the other the ultimate magistrate
of the universe - the Son of God.

2. The Greek text of 1 Corinthians 11:3 reads:

3588
"...the head of man is *the* Christ...and the
3588
head of Christ is *the* God."

The English text of the King James Version reads:

"...the head of every man is Christ...and the head of Christ is God.

As you can see in the English text above, the definite article before
the word God has been left out by the translators of the King James
version. They have clearly failed to bring out the distinction
between the Christ and "the God" intended by the author.

The fact that Jesus is Lord of Man, and the Eternal Father is LORD of
Jesus, was openly taught by Jesus himself who said:

"The LORD said unto my Lord,

sit thou on my right hand..." Matthew 22:44

As Jesus pointed out, David was speaking of the Christ when he said
"my Lord". David had a Lord and David's Lord had a LORD. The same
Greek word Kurios (Lord) was used to describe both the Christ and his
Eternal Father. However, one was Lord and one was THE LORD. One was
Ruler, and one was THE Ruler.

God bless...

Harold and Donna Kupp
www.freetruth.info