Unitarian Christian Alliance | Bill Schlegel - Do Micah 5 and Matthew 2 declare the eternal deity of Messiah? @UnitarianChristianAlliance | Uploaded February 2023 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
In this 2022 UCA Conference presentation, Bill Schlegel argues that "eternal pre-incarnate existence” and “deity of Christ” claims made from Micah 5:2 are based on presuppositions that force a wrong understanding of Hebrew words into the passage. The words and phrases do not convey “eternal preincarnate existence” but refer to events in Israel’s historical past. The Hebrew word olam (age, perpetual, everlasting) modified by “days of” confines olam to human historical ages, usually related to Israel’s past history. Specifically, Micah 5:2 refers to the promise God made to David long ago, centuries before Micah’s day.
Schlegel concludes: "Neither Jesus nor any New Testament author ever appealed to the Old Testament to reveal the preincarnate existence or deity of Messiah. Jesus and the New Testament authors did appeal to the Old Testament to show the suffering, death and subsequent glory of Messiah."
In this 2022 UCA Conference presentation, Bill Schlegel argues that "eternal pre-incarnate existence” and “deity of Christ” claims made from Micah 5:2 are based on presuppositions that force a wrong understanding of Hebrew words into the passage. The words and phrases do not convey “eternal preincarnate existence” but refer to events in Israel’s historical past. The Hebrew word olam (age, perpetual, everlasting) modified by “days of” confines olam to human historical ages, usually related to Israel’s past history. Specifically, Micah 5:2 refers to the promise God made to David long ago, centuries before Micah’s day.
Schlegel concludes: "Neither Jesus nor any New Testament author ever appealed to the Old Testament to reveal the preincarnate existence or deity of Messiah. Jesus and the New Testament authors did appeal to the Old Testament to show the suffering, death and subsequent glory of Messiah."
