Who is God and Christ, according to the Bible?

Lola_Rose · April 2017

Basic Teachings of the Bible upheld by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ).

ONE GOD, THE FATHER

We believe that the one and only true God is the Father, the Creator. We hold this belief because this is the doctrine taught by our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles (John 17:3, 1; I Cor. 8:6). God is a spirit (John 4:24), and, therefore, He has no flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).

There is no trinity of persons in God. Though the Bible speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, never does it refer to all of them as gods nor as three persons in one God; rather, it points to the Father alone as the true God.

The Son Himself emphasized that only the Father is the true God (John 17:3, 1) and that He Himself is a man telling the truth which He received from God (John 8:40). The prophets also taught that we have only one Father who created us (Mal. 2:10; Isa. 64:8). He alone is God, there is no other God and no one is like Him (Isa. 46:9).

God is from everlasting to everlasting, with no beginning or end (Ps. 90:2), immortal (I Tim. 1:17), and does not tire or become weary (Isa. 40:28).

He alone is the Creator of heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things therein, and the seas and all that is in them (Neh. 9:6).

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

The Iglesia Ni Cristo believes that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 3:17), is the one and only Savior given by God (Acts 13:23). Christ is the sole mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5) and the only way to God (John 14:6).

But we do not subscribe to the belief that Christ is a God-Man. He is man in nature according to His own testimony (John 8:40) and the teachings of His Apostles (I Tim. 2:5; Matt 1:18).

The attributes of a human being are found in Christ. He hungered (Matt. 4:2), thirsted (John 19:28), became weary or tired (John 4:6), slept (Matt. 8:24), and died (Matt. 27:50; I Cor. 15:3). However, Christ as distinct from all men, is the only one Who did not sin (I Pet. 2:21-22; Heb. 4:15).

He has been exalted by God and given a name above all other names, that at the name of Christ every knee should bow, those in heaven, and those on earth (Phil. 2:9-11). He has been placed by God far above all principality, power, might and dominion, and every name that is named, and all things have been put under His feet (Eph. 1:21-22). Christ will eventually subject all His power and authority to the true God (I Cor. 15:27-28). He had in so many instances introduced Himself as the Son of God but never did He appropriate the title "God" nor "God the Son" for Himself because He is not God but a man.

(Excerpt from "What We Believe and Why: Basic Teachings of the Bible Upheld by the Iglesia Ni Cristo," Pasugo God's Message Special Issue, p.4-5)