The
“Manifestation” Theory
The theory that Jesus Christ was
simply the manifestation in the flesh of the Supreme Deity is without
scriptural foundation. It is argued that God created a body, which was the
“human of his divine,” and into this body he allowed a meager portion of His
power, or glory, to operate. That is to say, that God divided Himself to that
extent, to the amount of glory furnished Jesus.
The truth is that the body of
Jesus Christ, that which was born in Bethlehem of Judea, was not the body of
God but the body of his Son, Jesus Christ. The Son existed and was an associate
with God long before the body was prepared by the power of the Holy Ghost. It
is true that God blessed Jesus and gave Him of His power, but the spirit which
possessed the body of the Son was the same that was with God in the
beginning—the same spirit which created all things for God. Observe the
following scripture:
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God” (John 1:1-2, KJV).
This Word refers to the
spirit of Jesus Christ. It will be noted that it is spelled with a capital W,
which is used when divinity is referred to. He was with God and all things were
made by Him (see verses 2 and 3):
“And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him,
and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that cometh after me is
preferred before me; for he was before me” (John 1:14-15, IV and KJV).
John speaks of this Word as
a living being, the Only Begotten of the Father, that was made flesh and dwelt
among them. And John further states that while this Only Begotten of the Father
came after him (John), yet He (the Only Begotten0 was preferred before him, “for
he was before me.”
The spirit of Jesus Christ was
with God from the beginning, and that same spirit, the spirit of the Only
Begotten, possessed the body that was crucified upon the cross for the sins of
man:
“Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit” (Luke 23:47, IV; Luke 23:46, KJV). (V. H. Fisher, The Godhead [rev
ed.; Independence, Miss.: Price Publishing Company, 2001], 40-41)