John 17:3 summarizes this article, for it makes the three points discussed in this article:
ย ย ย 1 –ย God is One; There is butย one true God.
ย ย ย 2 –ย Jesus is contrasted with the one true God.
ย ย ย 3 – The Father is greater than the Son, for He sent Him.
The previous articleย explains the three views of the Son of God:
(1)ย ย A created being
(2)ย ย Derived from the Father
(3)ย ย Always existed; co-equal with the Father.
The current article compares the Son to the Father.
This is an older article, and has been replaced with two other articles, namelyย Jesus is not the same Person as Godย andย ย God is the Head of Christ.
GOD IS ONE.
The Bible declares that God is One;
โThere is no other God besides Me โฆ
For I am God, and there is no otherโ (Isa 45:21-22).
โHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!โ. (Deut 6:4-5)
When the scribes asked Jesus what the most important commandment is, He started by quoting this truth from Deuteronomy:
โThe foremost is, โhear, o Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord โฆโ (Mark 12:28-30).
And James also wrote God is One:
Christianity and Judaism are monotheistic religions, compared to the surrounding cultures with their multitudes of gods.
THE BIBLE CLEARLY AND REPEATEDLY DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN GOD AND JESUS.
For instance, while Joseph and Mary were still carrying the baby Jesus around, God told Joseph where to go (Matt 2:12, 22).ย And Jesus said:
โThis is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sentโ (John 17:3).
This verse confirms that God is one, and then continues to contrasts Jesus to God.ย Paul similarly wrote:
โFor there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesusโ (1 Tim 2:5)
โHe (Christ) is the image of the invisible Godโ (Col 1:15), which implies He is not “the invisible God“.
โGod, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesusโ (1 Tim 6:13).
The book of Revelation several times contrasts Christ with God, for instance โthe throne of God and of the Lamb (Christ)โ (Rev 22:3; see also 14:4; 11:15; 21:22-23; 22:1, 3).
These are merely a few examples of the many, many instances where the Bible contrasts God with Jesus, implying that Jesus is not equal to God. One may protest by noting that these quotations all applyโnot the Son of God before He became a human beingโbut to the human being named Jesus. We must also remember the point made in the previous article, namely that โalthough He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of menโ (Phil 2:6-7).
The Father is greater than the Son.
The names Father and Son imply that the Father is greater than the Son. The quotations below also indicate that the Father is greater than the Son.ย ย As stated, to become a human being, the Son emptied Himself (Phil 2:6-7). It may therefore be argued that the statements below have been made in the context of the Son after He emptied Himself. However, the phrases in bold orangeย seem to say that the Father was greater than the Son even before He became a human being, and will always remain greater than the Son:
โThe Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doingโ (John 5:19; cf. John 14:31).
โI do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Meโ (John 8:28; cf. 5:30).
โThe works which the Father has given Me to accomplishโthe very works that I doโtestify about Me, that the Father has sent Meโ (John 5:36).
โMy teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Meโ (John 7:16, cf. 17:3).
The Father therefore told His Son what to do and the Father has sent His Son to this world.ย These things happened before He became a human being and provide evidence of the Sonโs eternal subservient position, relative to the Father.
John 14:28 records Jesus saying, โIf you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than Iโ.ย ย He made this statement while talking about going to the Father, implying that the Father will be greater than Him even after He has returned to the Father.
โThe Father โฆ has given all things into His handโ (John 3:35).
โThe Father has given all judgment to the Sonโ (John 5:22).
Paul concluded, โthe man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christโ (I Cor 11:3).ย Paul made this statement long after Jesus ascended to heaven.ย We therefore need to accept that the Father always has been and always will be greater than His Son.
CONCLUSION
This article states that God is One and thatย the New Testamentย contrasts Jesus with that one true God.ย The New Testamentย also claims thatย the Father is greater than the Son.ย If this was all we knew about Jesus, we would have had to conclude that He is not divine.ย But in the articles to follow statements will be analysed which seem to confirm the Son’s divinity.ย The last article in the series combines all this evidence into a conclusion.
SERIES OF ARTICLES
This is the second in a series of seven articles:
(1) The three views of the Son of God.
(2)ย God is One, the Son contrasted with God and the Father is greater than the Son.
(3) What the Son does: He created and upholds all things.
(4) What the Son is:ย fullness of Deity
(5) The Son is worshiped.
(6) The Son is Yahweh of the Old Testament.
(7) Conclusion: Is He created, derived or eternally co-equal?