John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. The one passage where Christ is seen as originally existing in the `Form' of

God, the application to Him of the words of Isaiah 45:23,24 have already been considered.

Before we attempt any further explanation, let us frankly face the fact that it must of necessity be beyond the

ability of man to comprehend the essential nature of God. We speak of the `Being' of God, as `Absolute' and

`Unconditioned', but if we are honest, we shall agree that we might as well use the symbol X - the unknown

quantity. God has condescended to limit Himself to the capacity of our understanding, to employ terms that are

within our cognizance, and above all to tell us that all we can hope to know of Himself, during the present life, will

be learned as we see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. In all our acquisition of knowledge the mind is

comparing, contrasting, labelling and drawing conclusions. Into what category must we place God? He is Spirit.

What do we KNOW of the conditions and modes of a life that pertain to pure Spirit? Just nothing. An infant on its

mother's knee could more readily be expected to grasp the meaning of the fourth dimension than a man can be

expected to understand the nature of Infinite Being. God has no COMPEER, therefore there is nothing with which we

may COMPARE Him. We are halted at the start. He has no equal.

`To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?' (Isa. 40:18).

`To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One' (Isa. 40:25).

`To whom will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?' (Isa. 46:5).

`For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto

the LORD?' (Psa. 89:6).

Whenever a comparison is instituted between things, there must follow :

(1) Either absolute equality in every particular will be established. But this is a contradiction in terms, for

wherever there is absolute equality in every particular there is identity.

(2) Or there will be manifested differences. Now one may differ from another because one is inferior or because

one is superior.

Consequently, when the prophet places together as synonymous statements :

`To whom will ye liken Me ? and make Me equal ?'

it is evident that he does not admit the possibility of either comparison or equality. We may take it therefore as a

settled truth, God can have no equal. The Hebrew word sharah `to be equal' means to be even, to level, and so `to

countervail' or be equivalent (Esther 7:4), and while it is used as a synonym by Isaiah for the word `compare' which

is the Hebrew mashal, yet comparison is not to be excluded altogether from the concept of equality as the translation

given in Proverbs 3:15 and 8:11 will show. It is evident that the only answer to the question of Isaiah 46:5 `To

whom will ye ... make Me equal?' is `With NONE'. God is and must be incomparable.

There is however, the testimony of the New Testament to be weighed up before this great question can be

considered closed. The Greek word translated `equal' is the word isos or its derivatives (apart from the word used in

Galatians 1:14 which means an equal in age). The basic meaning of isos seems to be equivalence `the same as', as

for example the statement concerning the heavenly Jerusalem that `the length and the breadth and the height of it are

equal' (Rev. 21:16). In mathematics, we use the word `isosceles' of a triangle two of whose sides are equal, and this

equality must be absolute, the slightest addition or subtraction being intolerable.  When the day labourers

complained `thou hast made them equal to us', it was because every one received just exactly one penny, neither

more nor less. When Peter confessed that God had given the Gentiles `like gift as (He did) unto us' (Acts 11:17) he

used the word isos. On two occasions the Saviour is said to be `equal' with God. Once by His enemies, who denied

the rightfulness of His claim, and took up stones, signifying their conviction that His claim was blasphemous (John

5:18), and once by the Apostle who in an inspired passage testified of the same Saviour that He `thought it not

robbery to be equal with God' (Phil. 2:6).

We are consequently presented with a problem. The Prophet Isaiah makes it clear that there is no one who can

ever be `equal' with God, the apostle Paul as emphatically declares that equality with God was the Saviour's normal

condition. As there can be no discrepancy permitted where both utterances are inspired, there is but one conclusion

possible. Isaiah and Paul speak of the same glorious Person, as we have already seen the Christ of the New