IronBladder
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Isaiah 9:6 Is the Son who is given the Father?
Isaiah 9:6. A six point reply.
“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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).
Firstly, the central theme of this passage is “peace.” This is clear by the fact that Isaiah is here speaking of God’s government, which is said to rest upon the messiah’s shoulder. Both shoulders are needed for a shepherd to carry a lamb, however so secure is Christ’s Kingdom that figuratively, he’s said to carry it on only one shoulder. Thus Isaiah 9:6 lists several names, all of which state the same thing about the Son, albeit in slightly different ways. Specifically that he is “the wonderful counsellor,” because a counsellor mediates peace between opposing parties. He is also the “Prince of Peace,” because He brings peace to God’s Kingdom. He is also “the Everlasting Father” because He is the originator (Father) of this peace, which being eternal, won’t end. Finally the Messiah is also the “Mighty God,” because such a true and lasting peace can only be accomplished by the power of Yahweh God himself.
Secondly, some have attempted to read ‘God the Father’ into the actual text of Isaiah 9:6. But the word for ‘God’ or (El) in the Hebrew, is missing here, which is why we don’t read; ‘God the Father,’ but instead read ‘the Father of eternity.’
Thirdly, ‘Father of eternity’ is actually a Hebrew construct. This is a combination of a noun and an adjective, where the noun ‘Father’ means either the originator, or more commonly the possessor of something, that the adjective describes an attribute. As an example of a few Hebrew constructs; ‘abi-asaph’ (2nd Samuel 23:21), literally reads the ‘father of strength,’ and means a strong man. ‘Abi-tub’ (1st Chronicles 8:8-11), literally reads, ‘the father of goodness’ and means one who is good. ‘Abi-el’ (1st Samuel 9:1) means the ‘father of God’, and so implies that he was a Godly man.
Fourthly, the term “prince” and its resulting titles in Isaiah 9:6, including the phrase “the Prince of Peace,” cannot be applied to God the Father. I make this claim, since it is only the Son of God, and never God the Father, who is called a “prince” in the Bible, and who secondly was killed; “and killed the prince of life” (Acts 3:15).
Fifthly, Oneness folk don’t regard the word “Father” as a proper name, but as a title. One can respond to this claim by pointing out that in the Lord’s prayer, the Father is still addressed as “Father,” and that the Greek word “name,” (onoma) is directly applied to the Father; “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” (Luke 11:2).
Finally, Oneness Pentecostals might try to counter these arguments by quoting Luke 1:35; “that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” They’ll misquote this verse claiming that the Jesus was made (created as) the Son at his birth. But the text actually uses the word “called,” instead of the word “created.” So the human body inside Mary’s womb was indeed created, but the Son who was sent into the world from outside of it (John 16:28, 1st John 4:9-10, 14) is eternal and uncreated.
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6/12/2007, 3:57 pm
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BLN
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Re: Isaiah 9:6 Is the Son who is given the Father?
There is at least one more group that has the wrong interpretaion of Isaiah 9:6 - the Local Church of Witness Lee. Actually, this verse was one of the favorite verses of Witness Lee. Interpreting this verse, he said that since the child is the Mighty God, the Son is the Father because the constructions are similar. He used this verse to support his wrong teaching that God the Father is God the Son.
Although the Local Church does not have anything to do with Oneness Pentecostalism, Witness Lee was involved in Pentecostalism for some time. I do not know what branch of Pentecostalism it was, but I noticed that some doctirnes of the Local Church and Oneness Pentecostalism are very similar.
I would like to add something to the very good analysis made by IronBladder. The Father of eternity can be understood as the Father of the coming age as it was translated in Septuagint and Vulgate. Many Bible scholars interpret this verse as a prophesy regarding Christ's reign in the Millenial Kingdom and in etenity.
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1/13/2009, 9:01 am
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