Paper 161 Overview: Further Discussions with Rodan

On Sunday, September 25, Jesus and ten apostles left for Jerusalem to attend the feast of tabernacles, while Nathaniel and Thomas stayed behind at Magadan to continue their discussions with Rodan of Alexandria. Rodan had been well educated about Jesus' teachings by a former apostle of John the Baptist who had been his teacher at Alexandria.

During this week of discussions, Nathaniel and Thomas took turns presenting the gospel of the kingdom to Rodan. One key area of disagreement was about the personality of God, but after much debate, Nathaniel eventually convinced Rodan that God is indeed a person who can communicate with his children.

While Jesus and ten apostles were on their way to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles, Nathaniel and Thomas remained at Magadan to continue their discussions with Rodan of Alexandria. Rodan had already learned about Jesus' teachings from a former follower of John the Baptist who had been his teacher in Alexandria.

The two apostles and Rodan engaged in earnest debate during the week. Rodan had heard a detailed explanation of Jesus' philosophy from the apostles during the previous week, and now Nathaniel and Thomas were taking turns presenting the gospel of the kingdom to the Greek philosopher.

Rodan and the two apostles disagreed about whether God is a person. Rodan believed that God could not be a person because personality requires communication between beings of equality, and God has no equals. Thomas argued that God does communicate with humans, which proves his personality.

After much discussion, Nathaniel convinced Rodan that God is indeed a person by explaining five important points. First, God communicates with the Eternal Son and Infinite Spirit who are equal to him. Second, Jesus (the Son) has shown his personality to humans. Third, the Father-Son relationship proves both have personality. Fourth, personality represents the highest concept of reality and value. Fifth, God must be a personality since he is the Creator of all personality. Rodan finally agreed to accept God as a person with certain qualifications.

Nathaniel and Thomas presented their views about the divine nature of Jesus to Rodan in a series of points. They explained that Jesus had admitted his divinity and they believed him because of all the wonderful things he had done in his ministry.

They described how Jesus lived an unusually perfect life, never making mistakes or sinning. They pointed out his extraordinary compassion and understanding of human thoughts and feelings. They also mentioned his superhuman knowledge, authority in teaching, and constant talk about God as his Father. After these discussions, Rodan journeyed back to Alexandria where he continued to teach his philosophy and became a faithful believer who later died in Greece during the persecutions.

Jesus became fully aware of his divine nature gradually, with his baptism being a key moment. After his baptism and until his crucifixion, Jesus could choose whether to use only his human mind or to access his divine mind and knowledge as well.

The apostles observed that sometimes Jesus would withhold his divine foreknowledge from them. They noticed he did not always reveal that he could read people's thoughts. At times he appeared to use only his human understanding, while at other times he clearly showed his divine wisdom and knowledge of spiritual matters. The apostles could not always tell which approach Jesus was using in any given situation.