[aron]

THE SON'S BEING CALLED THE FATHER

"Some of the critics, however, may reply, "Don't you say that the Son is the Father and that Christ is the Spirit? This is exactly what the modalists say." To this I would answer that I do not care for modalism, but only for the pure word of the Bible. Isaiah 9:6 says that a child is born unto us, that a son is given unto us, that the child is called the mighty God, and that this son is called the everlasting Father. To say that the Son is the Father is not an interpretation; it is a quotation. If you read this verse carefully, you will see from the context that the mighty God refers to the child and that the everlasting Father refers to the Son. Throughout the centuries, all fundamental students of the Bible have agreed that the child born in the manger was the mighty God. Only Jews and unbelievers would deny this. However, the vast majority of Christians only believe half of this verse. They either neglect or twist the other half regarding the Son's being called the everlasting Father. Let us now consider this verse in some detail along with the different ways of twisting it.

Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." In this verse there are two lines with two points. The first line is, "Unto us a child is born," and the second line is, "Unto us a son is given." In the middle of the verse it says that He is the One who carries out God's administration, for "the government shall be upon his shoulder." This indicates that the child born unto us and the Son given unto us carries out God's administration. In the latter part of this verse we see the name of the child and the name of the Son. "His name" refers to the name of the child and of the Son. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Prince of Peace. Between these names, we have the mighty God and the everlasting Father. Undoubtedly, "the mighty God" is the name of the child and "the everlasting Father" is the name of the Son. Therefore, according to the two lines of this verse, the child born to us is called the mighty God and the Son given to us is called the everlasting Father. All Christians agree that the child born to us is the child named Jesus born in the manger at Bethlehem. Furthermore, we all agree that this child was truly the mighty God. Every bona fide, fundamental Christian recognizes this. Whoever does not recognize this is not a genuine Christian. However, a number of fundamental Christians have a problem with the second line. They simply do not believe that the Son is the Father.

Because we believe that Isaiah 9:6 means what it says, we are accused of being modalistic. Those who accuse us of this fall into the danger of being tritheistic. The divine Trinity has the side of the one and the side of the three. Modalism stresses the side of the one, misunderstanding and misappropriating the side of the three, and tritheism stresses the side of the three, denying the side of the one. But the pure revelation in the Bible contains both sides of the truth. All fundamentalists believe that the child born to us is the mighty God, but some neglect, or even oppose, the second point--that the Son given to us is the everlasting Father. They have a big problem here. Because they have a problem, they twist this verse." -- Witness Lee