This is an attempt to bring some clarification to all of the unproven and misleading theories on the personhood of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of the living God Yehovah. Please read and prayerfully consider what is written herein and approach it with an open mind. Ask God for the spiritual eyes to see with and the spiritual ears to hear. I pray that God will help you to truly come to know the Messiah, the Son of God.
Shouldn’t we know our Savior? The One who redeemed us unto eternal life and shed his blood in a sin-offering sacrifice for us? But how can we know him if we have the wrong perception of who or what he actually is? How can we become like him as we’re commanded to, if we think he is something he os not? In order to know the Messiah Jesus - Yehoshua we must first lay the groundwork of knowing who or what God is.
1. How Many Gods or
Persons within God?
Let’s see what the Old Testament
says:
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel!
Yehovah is God, Yehovah is one!
Isaiah 43:10: Before me there was no God formed, And there will be none after me.
Isaiah 44:6: … there is no God besides Me.
Isaiah 45:5: I am Yehovah, and there is no other; Besides me there is no God…
Isaiah 46:9: For I am God, and there is no other; {I am} God, and there is no
one like me,
Let’s see what the New Testament says:
Mark 10:18: And Jesus said to
him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Mark 12:29: Jesus answered, the foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD -
YEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ONE';
John 5:44: How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you
do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus the Messiah whom you have sent.
1 Corinthians 8:6: yet for us there is {but} one God, the Father, from whom are
all things and we exist for Him; and one lord, Jesus the Messiah, in whom are
all things, and we exist through – because of him.
1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and
men, the man Jesus the Messiah,
The Jews of Jesus time, and Jesus and Paul (from the scriptures above),
thought God was one being; it was the bedrock of their faith. As Anthony
Buzzard [& Charles Hunting] state in their book [1] The Doctrine of the
Trinity – Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound: “Not once do we find Jesus
criticizing his fellow countrymen for holding an inadequate understanding of
the number of persons in the Godhead.”
If there is only one God (and according to the above mentioned scriptures
there is only one), so who is this one God?
Let’s see what the
Old Testament says:
NOTE: we must remember that when the Old Testament uses
LORD in all capital letters, it is a place where the Tetragrammaton (YHVH - YEHOVAH)
was used in the original.
As quoted earlier:
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel! YEHOVAH is
God, YEHOVAH is one!
Isaiah 45:5: I am YEHOVAH, and there is no other; besides me there is no God…
So YHVH (YEHOVAH) is the one true God. There are many, many examples from the
Old Testament, but for the sake of space and time these two should suffice.
They clearly say that YHVH (YEHOVAH) is the only God.
Let’s see what the New Testament says:
Mark 12:29: Jesus answered, the foremost is, 'HEAR, O
ISRAEL! THE LORD (YHVH - YEHOVAH) OUR GOD IS ONE)';
Since Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 in Mark it is clear that the one God – YHVH
- YEHOVAH in the Old Testament is the same one God in the New Testament. As we
have already quoted, Jesus said the following, in John, while praying to the
Father:
John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus the Messiah whom you have sent.
And Paul says:
1 Corinthians 8:6: yet for us
there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for
Him; and one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, because of whom are all things, and we exist because of
him.
John and Paul in 1 Corinthians tell us who this one God – YHVH – YEHOVAH is; He
is the Father. So, the Father in the New Testament is synonymous with YHVH -
YEHOVAH in the Old Testament. Both Testaments say that YHVH - YEHOVAH, the
Father, is the ONLY TRUE God.
Some will say “I thought Jesus was God the Son”? No, the Bible says Jesus is
the Son of God and the Son of Man (“God the Son” is a term invented by men and
is not found anywhere in the Bible). He is the Son of Man because His mother
was Mary (human, mankind), and he is the Son of God because he was created in
the womb of Mary by the spirit of God.
Notice: Luke 1:34-35: Then
Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I do not know man?” And
the angel answered, and said to her, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Therefore, that holy child which
shall be born by you, shall be called the Son of God.
Granted, many beings are called
god - elohim: Angels, OT judges, Moses, Jesus, Satan, etc, but not in the sense
that John means it in the above passage. Did this make them co-equal with God?
No!
Was the Messiah Jesus co-equal with God while on earth or was he subordinate to
God while on earth? Most people would say he was subordinate simply because the
evidence in scripture is overwhelming, but while many would say he was
subordinate, a good portion of these would also add that “His human side was
subordinate – not his God side”. Is this splitting of the Messiah’s nature into
a “God” side and a “human” side Biblical - separating Jesus into two parts? The
following scripture refutes such a notion:
1 John 4:2: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses
that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh is from God;
An ancient text for 1 John 4:1-2 is reconstructed from Irenaeus (Ch. 16:8, ANF,
Vol. 1, fn. p. 443); it gives a slightly different reading:
Hereby know you the spirit of
God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus the Messiah came in the flesh is of God;
and every spirit which separates Jesus the Messiah [from the flesh] is not of God but is of the antichrist.
Socrates the historian claims (VII, 32, p. 381) that this passage (from
Irenaeus) is the true reading and that it became corrupted by those who wished
to separate the humanity of Jesus the Messiah from his divinity.
Is this separation
Biblical?
Let’s see what the scriptures say about Jesus position while on earth:
Matthew 20:23: …but to sit at my right hand, and at my left hand, is not mine
to give. But it shall be given to those for whom it is prepared by my Father.
Matthew 26:39: ,… My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet
not as I will, but as you will.
Matthew 26:53-54: Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He
will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels. How then
would the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must be so??
Mark 10:18: And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good
except God alone.
Mark 13:32: But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. [Speaking about the day when God will send him down to take his place on the throne of David at Zion]
Mark 15:34: Jesus cried out with a loud voice… "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE
YOU FORSAKEN ME?" A quote from Psalm 22 – read the whole Psalm to
understand why Jesus cried out these words.
John 4:34: Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me
and to accomplish His work. [It should be our food also]
John 5:19: … Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself,
unless {it is} something he sees the Father doing…
John 5:20: For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that He
Himself is doing…
John 5:22: For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the
Son,
John 5:26: For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the
Son also to have life in himself;
John 5:30: I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and my
judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who
sent me.
John 5:36: But I have greater witness than the witness of John. For the works
which the Father has given me to finish (the same works that I do) bear witness
of me, that the Father sent me..
John 7:16: So Jesus answered them and said, my teaching is not mine, but His
who sent ne.
John 7:28: Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, you both
know me and know where I am from; and I have not come of myself, but He who
sent me is true, whom you do not know.
John 8:26: …but He who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from Him,
these I speak to the world.
John 8:28: …and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as
the Father taught me.[God teaches us through His word, the scriptures]
John 8:40: But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the
truth, which I heard from God. [Notice he doesn’t say “which I heard from the
Father” – but “God]
John 8:54: Jesus answered, If I
glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom
you say, 'He is our God';
John 10:35-36: If he called them gods - Elohim, to whom the word of God came
(and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father
sanctified – set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because
I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
John 12:49: For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself
who sent me has given me a commandment {as to} what to say and what to speak.
John 14:10: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father
abiding in me does His works.
John 14:28: …If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the
Father, for the Father is greater than I.
John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and
Jesus the Messiah whom you have sent.
John 18:11: …the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?
So we see there is no hint of a “man side” and a “God side”. We should not try
and make scripture fit our traditional doctrine, but we should make our teaching
fit what the word of God reveals, and
not add to it or take away from it. It is interesting that the majority of
texts come from John; the one gospel that Trinitarians and others like to use
to prove Jesus is God.
Let us now look to see if the Messiah was subordinate to the Father after His
resurrection and ascension:
1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God, {and} one mediator also between God and
men, {the} man Jesus the Messiah. Notice he’s still called a man after his
resurrection and ascension.
1 Corinthians 8:6: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all
things and we {exist} for Him; and one lord, Jesus the Messiah, because of whom
are all things, and we {exist} in Him.
1 Corinthians 11:3: But I want you to understand that the Messiah is the head
of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of the
Messiah.
1 Corinthians 15:24,28: then {comes} the end, when he hands over the kingdom to
his God and Father - Yehovah, when he has abolished all rule and all authority
and power. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself also will
be subjected to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God - Yehovah
may be all in all.
Revelation 1:1: The Revelation of Jesus the Messiah, which God - Yehovah gave
Him…
Thus far we have seen that there is only ONE TRUE GOD and that this one God is
YHVH - YEHOVAH of the Old Testament and the Father of the New Testament. We
have seen that Jesus was subordinate to this one God both while on earth and
after his resurrection and ascension. If Jesus is not the ONE TRUE GOD, then
what is He? Was Jesus a pre-existent being or an angel? If the Messiah was a
pre-existent being above the angels, he could not have been eternal; for only
God is eternal. If He has been here from sometime before the creation of the earth,
then why do we never hear from him or about him in the Old Testament? Some
would say that we do! They would counter that He was Michael the Archangel;
others would say He was the Angel of YHVH - YEHOVAH. The chances of this are so
remote that we won’t consider them in too much depth other than to quote a
couple of scriptures:
Hebrews 1:1-2: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in
many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…
1 Peter 1:20: For He [Jesus] was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. All those who are in the lord Messiah were also known from before the foundation o f the world – Ephesians 1:3-5:
Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realms in the Messiah, as He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having marked us out beforehand to be adopted, through Jesus the Messiah, to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will… [All this according to the foreknowledge of our God and Father Yehovah]
When the Apostles in the New Testament go to such great lengths to explain to
us who Jesus is, why do they not say he was the archangel, Michael? Why do they
not say He was the Angel of YHVH - YEHOVAH? In the beginning the Apostles
didn’t understand everything Jesus was telling them, but by the time they wrote
the New Testament (which I’m sure most reading this believe is
inspired) they had been endowed by the Holy Spirit.
What about passages that say Jesus created the world? Let’s look at
them:
Ephesians 2:10: For we are His
workmanship, created in the Messiah Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 3:9: and to bring to light what is the administration of the
mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.
Colossians
1:12-20: giving thanks to the Father, what has qualified you to share in the
inheritance of the saint in light. He has
delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins. He
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all
creation. For in him all things were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers
or authorities; all things were
created in him and for him. And he is before all things [in the
mind of God], and in him all things hold together. And he is the
head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making
peace by the blood of his cross.
Here the Greek word “en” occurs
twice. The first time it is translated as “because of”, and the second time it
is translated as “in”. The normal use of this Greek word is “in”. This word
should be translated as “in” just as it is in Ephesians 2:10 and its second
occurrence in Colossians 1:16 by the same translators. Here it is in the
Revised Standard Version (RSV):
Colossians 1:16: for because of him all things were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or
authorities; all things were created because of him and for him.
The word that is translated as “through” in Colossians 1:16 is the Greek word
“dia”. It can have the meaning of “because of” or “on account of”. Jesus is the
reason for all of creation – both physical and spiritual. Many reputable Greek
scholars such as J.H.Moulton in Grammar of New Testament Greek say that
Colossians 1:16 should be rendered “for because of him”, and the Expositor’s
Greek Commentary says on this verse: “en auto: This does not mean ‘by him’ ”.
You’ll also notice that Colossians 1:16 does not say that the Messiah created
the Heavens and the earth. It says, “in him all things were created, IN heaven
and ON earth…”. It then goes on to tell us that these are thrones, dominions,
principalities, and authorities. Christ was put over everything and given the
authority to restructure the arrangements of spiritual powers and rankings.
I Peter 3:22: who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after
angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.
Ephesians 1:21-22: far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And
He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him as head over all
things to the church,
Colossians 2:10: …He is the head over all rule and authority;
Philippians 2:9-11: 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 the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.
Here are just a few scriptures that show God – YHVH – YEHOVAH created
everything.
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Isaiah 42:5: Thus says YEHOVAH God, who created the heavens and stretched them
out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people
on it, and spirit to those who walk in it,
Isaiah 45:12: It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched
out the heavens with my hands And I ordained all their host.
Isaiah 45:18: For thus says YEHOVAH, who created the heavens (He is the God who
formed the earth and made it, He established it {and} did not create it a waste
place, {but} formed it to be inhabited), I am YEHOVAH, and there is none else.
Did Jesus pre-exist? The Old Testament type of Jesus was “a lamb from among the flock”; one without
spot or blemish. Jesus had to be one of us, not God masquerading as a man who
was not really “tempted in every way as we are” and who could not really die,
and not some Angel or pre-existent being.
As [2] J.A. Baker states:
“It simply is not
possible at one and the same time to share the common lot of humanity and to be
aware of oneself as one who has existed from everlasting with God”. And as
stated in [3] “One God and One Lord – Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the
Christian Faith”: …if Jesus were aware of being “God” in some way or could
remember his former state of glory in heaven, then his experience of earthly
life would be very different from ours. Consequently, our ability to identify
with both his overcoming temptation and leaving us a righteous path to follow
is seriously compromised. We are then essentially left without a “mediator”,
but are being asked to be like God Himself, instead of developing absolute
trust in God, our heavenly Father, as Jesus did, and becoming like him as he
said we could and should.
Did He pre-exist in God’s mind
as the Word – Logos – Reason – Plan for everything that would happen? Yes! Did
God foreknow Jesus in a very real way? Yes, as he did all those who will be
resurrected when he returns – See Ephesians 2.
1 Peter 1:20: For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has
appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
Here’s what Strong’s says the definition of the word “foreknown” (proginosko)
is:
1) to have knowledge before hand
2) to foreknow
How do you foreknow someone who has always existed?
Did God foreknow us? Yes!
Romans 8:29: For those whom He
foreknew, He also marked out beforehand {to become} conformed to the image of
His Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Ephesians 1:4: just as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
2 Timothy 1:9: who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was
granted us in the Messiah Jesus from all eternity,
God did foreknow us, but we did not pre-exist except in His heart and mind.
Did the Apostle John pre-exist?
John 1:6: There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
We know the Apostle John did not pre-exist, but when we see this same type of
wording (“sent from God”) applied to Jesus, some people somehow read
pre-existence into it.
2. Did/Does Jesus
have a God?
Let’s see what the
scriptures say:
Matthew 27:46: About the ninth
hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA
SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN
ME?" (also in Mark 15:34, Psalm 22)
John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and
Jesus the Messiah whom you have sent.
John 20:17: Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to my
Father and your Father, and my God and your God.' "
Some may say that Jesus made these comments in the flesh while on earth. Even
though this is not a good argument – this splitting of the Messiah into two
natures (as we have seen), this argument certainly doesn’t hold water for the
remainder of these verses, which are after his Death, Burial, and Resurrection.
Romans 15:6: so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.
2 Corinthians 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our lord Jesus the Messiah,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
2 Corinthians 11:31: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed
forever, knows that I am not lying.
Ephesians 1:17: that the God of our lord Jesus the Messiah, the Father of
glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of
him.
1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our lord Jesus the Messiah, who
according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead,
Hebrews 1:9: "YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR
COMPANIONS."
Revelation 1:1: The Revelation of Jesus the Messiah, which God gave Him to show
to His bond-servants - slaves, the things which must soon take place; and he
sent and communicated {it} by His angel to His bond-servant - slave John,
Note: All those in the Messiah have been bought and paid for by his shed blood; sin-offering sacrifice and thus we are his slaves, subject to his authority as our master. As his slave we own nothing, but we have been given stewardship over all he blesses us with physically and spiritually. Since Jesus was acting as an agent of Yehovah we are also recognized as the slave of Yehovah, and we are to walk as slaves to righteousness.
Revelation 1:5-6: and from Jesus the Messiah, the faithful witness, the
firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who
loves us and released us from our sins by his blood [his sin-offering
sacrifice]; and he has made us {to be} a kingdom, priests to his God and Father
– Yehovah; to Him - Yehovah {be} the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 3:12: He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my
God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name
of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes
down out of heaven from my God, and my new name.
Many Trinitarians subconsciously read the word “Father” in place of God when
they see Jesus and God in juxtaposition; reading their own theology back into
the scriptures.
3. Was He a Man?
Let’s see what the
Old Testament says:
Deuteronomy 18:15: Yehovah your
God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your
brethren. Him you shall hear [obey],
Numbers 24:17-19: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A
Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter
the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a
possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does
valiantly. Out of Jacob One shall have dominion and destroy the remains of the
city."
2 Samuel 7:12-13: When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers,
I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will
establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever.
Isaiah 11:1-3: There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of Yehovah shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, the
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yehovah. His delight is in the fear of
Yehovah,
Isaiah 49:1-8: "...YEHOVAH has called me [Jesus] from the womb; from the
bowels of my mother [Mary] has he made mention of my name [Matthew 1:20-21,
Luke 1:28-33]....in the shadow of His hand has He hid me...And now, says YEHOVAH
that formed me from the womb to be His servant... to him whom man despised, to
him whom the nation abhorred [referring to the Messiah Jesus]...have I [God]
heard you...have I [God] helped you: and I [God] will preserve you [Jesus, the Messiah],
and give you for a covenant [New Testament - Covenant]."
Jeremiah. 23:5: "Behold, the days are coming," says YEHOVAH, That I
will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
The following verse in Daniel is a prophecy of the future ascension of Jesus to
God’s right hand to receive his dominion
and glory. Daniel is seeing this vision from a Heavenly point of view; hence
the “coming with the clouds of heaven” is actually a vision of Jesus’ coming to
the Father after His resurrection ... Here He is called the Son of Man.
Daniel 7:13-14: I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the
Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and
they brought him near before Him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and
a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
the one which shall not be destroyed.
Zechariah 6:12-13: Then speak to him, saying, 'Thus says YEHOVAH of hosts,
saying: "Behold, the man whose name is the BRANCH! From his place he shall
branch out, and he shall build the temple of YEHOVAH; Yes, he shall build the
temple of YEHOVAH. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his
throne; So, He shall be a priest on his throne, And the counsel of peace shall
be between them both." '
There are many more Messianic prophecies, but it is widely known that the Jews
never expected anything other than a human Messiah. However, couldn’t the Jews
have gotten it wrong (as they often did in Jesus’ time)? They may have gotten
it wrong in their extra-biblical writings and musings, but not in the inspired
Word of God. Some might say it was simply veiled in the Old Testament that the
Messiah was actually going to be God himself and this wasn’t revealed until the
New Testament; let’s take a look at the following passage in the Old Testament:
Psalm 110:1: YEHOVAH says to my lord: "Sit at My right hand Until I make
Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."
Let me again quote from Anthony Buzzard’s [& Charles Hunting's] book [1]
The Doctrine of the Trinity – Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound.
It has been argued by some that this verse should be rendered ‘God said to
my God…’ They insist that David knew of a duality in the Godhead and under
inspiration declared the eternal Sonship and Deity of the one who was to become
the man Jesus. Such a theory involves a misuse of the Hebrew language which can
easily be cleared up. The two words for ‘lord’ in the sentence ‘the LORD said
to my lord’ are significantly different. The first ‘LORD’ is Yehovah… [and]
refers to God, the Father, the One God of Israel (as it does on some 6700
occasions). The second word for ‘lord’ (here, ‘my lord’) is adoni, meaning
according to all standard Hebrew lexicons, ‘lord,’ ‘master,’ or ‘owner,’ and it
refers here, by way of prediction, to the Messiah. If David had expected the
Messiah to be God, the word used would not have been adoni, but adonai, a term
used exclusively for the One God. Psalm 110:1 provides a major key to
understanding who Jesus is. The Hebrew Bible carefully distinguishes the divine
title adonai, the Supreme Lord, from adoni, the form of address appropriate to
human and angelic superiors. Adoni, ‘my lord,’ ‘my master’ on no occasion
refers to the deity. Adonai, on the other hand, is the special form of adon,
Lord, reserved for address to the One God only. A reader of the Hebrew
Bible is schooled to recognize the vital distinction between God and man. There
is an enormous difference between adoni, ‘my master,’ and adonai, the Supreme
God. No less than 195 times in the Hebrew canon adoni marks the person
addressed as the recipient of honor but never as the Supreme God. This
important fact tells us that the Hebrew Scriptures expected the Messiah to be
not God, but the human descendant of David, whom David properly recognized
would also be his lord. It is unusual for scholarly writing actually to
misstate the facts about a word appearing in the Hebrew or Greek text.
Astonishingly, however, a remarkable error crept into statements on high
authority regarding the identity of the Messiah in this crucial Christological
passage in Psalm 110:1. Notice now the evidence of widespread confusion in the
treatment of this Psalm. The status of Jesus as the human adoni has proved to
be an embarrassment to later ‘orthodoxy.’ A Roman Catholic writer, in an effort
to support his traditional doctrine of the eternal Son, states: In Psalm 110:1
‘Yahweh said to Adonai: Sit thou at my right hand.’ This passage is cited by the
Messiah to prove that he is Adonai, seated at the right hand of Yahweh (Matthew
22:44). But Adonai ‘my master,’ as a proper name is used exclusively of the
Deity, either alone or in such a phrase as Yehovah Adonai. It is clear, then
that in this lyric Yehovah addresses the Messiah as a different Person and yet
identical in Godhead. The information is incorrect. The second lord of the
Hebrew text is specifically not adonai but adoni. The latter is never a divine
title. The former always designates the Deity. The whole Trinitarian
argument from this Psalm fails because the facts of the language are wrongly
reported.
That pretty much says it all. The Old Testament seems pretty clear that the
Messiah who was to come was going to be a true, flesh-and-blood, man.
Let’s see what the New Testament says:
Can God be tempted?
Not according to James:
James 1:13: "God cannot be
tempted with evil" Jesus was tempted…"
Luke 4:1-2: "And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan,
and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the
devil."
Luke 22:28: "You are they which have continued with me in my
temptations."
Hebrews 2:18: "For in that he himself has suffered being tempted..."
Hebrews 4:15: "...but was in all points tempted like as we are..."
If his temptations weren’t real then he wasn’t “in all points tempted like as
we are”. If there was no real possibility of Jesus giving in to these
temptations, then they weren’t really temptations.
Do any other New Testament scriptures say
he was a man?
John 8:40: "But now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the
truth, which I have heard of God..."
The rest of these verses are the Apostles speaking after Jesus’ resurrection.
Acts 2:22-24, 22: Men of Israel,
hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves
also know him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom
God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be held by it.
Acts 2:36: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both lord and Messiah."
Acts 3:22: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall Yehovah
your God raise up unto you of your brethren..."
Acts 13:23: "Of this man's seed (David's) has God according to his promise
raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus:"
Romans 5:19: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one (one man, Jesus the Messiah, verse 15) shall many be
made righteous."
1 Corinthians 15:21-23: "For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam (a man) all die, even so in Christ (a
man) shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: The Messiah the first fruits; afterward..."
1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man the Messiah Jesus;"
The above verse in 1 Timothy should be clear enough. Notice it does not say
“one mediator between ‘the Father’ and men”, but “between God and men, the man the
Messiah Jesus”. If Jesus were God, this scripture wouldn’t make any sense.
Hebrews 1:4: having become so much better than the angels, as He has by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1:11-12: For both he who sanctifies [sets apart] and those who are
being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call
them brethren, saying: "I will declare your name to my brethren; In the
midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you."
Hebrews 5:7-9: when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement
cries and tears to Him who was able to save him from death, and was heard
because of his godly fear, though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the
things which He suffered. And having been perfected, he became the author of
eternal salvation to all who obey him,
Hebrews 7:14: For it is evident that our lord was descended from Judah, a tribe
with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
Revelation 5:5: and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold,
the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as
to open the book and its seven seals."
For the Messiah to truly come from the tribe of Judah, he had to be of Mary’s
egg. Not an angel put in her womb and not God Himself entering Mary’s womb, but
an actual baby conceived in her womb from her egg (not from Joseph, but from
God by the power of His Spirit – virgin birth). The KJV uses the words “sprang
out of Juda” in Hebrews 7:14. The Greek word is “anatello” and means “rise – to
cause to rise – of the earth bringing forth plants – etc.”
Luke records the conversation between the Angel and Mary in this way:
Luke 1:35: The angel answered
and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy child shall be called
the Son of God.
The Greek word here translated as “for that reason” (therefore in the KJV) is
dio, and it means “wherefore; on account of”. The reason Jesus would be called
the Son of God was because the Power of the Most High God was going to
overshadow Mary and she would conceive, and for that reason, or on account of
this, he would be called the Son of God. Just as Adam, who was created by God
is called the son of God – Luke 3:38: the son of Enos, the sone of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
We have seen that Jesus was a man, a mediator between God and man; we are to be
like the Messiah – heirs with him; God is our Father and the Messiah is our elder brother:
Acts 3:22: Moses said: YEHOVAH GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM
YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED TO EVERYTHING HE SAYS TO YOU.
Romans 8:17: and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with the
Messiah, if indeed we suffer with him} so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:29: For those whom He foreknew, He also marked out beforehand to
become conformed to the image of His Son, so that he would be the firstborn
among many brethren;
Hebrews 2:11-12: For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are
all from one {Father;} for which reason he is not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST
OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE."
This should have thoroughly proven that the Messiah Jesus was a man; not a half
man, not sort-of-a-man, not possessing a man’s body, not God masquerading as a
man, but a real flesh-and-blood man. There is nothing to make us think he is
one-third of a triune being. He is not co-equal and co-eternal with the Father.
He is the Son of Man, the Son of God – He is our lord and Savior.
1 Corinthians 8:6: "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we in him; and one lord Jesus the Messiah, because of whom are all things, and we in him."
Philippians 2:11: and that every tongue will confess that Jesus the Messiah is lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
4. Why a Man?
First of all when man sinned God
required that blood be shed [a sin-offering sacrifice] to pay for those sins.
Genesis 9:4-6: But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast,
I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's
brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his
blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
Blood had to be shed; without the shedding of blood there is no remission of
sins:
Hebrews 9:22: without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
But God cannot shed blood; He is not flesh and blood.
Matthew 16:17: And Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because
flesh and blood did not reveal {this} to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Because blood is required, God set up the whole sacrificial system, but it was
only a shadow or type pointing to the Messiah. This is the reason that the
animal sacrifices in the Old Testament did not truly atone for sins.
Hebrews 10:4: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could
take away sins.
Man sinned, so man’s blood is required. Again, God’s blood is not required –
God is not a man and He cannot die.
Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He
should repent.
By looking at Adam Christology we can see another reason Jesus had to be a true
man (another Adam). The first Adam messed things up and the second Adam came to
fix them.
1 Corinthians 15:45: So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A
LIVING SOUL." The last Adam {became} a life-giving spirit – as a
glorified, immortal man.
Romans 5:14-19: Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those
who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who
is a type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense.
For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the
gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus the Messiah, abounded to many. And the
gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment
which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which
came from many offenses resulted in justification – a decree of not guilty. For
if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the One [man], Jesus the Messiah.) Therefore, as through one man's
offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through
one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in
justification of life – guilt free. For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22: For since by man came death, by man also came the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in the Messiah all
shall be made alive.
Do you see the pattern emerging here? Man sinned so man has to pay for those
sins. Therefore God, in his amazing foreknowledge and grace, had a contingency
plan from before the foundation of the world. He would have a man be born in
the fullness of time. God’s Spirit would overshadow Mary and she would conceive
and give birth to the Messiah who would pay for man’s sins.
The first Adam was called the Son of God because he was made by God; he was a
true man, made by God
Luke 3:38: the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Therefore, the second Adam had to be a true man, made by God. God created man
(Adam) who had the capability of sinning (human nature), but not a propensity
toward it (sin nature). He made him genetically perfect and hoped he would be
behaviorally perfect. Once he disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit, sin
nature entered the picture. The birth of our Savior was from God impregnating
Mary, creating another genetically perfect man and hoping he would be
behaviorally perfect. God was responsible for the flawless genetics, but he
could not be responsible for the flawless behavior. Man is a free will being
and as such must choose to obey or disobey. The first Adam chose to disobey;
the second Adam was obedient in every way, enabled by the Spirit of God – God
indwelled him with the fulness of his nature. We again quote from [3] “One God
and One lord – Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith”:
The Bible is basically a story about two Adams and the two “races” they
fathered. Romans 5:12-21 could be summarized like this:
Two Adams
Two Sons of God
Two men
Two gardens
Two temptations
Two decisions
Two results
Two races
Remember this?
Hebrews 4:15: "...but was
in all points tempted like as we are..."
Can we really say he was “tempted like as we are” if he existed from eternity
past, had a knowledge of this existence, and knew he would return to being God
himself? I quote [4] J.A.T. Robinson:
The traditional supernaturalistic way of describing the Incarnation almost
inevitably suggests that Jesus was really God Almighty walking about on earth,
dressed up as a man. Jesus was not a man born and bred – he was God for a
limited period taking part in a charade. He looked like a man, he talked like a
man, he felt like a man, but underneath he was God dressed up – like Father
Christmas…Indeed, the very word “incarnation” (which, of course is not a
Biblical term) almost inevitably suggests it. It conjures up the idea of a
divine substance being plunged in flesh and coated with it like a chocolate or
silver plating…The supernaturalistic view of the Incarnation can never really rid
itself of the idea of the prince who appears in the guise of a beggar. However
genuinely destitute the beggar may be, he is a prince; and that in the end is
what matters.
IF it is a requirement that we believe in a Trinitarian God, a
Binetian God, or a God Family; if it is a requirement that we believe Jesus
was anything other than the Son of God; why didn’t Peter mention it when he
preached this sermon to Jews (who were extremely Monotheistic and had no
conception of the Trinity) in Acts chapter 2 right after he had received the
promised Holy Spirit (which should have led him into all truth)?
Acts 2:22-42: Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man
attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him
in your midst, as you yourselves also know him, being delivered by the
determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands,
have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains
of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David
says concerning him: 'I foresaw the lord always before my face, for he is at my
right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my
tongue was glad; moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not
leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You
have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of joy in your
presence.' Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Messiah
to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of
the Messiah, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see
corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For
David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The Lord said to
my lord, "Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your
footstool." ' "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both lord and Messiah. "Now
when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the
rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then
Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus the Messiah for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to
all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with
many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from
this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were
baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers.
As stated earlier, these people listening to Peter were Jews from all over the known world (Roman Empire),and
were of the Jewish religion and were in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.
The Jewish religion had no concept of a Trinity. These 3000 people could not
have had any concept that Jesus was God himself, yet 3000 people were saved and
baptized that day! Amazing isn’t it!
It is amazing how the Jews were disingenuously trying to drum up charges
against Jesus. At one point they say the following:
John 8:41: "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to
Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."
And then at another point they say Jesus was making himself equal with God
because He said that God was His Father:
John 5:18: "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not
only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making
himself equal with God."
They were speaking out of both sides of their mouth – anything to try and trap
Him.
5. Conclusion
Let us not destroy the
historical lord, Jesus the Messiah by making him an eternal, pre-existent,
omnipotent, untemptable, co-equal God who masqueraded as a man for a short
time. He was a man in whom God dwelt, and through whom God spoke and worked and
manifested Himself; a man who’s Father was God; a man who submitted to God -
"Not my will, but your, be done" (Luke 22:42). The doctrine of the
Trinity is not scriptural. The idea of 3 co-equal, co-eternal members of a
Godhead is not to be found anywhere in the scripture; to quote Anthony Buzzard
[& Charles Hunting] one last time from [their] book [1]
The Doctrine of the Trinity – Christianity’s
Self-Inflicted Wound:
“Could it be that today’s Trinitarians inadvertently, and in sincerity
desiring to exalt Jesus, fall into the trap of ascribing to the Messiah a
position as God which he never claimed for himself? A claim to be Deity in the
Trinitarian sense would actually be blasphemous by Jesus’ own standards, since
he repeatedly affirmed that his Father was the only true God."
Footnotes
1.
This book by Sir
Anthony Buzzard & Charles Hunting can be purchased by logging on to http://www.abc-coggc.org/coggc/books.htm.
2.
This quote is from the book, ‘The Use of the
Fourth Gospel for Christology Today’, by J.A. Baker
3.
To read excerpts
from this book or to purchase, log on to: http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=47
4.
This quote is from the book, “Honest to God”
pg. 65-66
Written by a man who goes by the name of “Seeker” on the web, and edited
by Bruce Lyon
