Having established in the previous two articles that there is clear biblical evidence of a nascent understanding of a Godhead within the Old Testament, what does this mean for us in terms of understanding Jesus as God? For this, we need to look to the New Testament which spells it out more clearly for us.

First, and foremost, there are a number of New Testament scriptures where Jesus is referred to as God (Theos).

Three are unequivocal:

John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning”.

Here ‘The Word’ is clearly identified as God, and yet also as a distinct entity, which John clearly identified as Jesus.

Second, Thomas makes his declaration of faith in Jesus, as he calls him “My Lord and my God.” (Jn 20:28)

Paul also declares Jesus as God, but as also human, in Romans 9:5: “Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, for ever praised. Amen.”

Paul also declares Jesus as God, but as also human, in Romans 9:5

A second set of three scriptures identify, in all probability, Jesus as God.

Titus 2:13 “ …while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”.

Hebrews 1:8 “But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom’”.

2 Peter 1:18 “We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.”

Whilst not quite as clear cut as the three preceding texts, the three above, in all probability, equate Jesus with God.

Finally we have John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

John here strongly indicates that Jesus, the only begotten God, is made known from within the bosom of the Father.

The issue was what it meant for, or what it demanded of, the people to recognise Jesus as Messiah and as that aspect of God that is written about all over the Old Testament.

In addition, texts such as Matthew 1:23, 1 John 5:20, John 17:3, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:12 and 1 Timothy 3:16 all identify Jesus with God.

Similarly three texts - 1 Corinthians 8:6, John 17:20 and Mark 12:29 clearly articulate the idea there is One God comprising both Father & Son (we will come to the Holy Spirit in the next article in this series).

A development of an existing concept

The point here is that these ideas so articulately laid out in the New Testament did not come out of nowhere, or from brand new thinking. Just as the Messiah was expected within Second Temple Judaism, so the idea of a Godhead already existed within Second Temple Judaism. The issue was not the concept. The issue was what it meant for, or what it demanded of, the people to recognise Jesus as Messiah and as that aspect of God that is written about all over the Old Testament.

This is why when Peter declared “Attar Maschiach El (You are Messiah God/God’s Messiah)” in Matthew 16, it wasn’t a radical new idea that Peter was giving voice to, more Peter joining the dots to recognise Jesus in these Old Testament scriptures. No wonder Jesus declared this revelation as having come from God.

... it wasn’t a radical new idea that Peter was giving voice to, more Peter joining the dots to recognise Jesus in these Old Testament scriptures.

So that is other people talking about Jesus. However, the second aspect is, from my perspective at least, even more dramatic.

Matthew 26:63-4: “The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’.”

This is the most remarkable allusion from Jesus. He is quoting Daniel 7:9-13, a remarkable passage which incorporates two separate and distinct divine figures, and to remove any doubt about their significance has them riding on clouds. Jesus is clearly and unmistakable alluding to Himself as the second of those two divine figures and the High Priest knows it.

My contention is that Old Testament theology clearly and unarguably teaches that YHWH can be present in two forms, one human and one spirit. Alan Segal, the Jewish scholar to whom I referred earlier, and whose work informs much of this series, recognised this but did not want to acknowledge it. His purpose was to reiterate the Jewish view that this was a heresy. Judaism originally declared the ‘Two Powers in Heaven’ to be a heresy around the time of the 2nd Jewish Revolt, c132-135AD. This was when the 19th Benediction of the Amidah prayers was added, and as Judaism was feeling the pressure from the growing Christian faith. It is also an indicator of how badly the Jewish religious authorities misunderstood God’s purposes in Jesus.

Jesus is clearly and unmistakable alluding to Himself as the second of those two divine figures and the High Priest knows it.

Begotten, or unique?

One of the key scriptures of Christian faith and central in our Christology (theology of Christ) is John 3:16. It is one that most of us know well. However, our traditional understanding – that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, does have some problems. Not only is it clear from the Old Testament that God has many ‘sons’ but our traditional translation of the Greek has been demonstrated to be erroneous. The Greek in John 3:15 described Jesus as the ‘monogene’. Early scholars could not find an example of monogene in any other Greek literature and consequently had to speculate that it was a word combination of ‘mono’ – only – and ‘gennaw’ – begotten. Hence, the only begotten.

However, as more and more Greek literature was discovered it became clear that there is a Greek word ‘monogene’, and that it is correctly translated as unique. This understanding takes nothing away from the power of John 3:16, indeed in my understanding actually amplifies the great gift of grace that God gave us. With this understanding in place, we see that John 3:16 translated literally reads ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His Unique son’. Jesus is the Unique Son of God – the monogene.

Incidentally, the word ‘monogene’ is also used in Hebrews 11:17, to describe Isaac – the son of promise – which, of course, is factually correct. Isaac was not Abraham’s only son, but he was unique in that he was the ‘son of promise’. I see that Jesus, God’s unique son, came to fulfil God’s purposes on earth. In doing so He raised up disciples and kept them in God’s love.

Other references to Jesus’ divinity

Jesus was given the Name of God by God. We can see in John 17:12 that He used that Name to protect the disciples: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (ESV)

I see that Jesus, God’s unique son, came to fulfil God’s purposes on earth. In doing so He raised up disciples and kept them in God’s love.

Similarly in Jude verse 5, Jude has no hesitation in declaring that it was Jesus who led the people of Israel out of Egypt:

Jude 5 - Literal Greek translation: “To remind now you, I want having known you at one time all this that Jesus a people have saved out of the land of Egypt having saved”.
Simplified English interpretation: “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

The climactic imagery of Revelation 19:11-16 emphasises Jesus’ divinity in dramatic terms:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter’. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’”

Just like their forerunners in the Original Testament, the New Testament writers actively work to link Jesus to YHWH/The Angel of The Lord. In order to do this, they proactively insert or incorporate Jesus into Old Testament scripture. In doing so they touch on the third element of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, which is what we will look at next week.