One God & One Lord

Here is a short commentary that I received in email a few days ago. The author gave me permission to post it here, though he asked that it be given credit as written by only an “anonymous unitarian.” So here it is, from one anonymous unitarian.

The Death of God?

Mainstream Christianity teaches that it was necessary that a being no less than God pay for humanity’s sins; it’s a fundamental doctrine.  As the narrative goes, God, in the person of Jesus, was crucified in order to accomplish this task.  To be more specific, the second person of the Trinity, the Word, took on human nature and died on the cross.  It seems profound on the surface: God died for humanity.

But there are problems with this teaching.  God is immortal and cannot die.  Jesus, however, died.  So Jesus couldn’t have been God, right?  That’s what simple logic would suggest.  But the Trinitarian will respond by insisting that Jesus was indeed God, and yet he was also man.  He was/is one person with two natures, human and divine (100% God and 100% man at the same time).  The distinction is crucial at this point, because the Trinitarian will stress that Jesus did not die in his divinity, he died in his humanity.

Wait a moment — did you get that?  The divine nature of Jesus did not die.  Only his human nature died.  So here the Trinitarian is caught in his own tangled web, admitting that God did not die (because he cannot die) to pay for humanity’s sins.  It was the human Jesus who died; or more to the point, it was the physical body of the God-man that died (because remember, there are two natures but not two persons; the one person is divine but acquired an additional nature, human, and it was this human aspect that died).

How interesting.  So the Trinitarian actually agrees with the Unitarian: God cannot die and thus the being that died on the cross at calvary was human.  What becomes, then, of the insistence that only God could pay for humanity’s sins?  You’ll have to ask a Trinitarian. 

I can’t believe the manipulation of the NIV translation committee on this one! And this isn’t new with the 2010 edition, but existed with the 1984 edition and remains virtually unchanged in the newest one.

• NIV, Romans 9:3-5
  (3) For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,
  (4) the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
  (5) Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

• NASB, Romans 9:3-5
  (3) For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
  (4) who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
  (5) whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

The same Greek words are used in verse 3 and verse 5 for the bolded text: kata sarx (G2596 G4561).

Paul is recounting the blessings of the Jews: the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the Law, the temple, the promises, and that from them even the greatest blessing came, the Christ. How is it that when Paul uses kata sarx in relation to himself, it refers to his race, but when used of Christ, it is his “human ancestry”? The wording implies that he has some ancestry in addition to human. Oh yes, the God-man! No. The intent of Paul’s comment is to stress the Jewishness of the Christ. An implication of “otherness” has been forced into the text by the word selections of the translators.

Now let’s look at the last part of verse 5:

• NIV, Romans 9:5 - Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

• NASB, Romans 9:5 - whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

We must consider the context, which is that Paul recounts the blessings of the Jews. And if the Jews as a people are so blessed of God, the Christ has been blessed more, even forever.  He has been exalted to God’s right hand (he is over all) and given a kingdom that will last forever. (See also Acts 5:31, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20-23, Philippians 2:9-11, Revelation 11:15)

Do you see how the NIV forces a specific interpretation onto the text? If the NIV was the only Bible someone had access to (and in many places it is, because that is the translation often provided by missionaries), their understanding of scripture is being carefully molded by the translation. Can you see that?

How long will you allow yourselves and others to be manipulated, even deceived, in this way?

The following is an unsolicited testimony received in email on 12 October 2010. Thank you, Greg, for sharing your story! It is wonderful to meet people who have come to the same understanding through their own personal studies of the Scriptures.

Greetings in the name of the One and Only God, the Father, and his human Son Jesus the Messiah! It was just a few months ago that God graciously revealed his truth to me, that he is One and that his Son came into existence in the womb of his mother Mary.

Let me tell you my story. I grew up in a Christian cult — the Worldwide Church of God — which taught a binitarian theology, that God is one family in two persons (basically, the Trinity minus the Holy Spirit). The church was extremely legalistic, very controlling. Ministers were gods, members spied on each other and judged each other, and there was an unhealthy emphasis on the apocalypse/end times. That organization destroyed many people’s lives. Unfortunately, I spent the first 20 years of my life in that church. I only left when my parents departed in 1994 due to doctrinal changes that were taking place at the time. I was a college student by this time, and it was the combination of breaking ties with the WCG and being exposed to new ideas at the university that eventually led to my losing all faith in God and the Bible. I spent the next 14 or 15 years of my life as an skeptic/agnostic/atheist. I was so bitter towards religion and convinced that it was mere myth that I wanted nothing to do with God or anything that hinted at God. I never, ever saw myself returning to the Bible or any other religion for that matter.

But in the summer of 2009 my father died, and I began to ask the big questions again. I began to give the Bible consideration again. As I studied it, truly for the first time, I began to see just how extraordinary it was. I began to note that the Bible dared to predict the future and that it spoke with an uncanny singular voice though written over hundreds of years by many different authors. There were so many things about it that I found increasingly difficult to explain from a naturalistic or evolutionary point of view. Finally, after months of struggle, I accepted that the Bible was the divine word of God.

But this was just the beginning of my journey. I was so confused. I had the baggage from my own past to deal with, plus I saw that the world was filled with dozens of different denominations all claiming to have the truth. I didn’t know where to start, so I did the only sensible thing I could do: I began to ask God to show me the way, to reveal his truth to me. I went before him in all humility, admitting that I was a flawed, ignorant human being. I told him that the only way I was going to know the truth was if he revealed it to me.

At this time it dawned on me that before I could proceed any further with building my faith, I had to know who it was I had faith in. In other words, I needed to figure out who God and Jesus were exactly. There were a number of theories. Was the Trinity, which most Christians believe, true? Or maybe what I was raised to believe — that God was a family comprised of two persons? Maybe Jehovah’s Witnesses were right, and Jesus was an angel before he became a man. Or maybe the Oneness people had it right, one God but three modes. I became obsessed with this topic and studied it night and day. I was fully prepared to accept whatever God led me to; if the Trinity were true, I had no problem with it. Likewise with all the other belief systems. And then, in the midst of my study, I came across some Biblical Unitarians who believed that the Father alone was God, and that Jesus came into existence in the womb of Mary. Boy, did that throw me for a loop! Even though I was doing my best to be open to any possibility, one thing I thought I was certain of was that Jesus pre-existed his human birth. So initially I dismissed the teaching as “obviously false”. But the more I studied their reasoning, the more sense it made. I read passages such as John 17:3, I Corinthians 8:6, and I Timothy 2:5 in light of their understanding, and I felt my mind was being opened to something wonderful. Suddenly, everything began to fall into place, and countless passages and problems resolved themselves and the Bible became a sensible, unified whole!

I’ll never forget the night that it all fell into place. I was meditating on everything that I had studied when I suddenly had an image in my mind of God, the Sovereign, Almighty Creator who knows all things, who has always existed and always will exist, bringing about the miracle of the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. Right on time, as scheduled; this was the promised Messiah, the King of Israel, the Savior of all mankind! He wasn’t God-come-down-as-a-man, God-dressed-up-in-flesh; he wasn’t some pre-existent being; he was a genuine human being like me, the second Adam who succeeded where the first Adam failed. Led by his God, he fulfilled all the promises foretold of him and he died for me though he didn’t deserve it. How incredibly awesome! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put into words exactly how I felt at that moment.

I always had difficulty with the idea that the Jews had not had an accurate understanding of who God was. Growing up, I was taught to believe that Jesus was actually the Old Testament YHVH, and that he came down in flesh in the New Testament in order to reveal the Father, who prior to that was unknown. If this were true, then that meant the Jews were completely in error as to who God was. Yet, in Mark 12:28ff Jesus cites the Shema and congratulates the scribe who he confirms understood it correctly — God is one, and there is none other but he. This is what little Jewish boys and girls learn from birth and recite in the morning when they wake up and at night when they go to bed — Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. How much more clear can something be? Jesus confirms that the Jewish understanding of God is the correct understanding! Amazing that we can be so deceived that we cannot see what is black and white right in front of our eyes.

So that’s my story. Sorry to go on and on, but I just feel like shouting all of this from the rooftops! Anyway, I’ve enjoyed your blog and will continue to visit. Keep up the good work. Who knows how many people like myself may be reached through your efforts.

Greg

• Acts 18:18 NASB - Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.

Just what was Paul’s vow? The majority of commentators say that it is unknown and was probably a vow he had made “in one of his seasons of difficulty or danger” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary) or the suggestion that we shouldn’t conjecture at all because “where nothing is recorded, conjecture is useless” (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible).

However, I do not believe that “nothing is recorded” regarding Paul’s vow. In fact, I believe that Paul’s vow is revealed in context, in that very chapter.

Acts 18:1 tells us that Paul is now in Corinth. Verse 4 tells us that he was going to the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. After the arrival of Silas and Timothy, Paul began concentrating on convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

• Acts 18:4-5 NASB
  (4)  And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
  (5)  But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

But in verse 6 we find out that the Jews resisted Paul’s testimony and blasphemed. It is here where Paul makes his vow to God:

• Acts 18:6 NASB  - But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.“

Paul went from visiting the synagogue every Sabbath to vowing to avoid them altogether and concentrate on the Gentiles. Verse 7 tells us that after making this vow, he went to the house of a man named Justus (or Titius Justus; some translations), “a worshiper of God.” This man was a Gentile, whose house was next to the synagogue.

• Acts 18:7 NASB  - Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue.

After being assured in a vision that he would not be harmed, Paul remained in Corinth for a year and six months (Acts 18:9-11). But eventually the Jews rose up against Paul, attempting to convict him before Gallio, a Roman leader of the province. When Gallio refused to take action against Paul, the Jews turned their anger against a synagogue leader. Shortly after this incident, Paul chose to leave Corinth and head for Ephesus. This brings us to the verse where we learn that Paul was keeping a vow:

• Acts 18:18 NASB -  Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.

The cutting off of his hair signifies the end of the vow (see Numbers 6:5). Now notice the very next verse:

• Acts 18:19 NASB - They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

This is a reversal of his vow earlier where he said that he would from then on go to the Gentiles. There is no record between that time and this that he had entered a synagogue to proclaim the word to the Jews.

Sometimes the best explanation goes unseen right in front of our eyes.

 Just a couple of stray thoughts I’ve had recently regarding John 8:58 and the trinitarian belief that Jesus was claiming to be the “I AM” –

1.  Isn’t it odd that Jesus would blurt out to the Jews that he was God when he didn’t even want his disciples to reveal that he was the Christ (Mark 8:30, Matthew 16:20)?

2.  Then there’s the odd view of an escaping God. One who, after supposedly identifying himself as God with the “I am” statement, hid himself and left the temple because some Jews were going to throw rocks at him (John 8:59). Can you imagine God saying “I AM GOD,” then running away?

LUKE

In Luke’s gospel account, he writes in the very first verses of those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning, and how he (Luke) investigated everything from the beginning. The text continues on, intertwining the births and ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus.

• Luke 1:1-3
  1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,
  2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
  3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;
  (Continues on, intertwining the births and ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus.)

MARK

Mark also starts right off speaking of the beginning, the beginning of the gospel. He quotes the word of God and includes the story of John the Baptist.

• Mark 1:1-4
  1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
  2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;
  3 THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’”
  4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

ACTS

In the first chapter of Acts, again the beginning of the gospel of Christ is discussed:

• Acts 1:21-22
  21 “Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us–
  22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us–one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

In Peter’s preaching to Cornelius, he spoke of the beginning of the word, how it went out from Galilee after John the Baptist’s ministry:

• Acts 10:36-38
  36 “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)–
  37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting (i.e., beginning) from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.
  38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

1 JOHN

The epistle of 1 John also starts right off discussing the beginning. He writes about what they have “heard,” “seen,” and “touched” from this beginning. This can only be, then, in the context of Jesus’ ministry.

• 1 John 1:1
  1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life–

The clear pattern—in two of the Gospels, the book of Acts, and an epistle of John—is that the “beginning” is the start of Jesus’ ministry, heralded by John the Baptist.

So then, with this foundation, how is it possible to look at the opening verses of John and think that the “beginning” refers to the beginning of Creation? John even follows the same pattern of speaking of the beginning and going right into the story of John the Baptist in John 1:6.

JOHN

• John 1:1-2,6
  1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  2 He was in the beginning with God.
  6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

The many Scriptures which speak of the same thing, in the same pattern, using the same words, should assist in interpreting John’s gospel. John’s way of expression is different; a bit more spiritual perhaps. But that doesn’t mean he was writing about something different than or unique from what the others have written.

Believe in God and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. “Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).

To believe in “the name” of Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23, 1 John 5:13) is, I believe, to recognize Christ as Lord in your heart and of your life (1 Peter 3:15, 2 Corinthians 4:5), believing that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

The commandment of God is to believe in His Son, and the commandment of the Son is to love one another. It’s as simple as that.

• 1 John 3:21-23 NASB
  (21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
  (22) and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
  (23) This is His (God’s) commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He (Jesus) commanded us.

Simplicity and Purity of Devotion to Christ

• 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NASB
  (3) But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
  (4) For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Did you ever consider that all the different doctrines that are out there, and the emphasis on what one must believe in order to be “right,” that very mess of confusion itself is a deception leading us away from the simplicity of Christ?

The commandment of God is to believe in His Son, and the commandment of the Son is to love one another. It’s as simple as that.

In Sunday school this past Sunday we read and discussed Acts chapter 9. As it happens, I’m reading the Gospel of John at home and on Monday morning I read chapter 9. Some interesting similarities between the story of Jesus giving sight to the man born blind and Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road jumped out at me.

Commentary:

1. Jesus is associated with light in both texts.

2. Jesus put clay (or mud) on the blind man’s eyes; scales fell from Paul’s blind eyes.  The word translated “scales” means also “flakes.” Dried mud may also resemble flakes. The sequence is different in the two verses. In Acts, the scales fell from Paul’s eyes, then he was washed (baptized). In John, the washing removed the clay from the blind man’s eyes.

3. The man born blind was sent to the pool of Siloam, which itself means “sent,” by Jesus, where he would regain his sight. Ananias was sent to Paul by Jesus so that Paul would regain his sight.

4. People who knew them both were astonished that such a change had occurred in them. The man born blind was no longer blind and Paul no longer persecuted Christians, but rather became one.

5. The man born blind, after receiving his sight, proclaimed Jesus to the Jews.  Paul, after regaining his sight, preached Jesus to the Jews in Damascus.

I’ve recently started reading a book by G. K. Beale titled, We Become What We Worship. I’m finding lots of little gems in the book. Among them:

His study is centered on Isaiah 6. Emphasis added by me.

A bit of background text:

“Thus the idols have eyes and ears but cannot really see or hear either physically or spiritually, and their worshipers‘ sensory organs are also described as malfunctioning, which reveals that they have become spiritually blind and deaf like their false objects of worship. … If we looked up “ears and eyes” in a concordance, what would we find? That wherever Israel is addressed as those “who have eyes but cannot see and who have ears but cannot hear” or such like language they are being convicted and reprimanded for being idol worshipers!” (Page 49)

“In this ancient ritual of preparing idols to be receptacles of a god’s presence, an image would be manufactured in a workshop near a canal, a garden-like area or a temple, and then the idol would be led to the threshold or gate of the temple and then formally set up. At that time, the living essence of the deity would be transferred into its temple statue and given life by the ritual. Though the image was produced by human hands, the gods were seen as the ultimate makers of the image. The cleansing rite enabled the mouth of the image to be opened and to become the conduit through which the god spoke … . In this respect, one could say that the image mystically becomes the god that it represents without limiting that god, so that the god remains transcendent; hence the image was like a theophany transubstantiated. (Page 65)

Later…

“The point in Isaiah 6 would be that the prophet Isaiah has been taken from among idolatrous Israel as one, like his people (a “people of unclean lips”), tainted with the uncleanness of pagan idols and who has become like its idols, which can never be cleansed. Isaiah has been brought into the true heavenly temple of the true God. In that heavenly temple he had his mouth ceremoniously cleansed and transformed by members of the divine council and joined that council, so that his whole being was transformed by being filled with God’s Spirit and presence in order to reflect the holy image of this true God. Accordingly, he becomes the human image of God that God originally intended. Though not perfect, he had become a transformed representation of the divine and the purified, living image of God and spokesman for God.” (Pages 67-68)

And…

“We have seen that images are in the likeness of the gods they represent. Similarly, the ancient Near Eastern conception of kings being in the image of their various gods may form a very general background here. Just as Adam, a kingly figure representing humanity, was in the image of God, and therefore like God, so it was believed that ancient Near Eastern human kings were like the gods of which they were an image.” (Page 69)

— End of Beale Quotations —

• 2 Corinthians 4:4-5 NASB
  (4) in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
  (5) For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

• Colossians 1:15 NASB
  (15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

• Hebrews 1:3 NASB
  (3) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at thea right hand of the Majesty on high,

• Colossians 2:9 NASB
  (9) For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

• John 3:34-36 NASB
  (34) “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
  (35) “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
  (36) “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
• Matthew 13:13 NASB
  (13)  “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB
  (14)  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

An idol is a lifeless and imperfect representation/image of a false god or of the one true God (such as the golden calf in Exodus 32).

Jesus is the living and perfect representation/image of the one true God.

I am a young earth creationist; I believe the physical heavens and earth were created in six days as accounted for us in the book of Genesis. Answers in Genesis (AIG) is a large, worldwide creation ministry, based in the United States and Australia. In recent years AIG has opened a huge creation museum in Kentucky, which I would like to visit one day. I have attended talks by AIG speakers; they are extremely knowledgeable and engaging. I have financially supported AIG in the past and have subscribed to their magazines.

A couple of years ago I made the decision to not support AIG anymore and not to renew my subscription to their magazine. Why? Because they apparently decided to branch out from their focus of teaching about creation, to promoting in their magazine a specific flavor of theology, namely, Calvinism. I disagree with Calvinism and choose not to support ministries that promote it. However, AIG’s Calvinistic teachings are not what this article is about.

I am a young earth creationist. I am also a preterist. It was on a preterist website that I read about AIG’s craftiness, which I then personally verified for myself.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is a well-known Calvinist preacher from the 19th century. Content of his sermons and writings are quoted by many, Calvinists, Arminians, and others. At the start of this year, 2009, Answers in Genesis began posting Charles Spurgeon’s sermons to their website in a section entitled, “Charles Spurgeon—Reloaded.” One of those sermons, article #30 posted on 26 February 2009, is titled, “The Power of the Holy Ghost.” Here is a quotation from that sermon on the AIG website:

But if you will look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will see there more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In Ge 1:2, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Our planet has passed through various stages in creation, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, when man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator initially created the world as a chaotic mass on the first day of creation. It was entirely without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

I quoted a bit more than necessary because I wanted to make sure I include surrounding context. Below is a quote from the same sermon, copied from The Spurgeon Archive:

But if you look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will there see more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We know not how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be—certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it was a chaotic mass of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or define. It was entirely “without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

If you compare the two quotations, you’ll note that some of the language was updated or abbreviated, such as instead of saying “In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis,” the AIG version simply says, “In Ge 1:2.” I don’t have a problem with that. But another thing you’ll notice is that the AIG version is considerably shorter than the original version. Why? What’s missing? Well, here is the original quotation again, this time with the portions highlighted in dark red that were omitted from the AIG version. The bracketed text in green were {added} to the AIG version.

But if you look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will there see more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We know not how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be—certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it was {initially created the world as} a chaotic mass {on the first day of creation.} of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or define. It was entirely “without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

It does not take a college professor to see that AIG has removed the parts of Spurgeon’s sermon that disagree with the teachings of AIG, and they have reworded portions to agree specifically with their teaching.

Friends, that is dishonest. And that’s all I’m going to say on the matter.