OK, Long post alert, but I thought I would address those three points you felt (and I agree) would be more substantial conflicts if they contradicted.
3 - Is Jesus equal to or lesser than the Father?
John 10:30 - "I and the Father are ONE."
John 14:28 - "Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I."
#7 - Was Mary impregnated by a human or a ghost/spirit? Acts 2:30/Matthew 1:18
#8 - Are we accountable for the sins of our fathers or not? Isaiah 14:21/Deuteronomy 24:16
I’m going to tackle this shortened list in reverse order:
#8 - Are we accountable for the sins of our fathers or not? Isaiah 14:21/Deuteronomy 24:16
Deut 24:16 "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.â€
Isaiah 14:21"Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities."
OK, this is an example of comparing apples and oranges in that the contexts of each of these texts are dealing with very differing subjects. The text in Deuteronomy is one of the civil laws of the budding nation of Israel. One of the civil rights of the citizens of the nation was that they could not be put to death for the crime of another. The text in Isaiah was part of a prophesy that the Lord gave to Isaiah about Babylon and the coming judgment that was going to be poured out upon it. It also has the distinction of being one of the texts that blurs from being about earthly matters to giving some clarity about heavenly matters, namely the coming judgment against Satan. The full context begins in Chapter 13, and is truly about earthly Babylon and the coming Medes. But, 14:21 is also referring to Satan and the devils, and that the devils will ultimately be destroyed. This isn’t the only passage that has such a dual meaning. Prophecy was often like that. However, in comparing this text in regards to Babylon and the text in Deuteronomy, there is still not a contradiction, because Deuteronomy deals specifically with a civil law and Isaiah is actually recording what God outright says is a taunt towards Babylon.
Another text similar to the Isaiah text, yet with a different meaning is
Exodus 34:7 “[God] keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.â€
This too seems a contradiction of Deuteronomy 24:16 but it isn’t. Again Deuteronomy deals specifically with a civil law, whereas Exodus and other similar verses deals with both God’s mercy towards those who worship and His judgments against those who reject Him. The idea isn’t that someone’s poor innocent great-grandchild is going to be put to death because of what great-grandpa did, but rather that hatred towards God will breed hatred towards God and God will not ignore that.
#7 - Was Mary impregnated by a human or a ghost/spirit? Acts 2:30/Matthew 1:18
Acts 2:30 "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONEâ€
Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.â€
Fairly simple, this one. Mary was a descendant of David’s as well as Joseph. Most scholars (at least the one’s who hold God’s word to be inerrant) believe that Luke is recording Mary’s linage, while Matthew records Joseph linage. Joseph would be the ultimate son in either linage, just that he was more technically Heli’s son-in-law rather than his birth son. For the Jews though, either way, via through Joseph (patriarchal order) or through Mary (birth) Jesus was considered a descendant of David’s. Keep in mind that even today, Jewish heritage is traced through the mother.
3 - Is Jesus equal to or lesser than the Father?
John 10:30 - "I and the Father are ONE."
John 14:28 - "Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I."
I’ve already given a short answer to this one, but I can expand a bit here. God, as we Trinitarians believe, is revealed within the Scriptures as Three who are One in purpose, One in nature, and One in essence. However, the Scriptures also reveal that each Person within God, has a distinction from the others: The Father, who is the One who Sovereign, the Son, Who does the will of the Father, the Spirit Who flows from the Father to indwell within us and intercede in prayer for us. The Son is One with the Father, the Spirit is One as well. It’s complicated, but God’s a complicated kind of Entity. Anyone who tries to simplify God is either a fool, or making their own god up to serve their own purposes.
As the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One in purpose and One in essence, they are also Three in revealed roles. Jesus is the One Who does the will of the Father. In this sense, Jesus humbles Himself before the Father to do His will.
Philippians 2:5-11 makes this clear:
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.â€
Just to clarify the word “form†in this passage means the physical appearance of something, not an imitation of something.
At any rate, the two texts do not conflict, but rather gives us insight into how the Father, Son and Spirit interact with each other, and how the Son humbles Himself before the Father.
In a very sadly lacking and wholly imperfect way, my marriage imitates this. Steve and I are one, just as the Bible says, “and the two shall be made oneâ€. We are one in purpose. We are one in essence. We’re a team, striving in our imperfect human way to be united on all fronts. However, within our marriage, Steve is the head. I submit to him. This doesn’t make him better than me, or me more humble than him, it’s just the way we believe marriage to be and our marriage is far more unified and stable because of it. Marriage has been corrupted throughout the ages, because of man’s inherent sinfulness. But, had it remained what it was intended to be “the two shall become one†we would have had a fairly good representation of the Triune nature of God via marriage. But, admittedly, it’s hard to see it, even in truly good marriages like mine, because it’s too hard for sinful beings, like Steve and I, to get it right.
