You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companion by anointing you with the oil of joy.
(Psalm 45:7)
Recently I began a friendship with a man at a park I frequent who, from outward appearances, seemed to be Christian…a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. We both share a common bond in the joy of talking about His word and our love and respect for Him. Every time I run into this man we always get into deep theological discussions about scripture, but the more we spoke and discussed The Bible something very alarming began to come to light. I won’t divulge into great detail what the issue is, but rather would like to focus on the divinity and deity of Jesus Christ in this commentary.
First off, I believe there is a solid reason why a lot of pastors will routinely direct new believers to begin reading The Bible with The Book of John. Not only does John repeatedly tell us, the reader, to “believe” over and over again, but he mainly focuses on the deity of Christ. It’s clear John wants to convey that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is God. Jesus is the creator of all things, and since I consider The Bible THE word of God, Jesus is telling me…
He… is… God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)
What does this verse mean to you? Every translation states “the Word was God”. All but one that is. The NWT, or New World Translation, states “the Word was a god.” I don’t consider The New World Translation the inspired word of The Lord at all. Why?
And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:32)
The first Christian writings in existence were the writings of the apostle Paul. Here in the preceding verse Paul reiterates the prophet Joel above.
Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)
Joel above is referring to Yahweh, and it’s clear Paul is referring to Jesus Christ in his letter to the Romans. So if Jesus Christ is not God and is a separate created being then who is wrong here? Joel or Paul? It’s unequivocally clear both are talking about God.
But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24)
Here again we see Paul using OT scripture when speaking of Jesus…
But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD. (2 Corinthians 10:17)
Paul continues this pattern in all of his epistles. He repeatedly quotes Old Testament scripture speaking of Yahweh and connects them to Jesus Christ as being one in the same. Was Paul incredibly misguided? I think it’s safe to say he was not.
God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14)
Probably one of the most blatantly obvious examples of Jesus being God are His I AM statements.
So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:57-58)
Are we to not agree with our Lord and Savior when He literally says it Himself? Look, I see why and how one can “muddy the waters” by searching… reaching for some form of new revelation when studying the scriptures, but the clear and simple truth is this is the view the apostles and the early church held, e.g., the writings of Polycarp, a student of the apostle John, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, or Iraneus of Lyons, France just to name a few. All these examples might have disagreed on some issues, but the one thing they all agreed on… JESUS IS GOD. The emperor Constantine did not “create” the deity of Jesus Christ. He isn’t “a god”, or the brother of Lucifer. He certainly also is not the archangel Michael. Anyone or group of people telling you anything contrary to Jesus being God is what Paul refers to as “a different gospel”.
In the yearning to understand scripture deeply man can often veer off into dangerous directions which is the intent of The Deceiver. Do you think he would not use The Bible against you? He attempted to use scripture against Jesus so why wouldn’t he attempt to do the same against us as well? Why do we veer off? Pride, and our fleshly desire to be different or more special than everyone else on a worldly level. It isn’t enough for us that we are someone special in God’s eyes. Our fleshly desires and needs supersede the ways of The Lord, and this “need” can very much come in the disguise of “comfort”, “security”… “love”. Some believe in a different gospel simply because this is what they have been subject to for an extended period of time. This is the very nature and DNA of a cult. Jesus tells us very plainly that there are no new revelations beyond His word.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. (Revelation 22:18-19)
The above is simply this without really any other commentary…if you decrease the Godship of Jesus or add to His revelation in effect also decreasing Jesus’s divinity, then… YOU ARE NOT SAVED. Not yet anyway. Keep in mind, this is God saying this above, not man. Meaning I cannot determine whether you are saved or not because only God Himself truly knows. Also do not confuse the scripture above meaning if you’re saved and you are guilty of the above that you will lose your salvation. According to this verse, you never had salvation in Christ to begin with. When read in its context, which all scripture should be and not lifted out of its context, you will see God is clearly speaking to unbelievers in this verse. Those who are claiming to be Christian or someone who has an allotted spot to share in the tree of life, but has chosen to reject the offer by defiling Jesus’ word because of a basic human fleshly need to conform Jesus to themself rather than the other way around. Everyone born into this world has an allotted spot ready for him or her to share in the tree of life. God desires all to be saved. He chose to become flesh and die on the cross to make eternal salvation available for all. God knows who will choose him and who will not. The Bible is clear on this. However The Bible is also clear that it is man who freely chooses to go to Hell and sends himself there by doing one thing. Denying Jesus is God. This is a whole other blog post however so I digress.
In the gospel of John how many times does Jesus say I AM? Seven. How many miracles does Jesus perform in John’s gospel? Seven. Why seven? In Hebrew the number seven represents completeness and perfection. John is not so subtly telling us…JESUS IS GOD.
I end with the beginning. Above in Psalm 45:7 the psalmist says… “therefore God, your God…”. Now let’s look at Hebrews 1:1-10
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have become your Father”?
Or again,
“I will be his Father, and He will be my Son”?
And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says,
“Let all God’s angels worship Him.”
In speaking of the angels He says,
“He makes His angels spirits, and His servants flames of fire.”
But about the Son He says,
“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
He also says,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
When we look at the Hebrew translation of “God” we get “Elohim” and the Hebrew translation of “your God” is “Eloheka”. Both meaning “God”. These are literally the two Hebrew words used in Psalm 45:7 in “therefore God, your God.” The same translations are used in Hebrews when the writer is clearly stating Jesus is above the angels and the angels are to worship Him. Jesus is uncreated unlike the angels. This includes Lucifer. The writer also clearly shows God speaking of God (Jesus) when the passage states… But about the Son He says, and then further down the passage states… “therefore God, your God.” God is literally talking about Himself. If you don’t see this when reading Hebrews 1 then, in my humble opinion, you are in conflict with The Holy Trinity. God, The Son, and The Holy Spirit being three separate beings, but also one in the same. This is an unambiguous objective truth of God’s word. Many whom I have gotten into theological discussions regarding the ability of God talking to God or praying to God or The Father and The Son being one uncreated entity typically always says something along the lines that God cannot do or be this because it’s “impossible”. Instantly my thoughts go to… “impossible”!? So you are telling me that even for the creator of all things that there are some things impossible for this being, and you’re also telling me that this being must reside or function in a realm of human comprehension or reasoning?
My friend, in your quest to gain a deeper understanding you have segued into a pocket of captivity and slavery. Not of Jesus Christ, our God, but of captivity and slavery of the evil one. Yes, The Bible has been “touched” by mankind’s corrupted hands. I agree with this statement, but our Lord is sovereign and there is nothing that is not part of His knowledge and plan. He has allowed removal of certain “early biblical companion pieces” for a reason. He has also allowed some translational errors to take place, but there is one thing that is brazenly transparent. God did not give us His word in an overly intellectual, secret mathematical, or high concept Hebrew cryptographic cipher where we have to look beyond His words and into the ether. He purposefully “dumbed” it down for our limited puny human minds by allowing His word to be translated into Greek “koine”. A version of Greek typically spoken by the “common man”. He wants it to be simple, but thought provoking. He wants us to understand clearly without toil, but the devil wants us to push beyond what is right in front of us. Staring into our hearts. There’s an old saying to just “let The Bible interpret The Bible.” Meaning to give up, let go, and just take God on His word.
My son, if you accept My words
and store up My commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. (Proverbs 2:1-9)