I notice you answer questions on your website. I find you have provided a lot of
great information and great articles on your website. I have a question I hope
you could perhaps answer. It seems confusing and I have asked several people that
have not been able to give me a good solid Biblical answer. I have gotten several
"off the top of the head", nervous, boy, that is interesting, I am not
totally sure kind of answers. I have also gotten "the Look", the look
that says, you should feel guilty even saying what you just said. I think we
should be able to ask any genuine sincere question regarding the Bible, even if
it makes some people uncomfortable. So, here is my question;
I
don't believe anyone would EVER say that Almighty God, God the Father,
Jehovah HAS A GOD. That would be absurd. But, the Bible clearly shows that Jesus
has a God. He said on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken
me". He also said after His resurrection, "I go to my father and your
father, and to your God and MY GOD". I understand how many would say this
was because he was on earth and was a man during that time. But, if he is
"God the Son", co equal, co eternal, with God the Father, what about
after His ascension. He would be "back as God the Son in heaven, not still
the man of Nazereth if the doctrine of the trinity is accurate. But, in the book
of Revelation, clearly after Jesus' ascension, it says in Rev. 1:5 that
Jesus has made us "priests unto HIS God". Later, in an astonishing
verse, Rev. 3:12 it says 4 times (four times) in this one verse that Jesus has a
GOD! It says to those who overcome I will make him a pillar in the temple of MY
GOD which comes down out of heaven from MY GOD, and will write upon him the name
of MY GOD, etc. WOW!
Then, one last thought with this, in 1 Cor.
15:24-28 it says, Jesus will reign "UNTIL" all enemies are under his
feet. Then it says everything will be put under his feet, everything "EXCEPT
GOD". Then, in a really amazing phrase it says in vs. 28, That when all
things have been put under Christs feet by God the Father, then the son will be
as it literally says, "MADE SUBJECT" to God the Father, so that
"GOD may be all in all".
So, if Jesus has a God now, after
His ascension, later at the very end of all things He will no longer reign, but
be put in subjection to His God, in what sense is Jesus "God"? This is
especially puzzling to me when I also read Psa. 45: which is the original verse
stating that to "the son HE (Yahweh) says, your throne OH GOD is
forever". Then having said that it also says that the son is "anointed
by God", and that the son spoken to here has "fellows" (Hebrew
means, fellows, peers, equals). So are there many gods, if the one being called
God has peers, equals, fellows? In Psa. 82: it says in the literal Hebrew,
"Elohim sits in the solemn assembly and rules among the Elohim". How
can the one true God rule among "Elohim"...? Then, even more
astonishing, it goes on to say a few verses later a phrase that I would never be
brave enough to write, it says Yahweh says, "you are Gods (hebrew=Elohim)
So, God is saying to men, "you are elohim". If we had any questions
about what this means, Jesus Christ himself quoted this to the religious leaders
and said, in answer to them accusing him of making himself God, Jesus said,
"Is it not written in your law, I (Yahweh) said, you are gods".
Finally,
1 Cor. 8:6 says, "to us (believers) there is one God, THE FATHER, and one
LORD Jesus Christ." It says of the one and only God, that the only God is
"The Father", and that Jesus is Lord. Jesus Christ is referred to as
Lord all over the New Testament. So, How can all this fit with the traditional
teaching of a "co equal, co eternal, triune God? Is it possible that the
Bible uses the word "God" in a way that the church is absolutely
terrified to consider. Is it possible "God" has a broader sense in the
way it is used in Hebr. 1:8, "to the son he says... oh God..." than the
way the church insists on. I am not a Jehovah Witness, a Mormon, or a member of
"The Way", etc. I was born again at five years old, had an amazing
experience of seeing a vision of Jesus at eight years old, and was raised in an
Assembly of God Church attended a Foursquare Church for several years and have
attended three unrealated non denominational churches.
I would
appreciate your answer.
Hi,
thanks for the email and glad you have enjoyed the website. I'm not surprised you've had a few surprised looks and half answers given with your questions. You've obviously looked a few verses up and it's not the easiest question I've had to be fair! : ) Also I'm glad you said you weren't a JW, Mormon etc... I was beginning to wonder if you were a Mormon part of the way down! But it's certainly an interesting question and I'll do my best.
I think a large part of the confusion has arisen because of the assumption that
'Elohim' is used exclusively for Almighty God (Yahweh). The majority of
the times it is... but not always. Have a look at the following details from
'The complete word study' on Elohim (Strongs H430):
'elōhiym:
A masculine plural nounmeaning God, gods, judges, angels.
Occurring more than 2,600 times in the Old Testament, this word
commonly designates the one true God (Gen_1:1) and is often
paired with God's unique name yehōwāh (H3068) (Gen_2:4;
Psa_100:3). When the word is used as the generic designation of God, it conveys
in Scripture that God is the Creator (Gen_5:1); the King (Psa_47:7 [8]); the
Judge (Psa_50:6); the Lord (Psa_86:12); and the Savior (Hos_13:4). His character
is compassionate (Deu_4:31); gracious (Psa_116:5); and faithful to His covenant
(Deu_7:9). In fewer instances, this word refers to foreign gods,
such as Dagon (1Sa_5:7) or Baal (1Ki_18:24). It also might refer to judges
(Exo_22:8-9 [7-8]) or angels as gods (Psa_97:7). Although the
form of this word is plural, it is frequently used as if it were singular-that
is, with a singular verb (Gen_1:1-31; Exo_2:24). The plural form of this word may
be regarded (1) as intensive to indicate God's fullness of power; (2) as
majestic to indicate God's kingly rule; or (3) as an allusion to the Trinity
So you can see that there are instances were Elohim is used of false gods, angels as well as human rulers who have been placed in the position of judges or magistrates. Have a look at Exo 22:8-9 "If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges (Elohim), to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor's property. (9) "For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before the judges (Elohim); he whom the judges (Elohim) condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.
It isn't that there were actual 'gods' that the owner of the
house came before but human beings setup as judges within Israel. So
context is critical! For example, let's take the reference you gave
to Psalm 82 and look at its context.
Psa 82:1-8 A Psalm of Asaph. God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. (2) How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah (3) Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. (4) Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked. (5) They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable. (6) I said, "You are gods, [79] And all of you are children of the Most High. (7) But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes." (8) Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations.
Even though it uses Elohim in the bold verses above, from the context we see that they 'judge unjustly', 'show partiality to the wicked' and shall 'die like men'. It is clear that it is not speaking about actual 'gods' or persons equal with Yahweh. The Believers Bible Commentary makes a good comment on this Psalm with particular reference to Jesus' use of it:
Our Lord quoted verse six in one of His confrontations with His foes (Joh_10:32-36). They had just accused Him of blaspheming because He claimed equality with God.
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?"
To the western mind, the argument might not seem clear or convincing, but it obviously had compelling power on His hearers. They understood that Jesus was arguing from the lesser to the greater. The force of the argument is as follows:
In Psalm 82, rulers and judges are addressed by God as gods. Actually they are not divine, but because of their position as God's ministers, they are dignified with the name of gods. Their greatest distinction is that the word of God came to them, that is, they were officially ordained by God as higher powers concerned with government and justice (Rom_13:1).
If the name gods could thus be loosely applied to men like them, how much more fully and accurately can the name God be applied to the Lord Jesus. He had been sanctified and sent into the world by God the Father. This implies that He had lived with God the Father in heaven from all eternity. Then the Father had set Him apart to a mission on earth and had sent Him to be born in Bethlehem. The Jews understood perfectly that He was claiming equality with God, and they sought to apprehend Him but He eluded them (Joh_10:39).
Psalm 45 (especially verse 6-7) is a reference to Jesus being the anointed one and called God by the Father. Hebrews 1 tells us this. But the eternal mystery is that God became a man and had to live as a man. He was anointed by God above 'his fellows' which just means his earthly companions and/or associates. It is not trying to say that there are multiple Gods like Jesus. It is talking about the anointing that Jesus received when he came to this earth to live as a man, and amongst his fellow men.
In terms of the verses cited where Jesus calls the Father 'my God' etc, or 1 Cor. 15:24-28 where Jesus submits himself unto the Father, I haven't ever had a problem with that. We saw from Psalm45 and Hebs 1 that the Father calls Jesus God just as Jesus calls the Father God. But concerning this submission spoken of in 1 Cor 15:24-28, there has always been is a willing submission within the trinity. The Son comes to do only the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit comes not to draw attention to Himself but to glorify the Son. None of that means that they are any less 'God' than the other. It is simply different roles that they have. An earthly example is husbands and wives. The Bible says:
Eph 5:22-25 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. (24) But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (25) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her'
Each has a role to play and each is different but man is not 'greater' than a woman or vice-versa. Neither is one 'more human' than the other. So it is with the trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all said to be three members of the one God. There is a willing submission within the trinity and different roles that they play. But each are equal in terms of their nature as God.
In terms of 1Co 8:6 which states 'yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him'... we should not think that this is saying that the Lord Jesus is not God or is a lessor God. Paul is again simply differentiating their roles (and standing them in contrast to the many so-called 'gods' that the Corinthians had worshiped) and in fact the word 'Lord' that is used here is 'Kuros' is the Greek which is the New Testament Greek equivalent to the Old Testament Hebrew YHWH.
The complete Biblical library Greek-English dictionary says the following about
this:
'...first and foremost kurios denotes God's name as
is depicted by the tetragrammaton (literally, "four letters") YHWH
(Yahweh). Thus kurios occurs more that 6,000 times in the Septuagint for YHWH...
The Old Testament witness to God as YHWH is remarkably applied to Jesus consistently in the New Testament. Here the New Testament is uniquely underscoring the reality that Jesus is Lord in the divine sense (e.g., Psalm 102:26f./ Hebrews 1:10-12 passim the New Testament; Isaiah 40:3; Joel 2:32/Romans 10:13; Malachi 3:1/Mark 1:2-4;). Almost 20 New Testament allusions and citations to Psalm 110 are applied to Jesus (e.g., Matthew 22:44; 26:64; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42; Acts 2:35; Romans 8:34; passim the New Testament writings).'
I have written elsewhere about how the Old Testament prophecies concerning the
coming Messiah showed that He would be God. You may have seen it but if not:
http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/questions/JesusisGod.htm
Also many others have written about some of the other reasons we know that Jesus is God, equal is essence and nature with the Father... such as:
http://www.gotquestions.org/divinity-of-Christ.html
So I hope this helps. Sorry it is a bit long but your question was quite detailed as you've obviously been thinking about these things quite deeply : )
All the best
Hi
I've been a believer for a while and am very familiar
with (and held onto) the Trinity / 3in1 view (from a non-denominational Biblical
perspective - just like you believe/share on your website). However, I've
been prompted to re-consider if the Trinity / 3in1 view is actually
Biblical
Truth (or is it more so a tradition of men).Since I've followed you guys for
a while, I believe you to be a reliable/trustworthy source for Biblical Truths,
and trust you are truly open (regardless of preconceptions - like the Bereans in
Acts 17:11), I wanted to get your input about this very important matter.
I
sent you 2 videos that show otherwise about the Trinity / 3in1 view (this study
is very compelling, as it is Biblically accurate). I wanted to share these 2
videos with you, hoping you would take the time to prayerfully watch/consider
what it states. I included them again below.
Thank you again for your
time and willingness to help. Just like before, I pray for Wisdom & Deep
Conviction about this matter from our Heavenly Father, through His Son. May His
Truth be revealed and our hearts fully committed to follow Him.
Joseph
(Note for other readers: I won't include a link to the two videos but they said that Jesus wasn't God. The website was legalistic making Jewish practices under the law binding upon Christians today)
Hi Joseph,
thanks for the email reply and I had a bit of a look at the videos. I did skim them a bit as some points were labored and I didn't really have 3 hours to sit and listen, but I think I have a gist for what he is saying. The main point of the first video seemed to be that calling Jesus Elohim doesn't mean that he is God as Elohim is used in some other places for human beings and/or angels. And also that Jesus Himself even pointed out one of these examples in John 10:34, quoting from Psalm 82:6.
Out of the 2600+ uses of Elohim in the Old Testament there are a couple that I know of where it is used of human judges (Exodus 22:8-9, Psalm 82:6). Because of these exceptions the speaker in the video basically says that when the New Testament speaks of Jesus being God, it doesn't really mean 'God' but just a God appointed human ruler/judge in the sense of the user of 'elohim' in Psalm 82:6.
As I mentioned in the Q&A above, if Elohim primarily means 'God', but in some very few exceptions can be used on man or angels, then we should simply look at the context of how the word is used to determine its meaning. I mean, the few exceptions with it applying to a human or angel are pretty easy to stop don't you think? On top of this we should look at how the writer of the book understood that thought... how is he using 'elohim' or 'theos'. For example, when John writes the following, what is he trying to tell us?
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (theos), and the Word was God (theos). (2) He was in the beginning with God (theos). (3) All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Is John telling us that in the beginning, even before all things were created, there was God and with Him was a human judge or ruler? Of course not! John is clearly showing by using the same word theos of both Jesus and the Father in the same verse ('theos' is the Greek equivalent of elohim in the Hebrew) that Jesus is God and was with God right from the very beginning.
Can we know from elsewhere in John's book that this was his understanding and belief? Yes. The very reason that John wrote his gospel is to show that Jesus is God. That is what he states at the end:
John 20:31 ...these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
That is why he states in other places exactly what Jesus was saying about His deity, how the crowd knew what He was stating (so there can be no confusion) and also what John's own belief was. For example let's start with John' own understanding concerning Jesus' claims:
Here is John's understanding of what Jesus was saying (in bold) John 5:17-18 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." (18) For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
There can be no confusion here. The claims Jesus was making, according to the inspired Gospel writer, were making Himself EQUAL WITH GOD.
Here is what Jesus was saying to Jews who understood exactly what calling yourself the I AM meant!
John 8:57-59 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" (58) Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." (59) Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
Here from another example if what the Jews were understanding from Jesus' statements:
John 10:33 We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
I'm currently speaking on the I AM's of Jesus which are through the gospel of John only. There is no doubt that Jesus was claiming to be Yahwah of the Old Testament. This of course is exactly in keeping with what the prophets had said about the coming of Yahwah:
Zechariah 2:10-11 "Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares Yahweh. (11) "Many nations will join themselves to Yahweh in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me to you.
In other words, we see Yahweh coming to live and dwell with mankind and Yahweh of hosts sent Him! It only makes sense in the context of the trinity with both the Father and the Son being one God and was fulfilled when the Word, who is God, and dwelt with God from the beginning, took of flesh and dwelt among us.
The speaker in the video places a lot on Jesus quoting Psalm 82:6 but as I quoted in the previous link, Jesus was not quoting this to say 'hey, don't be concerned I'm just a human like in Psalm 82:6!' That would be the opposite of what the entire book of John and the rest of the New Testament actually says. Jesus was simply arguing from the lessor to the greater. He was saying that if the name elohim could be applied to human rulers as it was in Psalm 82, how much more should be now be applied when the One who is eternal and from the Father is in their midst!
My general advice to you Joseph about that site is to run away and don't go back. Seriously. Apart from all this confusion about who Jesus is it is completely mixing law and grace. As I mentioned to you previously, when this occurred with the Galatian church Paul was incredibly forceful in how serious it was. No other letter to another church reads like the seriousness of Paul's intro to the Galatians.
Galatians 1:6-10 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; (7) which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (8) But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! (9) As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (10) For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
If you want to read a concise but SOUND article on whether Jesus is God, I would recommend this article by Dr Ron Rhodes. It has a lot more points that I won't try cover. I've listened to him quite a few times and read some of his books and he is excellent for sound Biblical teaching.
https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/jesus-is-god/is-jesus-god/
I would also recommend a recent video from Hal Lindsay called 'The man God became' that I watched last night (not because of our communication, it was recommended to me by a family member so watched it and thought it was interesting timing given our correspondance so am passing it along):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3jBCquXUcU
Hope this helps in some way. Jesus once said to the Jews listening, 'Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins'. He is the I AM, Almighty God, Yahwah of the Old Testament. Don't reduce Him to anything less.
God Bless,
Iain.