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From: christian@topaz.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.religion.christian
Subject: Jesus==God? God==Jesus?
Message-ID: <10007@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Tue, 10-Mar-87 22:31:14 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.10007
Posted: Tue Mar 10 22:31:14 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Mar-87 20:28:35 EST
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Approved: christian@topaz.UUCP


  Here is a basic question that is not fully understood by those 
  outside of Christianity.  


	For the Christian community; is the usage of "Jesus Christ"
	and "God" 100% interchangeable? 

	Does a Christian evoke the name of Jesus Christ as "God", and
	just as easly talk about God with Jesus Christ in mind?


	Dave Hatcher

[Obviously a full answer to this would involve a complete exposition
 of the doctrine of the Incarnation.  Others may wish to comment on
 how they see terms used, but in brief I'd say that the terms "God"
 and "Jesus Christ", although obviously very closely connected, are
 not in practice used interchangably.  In effect "God" is more general.
 It refers to the entire Trinity.  "Jesus Christ" refers specifically
 to the incarnation of the Son in Jesus.  On the one hand it is
 more specific than "God", in that it points specifically to the
 second person of the Trinity.  On the other, Christ is fully human
 as well as fully God, and this term also brings to mind Christ's
 human existence.  This is probably more a matter of connotation
 than denotation, since of course in the final analysis a complete
 understanding of God everything covered by the term Christ, and a
 complete understanding of Christ involves the entire Trinity.  If you
 don't know what the terms Trinity and Incarnation mean, you may want
 to widen the scope of your question. --clh]