May 2nd, 2007 by Sean
If Jesus is right and the Father is the only true God (John 17.3) then why is Jesus called God twice in the New Testament (John 20.28; Hebrews 1.8)? For those of us unsatisfied with the "orthodox" solution to this problem, may I offer a few remarks regarding a thoroughly unitarian alternative?
The word "god" (Hebrew: elohim, Greek: theos) is not limited to the true God–Yahweh. False gods, angels, and even humans are called "god" in a secondary or derivative sense. Here are some examples below.
- e.g.
How is it possible to call humans god without compromising the belief that Yahweh is God, and there is no other (Isaiah 45.22)? The first definition in a Hebrew Lexicon under elohim says "rulers, judges, either as divine representatives at sacred places or as reflecting divine majesty and power" (The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs. ©2000, page 43).
Therefore, the people mentioned above were not infringing on Yahweh’s deity rather they were representing Him to the people. The judges were to act as God’s appointed decision makers on earth; they received the word of God and delivered it to the people (John 10.34-36). They were directly accountable to God and when they made poor judgments, they were punished by Him (Psalm 82). They were not independent gods but extensions of the great God.
Although the overwhelming majority of uses of the word "god" in the NT are in reference to either the Father or false gods, there are several texts in which "god" is used in the secondary, representative sense:
- e.g.
Satan can be referred to as god because he functions in the role of god—he has dominion over the nations of this age (Luke 4.5-6; Revelation 11.15). The judges were called gods because they had represented God’s authority to the people. In the case of Hebrews 1.8, this is a quotation from Psalm 45.6 in which these words were originally adressed to the king of Israel. The king was God’s representative so he is called "god" but even as god the king still has a God. The writer of Hebrews sees in this Psalm 45.6 a fulfillment in Jesus who is THE king. Jesus is called god because he (as God’s representative) has been elevated "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come" (Ephesians 1.20).
Thus, Jesus is god (theos/elohim) but he is not God (i.e. Yahweh). He is God’s supreme representative to humanity and the one invested with all authority (Matthew 28.18). "Christ is the very ‘exegesis’ [or explanation] of the Father, and indeed himself theos, because as a man he is utterly transparent to another, who is greater than himself and indeed than all" (The Human Face of God, John A.T. Robinson. ©1973, pages 189-190).
God is immortal (im = not; mortal = can die)
God is eternal (he has always existed)
God is omniscient (he knows everything that can be known)
God cannot be tempted
Yet in each of these attributes Jesus fails to meet the test. For example, Jesus died, Jesus was begotten (Ps 2.7; Heb 1.5), Jesus did not know when he was coming back (Mark 13.32), Jesus was tempted in all points like us (Heb 4.15).
One may typically respond, well…in his humanity he was limited but in his divinity he was unlimited. Yet, this very doctrine of the dual natures of God is distinctly unbiblical and was not even developed until the Council at Chalcedon in 451AD! Anyhow, it is simple fact that if Jesus said he didn’t know when he is coming back, then there is something he doesn’t know, which means he is NOT omniscient, and therefore, NOT God.
Rather, Jesus is the human Messiah, the promised descendant of the woman (Gen 3.15), the son of Abraham (Mat 1.1), the son of David (Luke 1.31-33), the demonstration of what it means to be truly human. As the second Adam, Jesus was perfectly submissive to his Father (John 5.19) and rather than grasping for equality, humbled himself to the point of death (real death) on the cross. What a love story!
The above article was taken from KingdomReady.org's Blog
