Are Latter Day Saints Arians?
“ Because of this also we, from the day we heard about it, did not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, so that you may live in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good deed and increasing in the knowledge of God, enabled with all power, according to his glorious might, for all steadfastness and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:9-20) Lexham English BibleIn the early church ay there are heresies being condemend by the apostles and the early Christian fathers where these heresies are commonly false concepts about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. we should not believe false concepts about the nature of God. eternal life is in knowing the only true God, who is Heavenly Father and knowing the his sent one, Jesus Christ (Jn. 17:3). ang isa sa mga heresies na itinuturo ng mga false teachers in the early church ay ang arianism which teaches that Jesus Christ is a created being and was not eternal. si Jesus Christ according to them ay may pre-existence but he did not existed eternally. one notable person who taught this ay si Arius, who got a face smack from St. Nicholas of Myra. one notable group also that teaches this today ay ang Jehovah’s Witnesses na kung saan ay tinuturo din dito na si Jesus Christ ay si Michael the Archangel. this is false in many ways dahil we know that Jesus Christ was eternal and he has eternaly existed and that he is not a creation but was an agent of creation. he also created! (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-20; Heb. 1:1-13). this is something that was pointed out above by the apostle Paul while writing to the Colossians where he adresses false concepts about the person of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:9-20). we can see the eternal existence of Jesus Christ in text like Jn 1:1 where it says “ in the beginning was the Word”, where it uses the Greek word of ἦν (en) which is the imperfect form of εἰμί (eimi) which shows that no matter how far you push it back, the Word was there existing.
On problem also is that critics of the Church would confuse Arian Christology and Latter Day Saint Christology. many of them think that Latter Day Saints teaches that Jesus Christ is a created being and will confuse it with the Latter Day Saint concept of a spiritual birth. Arianism as we defined earlier, it teaches that Jesus Christ did not always existed and did not eternally existed and that he is created by Heavenly Father and this is completely different from what the Church teaches. Arians believe that Jesus Christ is “a god” but on the other hand, we believe that Jesus Christ is God, the Eternal God. in a post that i made months ago, i wrote the following:
“ Latter Day Saints acknowledge the Divinity of Jesus Christ!
Here are some things that needed to clarify as a Latter Day Saint :
1. We believe Jesus is God
2. We believe that Jesus is with Divine unity with the Father
3. We believe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God/one Godhead (not in a Trinitarian sense but in essential unity, i.e one in purpose, will. not in number, being - Jn. 17:11-22; cf. Jn. 10:30)
4. Although we believe that Jesus is God, Jesus is a numerically distinct God and is subordinate to the Father (Jn. 14:27; Heb. 1:1-3). the Father is the only True God, the one true God (Jn. 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Eph. 4:4-5; 1 Tim. 2:5-6) and the majority of the occurrence that the Scriptures mentions "God", it maily refers to Heavenly Father Himself (e.g Jn. 1:18; 4:23-24; 6:27; 8:41-54; 17:3; 20:17; Rom. 1:7; 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:3; 8:6; 15:24). what we mean by this is that the Father is the only supreme being that is above all things, only to be worshipped, and only to be served.
5. We believe that Jesus is Eternal and not a created being
6. We believe that Jesus is God who came to earth in human flesh (but we don't believe in the Hypostatic union—i.e that Jesus' divinity was veiled - Jn. 1:1-14; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 2:7-9; 1 Jn. 4:2; 2 Jn. 1:7)
7. We believe that Jesus created all things—created under Heavenly Father's omnipotence (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:3)
The early Church in fact teaches that Jesus and the Father are two numerically distinct divine beings (e.g Tertullian, Origen) quite similar to Latter Day Saint Theology than Trinitarianism that was later developed after. as for JWs, they also acknowledge that Jesus is Divine but not one with the Father and the Holy Spirit as "one God", and is not eternal but created being. they in fact editorialized Jn. 1:1 with Jesus as "a god" (New World Translation) than with a capital G God. JWs and Latter Day Saints do not believe the same thing. in this comment given is just a mere misrepresentation of what we actually believe. Jesus is God and whatever scripture they will quote, it would have no problem with Latter Day Saints for we believe the same! take for consideration the following from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price :
Ps. 110:1-5 (where Jesus is both called לַאדֹנִי [adoni] and אֲדֹנָי [adonay] which shows us Christ is God and is subordinate and numerically distinct with the Father at the same time); Micah 5:2; Jn. 1:1-18; 17:1-24; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rom. 9:5; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:12-22; 2:8-10; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:2-10; 2:7-18; 2 Pt. 1:1-11; 1 Jn. 5:20; Rev. 22:6-16
1 Ne. 19:7-10; 2 Ne. 1:10; 6:9; 9:5,20-21; 10:3-4; Mosiah 3:5-12; 7:27; 13:28,34-35; 17:8; 26:23-26; Alma 11:38-40; 42:15; 3 Ne. 11:14; 19:18; Ether 3:6-18; Moroni 8:8; D&C 10:70; 17:9; 18:33,47; 19:1-24; 27:1; 33:1,17-18; 35:1-2; 39:1; 43:27-34; 51:1-20; 53:1-2; 62:1; 66:13; 72:8; 78:1,20; 81:1,6-7; 93:3-9; 98:8,18,38; 103:4-5; 132:2,11-12; 133:1-2,74; Abr. 3:22-24.”
Regarding sa spiritual birth, Latter Day Saints believe that Jesus Christ eternally existed, His nature being that of an intelligence, with all the attributes inherent within intelligence (cf. D&C 93; Abr. 3). walang creation (ex-nihilo) na nangyari kay Jesus Christ like the Arians teaches. while this concept ay probably pagkatapos ni Prophet Joseph Smith, ang “spirit birth” is wherein an intelligence is clothed upon with a spirit body, just like our spirit being clothed upon with a mortal physical body. this is not what Arianism teaches. furthermore, while making a comparison with the Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, author Alonzo Gaskill wrote:
“ Latter-day Saints differ with Witnesses on the degree to which Jesus can be classified as God (with a capital G). Like Witnesses, some might call Mormons Arian because they see Jesus as subordinate to the Father. However, unlike Witnesses or Arians, Mormons do not see Jesus as “a god” or of “like substance with the Father.” On the contrary, the LDS take is that Jesus is fully divine, a full participant in the Godhead, and (in His post-resurrected state) fully like the Father in His nature, attributes, powers, glory, etc. Yes, Mormons see Jesus as placing Himself in subjection to the Father throughout His mortal ministry. However, they sense something changed with regards to His status at the point he was resurrected. The shift in Jesus’s language about Himself after the resurrection is frequently highlighted. For example, in Matthew 5:48, Jesus (prior to His death and resurrection) said to those living on the Eastern Hemisphere: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” However, after His resurrection, Jesus said to those on the Western Hemisphere: “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (emphasis added). In LDS theology, Jesus was one with the Father during His pre-moral and moral states. However, He was physically different than the Father during those periods—and He was entirely on His Father’s errand. Nevertheless, after His resurrection Jesus’s physical nature became as the Father’s, by which He assumed a status slightly different to that which He had previously had. He was now fully like the Father.” (Alonzo L. Gaskill, Know your Religions, Volume 3: A Comparative Look at Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 66)
Latter Day Saints are not Arians and Arianism does not define what we believe. we believe that Jesus is the eternal God who is with Heavenly Father in the beggining. we believe that Jesus is the creator, the agent of creation that is through him, Heavenly Father created the universe. i hope critics of the church would understand these things and that they will not misrepresent what Latter Day Saints actually believe about Jesus Christ.
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