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Take other passages of Scripture showing the personality of the Saviour, not only in reference to His individuality before His crucifixion, but showing that in His resurrected and immortal state, He will continue a separate and distinct personality from all other beings. Subsequent to His resurrection He appeared to the apostles; at first sight they were terrified, and supposed they had seen a spirit, "And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them." (Luke 36.38-45.)

Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came, and when told by his brethren that they had seen the Lord, he would not believe them, and said: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Subsequent to this appearance, Thomas was present when the Saviour invited him to satisfy his mind to the fullest extent, thrusting his hand into His side and beholding the wounds in His hands and feet, when he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." (John 20: 2,5, 28.)

Here is a clear demonstration that Jesus in His immortal state continues as a personal being, with a tangible body of flesh and bones. To show that there is no change in the personal status of the Saviour, eighteen hundred years have passed away since His resurrection, and yet we learn from the Scriptures that still in the future He shall appear in the same body: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof. … And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee." (Zechariah 14.4-6.) In the thirteenth chapter, which appears to be connected with His appearance upon the Mount of Olives, we find the following statement: "And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zechariah 13. 6.)

Many entertain the belief that of the three personages constituting the Godhead only one is a personal being with a tangible body, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Enough evidence is offered in the Bible to prove that this is an erroneous theory. For example, Matthew, as quoted above, writes concerning the baptism of the Saviour that "The heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (Matt. 3.16, 17.) In this instance the Saviour is represented as being at the waters of Jordan, while the voice of His Father came from the courts of heaven, showing that the Father and Jesus are two distinct personages, existing in separate places at the same time.

This testimony of Matthew is corroborated by that of Mark and Luke, the former in the eleventh verse of his first chapter: "And there came a voice from heaven, saying, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' "; and in Luke, the third chapter and twenty-second verse, as follows: "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, 'Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.'"

It is recorded that on one occasion, while the Saviour seriously contemplated the coming ordeal of His crucifixion, this occurred: "And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. He that loveth his life shall lose it. If any man serve me, let him follow me. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.' Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.'" (John 13.23, 25-28.)

Another instance where the voice of the Father was heard, and in the presence of other witnesses than the Saviour, is recorded in Matthew, seventeenth chapter, fifth and sixth verses: "While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid." The disciples here referred to were Peter, James, and John. Peter relates this impressive event as follows: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, and there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount."

The account of this vision is also recorded at Mark 9.7: "And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: 'This is my beloved Son; hear Him.'" it is also said in Luke 9.35. "And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my beloved Son: Hear Him.'" Surely the testimony of three or four reliable witnesses is sufficient to affirm the truth of this matter. When the Saviour addressed the Father, no one could reasonably say that He was addressing Himself.

We have many instances recorded by the writers of the New Testament that Jesus supplicated His Father in humble prayer. "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father." (Luke 10.21-22.) "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (John 17.1, 5.) "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." (John 15.28.)

We can add to the foregoing the account of the martyrdom of Stephen, in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the statement by Paul, in the first chapter of his letter to the Hebrews. Many other scriptural testimonies prove that the Father and the Son are personal beings, each separate and distinct from the other.

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17.20-22.)

The wording of this Scripture shows that the Father and the Son are not one in person, because He prays that all the disciples may be one in the same manner that the Father and the Son are one, and one in that sense only, for the simple reason that the oneness of the Father and the Son is perfect and complete. Their unity consists in being one in wisdom, one in knowledge, one in power, one in council, having a unity of purpose in the accomplishment of man's salvation to the tallest extent and in every conceivable respect. The disciples of Jesus could not be one in person, for each of himself is a separate individuality; they can be one, however, as the Father and Son are one, in the accomplishment of one great purpose—the salvation of mankind—because they are baptised by one Spirit into one body, even the church of Christ; they have one Lord, one faith and one baptism, and are all taught of God, having "access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2.18), who is not the author of confusion, and cannot consistently, with His own attributes, contradict Himself.



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