Who is your Dad? His first name is what? Let’s say it is Bob for this example. Now, who is your Dad? Chances are it is NOT Bob. So, if I am asked who is my Dad I am not going to say, “A man who is Dad”. The word Dad becomes a very Generic pronoun WITHOUT VERY SPECIFICS THAT ABSOLUTELY CAN BE NARROWED DOWN FARTHER BY USING ” Bob with his last name. Some people did not have a Dad, or like their Dad, or lived with their Dad, or knew their Dad. “Dad” to them, not Bob, may not have made any impressionable or loving memory in their entire life. So, they might consider a really good neighbor who treated them like “a possible Dad”. The point is that in this example you will learn why Biblical Semantics has greatly affected theology and millions, actually billions of people due to ” generalizing an even more important figure in scripture”!
The illustration above brings me to “God” versus “Jesus”. I want you to understand that the Bible is an autobiography ABOUT JESUS ( or Bob). Jesus is a whole lot more complex but please just go with this simplified explanation. In an autobiography, many other people may be listed and briefly talked about “due completely to their relationship with the author”! The BIBLE IS ABOUT JESUS AND HE ALONE IS THE AUTHOR! Jesus is part of the Triune God; but, the Bible was not written about God the Father, or the Holy Spirit! Very little is mentioned about them and it is not semantics to say that Jesus is God; but, Jesus is NOT God the Father whom the Bible is NOT written about. We learn a little about God the Father and if you recall most of what is written about him it is more important and also focuses the attention on how God the Father relates to Jesus, NOT US! THE SAME IS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND ACTUALLY A LOT MORE!
So, when speaking in public and if one talks about their Dad, another person may very likely consider their neighbor as like you consider your real biological father whom you lived with, sat on his lap, cried with, waited time and time again to come home from work, or fix you those special pancakes with cinnamon, or talk to about secrets and other special things on your heart that nowhere comes close to the person who calls their neighbor Dad!!
It has become a huge problem in church with speaking about the author in the Bible as “God”. Every time that word is used it produces a “generic” representation and all-encompassing God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit mindset to many Christians BUT IT IS NOT CORRECT. IT IS NOT SEMANTICS IF YOU STUDY THE SCRIPTURES CLOSELY.
WHY?
BECAUSE JESUS, THE AUTHOR, FROM GENESIS TO REVELATIONS WANTS YOU TO SEE HIM SPECIFICALLY FIRST AND THE BIBLE SAYS THAT!
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
Matthew 28:18 KJV
Now, it is Semantics to say that God is Jesus; but, it is NOT Semantics to say that JESUS IS GOD!
TO MANY PEOPLE THEY SEE GOD AS SOMEONE ELSE, or as an “equal”! THEY SEE THAT GOD AS THE EXACT SAME GOD AS YOU WITH JESUS AS GOD. SO, as you speak and teach about your “God” it is IMPERATIVE TO USE SEMANTICS that identifies plain, righteously, and personally the author of the Bible as your God named “JESUS” (Bob Smith not just Dad).
Jesus told the Pharisees they did NOT KNOW GOD because they did not know him. That involves SEMANTICS TO THE ENTH DEGREE!
IF, you want to learn about God the Father and the Holy Spirit Jesus says you will not learn or know them UNTIL YOU KNOW HIM!!!!
