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THE GOD OF JESUS: PART FIFTEEN

Did Jesus claim to be God?

 

       altJohn 10:30-36: “I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, `I have said you are gods’? If he called them `gods,' to whom the word of God came--and the Scripture cannot be broken-what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, `I am God's Son'?

       Trinitarians see a double proof in this passage that Jesus is God.  First Jesus says “I and the Father are one.”  Then the religious leaders claim Jesus is blaspheming because He claims to be God.  It is assumed that for Jesus and the Father to be one it must mean Jesus is in a Trinitarian relationship with God and therefore is God.  It is also assumed that because the religious leaders said Jesus claimed to be God He must be God.

        When Jesus says “I and the Father are one” He is not talking about being God.  In Christ’s prayer to the Father shortly before His crucifixion, He said this: “I have given them (the Apostles) the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22).  The Apostles becoming one with each other would not make them one Being.  If Christ meant for them to become one with the Father as He was, it certainly didn’t mean they became God.  Christ’s statement about being one with the Father has nothing to do with identifying Himself as God but simply shows how He was in total harmony with the Father in all things.  In referring to the Holy Spirit that He would send after His ascension, Christ said: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20).  This is a statement of relationship which has nothing to do with identification of Being.  Christ didn’t mean the Apostles would become God by them being in Him and He in them as He is in the Father.  Christ was showing that through the Holy Spirit they could be one in purpose just as He and the Father are.  

       John 14:9c-11a: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father….Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

        Jesus is not saying that if you see Him you see the Father in the sense that Jesus and the Father are of identical substance of Being.  Jesus is not talking about substance of Being but of being in spiritual unity with the Father.  The Father lives in Christ through His Spirit and that same Spirit that lives in Christ can live in us as the Scriptures clearly show.         

       Did Jesus claim to be God as accused by the Jews as seen in the John 10 passage?  It should be evident from how Jesus responded to this accusation of claiming to be God that He wasn’t claiming to be the one and only Supreme, Creator God but that He was god in the same sense as men of authority and power spoken of in the OT.  Jesus refers to a statement found in Psalm 82. 

       Psalm 82:1-7:  God (Elohim) presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the "gods": (elohim). "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?  Selah. Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. "They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. "I said, `You are "gods"; (elohim) you are all sons of the Most High.' But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler."

       Here God (Elohim) is speaking to an assembly of gods (elohim) who are seen as appointed by Him to administer justice but have failed to do so.  The second occurrence of elohim is followed by a plural predicate “you” thus signifying a plurality of Beings called “gods” who are being addressed.  Jesus, in John 10, identifies these “gods” as those to whom the word (logos) of God came.  The word or speech of God is seen as given to these Beings called “gods.”  The context of Psalm 82 shows these “gods” are of the human realm as human conditions such as weakness, being fatherless and needy and needing deliverance from the wicked is what God is discussing with these “gods.”   This passage is referring to human leaders, in positions of rulership, power and authority, failing to properly fulfill their responsibilities.  God tells them that, even though they have been granted powers of rulership, they will die like every other ruler, which shows their humanity.  Jesus is virtually comparing Himself to this type of god.  He is saying that He too has been granted power and authority and has been sent by God.  Thus, Jesus distinguishes Himself as a Son of the Most High God, just as these human leaders whom God was addressing as “gods” were seen as sons of the Most High God.

       While the Hebrew word elohim is mostly used throughout the OT to reference the one true God and to designate false gods, this word is sometimes used to designate human rulers appointed by the one true God as seen here in Psalm 82 and as seen in Exodus 21:6 and 22:8-9 where elohim is rendered "judges." referring to human judges who have been appointed to judge Israel.

      While it is true that Jesus was a unique Son of the Most High God because of His direct begettal by the Spirit of God, nowhere do the Scriptures show this unique status to mean Jesus is the Most High God in the person of God the Son.  The phrase God the Son is not found in Scripture.  It is always the Son of God.        

        By answering His accusers as He did, he is virtually saying He is a god in the same sense as the “gods” referred to in the OT who are also called sons of the Most High.  Jesus is saying that just as God sent rulers to represent His interests in OT times, God has now sent Him, the promised Messiah as His directly begotten Son.  Jesus is not saying He is God as the Most High God is God.  He is saying He is a Son of the Most High God which makes Him an agent of the Most High God just as are the gods mentioned in Psalm 82. Jesus’ use of Psalm 82 in His defense speaks volumes as to who He believed He was in relationship to the one true God. 

       In Mark 12:1-12, Matthew 21:33-46, Luke 20: 9-19 and in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas is the parable of the vineyard farmers.  Here is Mark’s recording of this parable.

       Mark 12:1-12:  Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

       This parable is widely interpreted by Biblical Scholars as the vineyard representing Israel, the tenants as representing the religious leaders of Israel, the servants as the OT prophets, the son as representing Jesus and the owner of the vineyard representing YHWH God.

       The word “owner” is translated from the Greek word kyrios which is rendered throughout the NT as Lord or lord. This word is used to identify God the Father, Jesus and others in the NT narrative.  The word kyrios (Lord) appears here to be identifying YHWH as Lord of the vineyard. This Lord (YHWH) of the vineyard is seen as sending his son to the vineyard. This indicates the son is a separate entity from YHWH God.  It is YHWH God who is seen as being over the vineyard (Israel) and the one who kills the tenants (apostate first century Israel). 

       Jesus goes on to identify himself as the prophesied cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16) and that it is the Lord (Greek: kyrios) who has done this. As pointed out in Part Six of this series, it is evident that the Lord being referred to here is YHWH who facilitates His son (Jesus) becoming the cornerstone. This shows the son as an entity separate from YHWH and also shows YHWH as greater than the son, a thing that Jesus clearly taught as recorded in the Gospel of John.  It is instructive that Peter shows it is God who has made Jesus the cornerstone.

       1st Peter 2:4-7: As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”    

A Unique Son of God:

       In Part Twelve we discussed the Greek word gennao and saw how it means to become the Father or mother of and is used in a variety of ways to designate a beginning. We saw how this word is used in association with the birth of Jesus and identifies Jesus as the begotten of the Father.  There is another Greek word, monogenes, which is translated into English as only begotten in the KJV version and several other English translations. Scholarship has shown this word is better translated as “only,” “one and only,” or “unique in kind” and is so translated in the NIV and other more modern translations (This issue is discussed in detail in Part Seventeen). There are four passages in the Gospel of John and one in his first letter that give witness to Jesus being the one and only unique Son of God.  Here are these passages as seen in the NIV.

       John 1:14:  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  

       John 1:18: No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (The implication that Jesus is God in this translation is discussed in Part Seventeen)

       John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

       John 3:18: Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

       1 John 4:9: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  

        If you read the above passages from a Trinitarian mindset, you end up with rather peculiar phraseology.  If God is Father, Son and Spirit, John 3:16 would have to read “For Father, Son and Spirit gave His only Son.”  John 3:18 would read: “in the name of Father, Son and Spirit’s one and only Son.”  1 John 4:9 would read: “This is how Father, Son and Spirit showed His love among us: He sent his one and only Son.”  Pronouns such as “His” and “He” would have to apply to Father, Son and Spirit as the single Being God.  Yet in John 1:14 and 18, John appears to identify God as Father and identity Father as God.  John gives no hint of seeing God as Father, Son and Spirit. It should be apparent when John uses the word God in his writings, he means the Father and not Father, Son and Spirit. For John, God is the Father and the Father is God.  There is no scriptural reason to believe John ever sees Jesus as being God as God is God.  John, as is true with all NT writers, sees Jesus as the anointed of God, God's Christ to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  

       Jesus is the one and only, one of a kind unique Son of God because he is the only son of God directly begotten by God in the womb of a human mother.  Jesus is the one and only unique Son of God because He had a full measure of God’s Spirit from birth and was ordained to fulfill a special mission.  Jesus is the one and only unique Son of God because He took our sins upon Himself and willingly suffered the pain and disgrace of crucifixion so we could have the death penalty for sin removed and be granted eternal life.  Jesus is the unique Son of God because He was the first human resurrected to eternal life.  Jesus was the first human to experience moving from mortality to immortality.  Because of this, we also can experience this same transformation and become sons of God.          

       Jesus was dead. He went to the grave as a mortal human being.  God the Father, who is the source of all life, resurrected Jesus and granted Him eternal life.  Death could not hold Jesus because Jesus never sinned.  He died as a sacrifice for our sins and was resurrected to eternal life and given great glory and honor because of what He accomplished as God’s agent to facilitate our salvation.   

       Acts 2:24: But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

       Romans 6:9-11: For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

       Galatians 1:1: Paul, an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead--

       Ephesians 1:17-20 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit  of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

       Romans 8:11: And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

       These Scriptures clearly show it is God the Father through His Spirit that facilitated Jesus’ resurrection to life and it is this same Spirit that facilitates our resurrection to life. It is instructive that in the Romans 6:9-11 passage, Paul writes that Jesus "died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God."  Paul is seeing Jesus in His glorified state living His life to God who Paul ubiquitously identifies as the Father in Scripture. We see Jesus, in his resurrected and glorified state, continuing to be subservient to God the Father.  This is just one more of the dozens of Scriptures I could reference that show Jesus in His glorified state is not ontologically one with the Father and is not God as God is God as the Creeds proclaim.

John 2:19 and 10:17-18:

       Some argue that because Jesus, in referring to His resurrection, said “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19), He was saying He resurrected Himself and is therefore God as the Father is God. Another saying of Jesus which is used to "prove" Jesus resurrected Himself and therefore must be God is John 10:17-18.

       John 10:17-18:  The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

       Did Jesus, through His power as God, raise Himself from the dead?  The overwhelming testimony of Scripture makes it clear it was through the power of God the Father that Jesus was resurrected. As has been made clear in this series of essays, when God is referred to in the NT, it is the Father that is being referred to 99% of the time. As cited above, Paul clearly writes that it was God the Father who raised Jesus from dead (Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 1:17-20).  So, when we see statements that say God raised Jesus from the dead it is the Father who is being referred to as Galatians 1:1 and Ephesians 1:17-20 clearly reveal.

       Here are some examples of the 21 passages of Scripture in the NT that speak to it being God who raised Jesus from the dead.

       Acts 2:32:  God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

       Acts 3:15: You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

       Acts 4:10b:  It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

       Acts 5:30: The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

       Acts 10:39-40: "We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

       Acts 13:29-30:  When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. 

       1 Peter 1:21:  Through him (Jesus) you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.     

        Trinitarians believe the one God is Father, Son and Spirit. This being the case, Trinitarians will argue that God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, in an indwelling Trinitarian relationship of Father, Son and Spirit, raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore, the Father raised Jesus from the dead, the Son raised Jesus from the dead and the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Any one of the three can be seen as raising Jesus from the dead.

       However, Trinitarian theology teaches the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father and the Spirit is not the Son or the Father. This is the same as saying the Father is not the Trinity, the Son is not the Trinity and the Spirit is not the Trinity. The Trinity is the indwelling of all three of these entities as the single Being called God.  However, the Scriptures clearly teach that God the Father raised the Son?  So, how can it be said that “God the Son” or “God the Spirit” also raised the Son?  I placed God the Son and God the Spirit in quotes because these two phrases are not found in Scripture whereas the phrase God the Father is often found in Scripture.

       Even if God were to be indwelling entities of Father, Son and Spirit, it should be evident that it is the entity called the Father that raised Jesus from the dead. As cited above, Paul uses the word God almost exclusively as referring to the Father. Also as cited above, Paul on several occasions straightforwardly says God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Paul wrote that God through his Spirit raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). As will be seen in Part twenty-five of this series, the Spirit of God is not a person of a Trinitarian God-head but the power and very cognitive function of God.  Paul wrote that "By his power God raised the Lord from the dead (1 Corinthians 6:14a).  

       So how are we to understand John 2:19 and John 10:17-18?  Jesus plainly said that "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26). Jesus plainly said it is the Father who gives Him life. Jesus also said that by Himself he could do nothing (John 5:30).  It should be evident that when Jesus speaks of having the authority to lay down his life and take it up again, such authority comes from the Father and is not generated by Jesus on His own as though He was equal to the Father in authority and power as taught in Trinitarianism. This demonstrates Jesus is dependent on the Father for all power and authority He has which clearly shows He is not ontologically one with the Father. He sees Himself as able to resurrect Himself only within the context of such resurrection being made possible by the Father.

       In Hebrews 5:7 the writer says “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission."  It should be obvious that it is the Father to whom Jesus offered up prayers and petitions. The Father is here seen as the one saving Jesus from death.  As seen from the Scriptures, Jesus was not saved from physical death but from eternal death through the Father’s resurrection of Jesus from the temporary death He suffered on the cross.  Thus, Jesus became the first born from the physical death we all experience to the eternal life we can all experience which has been provided through God's resurrection of Jesus from physical death. 

Jesus: The First Born from the Dead:

      The Scriptures speak of Jesus being the first born from the dead.  When the Scriptures speak of Jesus being the first born from the dead, they are speaking of Him being the first to be raised from the dead to never die again.  Others, such as Lazarus, had been physically resurrected only to die again.  Jesus’ resurrection was a resurrection to eternal life.  Jesus was born to eternal life.      

       Colossians 1:18: And he (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

       Revelation 1:5: and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead.

       Revelation 1:18:   I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

       1 Corinthians 15:20: But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

       Paul shows Christ to be the firstborn among many brothers thus signifying He is the first in a line of many others who will be born to eternal life.

       Romans 8:29: For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness (image) of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  

       Jesus was the first to be born to eternal life and in so doing facilitated our being born to eternal life. As Paul wrote, Jesus was the first born of many brothers. In so doing Jesus was the first of the firstfruits of those who have died. Revelation 12:4 records that the 144,000 were the firstfruits to God and the Lamb.  Here again we see God and the Lamb (Jesus) as separate Beings.   

       Being born to eternal life involves becoming a new creation. Through resurrection to eternal life, Jesus began the process of facilitating a new creation.  The whole purpose of the Christ event was to facilitate reconciliation of humanity with God.

       2 Corinthians 5:17-19: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

       Jesus began the process of establishing a new creation by being born to eternal life and thus facilitating our birth to eternal life as well.  In Christ we are a new creation in so much that we have passed from death unto life and become sons of God. 

       It is evident from the Scriptures that Jesus is not God as God is God and never claimed to be God as God is God.  Jesus is the unique Son of God because of His direct begettal by God the Father and the unique purpose for which He was born.  Jesus died and was resurrected and became the first human to be born to eternal life.  As Paul wrote, Jesus is the firstborn of many brothers.  Throughout Scripture, Jesus is identified as the Son of God and never as God the Son.  The few references to Jesus as God in the NT are references to being god in the same sense as seen in Psalm 82.  We will further explore these references as we continue to move through this material.

Is Jesus Divine?

       The Greek word theios is translated “divine” several times in the NT in association with God the Father.  The Greek thrios implies a supernatural, someone who exceeds the bounds of being human.  Theios is also used to define those in close association to the Divine as seen in some ancient literature.  Peter uses this word in relation to the power and nature of God in 2 Peter 1:3. We know it is God the Father who is referenced by Peter because he speaks of divinity in association with Him who has called us and we know from other Scriptures it is the Father who calls us.

       2 Peter 1:3: His divine (theios) power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 

       Paul uses theios in Acts 17:29 to show the contrast between man-made gods and the one true God.  The context of Acts 17 shows Paul speaking of the Father as Divine Being.  In verse 31 Paul speaks of God judging the world through Jesus whom He has raised from the dead, thus identifying the Father as the Divine Being he is talking about.

       Acts 17:29: Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill.

       Acts 17:31: For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

       To be divine is to exceed the bounds of normal humanity and manifest supernatural qualities.  It is clear from the Scriptures God the Father is intrinsically divine and the source of all divine qualities.  Scripture shows He shares such qualities with humans commensurate with His will.  God gave Jesus an abundance of His divine qualities as His anointed agent. Upon completion of His earthly mission and ascension to His God and Father, His God and Father glorified Him with still greater divine qualities.  Therefore, Jesus can certainly be viewed as divine.  Jesus can also be viewed as elohim (god) in the same sense He compared Himself to the gods (small g) spoken of in the OT.  Words such as elohim, theos, kurios and thios do not intrinsically mean the one and only Most High God as these words are applied to Beings of lesser status to whom power and authority is granted. 

       Jesus is one unto whom great power and authority has been granted.  This does not equate Jesus with the one and only Most High God who is the source of all power and authority.  There is only one God who reflects that identification and who can be called the true God.  Jesus confirmed this identification when He said His Father was the one and only true God.  Paul and John did the same as previously discussed.  I personally do not have a problem with relating to Jesus as divine and as god as long as I maintain the understanding that He is not the one and only Supreme Divinity, the Most High Creator God who is the God and Father of all reality including the reality that is Jesus. 

       Having said this, in order to avoid the perception that Jesus is one god among many in a pantheon of gods and to avoid the perception that Jesus is part of some kind of family of gods, I prefer to relate to Jesus simply as the Son of the one and only God and thus avoid using the word God when thinking and speaking about Jesus.  This does not in any way diminish my adoration for and worship of Jesus. This simply keeps me rooted in the Scriptural identification of who the Father and Son are in relation to each other.

PART SIXTEEN