Who is The Lord
Jesus Christ?
By Mark Greenwood
This booklet looks at the person of Jesus the Saviour, who has come to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. He is our righteousness and all who believe in Him shall be saved.
It also shows how the Bible reveals who the Lord Jesus Christ really is. It looks at how Jesus is a manifestation of Yahweh the Almighty God, The Great ‘I Am’, and then in the New Testament how Jesus reveals the loving heavenly Father to the New Testament saints. All these revelations give us a picture of how great, how marvellous and how wonderful our God is.
For the Name of God I sometimes use the name ‘Yahweh’ and sometimes the name ‘Jehovah’, which are different translations of the same word. The actual name was written without vowels, YHWH, so we can only guess at the correct pronunciation. In the Hebrew language there is no ‘J’ so Jehovah would best be pronounced ‘Yehovah’. The Jews do not try to pronounce His name for fear of accidentally blaspheming His name; they resolve it by saying ‘Ha-shem’ which simply means ‘The Name’, or ‘Adonai’ which means ‘Lord’, or just the title ‘God’. ‘Jehovah’ is the old English translation of the Name and I see nothing wrong in using it.
The name ‘Jesus’ is the English translation of the Greek ‘Iēsous’ which is a translation of the Aramaic ‘Yeshua’ (Nehemiah 9:4) which is a translation, or transliteration, of the Hebrew ‘Yehoshua (in English ‘Jehoshua’) (Numbers 13:16). The meaning of the name Jesus is ‘Jehovah Saviour’ (or, as some prefer, ‘Yahweh Saviour’).
I quote from a few different authors, especially those who understand New Testament Greek (Koine Greek) such as A. T. Robertson and Kenneth Wuest, because they are recognised authorities in the correct translation from Greek to English.
Jesus The Saviour
So what was the purpose of Jesus coming to earth when He did? The Bible tells us that Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost and separated from God (Mathew 1: 21, Luke 19: 10), He came to give us life (John 10: 10), to reconcile us to God (2 Corinthians 5: 18), to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3: 8), and to deliver us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1: 10). He was sent from His Father in Heaven to save His people from their sins and to reconcile them back to God (see Matthew 1:21, 2 Corinthians 5:19). He accomplished all this by His suffering and death on the cross followed by His resurrection from the dead and His ascension to heaven.
He promised to build His Church, which is not a building of bricks and mortar but of living people who have been saved from sin, separated from the world and now belong to Him (see Matthew 16:18). In any building it is very important that the foundation is right. The question is what exactly is the foundation of the Church?
In 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 we read that the Church is God’s building whose foundation is Jesus Christ. Then verses 12-15 say, ‘Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.’
So we see that it is very important that we have the foundation right and also it is very important what we build upon it. Let’s explore the subject a bit further. In Matthew 7:21-29 Jesus is saying that if we do what He has been saying then we are building upon a rock and when trouble comes we will stand but if we hear His words and don’t do them then when trouble comes we will fall.
Churches should be founded on the preaching of the gospel, which consists of who Jesus is, that He died, was buried and rose again from the dead, and the fact that He is now seated at the Father’s right hand interceding for us (see Matthew 16:16-18, 1 Corinthians 1:21-24, 2:2, 15:1-4, 1 John 2:1 and Romans 8:34). Heresies often start with a slight adjustment of truth concerning Jesus.
The preaching of the gospel lies at the centre of the entire Bible, Old Testament as well as New Testament. All through the Bible the Word proclaims the message of salvation through Jesus Christ (see Luke 24:27). Every book of the Bible reveals Jesus to us (see ‘Christ in all the Scriptures’ by A. M. Hodgkin).The Holy Spirit bears witness concerning Jesus (see John 15:26). The Holy Spirit has come to ‘glorify’ Jesus (John 16:14). The strange thing is that although God said, ‘I am Yahweh, that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another’ (Isaiah 42:8 and see 48:11), Jesus actually asked the Father for the glory He shared with Him ‘before the world was’ (John 17:5).
Who is this Jesus?
The question is then, who is the Lord Jesus Christ? In Matthew 16: 15-18 Jesus asked His disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (v15 NKJV). Peter answered, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Jesus replied ‘Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father … in heaven’. ‘I say to you … thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.’ That rock is the revelation that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God.
In John 20:30-31 we read, ‘And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name.’
So we can see that when we first believe we need to get our foundation right and that foundation is believing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, but it needs to come by revelation to the heart. If it is just knowledge to the head without the revelation of the Spirit then we can be open to a change of mind in the future. Isaiah 9:6 says, ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’
Sometimes people agree that Jesus is the Son of God, but they don’t actually believe that Jesus is God, others are willing to concede that He is God but do not believe that He is the Most High God (see Genesis 14: 22, Psalm 47: 2. Luke 1:76). Instead of recognising that the Most High God is the Triune God, they see God the Father as the Most High God but God the Son they see as being completely separate and inferior to the Father (now in office the Son is subject to the Father, but in nature He is equal and one with the Father). In reality they see the trinity as consisting of three God’s. Number one God (the Father) they see as the Most High God, number two God (the Son) is second in command being inferior to number one but above number three, and number three God (the Holy Spirit) is inferior to both two and one.
The Trinity
The Trinity can be summed up as ‘God is One in nature’. The Godhead consist of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal, co-eternal. They have different roles which make up the one God. They have all eternally existed. God the Son existed before His incarnation where He took upon Himself human flesh.
However it must be said that the word Trinity and its meaning is a very difficult subject to understand. Most of the difficulties involve the words ‘Person’ and ‘Personality’. It all depends on what is meant by ‘Person’ and ‘Personality’, and that is the problem; these words mean different things to different people, so how you understand the Trinity will depend on what you believe is the meaning of ‘Person’ and ‘Personality’. I have avoided trying to analyse these two words and am sticking to what the Bible says about the Godhead and how respected theologians interpret it.
We have the trinity of the Godhead but we also have the trinity of the Son, ‘The Son of God, The Son of Man, The Son of David’ (The Lord Jesus Christ).
The Son of God is a title that recognises the deity of Jesus Christ; The Son of Man recognises the humanity of Jesus Christ that He suffered and died for the sins of mankind. As the Son of Man He is also the Son of David, the Messiah, the coming King the one who shall reign on the throne, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and shall never pass away, whose kingdom shall never be destroyed (see Daniel 7:13-14).
Jeremiah 23:5-6 (JND) tells us God ‘will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as king … and … he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness’. Jesus Christ is Jehovah our ‘righteousness’ (1 Corinthians 1:30, Romans 5:17-21).
Isaiah 47:4 and 44:6 tell us that ‘Jehovah of hosts’ is our ‘Redeemer’, also Isaiah 49:26 says that ‘I, Jehovah, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer’.
So, according to the Old Testament, Jehovah is our Saviour and Redeemer, yet the New Testament tells us continually that Jesus is our Saviour and Redeemer (see Titus 1:4, Philippians 3:20, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Hebrews 9:12).
The angel told Joseph to call His name, ‘Jesus’ and ‘Emmanuel’, which means, ‘Jehovah Saviour’ and ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:21-25). In Isaiah 43:11 God says, ‘I am Jehovah; and beside me there is no saviour’ (JND). The apostle Paul often refers to Jesus as ‘our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Timothy 1:10, Titus 2:13).
Jesus has always been the Son of God; at His incarnation He was still the Son of God but He took the form of Son of Man. Some of the statements that Christ made were made according to one of these positions.
What Did Jesus Say?
Let us look to God’s Word to see what scripture makes of Jesus. Jesus said, ‘My Father is greater than I’ (John 14:28). The Expositors’ Bible Commentary Vol. 9 page 148 says, ‘The statement ‘the Father is greater than I’ refers to position rather than essence. Jesus was speaking from the standpoint of His humanity, the incarnate state He assumed in order to fulfil the purposes of redemption’. (‘Incarnate’ just means ‘when God became flesh’, He clothed Himself with flesh, He became a human being. ‘Essence’ means that which is the most essential part of its nature that distinguishes it from all others, that which differentiates one of a kind from others of the same kind.)
Jesus said that only the Father knew the time when He would return (Mark 13:32). The Expositors’ Bible Commentary Vol. 8 page 753 says, ‘Jesus’ ignorance of the day or the hour of His parousia (the coming of the Lord) must be understood in terms of the New Testament teaching concerning the incarnation. A real incarnation involved such lack of knowledge. Jesus purposely laid aside temporarily the exercise of His omniscience (infinite knowledge) as part of what was involved in His becoming man’ (both brackets mine). Jesus also said ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10:30). He is one with the Father, not in office, but He is equal, or one, in nature, essence and substance with the Father. John Owen, who was a highly respected Puritan scholar, says that God is one in respect of His nature, substance and essence (The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity Explained and Vindicated).
Nature is His character, essence is that which distinguishes Him from any other, and substance is the main content, His qualities and attributes.
Is He the Son of God, equal in nature, essence and substance with the Father? When Philip said to Jesus, ‘Lord show us the Father’, Jesus replied to Philip, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet has thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; —Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works, (see John 14:7-11).
Kenneth Wuest says that He is the visible revelation of what invisible deity is like. And only deity could clearly manifest forth deity (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Volume III, Great Truths To Live By, Jesus of Nazareth-Who is He).
The Bible tells us He is the express image of God, or an exact representation of God (see 2 Corinthians 4:4, Hebrews 1:3, John 14:7-11). He ‘is the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians1:15).
Wuest says He is an exact expression of the nature or essence of deity (Hebrews 1:3).
John Owen said, ‘Distinction and inequality in respect of office in Christ, does not in the least take away His equality and sameness with the Father in respect of nature and essence (Philippians 2:7-8). A Son, of the same nature with His Father and therein equal to, may in office be His inferior, His subject. Though He humbled Himself and was exalted in office, yet in nature He was one and the same, He changed not.’ (The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity Explained and Vindicated, chapter 3).
Philippians 2:5-11 says, 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Points to note are: verse 6: ‘Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God’: Being in the form of God, what does this mean?
The Expositors’ Bible Commentary Volume 11 (EBC) says that the use of the Greek words translated ‘being’ and ‘to be’ in verse six ‘is most appropriate for describing the timeless existence of the pre-incarnate Christ’ (page 126).
Kenneth Wuest says that the Greek word translated ‘being’ shows that the Lord’s possession of Divine essence did not cease to be a fact after His incarnation. ‘The Greek word is not the simple verb of being, but a word that speaks of an antecedent condition (the Divine condition which preceded His incarnation) protracted into the present. That is, our Lord gave expression to the essence of Deity which He possesses, not only before He became Man but also after becoming Man’ (brackets mine). (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume II, Philippians, page 63)
The EBC Volume 11, says the term ‘morphe’ (in the form of God) ‘denotes the outward manifestation that corresponds to the essence’. It ‘refers to that external form that represents what is intrinsic and essential’. ‘In this passage it refers to the intrinsic form that belongs to God —‘. (page 123 & 126)
Kenneth Wuest comments on verse 6 and quotes Vincent, and says that ‘when it talks about the form of God we must dismiss from our minds the idea of shape’. (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume II, Philippians).
Wuest goes on to say, ‘The Greek word for ‘form’ refers to that outward expression which a person gives of his inward nature —-. Thus, our Lord’s outward expression of His inmost being was as to its nature the expression of the Divine essence of Deity. Since that outward expression which this word ‘form’ speaks of, comes from and is truly representative of the inward being, it follows that our Lord as to His nature is the possessor of the Divine essence of Deity, and being that, it also necessarily follows that He is absolute Deity Himself, a co-participant with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in that Divine essence which constitutes God.’ (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume II, Philippians).
The Greek word translated as ‘robbery’ in verse 6 actually means ‘to be grasped’; Jesus did not think that equality with God was a prize to be grasped or held onto. The EBC says ‘The context favours the meaning of a prize or gain Christ was not unwilling to relinquish for a time.’
Wuest looks at the term ‘Thought it not robbery to be equal with God’ and says, ‘The word ‘God’ here refers to Deity, not seen in the three persons of the Godhead but to Deity seen in its essence’. In other words what Wuest is pointing out is that it is the expression of the Divine essence that Christ was willing to give up for our redemption. (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume II, Philippians).
When Christ emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant, He didn’t empty Himself of Deity but the expression of Deity. He laid aside the desire to express His glory, in other words He laid aside what His self as God desired, in order to express Himself as a servant which shows His inherent humility.
W. E. Vine quotes E. H. Gifford, ‘The Incarnation’ 1897, to find the right expression for the phrase ‘Thought it not robbery to be equal with God’: ‘Who though He was subsisting in the essential form of God, yet did not regard His being on an equality of glory and majesty with God as a prize and a treasure to be held fast, but emptied Himself thereof.’ (W. E. Vine’s, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, Prize).
Verse 9 says, ‘Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name’. The actual translation from the Greek is not ‘a name’ but ‘the name’. Some say this is the name Jesus; others say, Jesus Christ; others say it is ‘Lord’ or ‘Yahweh’ and others say it is the title ‘THE NAME’ which is a Hebrew title denoting office, rank or dignity
The name ‘Jesus’ was given to Him when He humbled Himself and became a child, whereas this name, ‘THE NAME’, was given to Him after His resurrection when He was exalted to the throne of God.
Before His resurrection Jesus was often called lord in a general sense; however after His resurrection He was recognised to be Lord and God. Thomas’s declaration in John 20:28 when he called the risen Jesus ‘My Lord and my God’ was not a mistaken exclamation but rather was an inspired revelation. If it had been a mistake then Jesus would have corrected him. In fact the Bible says that ‘no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12:3). In other words to confess that Jesus is Lord is to confess the deity of Christ. The word ‘Lord’ when used in this sense is the New Testament equivalent of the Name Yahweh (as in Romans 4:8, 9:29, Matthew 4:7 and James 5:11).
For verses 10-11 of Philippians 2, The Expositor’s Greek Testament (EGT) says ‘The universal outburst of worship proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord, the equivalent of the Old Testament Jehovah, the highest title that can be uttered.’
Finally in verse 11 we find that when everyone confesses His Name and gives Him worship then God the Father is glorified. When we exalt Jesus we glorify the Father.
The EGT then says that ‘Christ has reached a position, in a certain sense, higher than that which He occupied (previously). This has nothing to do with His nature. The divine glory which He always possessed can never be enhanced. But now, in the eyes of men, and as claiming their homage, He is on an equality with God … This is the Father’s prerogative, for undoubtedly the NT teaches a certain subordination of the Son …’.
A T Robertson says ‘What did Christ take back to heaven that He did not bring? Clearly His humanity. He returned to heaven the Son of Man as well as the Son of God.’ (Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume IV page 445).
As we have seen the Lord gave up the expression of divine essence and took upon Himself the form of a servant, being obedient to the Father in everything He did. He did this in order to pay a ransom and redeem us to Himself. Why do we need a ransom paying to bring us back to God?
Adam was disobedient in the Garden of Eden in doing what God told him not to do. Because he was disobedient he allowed sin to reign over him and all mankind after him. Sin separates man from God. God cannot look upon sin and yet man is now under the power of sin, the Bible tells us that, every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have all offended God and the wrath of God rest upon us all. A sacrifice must be made to satisfy the wrath of God.
Because it was impossible for man to meet the conditions necessary to deliver man, God, in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 19), came down and paid the full price required to satisfy Himself and deliver man from the power of sin. So God was offended by us yet He was the one punished for our offence.
God our Saviour was willing to become man. (Only by this could He pay the ransom required to buy us back. The law required that He had to be a ‘near kinsmen’ in order to redeem us.) By becoming a man He had made Himself a little lower than the angels and put Himself under limitations and restrictions making Himself subject to the things we are subject to. In this position He had to be completely dependent on the Father in all He said and did.
The Lord Jesus is God
If Jesus pre-existed with the Father before His incarnation then what role did he have with the Father? Let us look at what Scripture says:
1 Timothy 6:16 tells us that God dwells ‘in unapproachable light’ that ‘no man has seen or can see’ (NKJV). John 1:18 says that ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.’ John 6:46 tells us that no one has seen the Father except Jesus.
So no one has seen God the Father, but the Son of God has declared Him. Scripture teaches us that you cannot see God’s face and live, yet in the Old Testament we read that many people did see Yahweh and live (see Genesis 32:30, Exodus 24:9-10, Judges 13:22, 1 Kings 11:9, Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah 6:1-5 (JND) Isaiah declares (v1), ‘I saw the Lord’, then in verse 5 he says, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone; … for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.’ (‘Lord’, ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Yahweh’ depending on which translation is used).
Genesis 17:1 (JND) says, ‘and Abram was 99 years old, when Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God (Almighty, Hebrew Shaddai, is plural): walk before my face, and be perfect.’
Genesis 18:1 (JND) says, ‘And Jehovah appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre.’
Genesis 19:27 (JND) says, ‘And Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Jehovah.’
Who is Yahweh?
So who is Yahweh (Jehovah) if no one has seen the Father at any time only Jesus has declared Him? Well, we know that the Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is plural. In order for us to understand some of the many different attributes of God He is revealed to us as the triune God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Psalm 149:2 (JND) says, ‘Let Israel rejoice in his Maker’. The Hebrew word translated here as ‘maker’ is plural. Ecclesiastes 12:1 (JND) says, ‘remember thy creator’; the Hebrew word for creator is in the plural. Isaiah 54:5 (JND) says ‘For thy Maker is thy husband: Jehovah of hosts is His name’. So here we see that the maker and husband of Israel is called Jehovah or Yahweh. Maker and husband are both plural.
Deuteronomy 6:4 says, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.’ Newberry has it in the margin, ‘Jehovah, the Ever-existing One, our Elohim, our Triune God, is one Jehovah.’ So is this right that Jehovah (or Yahweh) is the name of the Triune God?
If Yahweh is the name of the Triune God, and no one has seen the Father, then who appeared to Abraham and Isaiah and all the rest who saw Yahweh and lived? It must have been the Son or the Holy Spirit.
Did Jesus Exist before Abraham?
In John 8:58 (NKJV) Jesus says, ‘Before Abraham was, I AM’. So Jesus was before Abraham but also by using the name ‘I AM’ He was declaring Himself as the God of the Old Testament, who appeared to Moses (Exodus 3:14).
Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, page 422 says, ‘In light of the origin, significance and use of the divine name in the OT, Jesus’ statement in John 8:58, ‘before Abraham was born, I am,’ clearly identifies Jesus as God, the God of the patriarchs and the deliverer of Israel, Yahweh himself.’
The name “I AM” (Exodus 3: 14) means ‘the ever-existing One’, the One who changes not (Malachi 3: 6). Jesus changes not, He is the same yesterday today and forever (see Hebrews 1: 12, 13: 8).
Isaiah 44:6 says, ‘Thus saith Yahweh the King of Israel, and His redeemer, Yahweh of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.’
In Revelation 1:17 Jesus said ‘I am the first and the last’.
Psalm 24:8-10 says, ‘Who is this King of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle.’
1 Corinthians 2:8 says that Jesus is ‘the Lord of glory’.
Jeremiah 11:20 says that Yahweh ‘triest the reins and the heart’.
Jeremiah 17:10 says, ‘I Yahweh search the heart, I try the reins’.
Revelation 2:23 (JND) Jesus says, ‘I am He that searches the reins and the hearts’.
1 Corinthians 10:2-4 tells us that ‘Christ’ is the ‘Rock that followed’ the Children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 tells us that Yahweh is ‘the Rock’.
Deuteronomy 10:17 tells us that Yahweh is the ‘Lord of lords’.
Revelation 17:14 tells us that Jesus is the ‘Lord of lords’.
Matthew 3:1-3 tells us that ‘John the Baptist’ fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy of a ‘voice’ ‘crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.’
Isaiah’s prophesy in Isaiah 40:3 says, ‘Prepare ye the way of Yahweh’.
Jamieson Fausset and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, when commenting on Isaiah 40:3 says, ‘The Lord-Hebrew, Jehovah; as this is applied to Jesus, He must be Jehovah (Matthew 3:3).’
John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible says, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. By whom is meant the Messiah to whose proper deity a noble testimony is here bore, being called ‘Jehovah’ and ‘our God’: whose way John prepared himself, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptism, pointing at the Messiah, and exhorting the people to believe in him.’ (John Gill was an eighteenth century Baptist minister and theologian. He had a wealth of insight in both the Greek and Hebrew languages.)
John Owen in ‘Christologia’, Chapter 3, says that Isaiah 6:1 represents the Son of God.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia on the incarnation says, ‘The Christ or Messiah and Yahweh are one and the same Divine Person.’
There are many scriptures showing that Yahweh is Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh, Lord God almighty, the all-sufficient one, who created ‘all things for Himself’ (see Proverbs 16:4, Colossians 1:16) and then came down to earth and became a sacrificial lamb in order to redeem us back to Himself. Proverbs 16:4 says, ‘Yahweh has made all things for Himself.’ Colossians 1:16 says that ‘all things’ were ‘created’ by ‘Him’ (the Son) ‘and for Him’.
He is our rock, He is our foundation. If we are going to build on solid ground we have to know who Jesus is, we have to get our foundation right. We have to know Jesus as Lord.
Kenneth Wuest explains how Greek grammar testifies that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, and Deity, the God of the New Testament.
In Titus 2:13, ‘Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’, Wuest says that Greek grammar shows it can also read, ‘The great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ’. He says that the grammatical construction demands that the two expressions ‘The great God’, and ‘Saviour Jesus Christ’, refer to one individual (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume III, Treasures from the Greek New Testament, IV).
In John 1:1 Wuest points out that where it says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God’, the definite article precedes the word ‘God’, pointing out it is to God the Father that reference is made. However when it says ‘and the Word was God’, the article is absent before the word ‘God’. ‘When it is used in this way, it refers to divine essence. Emphasis is upon quality or character. Thus, John teaches us here that our Lord is essentially Deity. He possesses the same essence as God the Father, is one with Him in nature and attributes. Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, the teacher, is very God’. (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume III Golden Nuggets Page 50)
Jesus is God Manifest in the Flesh
In Matthew 4:8-11 when the devil asked Jesus to worship him, Jesus, said, ‘it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ Yet continually through His ministry people came to Jesus and worshipped Him but He didn’t correct them. In Matthew 28:9 the women who came to the tomb fell down and ‘worshipped Him’ and then verse 16-17 tells us that the ‘disciples … worshipped Him’.
Hebrews 1:6 tells us that ‘all the angels of God’ worshipped Jesus. That gives us a big clue to who Jesus is. Genesis 1:1 tells us that ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ (JND). There is only one God, however the Hebrew word used here for God is Elohim. Elohim is a plural word meaning more than two (although two is plural in English, the Hebrews used another term for ‘two’ like we have the word ‘dual’). The word ‘created’ is singular showing the Godhead acting in unity.
Now Colossians 1:16 tells us that Jesus ‘created’ ‘all things’ that ‘were created’. Hebrews 1:2 says that Jesus is ‘heir of all things’ and created the universe. If God created the heavens and the earth, then Jesus must be God. John the Apostle said that by Jesus calling God His Father, He made ‘Himself equal with God’ (John 5:18).
Jesus Declares the Father to us
In the Bible we know who a person is by their name and their name is given them to describe something about them. The Bible tells us the names of God and these names describe Jesus to us.
Yahweh the Saviour Isaiah 43:11, Matthew 1:21
Yahweh the Healer Exodus 15:26, 1 Peter 2:24
Yahweh our Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6, 1 Corinthians 1:30
Yahweh our Sanctification Leviticus 20:8, 1 Corinthians 1:30
Yahweh our Shepherd Psalm 23:1, John 10:11
Yahweh our Peace Judges 6:24, Isaiah 9:6, John 14:27
Yahweh our Banner Exodus 17:15, John 12: 32, 1 Corinthians 15:57
Yahweh our Provider Genesis 22:14, Philippians 4:19
Jesus is all these to us, He is the manifestation of God to us (1 Timothy 3: 16). In John 17:6 Jesus says, ‘I have manifested thy Name to the men which thou gavest me out of the world.’ ‘Manifest’ His ‘Name’ means to reveal God’s Name or make God known as the holy and loving Father.
God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus. Hebrews 1: 3 (JND) tells us He (Jesus) is the ‘effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance’. In other words He is the rays of God’s glory and the exact reproduction of His essence.
J N Darby says, concerning Hebrews 1:2, that ‘God has spoken to us in (the person of the) Son. The absence of the Greek article here (before ‘Son’) is important’ because it shows ‘it is God Himself who speaks, not by another, not as the Father nor in the person of the Father; not merely by the Holy Spirit using a person not divine, but as Himself, a divine Person and that Person the Son.’
Kenneth Wuest says that the absence of the article before ‘Son’, emphasises character, nature. It is not so much what He said but in what the Son was. It was not primarily, nor finally, a revelation given through words, but through a Personality. He is the Logos, the total concept of the Deity, Deity told out, the Word of God, not in the sense of a spoken or written word, but in the sense of a Person who in Himself expresses all that God the Father is. Colossians 2: 9 says, ‘In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ (NKJV).
We cannot know the Father except Jesus reveals Him to us, in Luke 10: 22 Jesus said, ‘All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him’. (see also Matthew 11: 27). In Matthew 16: 17, when Peter made his great confession that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God, Jesus said to him that it was His Father in heaven who had revealed it to him. It is the Father who reveals Jesus to us by the Spirit. When it comes to knowing the Father it is only Jesus that can reveal Him to us. Jesus Himself is the manifestation of the Father. When we believe on Jesus then God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father (see Galatians 4: 6, Romans 8: 15). Prayer is normally made to the Father in Jesus’ Name and is an expression from the heart of children to the Father. Preaching on the other hand does not exclude the Father but is about Christ and Him crucified (Romans 15: 19, 1 Corinthians 1: 23, 9: 16, 2 Corinthians 2: 12, 4: 5), it centres round the gospel which is Christ’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4). The Father reveals the Son to us (Galatians 1: 16) and the Son reveals the Father. The Spirit is sent to glorify Jesus and reveal unto us the things that God has for us (John 16: 14, 1 Corinthians 2: 9-12). The Father, the Son and the Spirit all work together to reveal to us the things of God. Jesus said in John 16: 13-15, ‘Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it to you.’ Here we have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit working as one to reveal to us all things that belong to God. When the gospel is preached people are drawn to Jesus Christ, when they put their trust in Him then Jesus reveals the Father to their spirit causing an exclamation of love as they cry ‘Abba Father’. There is a deep awe as they realise what great love the Father has for them in giving Jesus to die for them and then calling them His children. Without this preaching of the cross, Christ is not lifted up and no one can understand the wonderful love that the Father has shown to us by willingly giving His only begotten Son in order to make us His children.
There are many who say they honour Jesus but not with the same honour they give the Father yet Jesus said they must honour Him even as they honour the Father, if they don’t honour the Son as they honour the Father, then in reality they are not honouring the Father at all (see John 5: 23). When we honour the Lord Jesus then we are giving glory to God the Father (2 Philippians 2: 11, John 17: 1).
Some Christians long for ‘more power’ but the Apostle Paul’s desire was to ‘win Christ’ and to ‘know Him’, he already knew Christ but his heart’s desire was to know Him more and more (see Philippians 3:8-14). The more he knew Christ then the more he would know the Father, it follows automatically
1 John 2: 13 tells us that even when we are little children under instruction we know the Father, as we mature into young men we gain the victory over the devil, and as our experience grows and we mature further in the Lord then so also will our knowledge of God the Father grow and deepen.
In the Old Testament although God was a Father to Israel they didn’t know Him individually as a Father as we know Him now. That is because Jesus has declared the Father to us (see John 1:18).
Because we believe on Jesus and love Him then the Father loves us (see John 16:27).
Jesus has brought us into a relationship with the Father (see John 20:17). He is now our Father and we are His children, He cares for us.1 John 3:1 says ‘what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God’ (NKJV).
God made man in His own image in order to have fellowship with us.
This invisible God, who dwells in unapproachable light, loves us so much and longs to have fellowship with us. Now, because of what God has done for us, we can ‘have fellowship with’ both ‘the Father’ and the ‘Son’ (1 John 1:3 and see John 14:23).
To Him be all the glory.
Mark Greenwood April 2012 revised and updated March 2015
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations are from the Authorized Version of the Bible (AV). Extracts from the Authorized Version of the Bible (the King James Version), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.
In a few places ‘old’ AV words have been replaced by more current ones, e.g. ‘you’ instead of ‘thee’ or ‘ye’, ‘has’ instead of ‘hath’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ instead of ‘Holy Ghost’.
JND A New Translation from the Original Languages by John Nelson Darby 1867, 1884 & 1890
NKJV New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary is published by Zondervan. The Expositors Greek Testament is published by Eerdmans and is different from the EBC.
Kenneth S. Wuest was professor of New Testament Greek at Moody Bible Institute until his death in 1962. His works include the four-volume Word Studies in the Greek New Testament.
A. T. Robertson is a Professor of New Testament Interpretation and his works include the six volume Word Pictures in the New Testament.
William D. Mounce was Professor of New Testament and director of the Greek language programme at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary his works include ‘Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words’.
W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words is a classic and has been used by scholars of the Bible for many years.
My thanks to Keith Cline for reviewing the article and making suggestions for improvement and also for the encouragement he gave for me to finish the article.