Christ on the throne
By Michael Bell
This is Part 1, of a multi-part series looking at the deity of Christ. Here are the links to the Introduction and Table of Contents.
As we begin, it is important to clarify just what we mean, and what we do not mean, when we say that Jesus is God.
We do no mean that there is more than one God.
Many have tried to portray Jesus as a god, but not the Almighty Lord God, and as a result try to make him less than God. Yet, the scripture clearly teaches that there is but one true God. Several of these verses are listed below.
Isaiah 43:10b (NIV) – “… Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”
Isaiah 45:5 (NIV) – “… I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”
Isaiah 45:21b-23 (NIV) – “… And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 37:16 (NIV) – “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV) – “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
Mark 12:28-29, 32 (NIV) – One of the teachers of the law… asked him, “of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one, answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one…” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.”
What does all this mean? Since the Bible clearly states that there is only one true God, we are left with two options. We can either believe that Jesus Christ is the LORD God, or we can believe that he is not God, or “a god” at all. If we try to call Christ “a god”, we are then saying that there is more than one God, which, as can be seen from the above verses is definitely not biblical.
What do you think? Your comments as always are welcome?
Michael Bell
Joshua Hearne
Tim Melton
Joel Black
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:40 pm
[...] Eclectic Christian ← Memories of Communion Reflections on the Deity of Christ – Only One God [...]
Jan 14, 2009 at 11:35 am
Whenever I read of the Godhood of Christ I think of C.S. Lewis’ excellent observation…either Christ was insane (with the IQ of a fried egg) by declaring that He was God OR He was indeed God.
My husband willingly accepts Christ as a teacher and denies anyones ability to prove that there is (or is not) a God.
I look forward to the next part of yoru posts on this subject
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Cynthia,
Unfortunately (for your sake) my posts are going to only look at what the Bible, and early Church Fathers said about Christ. For proving the existence of God there are certainly better people than me.
Sometimes as in the case of my in-laws, you have to let God reveal himself in his (God’s) own way. My father-in-law was miraculously brought to safety when he had a seizure while driving on the highway. He went down into a very steep median (car didn’t roll), missing a large concrete lamp post by a foot. He then went up and over the other lanes of traffic and down a steep embankment on the far side. (No wheel marks going down, the car was airborne). Crashed through a fence, missing large 9 inch diameter round fence posts by six inches either side of the car. Missed a large metal water tank by about a foot. Then the ground started to rise and he ended up plowing the car into the far embankment.
He found his way to a Hotel about a 20 minute walk away. He could only remember his name and phone number.
His vehicle was only found the next morning, so if he had been injured, there would have been no medical help.
He had to conclude that somehow God was looking out for him. The accident helped complete his transformation to that of a person of faith in Christ.
Not wishing for your husband to go through the same, but God has different ways to get people’s attention.
Mike Bell
Feb 2, 2009 at 12:30 am
[...] It puts a secondary lessor god next to the Almighty God, something which is quite unacceptable to God as we discussed in Part 1. [...]
Mar 25, 2009 at 4:46 pm
The oneness of God in the Old Testament has had several interpretations. The word that YHWH is called el(god) or elohim(gods) was the proper name of a common middle-eastern deity of weather. It also came to mean a divine being or sometimes a powerful one. It was typically applied to divine beings that were worshiped as opposed to beings like the cherubim who are heavenly creatures but not sacrificed to. So Baal is called an El but not necessarily the cherubim who guards the tree of life.
The primary idea that seems present in Judaism is only YHWH is to be worshiped. there are passages that seem to indicate that early Jews thought other gods also existed, like those sons of El that take human wives in Genesis. Gods in Canaanite society were all the sons of El. This is like our believing that Satan is an actual being even though some people worship him.
In the passages quoted in Isaiah above is expressed the idea that not only is YHWH the only el to be worshiped, he is the only el in existence. Isaiah doesn’t believe YHWH is the only heavenly being(he believes in cherubim and seraphs) but that He is the only thing that is El like or divine. I think this derives from His being the first cause. He creates everything else. so as the father is greater than the son and the grandfather greater than the father, YHWH is greater than any other heavenly being and only he truly merits being an el(god). The Egyptians had a similar idea. Their creator god, Amun, as the first cause and originator was held by some to be the only real god.
While Isaiah believes that belief in angels doesn’t contradict YHWH’s oneness other Jews did. The Sadducee of New Testament fame didn’t believe in angels. I think this is because they believed angels were just gods by a different name. Angels were said to move the planets and protect nations just like the old gods did. People would invoke angels for protection like Catholics invoke saints (and angels!). The Sadducee were also said to only regard the 5 books of Moses as canonical, and apparently they must of thought some parts more inspired than others since angels are found there to, but the precise nature of there beliefs are unknown to us as they are no longer with us. The rest of Judaism thought angels were o.k. so long as you used different terms to refer to YHWH than to them. so while YHWH and Gabriel are both spirit beings, only YHWH could be called an el or theos.
This reduces YHWH’s oneness to nothing more than grammar. I think a more sensible approach would be to say YHWH is the supreme being. By definition there can only be one supreme being. In the event of tie no one is supreme. But here there is no tie. Existence comes from somewhere and that somewhere is YHWH, the Supreme Being. Supreme Being is a category of one. So whether you call your spirit beings angels, ens, els, jannies, kamies, baals, spirits, elves, ashura, devies, theos, daemons, gods or what ever, none of them are God.
Apr 2, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Mike,
After reading, rereading, and reading your comment once again, I think we are probably not that far apart on this topic. (On some of your other comments, I will still beg to differ.) My understanding of the Sadducees is quite different from yours. Looking at how the Sadducees viewed resurrection would make me think that they would be like many in North America today who deny the Spirit world altogether. I can therefore agree with your final paragraph with the exception of the first sentence.
Sorry life has been very busy. I have kept your other comments in my comment queue so that I could respond at some point in time.
Mike Bell