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--Critical Perspectives
from the Word of God
Christian understanding of the nature of God has come a long way
since apostolic times. The first Christians recognized the deity of Jesus
following his resurrection. This undoubtedly challenged their understanding of
the nature of God and exactly how Jesus of Nazareth could be so. What was the
understanding of the apostles in this matter?
The apostles held that the Eternal God, the "Lord"
of the Old Covenant, was the "Word," the logos,
who became fleshF1 in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Messiah (John
1:14). According to the apostle John, "all things" were made by the
Word (John 1:3). John's gospel
records Thomas as saying to the resurrected Jesus "My Lord and my God!" (John
20:28). Luke quotes Jesus as saying "I saw Satan fall from
heaven" implying he was there�he was the logos (Luke
10:17-18). Matthew�s
gospel sates that Jesus was to be called "Emmanuel" meaning "God
with us" (Matthew 1:23).
The apostle Paul confirmed this teaching when he wrote of God
the Father "who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Ephesians
3:9).
Paul also taught that Jesus Christ was the "rock" (I Corinthians
10:1-4), a title for YHWH
used in the Hebrew Scriptures (Deuteronomy 32:4,
32:15,
32:30-31;
Psalm 18:2). This thinking is found in
Hebrews 1:8 where "of the
Son" the author of Hebrews says "thy throne O God." It is no wonder
Paul could write to the evangelist Titus of "our great God and Savior, Christ
Jesus" (Titus
2:13). Luke records Paul's admonition to the Ephesian elders to
shepherd the "Church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts
20:28). Jesus of Nazareth in Paul's writings unmistakably was both God and
savior.
In Peter�s second epistle, he used the phrase "our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 1:1
NASB). This is a translation of tou' Qeou' hJmw'n kai;
awth'ro" jIhsou' Cristou' (tou Theou hemon kai
soteros �Iesou Christou), literally "of the God of us and
Savior, Jesus Christ" in the Greek text. Here Peter referred to Jesus
Christ as God. Compare this with oJ; Qeo;" kai; path;r
(ho Theos kai pater), translated as "the God and Father"
(I Peter 1:3 NASB) in
his first letter.F2 In
Jude, the apostle referred to his physical brother Jesus as "God our Savior" (Jude
25).
The apostles advanced the personage of God the Father as the
principal member of the Godhead. Heretofore, the Father had been completely
unknown, or otherwise ignored, in Jewish theology in spite of veiled references
to God the Father in the Hebrew Scriptures (the plural form found in
Genesis
1:1-12,
1:14,
1:15-18,
1:20-22,
1:24-29,
1:31;
2:2-3 and the "us" sections in
Genesis 1:26;
3:22;F3 see also
Psalm 110:1;F4
Matthew 22:44; and
John
1:1-14).
As troubling as it may be,
the apostles declared
that Jesus of Nazareth was not only the promised messiah but no other than the
personification of the God of the Old Covenant as well as of the New. This made
possible the ending of the Sinaitic Covenant, as a form of marriage agreement, at Jesus� death�the literal death of God.
But what about Jesus himself? Did he ever claim to be God? See
John 5:18,
John 8:24,
John 8:58,
John 10:30, and
Isaiah 9:6.
The refutation of this exegesis is, of course, an attack on the
Scriptures. While we do not want to over
generalize, understand that the majority of scholars do not believe that the
Bible constitutes the inspired word of God. Minimalists, which includes critical
scholars and free-thinking theologians, look upon the Scriptures as the work of
men devoid of divine inspiration. The literary destruction of the
Scriptures serves to undermine the validity and reliability of the text in their
worldview. This permits them to avow
theologies which suit their purposes. It also means that any content in the
Bible with which they do not agree they can rewrite, or spin, into what they
want said. This is worse than simple eisegesis, it is out-and-out revisionism.
This does not bring insight and understanding to biblical study. Rather, it leads to
pseudo-Christianity, antinomianism, and a blurring of mores, values, and norms.
Those so arguing feel free to contend that every single text suggesting
the divinity of Jesus Christ are unfortunate corruptions introduced by the
Greco-Roman Orthodox Christians. So then, to what degree have these scriptures been corrupted by
orthodox Trinitarian scribes in the copying and transmission of texts to our
day?
F1The
preexistence of Jesus Christ enabled his incarnation as the Son of Man and the
Son of God.
F2See
Marshall
1986:551. See also Bigg
1901 and Green
1983:60.
F3The
"us" sections of Genesis are arguably referring to God and the angels
according to some reasoning. This also is a Jewish argument and a Trinitarian
one as well.
F4Arguably
Psalms
110:1 refers to "shepherd" as "The Shepherd says to my shepherd" and not "The Lord says to my Lord". This is a
traditional Jewish
argument and one advanced by Unitarians (the neo-Aryans of the one God movement). The synoptic gospels record Jesus as holding Psalms
110:1 to read as
"The Lord said to my Lord" (Matthew
22:44,
Mark 12:36,
Luke
20:42). Acts records Peter as quoting
Psalm
110:1 as "The Lord said to my Lord" when preaching on the Temple
Mount (Acts 2:34 NASB). See
Matthew
22:41-46;
Mark 12:35-37;
Luke
20:41-44.
Page last updated:
11/28/04 08:44 AM.
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