Many
people accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and even the Savior of the
world, but would not agree that he is equal with God the Father. However, there is ample Biblical warrant for
holding to the position that Jesus is equal to God the Father in authority,
position, and essence. The following
scriptural references seem to support the claim that Jesus Christ is a lesser
being than the Father: Jesus Himself
stated, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Jesus referred to the Father as “my God”
(John 20:17) and Paul states that “God is the head of Christ” (1 Cor.
11:3). Jesus is called God’s “only
begotten Son” (John 3:16) and the “Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). Paul states that Jesus is “the firstborn of
all creation” (Colossians 1:15), indicating that Jesus is a created being, and
some religions teach that Jesus was created as the angel Michael.
The Father is greater
than I
Is God the Father
greater than Jesus? In John 14:28, when
Jesus said, “the Father is greater than I”, the Greek word used for “greater”
is, (Strong’s, G3187) which is translated as: greater, larger, older, louder,
or more.[i] Meizōn means greater positionally, in the
same manner the president of the USA would be greater than anyone else in the
USA. A supervisor at work or coach of a
team is in a superior position, but is not a better human being. It does not mean he is a better person in his
nature or essence. If John had intended
to indicate that Jesus is an inferior being to God the Father, he had another
Greek word at his disposal: kreittōn (Strong’s,
G2909). The Greek work kreittōn is
translated as “better, superior, greater”.[ii] The use of kreittōn indicates that the object
being described is better in value or dignity, more useful or profitable,
nobler, or more excellent. The word
kreittōn is never used in the Bible to compare Jesus to God the Father.
Jesus equated Himself
with God
On several occasions,
Jesus identified Himself with God the Father.
For example, in John 10:30, Jesus said, “’’I and the Father are
one.’ The verse goes on to say, “The
Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.”
Clearly, the Jewish religious leaders understood Jesus to be equating
Himself with God which they knew to be blasphemy and worthy of stoning. Again, in John 8:58 it is stated that, “Jesus
said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’ And, again the text records of the Jewish
religious leaders, “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him.” This reference Jesus used in John 8:58 was
intentionally chosen as a quotation of Exodus 3:14, in which God spoke to Moses
from the burning bush. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’; and He said, ‘Thus you
shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'" If Jesus was inferior to God, He certainly
would not have made this statement in John 8.
This is not to indicate modalism, a doctrinal heresy in which Jesus
Christ is exactly the same being as God the Father, but in a different form, as
ice and steam are different forms of water.
The Bible teaches in a number of passages that Jesus Christ, God the
Father, and the Holy Spirit are distinct entities.
Old
Testament Scriptures identify Jesus as God
Is Jesus the Mighty
God? Isaiah 9:6 states, “For a child
will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on
His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal
Father, Prince of Peace.” The Hebrew
words used for “Mighty God” are “gibbor” and “el”, meaning “mighty one, mighty
warrior, special guard” and “God, the Mighty One” (Strong’s H1368 and H0410). This is a direct reference to Jesus Christ as
evidenced by the mention of a child who will be born. The book of Isaiah was written approximately
700 years before the birth of Christ.
Demonstrating that the Son who will be given is equal to the Father,
Isaiah used the same Hebrew words to describe God the Father when he writes, “A
remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God” (Isaiah 10:21). The
same Hebrew words are used by Jeremiah as he wrote, “O great and Mighty God,
the Lord of Hosts is His name” (Jeremiah 32:18). In fact, the next word used by Jeremiah after
Mighty God is Yahweh, or the Lord. So,
the term “Mighty God” is used to describe God the Father as well as the
Son.
Jesus is
Savior
Does the
Bible say that only God is savior? Isaiah
43:11 states, “I,
even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides me.” The Hebrew word used for the Lord here is YHWH
or Yahweh (Strong’s H3068), “the proper name of the one true God”.[iii] So, the Bible clearly states that only God is
savior. Then, in the New Testament, Luke
states, “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11), clearly identifying Jesus Christ as
Savior. Only a few verses previous to
this, Luke identifies God as Savior: “My
spirit has rejoiced in God (Strong’s G2316, theos) my Savior” (Luke 1:47). The word Luke uses here for savior is sōtēr (Strong’s
G4990), which appears approximately 24 times in the New Testament,
interchangeably associated with God and Christ.
Jesus Forgave Sins
Can God alone forgive
sins? John says of God, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Jesus,
speaking to a woman “who was a sinner” said to her, “Your sins have been
forgiven" (Luke 7:48). The Bible
instructs believers to forgive one another, but there was no indication in Luke
7 that this woman had sinned against Jesus.
In fact, those sitting at the table recognized this as unusual and said
among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” (Luke 7:49) Similarly, when Jesus was confronted with a
paralytic, rather than simply heal the man, Jesus said, "Son, your sins
are forgiven" (Mark 2:5). Recognizing
that Jesus was taking on a prerogative of God, the scribes observing this
reasoned, “He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins
but God alone?" (verse 7) Jesus
answered them by saying, “so that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic, ‘I
say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.’ And he got up and
immediately picked up the pallet and went out” (verses 10-12). Jesus could have healed this woman and man
without mentioning their sins, as He had many others. However, He made a point of openly forgiving their
sins to demonstrate His authority as God.
Jesus
accepted worship
Should we
worship God only? The Bible states that
we should only worship God. For example,
God instructed His people through Moses, “you shall not worship any other god,
for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). In the Ten Commandments, it is stated, “You
shall have no other gods before me” and “You shall not worship them or serve
them” (Exodus 20:3,5). However, Jesus
accepted worship on a number of occasions and did not dissuade anyone from
worshipping Him. Matthew records that, “a leper came to Him
and bowed down before Him” (Matthew 8:2) as well as “she
(a Canaanite woman) came and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help
me!’" (Matthew 15:25). The
disciples worshipped Jesus as the Bible records, “Jesus
met them (11 disciples) and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His
feet and worshiped Him” (Matthew 28:9) and, “When
they (11 disciples) saw Him, they worshiped Him” (Matthew 28:17). When Jesus was a small child, He was
worshipped: “After coming
into the house they (magi) saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to
the ground and worshiped Him” (Matthew 2:11).
And, apparently prior to the rebellion of Lucifer, the Bible records, “and when He again brings the firstborn into the
world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him’” (Hebrews
1:6). All the angels worshipped Jesus
and Hebrews 1 goes on to describe how Jesus is clearly different from the
angels. Finally, Thomas, who had been
with Jesus during His earthly ministry, was not confused about Christ’s
identity when he said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus is God.
[Biblical
quotations are from the NASB version.]
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