Jesus Christ is יהוה - Part 1

There are some, even on here, who have said that there is no evidence in either the Old or New Testaments, that teach that Jesus Christ is Almighty God, in exactly the same why that the Father is Almighty God. This is a very deep subject, and cannot be done in a few words. I hope to present a few parts on this all important study, of which this is part one.

Isaiah 48:12-17

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called. I am the one. I am the first and the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand stretched out the heavens. When I call for them, they both stand. Gather together, all of you, and listen. What idol has revealed such things? The LORD loves Cyrus. He will carry out the LORD's plan against Babylon. He will use his strength against the Babylonians. I alone have spoken. I have called him. I will bring him here, and he will succeed. Come here. Listen to this: From the beginning I have spoken nothing in private. From the time it took place, I was there. Now the Almighty LORD has sent Me and His Spirit. This is what the LORD, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the LORD your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go.”

In verse 12 the Speaker says, “I am the first and the last”. In Isaiah 44:6, we read, “Thus says יהוה, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, יהוה of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”. The words, “I am the first and I am the last”, speak of the eternity of Almighty God“

In verse 13, He goes on to say, “My hand laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand stretched out the heavens”. Which is also what we read earlier in Isaiah we read, “Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it “ (42:5).

None of these words, or indeed the entire passage in its context, could have been spoken by any created being, as some suggest. They are the words of Almighty God, Whose Name is יהוה. Verse 17 is abundantly clear Who is Speaker is.

In verse 16, יהוה says, “ Now יהוה אֲדֹנָי has sent Me and His Spirit”. Here we have יהוה Who is the Speaker, say that another “Person”, Who is יהוה אֲדֹנָי, has sent Him and His Spirit. The New Testament tells us that Jesus Christ (John 5:37, etc) and the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, etc), were “sent by God”. One יהוה sends another Who is also יהוה. And yet some will still want to argue against this!

Psalm 45:6 and Hebrews 1:8

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness”

אֱ֭לֹהִים here is in the vocative, and the sentence reads, “your throne O God”. Some, for reasons that we shall see, have tried to change this to “God is your throne”, or, “your throne is of God”, etc. The Hebrew syntax here will not allow for this. The Jewish School and Family Bible, by Dr A. Benisch, has rendered the Hebrew, “Thy throne O God”. The Greek Septuagint version, made by Jews about 150 years before Jesus’ Birth, reads, “ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ θεός”, which is also in the vocative (the same is in the Greek versions of Symmachus and Theodotion, both late 2nd century). So that there was no misunderstanding, as there is by some, on the meaning, the Greek version by the Jew Aquila, made in the middle of the 2nd century A.D., reads, “ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ θεε”, “θεε” being the vocative in the Greek! Aquila made his version from the Hebrew, of which the Jewish Encyclopedia says, “The main feature of Aquila's version is its excessive literalness”. The Latin Vulgate, also made from the Hebrew by Jerome, reads, “Sedes tua Deus”, which is also in the vocative, “your throne O God”. In the Syriac Old Testament, also from the Hebrew, it reads, “Thy throne, O God” (George Lasma Translation), which is also vocative.

These words from Psalm 45, were used by God the Father, in address to the Lord Jesus Christ, where we read in Hebrews 1:8, “Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς”, which is exactly what the three Greek versions of the Old Testament, which were made from the Hebrew, read. This verse in Hebrew begins with the words Spoken by God the Father, “πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν”, “but, concerning the Son”, which the words “Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς”, are a direct address. Like the words in the Psalm, some have sought to weaken the force, by translating, “God is your throne”, etc, etc. However, the fact is that the words are in the vocative, and therefore this translation is not possible. The Greek lexicon of the Unitarian Joseph Thayer, includes the use of “ὁ θεὸς” here as vocative, though with a ?. Not so for another Unitarian, George Winer, who in the Greek grammar on the New Testament, includes Hebrews 1:8 as being used in the vocative. In his book, A Vindication of Unitarianism, James Yates says of this verse, “yet the want of a parallel form of expression inclines me to prefer the common translation, ' Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.'” (p.200). Also, in the New Testament by the American Unitarian Association, edited by George R Noyes, it reads, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”

Interesting to find those who actually oppose the Deity of Jesus Christ, being honest about the reading of texts like Hebrew 1:8, where the evidence compels them to do so! Wish more could be as honest on such matters.

It is because of the fact that the Psalm is used directly for the Lord Jesus Christ, by God the Father, Who addresses Him as “God”, that deniers of the truth will try to suppress what the words say. Some have made much of the words of Jesus Christ in John’s Gospel, where He tells Mary, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God ” (20:17), where He calls His Father “God”. But, here in Hebrews 1:8, for those who can accept it, the Father clearly and directly addresses Jesus Christ as GOD!

Not only so, again, there are some, even among those who are “Evangelical” Christians, who have fallen in to the grave error, of making Jesus Christ a “secondary agent” in the Creation of the entire universe. These wrongly maintain, that God the Father is the “main cause”, and Jesus Christ is only the “medium”, following the false teachings of Philo of Alexander and the heretic Origen in the early Church.

In the same first chapter of Hebrews, God the Father is continuing speaking to the Son, Jesus Christ, and goes on to say in verses 10-12

“And, “You, Lord, at the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are works of Your hands. They will vanish away, but You will continue; and all things will become old, like a garment, and You shall fold them up like a covering, and they shall be changed. But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.”

Note the use of the particle “and” (Greek, καί), which makes it very clear, that what follows is also addressed by God the Father, to Jesus Christ. Take a look at Psalm 102, verses 24-27, where it says:

“I said, O my God, do not take me up in the half of my days; Your years are in the generation of generations. Before time You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They shall perish, but You shall endure; yea, all of them shall wear out like a garment; You shall change them like clothing, and they shall be changed. But You are He, and Your years shall not be ended.”

Here the words are spoken to אֵלִ֗י, which is in the vocative (Symmachus, in his Greek version reads, “ὁ θεὸς μου”, vocative), where the entire work of creating of the universe, is said to be that of Almighty God. And, yet, God the Father, uses these words of direct creation, not that through a “mediator”, and says that Jesus Christ was He that created the universe!

The Name of God, יהוה, is best defined in the Hebrew lexicon by F Brown, S R Driver and C A Briggs, we read of "Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel...the one bringing into being, life-giver, giver of existence, creator, he who brings to pass...he who causes...the one who is: i.e. the absolute and unchangeable one, the existing, ever-living" (pages 217-218)

It is abundantly clear from the testimony of Scripture, that Jesus Christ is called יהוה, and is coequal, coessential and coeternal with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.


Gloriam Deo!

PS, apologies if the Hebrew and Greek does not show up too well, I have problems with my text editor!