A Mistake Which Outdoes All Mistakes!
There is a piece of simple misinformation
copied without examination by Bible commentator after commentator. It occurs in
commentaries on Psalm 110:1, a verse which wins the prize for being the
most often cited passage from the Old Testament in the New. Psalm 110:1
is likely (I hope soon) to have its day of fame. It is going to expose a
colossal, long-held misunderstanding about the relationship of the one God to
His unique Son Jesus.
Psalm 110:1 is an inspired oracle about the Messiah, who since the ascension is sitting at the chief position next to God in the universe. Jesus loved this verse and so did the New Testament writers. They allude to it some 23 times. It is of massive significance in describing who Jesus is. Because its testimony is in direct contradiction to the traditional belief that Jesus is “God the Son,” it has suffered miserably at the hands of commentators, who by some extraordinary means actually misinform the public about the crucial Hebrew word for the second “lord” of Psalm 110:1.
Reformer Martin Luther was right to point out that Psalm 110 is “the chief psalm of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, in which his person, his resurrection, ascension and whole Kingdom are clearly and powerfully set forth.” The Psalm begins by announcing a solemn divine oracle. Jesus quoted this Psalm as vital spiritual information. He referred to David as here “speaking in the spirit” (Mat:22:43; Mark 12:36):
“The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’”
Of such fundamental importance was this proposition that it provided a New Testament proof text for defining the Divine Plan and Jesus’ relationship to his Father. It appears in the New Testament over and over again. What does this oracle reveal to us?
Psalm 110:1 is an inspired oracle about the Messiah, who since the ascension is sitting at the chief position next to God in the universe. Jesus loved this verse and so did the New Testament writers. They allude to it some 23 times. It is of massive significance in describing who Jesus is. Because its testimony is in direct contradiction to the traditional belief that Jesus is “God the Son,” it has suffered miserably at the hands of commentators, who by some extraordinary means actually misinform the public about the crucial Hebrew word for the second “lord” of Psalm 110:1.
Reformer Martin Luther was right to point out that Psalm 110 is “the chief psalm of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, in which his person, his resurrection, ascension and whole Kingdom are clearly and powerfully set forth.” The Psalm begins by announcing a solemn divine oracle. Jesus quoted this Psalm as vital spiritual information. He referred to David as here “speaking in the spirit” (Mat:22:43; Mark 12:36):
“The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’”
Of such fundamental importance was this proposition that it provided a New Testament proof text for defining the Divine Plan and Jesus’ relationship to his Father. It appears in the New Testament over and over again. What does this oracle reveal to us?
This verse has been an embarrassment to
“received” traditional views of Jesus as “God the Son.” Psalm 110:1 in fact
completely eliminates any such idea. Peter provides one of the many examples of
the quotation of our verse. In his epoch-making sermon in Acts 2 Peter explained
that the Hebrew Bible had predicted the elevation of Jesus to the supreme
position in the universe next to God his Father. This happened at the ascension,
and the words of Peter inform us of the status achieved by Jesus at the
ascension.
“For it was not David who ascended to heaven, but David himself said,
‘The LORD said to my lord, “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified”
(Acts 2:34-36).
The reaction of Peter’s audience was suitably dramatic. They took the Apostle’s words with utmost seriousness: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, brothers?’” (2:37).
It would be desirable for contemporary audiences to be as touched, if not outraged, by the constant misuse of this verse by tradition-bound commentary. Walk into a Christian bookstore and treat yourself to a perusal of one of the many commentaries available, both new and old. Here is one example among many I found recently:
“Ps. 110:1, ‘The Lord said to my Lord’ describes a conversation between God the Father and God the Son.”
This is a complete falsehood, as we shall show!
“For it was not David who ascended to heaven, but David himself said,
‘The LORD said to my lord, “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified”
(Acts 2:34-36).
The reaction of Peter’s audience was suitably dramatic. They took the Apostle’s words with utmost seriousness: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, brothers?’” (2:37).
It would be desirable for contemporary audiences to be as touched, if not outraged, by the constant misuse of this verse by tradition-bound commentary. Walk into a Christian bookstore and treat yourself to a perusal of one of the many commentaries available, both new and old. Here is one example among many I found recently:
“Ps. 110:1, ‘The Lord said to my Lord’ describes a conversation between God the Father and God the Son.”
This is a complete falsehood, as we shall show!
The Jews as custodians of the Hebrew Bible
are rightly insulted by the suggestion that there are two who
are God, the one talking to the other! There is only one who is God. God never
speaks to God. That would not be monotheism.
And monotheism, belief that God is one and not more, is the absolute criterion of truth for us all.
The proof of the rudimentary fact that God is not speaking to God is found in the language of Psalm 110:1. But first another example of misinformation, this time from the 1000-page Commentary on Matthew by William Hendrikson:
“In this Psalm David is making a distinction between YHVH (Jehovah) and Adonai - YHVH, then, is addressing David’s Adonai; or, if one prefers, God is speaking to the Mediator. He is promising the Mediator such pre-eminence, power, authority and majesty as would be proper only for One who, as to his person, from all eternity, was, is now, and forever will be God” (p.812, emphasis added).
This statement contains a major error of fact. The text does not say that YHVH is addressing David’s ADONAI! The word in the Hebrew text is not Adonai at all. Adonai is indeed the word (all 449 times) for the Lord GOD, that is, the supreme God of Israel. But the inspired word in this Psalm, found in all the originals, is not Adonai; it is adoni. There is a vast difference between these two words. Adonai is indeed GOD, the Lord. Adoni, by contrast, never refers (in all 195 occurrences) to the Lord GOD. It refers always to a human, that is, non-Deity superior (or occasionally to an angel). Adoni is never a title of Deity. It tells us always that the “lord” in question is someone who is not God,
but a human superior.
Here then in this marvelous Psalm we have a brilliant definition of the status of the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. He is not Adonai (Lord GOD) but “my lord,” [adoni] the Messiah. The word provided by the Scripture which Jesus described as inspired and which he used to silence all counter arguments (Mat:22:46) is the Hebrew word for “lord” [adoni] which never designates GOD! This verse was alluded to massively in the New Testament, and Peter used it to define and demonstrate the status of Jesus at the right hand of the Father: he is the uniquely elevated human lord (Acts 2:36), but not a second GOD! The text should put an end to the centuries of dispute about who Jesus the Messiah really is. He is not God (which would make two Gods) but the one and only Lord Messiah, the man Christ Jesus, as Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5, reflecting the information provided by Psalm 110:1.
Jesus is referred to as the lord Messiah over 100 times in the New Testament. He is called Christ or the Christ (Messiah) 516 times. That should be enough to convince us about who he really is.
He is the “our lord” of the ancient prayer “maranatha” (1 Cor:6:22).
I would ask the reader to ponder the extraordinary fact, without parallel in the history of Bible commentary, that the actual word for the second “lord” in our verse has been constantly misreported by those expounding the Bible. The error is very, very common. It actually appeared in the margin of Acts 2:34 in editions of the NASU Bible, where the note reads: “The Hebrew word in Psalm 110:1 is Adonai.” But it is not. And the fact can be checked by anyone consulting the original. (Strong’s does not show this distinction.)
Standard authorities are in no doubt at all about the immense significance of the difference between the forms of the Hebrew word for “lord.” The Hebrew text makes a clear-cut and consistent distinction between the one supreme Lord GOD and human (occasionally angelic) “lords.” The Hebrew text wants us to know exactly who is the Lord GOD (Adonai) and who is a human superior (adoni, my lord).
Every student of the Bible should know that when the personal name of the One God appears in English translations, the word is printed in English (in many versions) as LORD (all capitals). This tells us that behind the LORD (nearly 7000 times) lies the Hebrew word YHVH or Yahweh (sometimes pronounced Jehovah, though this is almost certainly not accurate). Another significant editorial policy is to write Lord (capital “L” but lower-case “ord”) when the Hebrew word is Adonai (= the Lord GOD, the supreme Lord). But when in the Hebrew text we have the word adoni (pronounced in Hebrew “adonee”) then many English translations have the word “lord” (lower-case “l”). For example, Sarah (Gen:18:12) referred to Abraham her husband as “adoni,” my lord, not Adonai (the Lord GOD)!
That distinction between the Lord GOD and a human lord or superior is faithfully reflected by:
the English Lord (capital L), as distinct from lord (lower-case l).
And monotheism, belief that God is one and not more, is the absolute criterion of truth for us all.
The proof of the rudimentary fact that God is not speaking to God is found in the language of Psalm 110:1. But first another example of misinformation, this time from the 1000-page Commentary on Matthew by William Hendrikson:
“In this Psalm David is making a distinction between YHVH (Jehovah) and Adonai - YHVH, then, is addressing David’s Adonai; or, if one prefers, God is speaking to the Mediator. He is promising the Mediator such pre-eminence, power, authority and majesty as would be proper only for One who, as to his person, from all eternity, was, is now, and forever will be God” (p.812, emphasis added).
This statement contains a major error of fact. The text does not say that YHVH is addressing David’s ADONAI! The word in the Hebrew text is not Adonai at all. Adonai is indeed the word (all 449 times) for the Lord GOD, that is, the supreme God of Israel. But the inspired word in this Psalm, found in all the originals, is not Adonai; it is adoni. There is a vast difference between these two words. Adonai is indeed GOD, the Lord. Adoni, by contrast, never refers (in all 195 occurrences) to the Lord GOD. It refers always to a human, that is, non-Deity superior (or occasionally to an angel). Adoni is never a title of Deity. It tells us always that the “lord” in question is someone who is not God,
but a human superior.
Here then in this marvelous Psalm we have a brilliant definition of the status of the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. He is not Adonai (Lord GOD) but “my lord,” [adoni] the Messiah. The word provided by the Scripture which Jesus described as inspired and which he used to silence all counter arguments (Mat:22:46) is the Hebrew word for “lord” [adoni] which never designates GOD! This verse was alluded to massively in the New Testament, and Peter used it to define and demonstrate the status of Jesus at the right hand of the Father: he is the uniquely elevated human lord (Acts 2:36), but not a second GOD! The text should put an end to the centuries of dispute about who Jesus the Messiah really is. He is not God (which would make two Gods) but the one and only Lord Messiah, the man Christ Jesus, as Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5, reflecting the information provided by Psalm 110:1.
Jesus is referred to as the lord Messiah over 100 times in the New Testament. He is called Christ or the Christ (Messiah) 516 times. That should be enough to convince us about who he really is.
He is the “our lord” of the ancient prayer “maranatha” (1 Cor:6:22).
I would ask the reader to ponder the extraordinary fact, without parallel in the history of Bible commentary, that the actual word for the second “lord” in our verse has been constantly misreported by those expounding the Bible. The error is very, very common. It actually appeared in the margin of Acts 2:34 in editions of the NASU Bible, where the note reads: “The Hebrew word in Psalm 110:1 is Adonai.” But it is not. And the fact can be checked by anyone consulting the original. (Strong’s does not show this distinction.)
Standard authorities are in no doubt at all about the immense significance of the difference between the forms of the Hebrew word for “lord.” The Hebrew text makes a clear-cut and consistent distinction between the one supreme Lord GOD and human (occasionally angelic) “lords.” The Hebrew text wants us to know exactly who is the Lord GOD (Adonai) and who is a human superior (adoni, my lord).
Every student of the Bible should know that when the personal name of the One God appears in English translations, the word is printed in English (in many versions) as LORD (all capitals). This tells us that behind the LORD (nearly 7000 times) lies the Hebrew word YHVH or Yahweh (sometimes pronounced Jehovah, though this is almost certainly not accurate). Another significant editorial policy is to write Lord (capital “L” but lower-case “ord”) when the Hebrew word is Adonai (= the Lord GOD, the supreme Lord). But when in the Hebrew text we have the word adoni (pronounced in Hebrew “adonee”) then many English translations have the word “lord” (lower-case “l”). For example, Sarah (Gen:18:12) referred to Abraham her husband as “adoni,” my lord, not Adonai (the Lord GOD)!
That distinction between the Lord GOD and a human lord or superior is faithfully reflected by:
the English Lord (capital L), as distinct from lord (lower-case l).
However, when translators arrived at Psalm
110:1, they broke their own rules and wrote the second
“lord” (adoni) as Lord (with
capital). You will find this misleading inconsistency in the King James, NIV and
many other versions. The Roman Catholic Bible most accurately kept a lower-case
“l” on the second “lord” telling us that the word was “adoni” (= my human, not Deity lord) and not Adonai, the
Lord GOD. The Revised Version of 1881 (the first correction of
the KJV of 1611) wrote “lord” and thus
emended the KJV mistake. The RSV and NRSV followed suit and
correctly wrote “lord.” BBE (Basic Bible in
English) and the Jewish Publication Society also rightly provided us
with the truth about that second “lord” by writing it with lower case “l.”
The difference between God and man is the most significant of all distinctions, and it is carefully and precisely given us in Psalm 110:1, which the New Testament uses universally to define the status of Jesus in relation to God.
Jesus is the human being, the “man Messiah” (1 Tim. 2:5) at God’s right hand.
This fact, which Satan does not like and wants to suppress, tells us of the amazing position God has granted to a sinless, virginally begotten man, Son of God (Luke 1:35), installed at the right hand of God’s own throne in heaven. Jesus of course will leave that position and come back to the earth at his future coming to take up his position on the throne of David in Jerusalem (Luke 1:32, etc.).
There is only one who is God, the Creator of all things, in the Bible. He is the Father, indeed the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom:15:6; 2 Cor:1:3; Eph:1:3; 1 Pet:1:3). Paul put it this way: “There is to us [Christians] one God, the Father” (1 Cor:8:6). Paul went on to add that we also recognize “one Lord Jesus Christ.”
But that Lord Jesus Christ is not the Lord GOD! He is the Lord Christ and was announced with this title when the angels told the shepherds, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior who is the Lord Christ” (Luke 2:11, literally the “Messiah/Christ Lord”; cp. Col:3:24; Rom:16:18).
The difference between God and man is the most significant of all distinctions, and it is carefully and precisely given us in Psalm 110:1, which the New Testament uses universally to define the status of Jesus in relation to God.
Jesus is the human being, the “man Messiah” (1 Tim. 2:5) at God’s right hand.
This fact, which Satan does not like and wants to suppress, tells us of the amazing position God has granted to a sinless, virginally begotten man, Son of God (Luke 1:35), installed at the right hand of God’s own throne in heaven. Jesus of course will leave that position and come back to the earth at his future coming to take up his position on the throne of David in Jerusalem (Luke 1:32, etc.).
There is only one who is God, the Creator of all things, in the Bible. He is the Father, indeed the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom:15:6; 2 Cor:1:3; Eph:1:3; 1 Pet:1:3). Paul put it this way: “There is to us [Christians] one God, the Father” (1 Cor:8:6). Paul went on to add that we also recognize “one Lord Jesus Christ.”
But that Lord Jesus Christ is not the Lord GOD! He is the Lord Christ and was announced with this title when the angels told the shepherds, “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior who is the Lord Christ” (Luke 2:11, literally the “Messiah/Christ Lord”; cp. Col:3:24; Rom:16:18).
Luke adds a few verses later that Jesus can
also rightly be called “the Lord’s Messiah”
(2:26). He is the Christ who belongs to the LORD GOD. When
the two blind men appealed to Jesus to have their sight restored, they
touchingly addressed him as “Lord, son of David” (Mat:20:31) and even the pagan,
Canaanite woman pleaded with Jesus to help her with her demonized daughter. She
expressed her faith in the true Messiah as “Lord, son of David”
(Mat:15:22).
Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was thrilled to greet Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus. She rejoiced that she was in the company of “the mother of my lord” (Luke 1:43). She meant of course not “the mother of God,” but the mother of my lord, the Messiah. This was the “my lord” of Psalm 110:1 (adoni). A ghastly twist was given to the Christian faith when later Bible readers began to speak of “the mother of God.” (I heard a Catholic priest say that God had asked Mary to be His mother!) This is standard language in the Roman Catholic system, but Protestants equally speak of Jesus as being God! For some illogical reason they balk at the idea that Mary is the “mother of God.” But why should they? Constantly one hears that “Jesus is God.” Mary ought really then to be called the “mother of God” in the Protestant system. Readers ought to ponder this interesting fact.
Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was thrilled to greet Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus. She rejoiced that she was in the company of “the mother of my lord” (Luke 1:43). She meant of course not “the mother of God,” but the mother of my lord, the Messiah. This was the “my lord” of Psalm 110:1 (adoni). A ghastly twist was given to the Christian faith when later Bible readers began to speak of “the mother of God.” (I heard a Catholic priest say that God had asked Mary to be His mother!) This is standard language in the Roman Catholic system, but Protestants equally speak of Jesus as being God! For some illogical reason they balk at the idea that Mary is the “mother of God.” But why should they? Constantly one hears that “Jesus is God.” Mary ought really then to be called the “mother of God” in the Protestant system. Readers ought to ponder this interesting fact.
But most importantly they should ponder
deeply the distressing and amazing fact that Bibles and Bible commentaries have
in many cases not permitted you to know that Jesus in Psalm 110:1 is not
Adonai, the Lord GOD, but adoni, my lord, the human Messiah.
All the centuries of strife and confused
argumentation which eventually led to the “creeds” could have been avoided if
the adoni (“my lord” of Ps.
110:1) had been recognized as the perfect definition of the Messiah not as LORD
GOD, but as Lord Messiah.
Currently the battle over the identity of Jesus continues and Psalm 110:1 is not being recognized as the appropriate corrective to centuries of misunderstanding. It is not uncommon for the following kind of comment to appear on Paul’s classic monotheistic statement in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Paul tells us that “there is one God, the Father…and one Lord Jesus Christ/Messiah.”
Astonishingly the Oxford Bible Commentary has this to say:
“The Jewish Shema (‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,’ Deut. 6:4 and affirmed by Jesus in Mark 12:29) is here split apart into a statement about God the Lord, the Creator of the world and the goal of salvation, and a matching statement about the Lord, now taken to be Jesus Christ, the medium of creation and redemption. ... The way in which Paul reads them both out of the Jewish declaration of monotheism is suggestive of the ways in which Christian theology will struggle to define Christ’s exalted status without falling into ditheism
[belief in two Gods]” (p. 1121).
The Shema is “split apart”?! The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and of Jesus in Mark 12:29 has now been supplemented and expanded to include two who are God? This is precisely what Paul does not mean. He carefully distinguishes the ONE GOD, who is the Father, from the one Lord Jesus Messiah. The Messiah is not the ONE GOD, and the difference between them is exactly the difference declared 1000 years earlier by Psalm 110:1 in which as we have seen YHVH speaks to the Messiah in a prophetic oracle, and defines the Messiah not as the LORD GOD but as the human lord Messiah, adoni.
Tampering with the biblical creed (splitting it apart) which defines God as the Father of Jesus is unwise. If Psalm 110:1 had been fully recognized instead of being widely misrepresented in regard to the actual Hebrew words of the text, centuries of argumentation could have been avoided and today the great “monotheistic” religions would have common ground, rather than being hopelessly at odds over who and how many God is (Jews, Christians and Muslims).
There is a simple message here: Instead of the brain-breaking difficulties and infinitely complex vocabulary of Trinitarianism, Jesus offers us an easier burden. He affirmed the great unitarian creed of Israel (Mark 12:29) as did Paul (1 Cor:8:4-6). The astonishing new fact since the ascension is that there is a glorified, immortalized Son of God, a human being by origin (Mat:1:18, 20; Lk:1:35), whom God has honored by taking him to be with Him at His throne of the universe. Jesus, the Lord Messiah, Son of God is now waiting to return to this planet. He remains at the right hand of God until he is given the signal to come back to the earth. He will then inaugurate the long prayed-for Kingdom. With the saints of all the ages he will supervise the first ever successful world government. We need that day!
Currently the battle over the identity of Jesus continues and Psalm 110:1 is not being recognized as the appropriate corrective to centuries of misunderstanding. It is not uncommon for the following kind of comment to appear on Paul’s classic monotheistic statement in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Paul tells us that “there is one God, the Father…and one Lord Jesus Christ/Messiah.”
Astonishingly the Oxford Bible Commentary has this to say:
“The Jewish Shema (‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,’ Deut. 6:4 and affirmed by Jesus in Mark 12:29) is here split apart into a statement about God the Lord, the Creator of the world and the goal of salvation, and a matching statement about the Lord, now taken to be Jesus Christ, the medium of creation and redemption. ... The way in which Paul reads them both out of the Jewish declaration of monotheism is suggestive of the ways in which Christian theology will struggle to define Christ’s exalted status without falling into ditheism
[belief in two Gods]” (p. 1121).
The Shema is “split apart”?! The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and of Jesus in Mark 12:29 has now been supplemented and expanded to include two who are God? This is precisely what Paul does not mean. He carefully distinguishes the ONE GOD, who is the Father, from the one Lord Jesus Messiah. The Messiah is not the ONE GOD, and the difference between them is exactly the difference declared 1000 years earlier by Psalm 110:1 in which as we have seen YHVH speaks to the Messiah in a prophetic oracle, and defines the Messiah not as the LORD GOD but as the human lord Messiah, adoni.
Tampering with the biblical creed (splitting it apart) which defines God as the Father of Jesus is unwise. If Psalm 110:1 had been fully recognized instead of being widely misrepresented in regard to the actual Hebrew words of the text, centuries of argumentation could have been avoided and today the great “monotheistic” religions would have common ground, rather than being hopelessly at odds over who and how many God is (Jews, Christians and Muslims).
There is a simple message here: Instead of the brain-breaking difficulties and infinitely complex vocabulary of Trinitarianism, Jesus offers us an easier burden. He affirmed the great unitarian creed of Israel (Mark 12:29) as did Paul (1 Cor:8:4-6). The astonishing new fact since the ascension is that there is a glorified, immortalized Son of God, a human being by origin (Mat:1:18, 20; Lk:1:35), whom God has honored by taking him to be with Him at His throne of the universe. Jesus, the Lord Messiah, Son of God is now waiting to return to this planet. He remains at the right hand of God until he is given the signal to come back to the earth. He will then inaugurate the long prayed-for Kingdom. With the saints of all the ages he will supervise the first ever successful world government. We need that day!
Taken from http://www.focusonthekingdom.org/113.pdf
