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Christian understanding of the nature of God has come along 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). 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".
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
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. The Old Covenant, therefore, ended at Jesus� death, that is the literal death of God.
So long as God lived he was bound by the political marriage to the ancient nation of Israel.F5 The Crucifixion terminated the Mosaic Covenant rights of the nation of Israel, both the house of Judah and the house of Israel, appertaining to the kingdom of God (Matthew 21:43). The Mosaic covenantal relationship with the Jewish people unequivocally ended when God, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, died. The kingdom spoken of by the prophets then became the possession of the Church of God as the new spiritual Israel.
While the Old Covenant ended with Jesus� death its forms did not cease until the fall of Jerusalem in CE 70. The final destruction of the Second Temple resulted in the abandonment of the Levitical system and the Aaronic priesthood. God invalidated these systems when the Old Covenant terminated with Jesus� death in CE 30. Thereafter they continued for a short time as antiquated and archaic forms. Since the old covenant was a type of marriage agreement, between the ancient nation of Israel and the Eternal of the Hebrew Scriptures, the death of the Messiah terminated it following the nature and conditions of such agreements. The Old Covenant then no longer existed but ended in its entirety and, according to the apostles� writings, a new and better one replaced it. The apostles understood God to be no longer to be dealing with a single nation but with all the world.
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 Jewish argument. 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.
F5The Old Covenant did not come to an end with an annulment but with divorce and ultimately death. An annulment has to do with fraud, lack of capacity, or consent at the inception of the marital agreement. There was no species of fraud, lack of capacity, or involuntary consent in the formation of the Old Covenant.
Page last edited: 11/28/04 08:44 AM
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