Christ is our image of God as we see Him, and as—we believe—God wants us to see Him. What makes us Christian is that we follow Christ as our standard of truth and life that leads to the invisible and incomprehensible Father whose essence is the same as that of Christ or the Spirit.
So, in essence, they are one and the same God. God the Father appear as something other than Chirst, or the Holy Spirit, and Christ cannot be anything other than like the Father or the His Spirit.
Anyone who calls Christ a "truncated" God (as if the wholeness of Divinity were not in Him, as if Chirst lacked perfection!) cannot, by defintion claim to be a Christian.
The correct standard is the totality of scriptures, which reveal three distinct Persons.
But there is hypostatic union only in one Person of God, the only one who could be seen and grasped, imitated and followed.
The Jews have a different image of a God, based on their "visions," and what not, which contains notions of Christ, but dimly. Look at what Jeremiah (32:40) has to say about God:
The OT God keeps the Jews to Himself, not by love, but by fear! Is that what Christ teaches His disciples?
I guess when Jeremiah wrote this, the changing of the hearts wasn't "in" yet. God had to resort to fear to keep His people in line. LOL!
I was saying that I see your view of Christ as being truncated because you do not recognize Him as an actor in the OT. It appears to me that you only recognize Him as an actor in His incarnate state. One who does so, IMO, misses the full revelation of God as it is given to us.
FK: The correct standard is the totality of scriptures, which reveal three distinct Persons.
But there is hypostatic union only in one Person of God, the only one who could be seen and grasped, imitated and followed.
Where is the union for you if you reject the OT God as portrayed? There is no union there. There is the erasing of the God who does things one doesn't like in favor of the one who does things you do like.
The Jews have a different image of a God, based on their "visions," and what not, which contains notions of Christ, but dimly. Look at what Jeremiah (32:40) has to say about God:
The OT God keeps the Jews to Himself, not by love, but by fear! Is that what Christ teaches His disciples?
This goes to having a Biblical understanding of what "fear of the Lord" means. You suggest that it is a very bad thing, when in truth it is a very good thing. Are you a God-fearing man? I am happy to say that I am, though I could always do better. To fear the Lord is to have understanding and wisdom. God said that He would give that to His people. This is actually a good verse in support of Reformed theology since it focuses away from anything man does for himself and goes toward what God does for us.
I guess when Jeremiah wrote this, the changing of the hearts wasn't "in" yet. God had to resort to fear to keep His people in line. LOL!
Actually, the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel were very contemporary. Both were written around the time that Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem. So, the idea was around, and in fact Jeremiah is conveying that idea here. God said He would change their hearts to give them the good thing of fearing the Lord.