PART IV- Jesus Saying He is God

Jesus asserts that there is no other rabbi or teacher other than him. He is saying that none is to be called teacher or rabbi, and yet that title is constantly used of himself. This is a strong claim that can be predicated of none but God (v.23:8-10).

““Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah.”

Jesus says to the pharisees that his disciples may not fast while he is with them. This is an incredible assertion- how could a mere human stipulate that service due to God be suspended while he were present, save that he were himself God. It is as though Jesus is stating that his mere presence is beatific. This is directly related verses like Is.62:5, (chatan- bridegroom, see Jerome p.1249) “as a young man marries a woman, so will your builder marry you”, Isaiah 54:5 “your Maker is your husband (boalayik, from baal- to marry)”, the language of betrothal (Hos.2:19,20); Jeremiah 2:2 God saying to Israel “how as a bride you loved me”:

“Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.” (Mk.2:18-20)

“Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn. 20:28) If it were untrue, Jesus would have corrected him, but He didn’t- rather he commended Thomas precisely because he had “believed”, and commended those that would come after him down the ages that would also come to believe.

“You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am (εἰμὶ γάρ= for I am). So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:13)

God of Moses, David and Daniel

Jesus proclaims himself God of Moses, God of Daniel and God of David. The allusion is obvious to the Jews and most so to the Temple authorities who are steeped in the study of Scripture, there is no doubt in their minds as to what he is alluding to. It is little surprise when the high priest himself tears his robes and makes the blasphemy charge in response:

“Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am (Lord of Moses- Exodus 3:14); and ‘you will see the Son of Man (God of Daniel- Daniel 7) seated at the right hand of the Power (God of David- Psalm 110:1), and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven (Daniel 7 again).’” (Mk.14:61,62)

St. Basil of Caesaria states: “Matthew 16:27 when Stephen beheld Jesus standing at the right hand of God; Acts 7:55 when Paul testified in the spirit concerning Christ that he is at the right hand of God; Romans 8:34 when the Father says, Sit on my right hand; Hebrews 8:1 when the Holy Spirit bears witness that he has sat down on the right hand of the majesty of God; we attempt to degrade him who shares the honor and the throne, from his condition of equality, to a lower state?” (“On the Holy Spirit”, Ch.7)

God of God- “the Objection” is a Confirmation!

Look at this argument here: The “God of God” Paradox and Prophecy

One with the Father

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest…” (Matt. 11:27-28)

(John 8.19b) ”…‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

John 14.7 “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”

“What the Father has given me is greater than all else and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one…” (John 10:30)

“If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37,38)

“Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (9)

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? (10)

The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. “(John 14:11)

and in “Temple-ing” themselves in them (Jn,14:21-23), abiding in their love (15:20)

Making himself equal to God– the Blasphemy charge: Jn:8,10; Mk.2

“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk.2:7)

“the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him” (Jn.8:29b)

“We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, declare Yourself to be God” (33). Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods’?  If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? (Jn.10:33-36)

Here Jesus is quoting the Psalms:

“I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall like any prince” (Psalm 82:6,7)

The verse in John 10 has lead to some discussion as to just what exactly it was that Jesus meant by his referral to Psalm 82. This becomes simpler if one puts oneself in God’s “shoes”, in order to understand this from the divine perspective. The overarching and completely justified concern here is this: God has, in no uncertain terms commanded his people that they are to have no other gods before him and that such blasphemy is deserving of death. God is now stood before those very people to whom he gave that Law in the first place, claiming the divine prerogative with “my sheep hear my voice…” (v.27), “I give them eternal life” (v.28), “the Father and I are one” (v.30) and “the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (v.38).

Jesus understands the cause of the the people’s concern and indignation, since he gave them the blasphemy laws in the first place. He therefore conveys to them through the use of Psalm 82 that while it would indeed be blasphemous for, in the Jews’ own words “only a human” (v.33), to make himself equal to God, yet he is not “only a human” at all, rather he is “the one the Father has sanctified and sent into the world” (v.36). If there is a nuance by which men can be called “gods” (v.35,36) and “children of the Most High” (Ps.82) without blasphemy, then so also must they consider that there be the possibility of nuance in Jesus’ own relation to the Father that precludes such a charge, since he is “God’s Son” (v.36).

There is a manner in which a human being can be elevated to the status of a Son of God without violating monotheism, so also the nuance by which he is God’s Son precludes any violation of monotheism implied in his assertion of being “in the Father” and “one” with him. Jesus is not a competitor-God for monotheism, rather in that he his “in God” in the manner of Exodus 23 “my Name will be in him”. Similarly there is a nuance by which the people can be called elohim non-competitively as long as the nuance is appreciated.

I go into such a detailed analysis of this passage because it is among some of the strongest affirmations of Jesus’ deity and so it also becomes the focus of the strongest objections. The objection is typically that the Jews “misunderstood what Jesus was saying”, and that Jesus is merely claiming divinity in the manner that all humans can (supposedly) claim it. In fact Jesus is not claiming divinity in this manner rather what he is claiming is exemplified in v.30 and 38, which in human claims. Stating “well this is just human stuff anyway, move along, nothing to see here” does not solve the problem for the people. This is why they are far from satisfied and “try to arrest him” following the supposed “reassurance” (v.39). Were Jesus truly attempting to downgrade the claim he need only have states “I am not God/equal to God”. Further, the human author of the Gospel of John certainly gives no indication of a misunderstanding here either, he himself iterates in 5:18 “making himself equal to God”. Jesus is certainly bringing a difficult teaching here, and he is not going to fully reveal that mystery until many things have first come to pass.

The late Michael Heiser asserted that Jesus is alluding to non-human supernatural beings in the divine council anyway in John 10. These are the ones “to whom the word of God came” in Psalm 82. The first few verses of this Psalm are one of the central passages for his “divine council” theology, which is understandable, given the literal phrase is present here. Jesus is not backing down on his divine claim, rather he is pointing out that there are others that Scripture rightfully calls elohim. This theme of Psalm 82:1-8 is strongly corroborated in Psalm 89:5-8. Verse 82:7 “nevertheless you will die like mortals” only seems to affirm that they are after all not mortals. Heiser also points out and criticizes the majority scholarly view is that this might be an allusion to Exodus 23? where Jethro advises Moses to appoint judges and that these judges might be seen as representing the judgements of God himself and therefore elohim. The reason for this link to the Torah is that Jesus says “have you not read in the Law” and alludes to “the people to whom the word came”. He considers this a rather convoluted and unnecessary and unjustified hermeneutic which does not solve the problem of the blasphemy charge.

Summary:

In my opinion, both views do the same thing, Jesus is not climbing down from the primary claim “I and the Father are one” (v.30) and “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (v.38). He seems, by his appeal to Psalm 82, to be calling for understanding, if we were to paraphrase Hamlet “there are more things in the unseen realm, Horatio, than there are in your imagination”. The word elohim, and Heiser is clear about this, is used to describe disembodied spirits in the Bible and ANE culture, not ordinary humans. Jesus is saying to his listeners “listen, we are able to call elohim beings that you do not comprehend, and we are able to call then sons of God in a manner that is not antithetical to monotheism because it is not competitive with God’s uniqueness, and so also by the grace that I will give to you “those to whom the word of God came”, in a way that no one could even understand, you will genuinely be God’s sons, albeit by adoption, and also non-competitively. All this is possible because God is more than one person, and he has a Son, non-competitively in the first place. I am that Son. I think the meaning that is packed into the passage is extremely profound and far transcends what most commentators will mention. It’s focus is the interplay between the people’s accusation “you are making yourself equal to God” (v.33) and Jesus; three affirmations “I am God’s Son” (v.36), v.30 and v.38 of oneness with the Father, and the fulcrum, which is the possibility of authentic divine sonship for creatures “scripture cannot be annulled” (v.35). For humans this means that there is the possibility of an authentic “divinizing of human nature”, something that the Jews would have concerns about regarding blasphemy violations. For our concept of God it means that there is the reality of a Divine Son, something that the Jews would also have concerns regarding. Jesus is pointing out that the former is in their own Scripture already.

Other instances of blasphemy charges:

“For this cause 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,” (John 5:18)

Again, those who take a “Unitarian” view of the Bible will argue here that the Jews simply did not understand their own theological confession, which is that Jesus and God can be one without both being God. I don’t understand how they arrive at such a possibility, but even looking at the text of John 5, the author himself is stating “he (Jesus) was making himself equal to God”. The author of John too believed Jesus implied equality with God by his words.

(this is also repeated in the Son of God section but is pertinent here):

The High Priest when accusing him of blasphemy precisely because it is an exclusive claim to Sonship: (Luke 22:69-71) “…All of them asked, ‘Are you, then, the Son of God?’…’”, (Mt. 26:63) “…tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God”(27:40) “if you are the Son of God come down from the Cross”; John 19:7 “The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’”

Jesus saying he is Yahweh

Jesus applies to himself events in the history of Israel that pertain to God the Father:

“Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,…O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Mt. 23:34,37)

Jesus uses an idiom “finger of God” describing a direct act of Yahweh Exodus 31:18:

“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Lk. 11:20)

I AM

In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly claims the Divine Name for himself. We are sometimes challenged as to what the reason is that the name of Yahweh does not appear in the New Testament. The most obvious reason is that Jesus is Yahweh. When he speaks with the Father he addresses the Father as “Father”, because Jesus is already Yahweh. And Jesus is the Salvation of Yahweh – “Yehoshua”:

“Jesus said to her “I am” (ego eimi), the one that is speaking to you” (4:26)

“”But he said to them, “it is I” (ego eimi); do not be afraid” (6:20).

I’ve heard it commented that the right term to use if Jesus were merely making a general identification of himself would have been “ego eimi emauton” which is “it is I myself”, rather than “I am”. Here Jesus is doing more than making a general identification, rather he is identifying himself as God did to Moses as “I AM WHO AM”. And because he is, they disciples have nothing to fear.

We see the ego eimi no less than thrice in John. As far as I understand it, ego eimi can either be used for “I am”, but also, as in the case of the passage from Matthew “it is I” (I, it is). (“I am he” would read ego eimi autov or semautov). However these two meanings only work in a given context, the former is a response to a question “are you?”, and the latter is in the manner announcing one’s presence. But apart from these specific contexts, by itself it is an incomplete sentence with a verb lacking its object. Because the use is unique the comparison to the only other place where such a usage is found is unavoidable, and this is the divine self-appellation in the Old Testament.

“Jesus said to them, “you will die in yourselves unless you believe that I am he (me pisteuste hoti ego eimi)” (8:24);

“when you have lifted up the son of Man then you will realise that I am he” (8:28)

and finally the well-known verse where Indeed Jesus is referring to Abraham’s encounter with the three Persons of God at the Oaks of Mamre : “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am (he).” (8:58)

“…I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am (ego eimi).” (John 13:19)

“And if go and prepare a place for you, I will come and take you to myself (pros emauton), so that where I am (eimi ego) there you will be too” (14:3)

“I AM” (John 18:5); “I AM” (John 18:6); “I AM” (John 18:8)

Richard Baukham writes: “The Gospel of John…places on the lips of Jesus during his ministry another of the characteristically Deutero-Isaianic declarations of unique divine identity…the concise statement “I am he”, in Hebrew ‘°ni hu’, usually translated in the Septuagint Greek as ego eimi (‘I am’), the form in which it appears in John’s Gospel. This sentence occurs as a divine declaration of unique identity seven times in the Hebrew Bible: once in Deuteronomy, in one of the most important monotheistic passages of the Torah, and six times in DeuteroIsaiah (Deut 32:39, Isa.41:4; 43:10, 13; 46:4; 48:12; 52:6).

It serves to declare, in the most concise of forms, the uniqueness of God, equivalent to the more common ‘I am YHWH’. On the lips of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, its ambiguity, in contexts where it need not be recognized as the uniquely divine self-declaration, enables it to identify Jesus with God, not in a blatantly explicit way which, even in the Fourth Gospel, would be inappropriate before Jesus’ exaltation, but in a way which becomes increasingly unambiguous through the series of seven absolute “I am” sayings (John 4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5, 6, 8).

It is certainly not accidental that, whereas in the Hebrew Bible there are seven occurrences of ‘ani hu’ and two of the emphatic variation ‘anoki hu’ (Isa. 43:25; 51:12), in John there are seven absolute ‘I am sayings, with the seventh repeated twice (18:5, 6, 8) for the sake of an emphatic climax (thus seven or nine in both cases). The series of sayings thus comprehensively identifies Jesus with the God of Israel who sums up his identity in the declaration ‘I am he’. More than that, they identify Jesus as the eschatological revelation of the unique identity of God, predicted by DeuteroIsaiah…”

(Baukham, JGI p.46)

Alpha and Omega

Richard Baukham quotes the verses below and states: “The three phrases – the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end – are clearly treated as equivalent phrases (since Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), and are claimed both by God (1:8; 21:6) and by Christ (1:17; 22:13), in declarations of unique divine identity strategically located in the opening and closing sections of the book. These declarations are modelled on those of YHWH in DeuteroIsaiah (44:6; 48:12; cf. 41:4)…” (JGI p.45):

“I (God) am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev.1:8)

“Fear not, I (Christ) am the first and the last” (Rev 1:17a, 2:8)

“I (God) am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (21:6)

“I (Christ) am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (22:13)

Son of Man is God

Jesus refers to Himself as the ‘Son of Man’ a total of 83 times in the four Gospels. The best inference for the use of this odd term, is that He is referencing the Daniel 7 prophecy. In that passage we have shown that we can make a strong argument for the divinity of this Son of Man figure in the prophecy article.

In John 8:28 above in which Jesus links “the Son of Man” and “I AM” in one sentence.

“…The high priest asked Him “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed one?” And Jesus said “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven” (Mk.14:61, Matt.26:64, Lk.22:69).

This is a tremendous passage in which the Son of Man is “revealed”:^“Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them —it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:20-30)

In the 9^th chapter of John the blind man worships Jesus when he reveals himself as the “Son of Man”.

There are several other Son of Man verses in this article itself, I have not collated all the themes here.

The Messianic Secret

lastly we must mention the Messianic secret. It is extremely evident even in the shortest and possibly earliest written gospel of mark now that is that would be this is not willing to reveal during his ministry. This cannot merely be the fact that he is come deliver a final kind of text book. Because we know that the secret is related to his identity, “who” he is rather than the contents of his message. That identity is defined by his relationship with God and also his power over the supernatural realm.

it would be highly unusual, and even aberrant that a mere prophet or human would decline to reveal their true identity. There is no profit in the biblical narrative, or even among the traditions of other religions where the prophet employs such a device and indeed there is no fathomable reason as to why they would. It is absolutely incumbent and  religious duty of a prophet to reveal his identity and who he represents. All of this only makes sense if Jesus’s intention is that his ministry reveal something about him bye study and contemplation that is the point of his teaching. In other words Jesus intends that his ministry reveal his identity rather than he revealed the full understanding of his identity by himself and the reason can only be that this revelation transcend the usual prophetic categories and is therefore given in the mode that also transcends normative prophetic teaching. And it must also be the case that God’s wisdom apprehends the fact that this ministry is sufficient basis for that revelation to be received, in concert with the subsequent teachings of the church and Saint Paul. If indeed the short ending of Mark is true for example, then this makes complete sense.

PART V- Jesus is called Yahweh

Matthew

Stating that Jesus is Yahweh who saves

In the Gospel of Matthew, the Angel tells Joseph who Jesus is: ^“She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt.1:21) Paraphrasing the angel, what he is saying is “…name him “Yahweh saves (Jesus)”, for he will save”. It is clear that it is Jesus who is doing the saving here.

The Lord coming into his Temple

Matthew in the third chapter (vv.1-4) references this verse which talks of God’s “coming into his Temple”. This can only either be a prophetic reference to the very body of Mary, else that of a hitherto unfulfilled Third Temple. Christian must necessarily hold to the former, as the same verse contains the reference to John the Baptist:
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” (Mal.3:1,2)

Jesus is betrayed for the price of God

“Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took (or “I took”) the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set (or “the price of the precious one”) on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave (or “i gave) them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”.” (Matt.27:9,10)

This is taken from a passage from Zechariah in which God says that it is the price paid for himself!

““And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter” (Zecheriah 11:10,13).

There is much more to be said of this enigmatic prophecy which we have discussed in the appropriate place, in the article on Messianic prophecy.

Mark reveals Jesus as God who is to come into his Temple

The deity of Jesus is implied in the opening passages of the Gospel of Mark. First, John the Baptist appears for the specified purpose of preparing the way for the Lord:

“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;…” (Mk.1:1,2)

This is a prophecy of “God sending God” to execute Judgement:

“See, I (God)am sending my messenger (John the Baptist) to prepare the way before me (God), and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant (Jesus, in this instance) in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver (cf. Mt.3:12)., until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.” (Mal.3:1-5)

Again the way is being prepared for God:

“the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” (Mk. 1:3)

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1-5)

Jesus is “grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mk.3:5) in parallel with similar phraseology ascribed to God in the Old Testament (eg. “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” Is.63:10). This assumes even more significance in that it is the kind of phraseology that is not used of any other Biblical figure.

Mark says Jesus is Lord here, if you note the construction. Having healed the blind man, Jesus sends him away and asks him to tell “how much the Lord has done for you”, Mark then states that the blind man went away and began to proclaim how much Jesus had done for him. (Mark 5:19,20) In Luke it carries the same import, Jesus tells the man “return home, and declare how much God has done for you. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him” (Lk.8;39)

The Markan Narrative speaks for itself:

Mark attributes to Jesus powers and actions that are attributable only to God, like the forgiveness of sins. But woven into the narrative of Jesus is the narrative of Yahweh himself in the Old Testament. For Jesus delivers his disciples from the sea, defeats the forces of Satan when he drives out demons and drowns a legion of demons in the water as he did with Pharaoh’s own legions. Having done so, he then manifests to them on the mountain at the transfiguration event just as Yahweh manifests to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. Further the words “listen to him” are said by the Father which are the same that is uttered by God in the Old Testament of the Angel of the Lord “in whom I will put my Name”.

John

Isaiah saw his Glory

According to John, Isaiah saw Jesus as Yahweh: “Isaiah said this because (or “when”) he saw his glory and spoke about him.” (Jn,12:41) what Isaiah said is quoted immediately prior and is taken directly from Isaiah 6:10 about Yahweh: “And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.” (Jn.12:40). And Abraham saw Jesus as Yahweh too (John 8)

He is the Living Water

Jesus claims to be able to give “living water that will become in them a spring…gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:10-14), and that that this is the “gift of God”. Again Jesus repeats this in 7:37-39. In the Old Testament, God states that he is himself this “Fountain of living water” (Jer.2:13; 7:13; Isaiah44:3, and see also Rev.22:1)

Only God has Ascended and Descended

“Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!” (Prov.30:4)

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” (John 3:13)

The Word of God

“The Word was God” (theos en ho logos literally God was the word”, in Greek because the “logos” has the definite article, it becomes the subject, “The Word was God”. In Greek which Is an “inflected language, word order is not as important as the inflections and placement of articles and so on, unlike English where word order is of first priority. This use of theos in Greek is called the unarthrous (without  article) predicated nominative). Daniel Wallace devotes an entire chapter to this, Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, p255 onward). Opponents of Trinitarianism have made every attempt to subject this confession of Jesus’ divinity in John 1. The arguments all centre around John’s choice to append the article to “logos” but not to “theos”, so let us examine this.

First possibility- it means “the Word was a God”- this is arguably a valid translation, since Greek does not have an indefinite article, and so it’s use has to be translated in context. In this case it would be out of context because it becomes polytheistic to say “a God” where there is no indication that polytheism is the author’s explicitintent.

Second possibility, why did John not add the article “the”? would it not have resolved the controversy? No it would not, because you would then have “The God was the Word”, which is incoherent.

There is a third argument which states that the use is “qualitative”, and adjectival use, so we get “the Word is of  Divine Nature” which is fine from the Christian point of view also, although I am not aware that this adjectival use of “theos” has precedent. The NEB paraphrase “what God was, the Word was,” brings out the meaning of the clause as successfully as a paraphrase can.”

“…for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom…” (Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-28)

“before the hills I was brought forth…when he marked out the foundations of the earth then I was there like master worker. and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” Wisdom of Solomon 7 is quoted earlier under the section “the wisdom of God” (Proverbs 8)

The Spirit of God

“When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (Acts 16:7)

(Rom.8:9,10) “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness”

“for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my salvation” (Phil1:19)

1 Peter 1:11 “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”

Galatians 4:6 “are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Note that in Matthew 10:20 Jesus says to his disciples “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Acts and Epistles call Jesus God

In his sermon, Peter first states that it is “impossible” for Jesus to die, further quoting David stating “the Lord said to my Lord”, and indicating that David was using the appellation “my Lord” for Jesus. The only manner in which Jesus, a descendant of David could be his master, is if he were his God (we look at this again under “objections” in the last section):

“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 (…) God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ³⁵ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ ³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:24, 32-35)

One who is called “Lord of all” can not possibly be a human being:

“You know the message he (God) sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:36)

“to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Rom.9:5)

The “Lord of glory” can refer to no one but God. This is not “the glorious Lord”, but the Lord “of” glory. It reminiscent of “mi hu zeh, melesh ha-kabowd? Yahweh zeh melekh ha-kabowd” (who is he the king of Glory? He is Yahweh, the king of glory” (Ps.24:7):

“None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1Cor.2:8)

Clearly the attributes of Christ, particularly his love surpass all knowledge and themselves represent the fullness of God in the believer, since it is Christ himself who will dwell in them. Thus we find a clear equivalence between made between Christ and God here:

“and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph.3:17-19)

Christ “fills all things” (Eph.4:10)

There are a couple other clear allusions to Christ’s divinity described in the section on Ephesians.

“the image (eikona- icon) of the invisible God” (Col.1:15) This should be taken to mean that the very nature and character of God have been perfectly revealed in him, in him the invisible has become visible.

“For in him all the fullness (pan to pleroma) of God was pleased to dwell” (Col.1:19) This is a manner of stating that there is not a degree of difference between the full glory of God and the glory of God that is in Christ, hence the use of the term “fullness”

again the phrase is repeated here:

“for in him the fulness of deity dwells bodily (pan to pleroma tes theotetos somatikos)” (Col.2:9)

“…Christ will shine on you” (Eph.5:14b)

verses that follow the Granville-Sharpe rule:

The G-S rule is states essentially that is the first of two “substantives” (like noun/participle) has the article, and the second, separated from it by “and” (kai) does not, then the second refers to the first. These two passages follow this rule:

2Cor4:3-6 (see in the Jesus fulfils the Law in himself section)

“…while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (prosdekhomenoi…ten epiphanaian tes doxes tou megalou theou kai soteros hemon Christou Iesou)” (Titus 2:13)

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:” (2 Pet.1:1)

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Jam.1:1)

In Christ/ transformed into Christ/ dwells in us

“God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph.1:22-23)

“it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal.2:20)

“as many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal.3:27)

“…all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:28)

“He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.” (Phil 3:21)

“(how great are the glories of God’s mystery)… which is Christ in you” (Col.1:27)

“(you) mature in Christ” (Col.1:28)

(Col.1:22) “… he has now reconciled (you, to God) in his fleshly body”

Romans 1

This is an incredible sequence from Paul, parts of which we have already seen in some of the previous sections under the aspects of pre-existence, belonging to him, being called by his name:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, ³ the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ…” (Romans 1:1-5)

What we are really seeing here is an affirmation of the two natures of Christ “his (God’s)son who was…according to the flesh…according to the Spirit…”.

It is significant here that with regards to the flesh:

Jesus is born of human “seed”,

while according to the Spirit:

“was declared to be Son of God…our Lord (v.4) through whom we have received grace and apostleship…for the sake of his Name, including you who belong to Jesus Christ…”

This is a powerful verse affirming the two Natures and ascribing divinity to one.

Romans 8

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (vv.1-4)

This is the interpretative key here: It is God’ own Law (v.3) “weakened by the flesh” that “could not do” what “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ” (v.2) could. It was the latter that “set (us) free from the law of sin and death. God supersedes his own Law, “by sending his own Son”, not a Son who is mere flesh, rather “in the likeness of flesh”; “to deal with sin” and “condemn (sin)” (v.3). God’s “Law of the Spirit of life in Christ” (Christ who we are also told is no mere human), accomplishes what the initial form of God’s own Law against sin could not accomplish against sin. We can see that it is impossible that that which accomplished what God’s own Torah (Law) did not accomplish could be anything but God himself. This is strong affirmation of the divinity of Christ.

Second, we observe that the new Law has a trinitarian formulation if we note that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are not collapsible into the same entity, for were it so, then it would not be clear how the change was wrought from the situation of the Old Law. Thirdly we see the two natures of Christ clearly brought out here.

Finally, one can also observe that there is no penal substitution here. Jesus does not come for the purpose of his own punishment primarily, rather “to deal with sin” (v.4) by “condemning (sin)” (v.4), and that justice is fulfilled not in virtue of any notion of a penalized Christ, rather through what Christ has wrought “in us”, who through “becoming like him in a death like his”(Rom.6), now “walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit” (v.5). Justice to God is in that right worship is offered to God and God enables this himself in the perfect obedience of his own Son, which is truly “just” to God, for he is truly deserving of this, and to which obedience unto death we specifically become “united” (Rom.6 Gr. symphotos).

going on from there, St. Paul writes:

“(nothing)…will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus out Lord” (v.39): the very thing that we will never be separated from is “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. That entity cannot not be God.

Galatians

First Paul says (v.1) that he is sent “neither by human commission/authorities”, “but through Jesus” and again in v.10 Paul indicates he is contrasting human vs. God, and says “if I were still pleasing people I would not be a servant of Christ”. Finally in v.11, “the Gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin/ not from a human source” (v.12), “but through a revelation of Jesus Christ”. Elsewhere he has called “the light of the gospel” to be the “glory of Christ who is the image of God” (2Cor.4:4) and that “God…has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor.4:6) :

“¹Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ² and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches of Galatia: ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. (…) ¹⁰ Am I now seeking human approval or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. ¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin, ¹² for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Gal.1:1-7,10-12)

Philippians

Beginning with the first chapter, we’ve already discussed how the opening verses speak of being made blameless on “the day of Christ”, a term repeated more than once.

Worship in Hebrew Scripture: The Letter to the Philippians begins with Paul “servant (Gr. doulos)” of Christ Jesus. This is a significant appellation- For Paul to call himself “servant” of Christ is not analogous to serving an earthly master, because Christ no longer walks the Earth physically. This is repeated in several other places and can only be seen as worship. This aligns with the Old Testament term for worship which is simply “aved” (עָבַד Strong’s 5647, eg.Ps.100:2), itself from exactly the same root word for “serve” or “servant” “eved”. In addition “kabed” (כָּבַד- Strong’s 3513) can be used, which is the same word for glory, honor and actually translated “to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome” (eg.Isaiah 29:13) . Sachach ( שָׁחָה- shacach, Strong’s 7812, Hitpael- וְיִשְׁתַּחֲו֣וּ eg.Gen.19:1) means “to bow down”, and is also therefore used for persons bowing. Finally שָׁרַת (sharat, Strong’s 8334, 97 occ.) we see used in the sense of serving or ministering, eg. at the Altar of the Lord eg..Deut.18:4. Thus I would strongly suggest that whether it is God that is being worshipped or not is strongly suggested by context, rather than merely the specificity of word usage.

In the second section, Paul is again speaking of Christ as the reference point for faith and religion. His imprisonment “for Christ” (1:13) has made the brethren “confident in the Lord” (v.14), and with the stated goal that “Christ is proclaimed” (vv.1:15,16,17.18) “in every way” (1:18), with help too, to be expected from the “Spirit of Christ” (1:19). The language is taken to a climactic level with Paul stating that “Christ will be exalted now as always in my body”, “whether by life or death” (1:19), “living is Christ and dying is gain”(1:21), “my desire is to be with Christ” (v.23), “(my) boasting is (abundantly) in Christ” (v.26), “live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ” (v.27) “for (God) has granted you the privilege of believing in Christ (and) of suffering for him” (v.29).

Carmen Christi: There is evidence that the “Carmen Christi” the Christological hymn of Philippians 2 is relating a hymn that is known to the Church rather than merely composing the himself. One of the reasons for thinking this is that when the hymns is back-translated into Hebrew is falls perfectly into poetic metre. Given that St. Paul’s writings are among the earliest Church writings, if the Carmen Christi predates even them, it is a sign of just how early the deity of Jesus is accepted in the Church.

Phil 2:6: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited…”

Here worship of God and boasting in Christ is in the same breath. It would seem impossible not to equate the two: “we…worship in the Spirit of God (or God in the Spirit) and boast in Christ…” (3:3)

Following this, Paul launches into another famous sequence: “Everything”, “all things”, “all gains” (vv.7,8) is “loss” (v.7,8) and “rubbish” (v.8) in order to “gain Christ Jesus my Lord”, the mere knowledge of is of “surpassing value” (v.8,10), that we may be “found in him” (v.9) and “become like him in his death”, in which is to be found our own resurrection (v.10). Righteousness from God is not through the Law but through faith in Christ: (v.9). We are “taken hold of” by Christ (v.12); God’s heavenly call is in Christ (v.14). The “enemies of the Cross” have for their “god…their belly” (v.19) Lord Jesus is our Savior from Heaven (v.20), transforming our bodies, humiliated in this world to be conformed to his own glorious body (v.21).

1&2 Corinthians examined by Chris Tilling

2Cor.5:9-11)”So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences”, cf.with phbos in relation to God 2Cor7:1. 

“Believe in” (Gal.2:16) cf Rom.4:17 pisteuo

Contrast with idolatory (1Cor10:14-22)

cf. Rom1:25

(2 Cor.7:21-32) “Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave belonging to Christ (…) I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord”

(1Thes.4:5) “that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God;”

(1Cor.2:2) “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

(1Cor.10:14-22) “ Therefore, my beloved, flee from the worship of idols.  I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply, then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.  Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

cf.Rom1:25)

(2Cor.12:8,9)  ^“Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power^[c] is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

Cf. Rom.10:1

Sin “against Christ” (1Cor.8:12). 

(1Cor.10:6-9) “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ[a] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents”

Ephesians- Jesus is ascribed all the “Omnis”

St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians effectively predicates all the divine attributes of Omnipotence, Omnibenevolence and Omnipresence and omniscience to Christ, the template for which is laid out in his address at the very beginning of the first chapter.

Omnipotency:

I’ve covered already the portion that deals with “every spiritual blessing” being in Christ earlier.

Faith is itself is defined as “in Christ” (v.1:15, also Gal.2:16-21, Eph.3:12, Phil.1:29; 3:9, Col.1:4, 2:5),

Having “abolished the law” Christ, “creates (in himself) a new humanity”, while through his death on the Cross, he “puts to death” the violence of men toward God, thus “making peace”. Consider the significance of an act of Christ that puts an end to evil, and that the prerogative for such an act could only be divine.

“He has abolished the law together with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity (between Israel and the unbelieving Gentiles) in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God through the Cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.” (2:15,16).

Christ is equated to God- those who are “without Christ” have “no hope” and are “without God in the world” (2:12), these godless people are “brought near” to God “in Christ” (2:13), he himself is “our peace” (2:14, also 2:15,17) who breaks down the hostility that the godless bear.

In giving himself up for her, Christ the Savior and “Head”(v.5:23) of the Church washes the Church through the water and word (the gospel about Christ), thereby that it may be in splendor, without spot and wrinkle, holy and without blemish to present it to himself (vv.5:25,26). This is repeated “so that you may be holy and blameless…children of God without blemish…on the day of Christ” (Phil.2:15,16), once again showing an that this blamelessness God desires for his children is the manner in which they are presented to his Son. The inference would be that we are to be made holy for God, who alone is holy and worthy of receiving the purity of our sacrifice, therefore Christ must be God to be its recipient as “presentable to”. Again, Here the it is Christ, not the Father who is the subject of the entire passage from verse 15 so that when it says “…before him” (v.22) , it should be quite obvious that the “him” refers to Christ: “he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him” (Col.1:22).

Next we see a trinitarian verse, “Through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (2:18), and the assertion that the very “Household of God” (2:18) or the “Holy Temple of the Lord” (2:21) and the “dwelling place for God” (v.2:22) is “in Christ” (2:21), who is its “cornerstone” (2:20) “in whom” the rest are “built together” (v.2:22).

The oneness of God himself is equated with the oneness of Christ, the oneness of our hope which is in him, the Oneness of true religion (4:4,5):

“4 there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Again it is clear that Christ is being acquainted with God here, since it has been repeatedly said that we must be in the likeness of Christ, attain to “the measure of the Full stature of him”, and to the “full knowledge of the Son of God” (v.4:13) “growing in every way into Christ who is the Head, into Christ” (v.4:15). Thus “putting away…your old self” (v.4:22) to be “renewed in the spirit of your minds and to clothe yourself with the new self” is to be “created in the likeness of God” (v.4:24). This clearly equates Christ and God.

Omnibenevolence:

In Christ is holiness and blamelessness. Further, it is “in love” that we are given these spiritual blessings in Christ:

“just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.”  (v.4)

“Through” the Divine Child we too are God’s children, so also “through him” it is that we receive the inheritance of due to children. This means that it as though we are truly divinized in Christ, after all only that which is of the same nature and dignity as another can receive the inheritance of the other. But if we are to be “divinized” is Christ can only mean that Christ is divine himself. The “pleasure” (v5) which God has in his Son (Matt.3:17) is therefore the same as that which he has in making us his sons and daughters:

“He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ” (v.5)

“In Christ we have … obtained an inheritance…” (v.11)

Jesus redeems us to God, this redemption is to do with “the riches of God’s grace”, which itself is “in Christ”. Only God redeems, and here, God redeems in Christ, so Christ is God:

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us” (v.7)

Omnipresence:

God’s will is to gather up literally “all things”, “in Christ”: “…his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (vv.8-10)

He again equates Christ to God, stating that He fills the whole Universe (4:8-12):

“8 Therefore it is said (…) 10 (Christ)…ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)

Omniscience:

God’s Will which is hidden from “all things”, cannot possibly be hidden from Christ since it is “in Christ”/”set forth in Christ”. Truly, we can ascribe to Christ “all wisdom and insight”, and God’s own will is “in Christ” (v.5- “his will…through Christ”; v.9- “his will…in Christ”; v.3- “God chose…in Christ”; v.6- “freely…in Christ”; v.8 “his will/plan (v.10)…in Christ”; v.11-“destined…according to his counsel and will…in Christ”):

“with all wisdom an insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will…that he set forth in Christ” (v.8)

In Ephesians Ch.3 (also see the separate section on Ephesians), we have a comment on Christ’s omniscience again:

The “mystery of Christ” (vv.3:4,9), as “the plan…hidden for ages in God” (v.9), “not formerly made known to humankind” (v.5), “has now been made known to his apostles and prophets…” (v.5), “by revelation” (v.3) “by the Spirit” (v.5) and even to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (v.10). That mystery deals with the way for those that are hitherto unbelievers, “Gentiles”, which means for all the world to avail in God’s “promise”, “in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (v.6).

PART VI- The Worship of Jesus

Praying to Jesus

Jesus commands a demon “come out of him and never enter him again”, but when his disciples ask him why they could not do the same he replies “this kind can come out only through prayer” (Mt.9:29). Clearly in the scene, Jesus himself does not pray, yet he makes a distinction between him and the disciples.

Here Jesus says “I will do”, in response to the disciples’ prayer: (John 14:13) “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (ESV) (Matt.18:19 Jesus says it will be done “by my Father in Heaven”).

This is a claim of omnipresence “wherever”, as well as of being the recipient of prayers. It should be the obvious that the “gathering” is a prayer gathering: “wherever two or three are gathered in my name I will be there” (Mt.18:20)

Jesus was worshipped during His earthly ministry.

The Old Testament taught against worshiping anyone other than God. If Jesus accepted worship of Himself, this would mean He believed He was divine. Did Jesus receive worship?

There are plenty of examples of persons bowing down and even prostrating to other persons in the Old Testament, including Moses, Elijah and King David, however in all of these, it is quite obvious that the prophet has asked God to perform a miracle, or other similar explicit distinction between the prophet and God. An example is 2Kin.4:36 where the Shunamite woman bows down to Elijah when her son is raised from the dead. Elijah, however has explicitly prayed to God for the miracle in previous verses. Similarly, Joseph’s parents and brothers worshipped him too, however this is in a dream. A dream is only meant to be symbolic, so the symbolism of worship represents Joseph’s suzerainty over his relatives through his high office in the Pharaoh’s court. When his brothers bow down to him at other times it is in the context of their utter destitution in the face famine and the recognitions of Joseph’s power and status over them. It fits perfectly with the context of the story and there is no implication of divinity.

Verses which demonstrate an Attitude of Worship:

In these passages people adopt an attitude of worship toward Jesus. He never prevents this or advises against it. Jesus was the most humble of prophets who who washed his disciples’ feet and did not complain about being executed unfairly. Contrast with the response of others in similar situations, like Peter in Acts:

“On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” (Acts 10:25,26)

And again “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” (Rev.22:8,9)

These are the times that persons bowed down to Jesus:

“there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.​” (Mt.8:2)

“A ruler came in and knelt before him.” (Mt. 9:18) Jesus had healed his son.

“A Canaanite woman worshipped Jesus: “she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.'” (Mt.15:25)

“Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.” (Mt. 20:20)

Mark describes a man who was tormented by evil spirits: “when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.” (Mk.5:6)

“When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32)

Explicit Worship

A healed blind man worships Jesus when he reveals himself as the “Son of Man”.

“He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him.” (Jn. 9:38)

After He walked on water:

“Those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.'”(Mt. 14:33)

After the resurrection of Jesus, the women worshipped him:

“ Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped (προσεκύνησαν) him.” (Matthew 28:9)

And later, all of the disciples too:

“when they saw him they worshipped (προσεκύνησαν) him…”(Mt. 28:17a)

Here Jesus is directly quoting (Psalm 8:1,2) “you have set our glory above the heavens out of the mouths of babes and infants”. In doing this, Jesus is equating the praise given him with praising God himself

“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did and heard^[d] the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” (Matt.21:15,16; Lk.19:37-40 has instead “if these were silent even the stones would cry out”, Mk.11:15-19 does not include the exchange with the pharisees)

Finally, we must consider that the adulterous woman performs perhaps the greatest act of adoration of anyone in the Bible and Jesus not only commends her for it, but grants her forgiveness of her sins as related to the repentance shown toward him, when her sins are not directed toward him in the first place. Only God can be offended even though he not be related to the temporal circumstances of sin. He defends her when someone criticizes the act and praises the woman for her great love for him, as greater than that of the others (Lk.7:45).

Worship of Jesus in the Early Church

Evidence of Worship of Jesus in the early Church refers to the time directly after the Resurrection. evidence for this therefore might be sought in the post-Resurrection narratives of the Gospels, but mainly in the book of Acts and the Epistles.

Doxological association of Jesus with the Father

St. Paul equates Jesus and the Father in glory in his prayers as seen in variants on the expression “God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ” as seen in Gal. 1:3, 1 Cor.1:3, 2:Cor1:2, apart from using the entire trinitarian formula in his prayers as in 2Cor.13:14. When he ascribes attributes, praises and thanksgiving to the Father it is often “through our Lord Jesus” Christ. This is a significant association, because there would never under normal circumstances to associate another with the glories and praises that are the exclusive remit and prerogative of God himself.

In Ephesians 1:12 (below) it might be argued that the object of the praise is God the Father and not Christ, however this is certainly not clear for the syntax- the immediate antecedent is Christ, and an allusion to the fact that our hope is set in him- if our hope for Heaven is said to be set in Christ without mentioning the Father in this verse, then why not also the praise be addressed to him? A stronger argument against the subject being Christ is that Paul never seems write directly with respect to Christ in this manner anywhere else, so there’s nothing to compare it to:

“…we who were first to set our hope in Christ might live for the praise of his Glory” (Ephesians 1:12)

Philippians- The Carmen Christi

“Worship” in the Bible:

It is important not to be lost among all the technical language that gets used in scholarly discussions about “worship” in the Bible, and when it implies the attitude of creaturliness in the face of deity, and making a few basic observations will help tremendously in this regard.

Strong’s Greek: 4352. προσκυνέω (proskuneó) is used 60 times in the NT and is simply defined as “to do reverence to”.

“Worship” in Greek

This section on the three words used for prayer is taken as excerpts from orthodoxchristiantheology.com:

Dulia and Serving God. When the Scriptures refer to the Triune God being served (dulia), we often do not see service being referred to explicitly in a worship context. After all, serving God is not always worship, though it is of course rightfully done. This is why we “serve [dulia] God and” not “money” (Luke 16:13), “serve (dulia) God’s Law” (Rom 7:25), “serve (dulia) Christ” in fastings (Rom 14:18), and “serve (dulia) Him under one yoke” (Zeph 3:9, LXX). In the preceding, it would not make as much sense to use the word latria in any of these contexts as service specifically pertaining to worship does not appear in view in the preceding passages. Hence, the choice of the word dulia and not latria.
However, the preceding is not universally true in the Greek. An act of service (dulia) may also constitute an act of worship, though worship and service remain mutually exclusive. For example, 2 Chron 33:16 in the LXX states: “He built up the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve (dulia) the Lord, the God of Israel.” We can obviously see that what is being spoken of here are liturgical services–the literal nitty, gritty of making sacrifices. Sacrifice is an act of service used for worship. So, dulia may be used in the worship context–it is just not exclusive in its meaning like latria.
Dulia and Serving Other Parties. In the Scriptures, dulia is frequently used in reference to serving people and false gods (LXX, NT). We do have Scriptures where dulia is referred to in a religious context (i.e. “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served [dulia] those which by nature are not gods,” Gal 4:8). Yet, because the word dulia simply pertains to an act of service which may or may not be worship-related, it should not surprise us to see dulia used in contexts that are not religious at all (i.e. John 8:33, Rom 9:12, Ex 14:5 LXX).
We also see dulia pertaining to the service of other Christians, and not acts of worship (i.e. Phil 2:22, see also Gal 5:13 1 Tim 6:2). This is not true for a single usage of the term latria in the Scriptures, which mitigates against James White’s conflation of the terms.
…let’s cover passages that explicitly say when we serve (dulia) men we in fact serve (dulia) God Himself:
Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ…with goodwill doing service (dulia), as to the Lord, and not to men (Eph 6:5, 7).
Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve (dulia) the Lord Christ (Col 3:22-24).
Clearly, slaves are not being commanded to worship their masters, something that James White’s logic would demand in Eph 6:7 if dulia’s range of meaning was restricted to services that pertain strictly to worshiping God.
Rather, we may surmise that the Scriptural teaching is that when service is given to earthly men in certain situations, it by extension really serves God. This logic is clearly seen in the veneration of the saints, as Saint Jerome writes:
We, it is true, refuse to worship or adore, I say not [only] the relics of the martyrs, but even the sun and moon, the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim…For we may not serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. [Romans 1:25] Still we honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him whose martyrs they are. We honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord who Himself says:— he that receives you receives me [Matthew 10:40] (Letter 109, Paragraph 1).
Proskuneo (Reverence) in the Scriptures. Proskuneo is almost always used to mean “reverentially worship” in the New Testament. For example, Matt 4:10 states, “You shall worship (proskuneo) the Lord and Him alone you shall serve (latria).” The one key exception is Matt 18:26, where a servant falls on his knees (proskuneo) and begs his master to forgive his debt. Jesus in telling this parable was aware that the word commonly meant worship (as it is used throughout the New Testament), but otherwise may be legitimately rendered “prostrated.” We see this translation used in the Old Testament, such as in 1 Sam 20:41. In choosing this word in Matt 18:26 for the slave prostrating to his master, Christ was cluing His listeners that the master was a type for God Himself.”

The Carmen Christi: We discuss this section of Philippians 3 under that chapter.

In Hebrews 1:5-6, God the Father says that all the angels should worship God the Son: “let all God’s angels worship him” in reference to Psalm 97:7.

Cross reference Hebrews 1:11-14 with Psalm 2;7-9, 2 Sam 7:14, Deut 32;43

also Psalm 45:6,7 is referenced here in Heb 1:8,9 in which the addressee of the Psalm is the King to begin with, but then changes to God himself.

We note that the sequence from vv.6-10 Jesus is called both God and Lord as well as that he be worshipped by the angels:
“but of the Son he says (v.8), “…let all God’s angels worship him” (v.6)…”Your Throne O God, is forever and ever (v.8)…”and in the beginning, Lord, you founded the Earth (v10)…”

Heb.1:10-12 is unmistakably referencing Yahweh in Psalms Ps. 102:25-17

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying…” (Rev.1:17a)

In Rev. 5:8, 12,13 and Colossians 2:6-7, we find that Jesus is worshiped in every way that the Bible specifically describes worship of God the Father, with all the same words used (see: Rev 4:9-11, 5:13; 7:11-12, and Rom 11:33). 

-in the Gospels after the Resurrection.

-in Acts, the Epistles (we have covered most of these already), and the Book of Revelations where Jesus and the Lamb receives worship not only of humans but of heavenly creatures and in union with God the Father. This is definite worship. I will probably not make a thorough compilation of the verses pertaining to this because there would be too many to name.

Belief in God and Christ is equated

“This is eternal life, that you believe in God and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent”

In this rearrangement of 1Jn.4 brings out the implication that God is not testifying to his Son as though he were merely one of many other human beings. Rather, the “three witnesses” (the Spirit of God, the water (likely the event of the Baptism of Christ, where the disciples witnessed and heard divine testimony from on High) and the Blood (likely the event of the death of Christ) are united in testifying to the Son of God, with the strong implication that he is on the contrary not “just another of many humans, rather what is different about him is precisely that eternal life is from in and in having him and believing in him, all of which are divine attributes. The passage is also intensely trinitarian in that the God, through his Spirit’s witness, is testifying to his Son:

“The Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is truth (v.6)..(there are three that testify, the spirit, the water and the blood, and these three agree-v.7,8)…the testimony of God…(testifying) to his Son…is greater than human testimony (v.9)…believe in God’s testimony…concerning his Son (don’t make his out to be a liar) (v.10)…the eternal life God gave us is in his Son,…in having his Son (v.11)” (1Jn.4:6-11; slightly changed to bring out the meaning)

That God will Come is Prophesied in the OT

Here the origin of the one who is to come is “from of old, from ancient days”.

“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me; one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time;  when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return; to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great; to the ends of the earth; 5 and he shall be the one of peace.” (Micah 5:1-5)

Here the one who is coming himself is an irresistible judgement for mankind:

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.[a] 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”

(Malachi 3:1-6)

Isaiah 9:4 Immanuel prophecy (this is defended in a separate article)

Isiaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. …

Zecheriah 2:11″Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.

Isaiah 40:3-10, (and fulfilled in Matthew 3:3)

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Jeremiah 23:5-6

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’(NRSV)

Zephaniah 3:14-17 “The Lord has taken away the judgements against you,  he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst…”

Objections

Some Biblical verses get raised as objections to Jesus’ deity. I’ve addressed some of these under the “Hard Questions” sub-category, as well as under the The Messianic Prophecy of the Bible where I deal with the “God of God” objection. Some other verses are:

“²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 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.” (Acts 2)

The objection here is that Peter is stating that Jesus is a “man” etc.. The response is that reading on, as we have already covered in this section is that it was “impossible” for Jesus to die, and in his next speech states he is the “author of life”, finally clearly quoting David stating “the Lord said to my Lord”, and indicating that David was using the appellation “my Lord” for Jesus. The only manner in which Jesus, a descendant of David could be his master, is if he were his God (we’ve said all this already in support of Jesus’ deity)

Conclusion

Each of these sections represent in some way a divine attribute ascribed to Jesus. Loose parallels might of the miraculous might be found in other prophets but as I have pointed out in the relevant sections, not in a manner that implies the divinity of the person. Further in the case of Jesus, ALL of these are found, about a 100 (I haven’t even counted) instances of divine attributes in a single individual, when in all the parallels, they are only present singly. This forms for us a tremendous cumulative case for the true divinity of Jesus.