Purpose
The New Testament, generally, makes a distinction between Jesus and God and uses the title “God” for the Father alone. That implies that Jesus is not “God.” However, of the 1300 instances in the New Testament of the Greek word theos (translated as “god” or as “God” – Strong’s Greek: 2316. ฮธฮตฯฯ), about seven refers to Jesus as theos. The purpose of this article is to determine what the New Testament writers meant when they described Jesus as theos.
Godโs name YHVH
YHVH is often translated as “the LORD.”
To appreciate the meaning of the term “God,” first consider the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the God of Israel has a unique name that is not used for any other being. That name is YHVH, pronounced as Jehovah or as Yahweh. This name is used all over the Old Testament; more than 6800 times. Some Bibles translate YHVH as Yahweh or Jehovah, for instance:
“That men may know that thou,
whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
art the most high over all the earth”
(Psalms 83:18, KJV).
But most Bibles ‘translate’ YHVH as โthe LORDโ (all capitals). For example, in the NASB, the same verse reads:
“That they may know that You alone,
whose name is the LORD,
Are the Most High over all the earth.”
?? This verse refers to YHVH as the “Most High.” Angel Gabriel similarly said to Mary that Jesus “will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32).
This distorts the meaning.
For example, God said to Moses:
โI am the LORD;
and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD,
I did not make Myself known to themโ (Exo 6:2).
Because โLordโ is a title and not a name, this ‘translation’ distorts the meaning. It would be easier to understand this verse if the name โYHVHโ was not replaced withโthe LORDโ and it read as follows
โI am YHVH;
and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
as God Almighty, but by My name, YHVH,
I did not make Myself known to them.โ
In other words, Moses was the first person to whom God revealed His name. The name YHVH does appear in Genesis, but that is because Moses also wrote Genesis.
El and Elohim
Elohim is a category name.
In Hebrew, the word for โgodโ (generally El or the plural form Elohim), in contrast to YHVH, is used both for the true God and for false gods. El and Elohim are even used for angels and exalted people. The NASB, therefore, translates Elohim 45 times as “god” and 204 times as “gods,” and occasionally also as divine, divine being, exceedingly, God’s, goddess, godly, great, judges, mighty, rulers and shrine (Strong’s Hebrew: 430. ืึฑืึนืึดืื (elohim)). For example:
The True God”
โA jealous and avenging God [elohim]ย is the LORDโ (Nahum 1:2).
False gods:
โFor My people have forgotten Me,
They burn incense to worthless gods [elohim]โ
(Jer 18:15; cf. Exo 20:3; 32:31).
Princes of Egypt:
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt โฆ
and on all the godsย [elohim]ย of Egyptย [the princes]
I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (Exo 12:12).
Judges appointed by Moses:
ย “Then his master shall bring him unto the judgesย [elohim]”
(Exo 21:6, KJV; also see Exo 22:8-9, 28).
Abraham:
The Hittites described Abraham as a โmighty [elohim] princeโ (Gen 23:6).
Techniques to make the title elohim specific
Since the title Elohim is a name for a category of beings, the Old Testament uses various techniques to be specific when the true God is intended:
(1) Combines Elohim with YHVH:
โThe LORD Godโ (YHVH Elohim) is found more than 200 times in the NASB, for instance, โthe day that the LORD God made earth and heavenโ (Gen 2:4).
โThe LORD, the Godโ – about 50 times;
โThe LORD your Godโ – about 200 times; For instance, โThen the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying โAsk a sign for yourself from the LORD your Godโโ (Isa 7:10).
โThe LORD his God,โ for instance, โWhen a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD his God …โ (Lev 4:22)
โThe LORD my God,โ for instance, โI (Daniel) prayed to the LORD my Godโ (Dan 9:4).
โThe LORD our God,โ for instance, “We have sinned against the LORD our Godโ (Jer 3:25). (54 times)
โThe LORD their God,โ for instance, โI am the LORD their Godโ (Exo 29:46). (12 times)
(2) YHVH in the immediately context
When Elohimย is not directly combined with YHVH, YHVH is often used in the immediately context, so that it is still clear that Elohim refers to YHVH, for instance:
โSo the LORD changed His mind …
Then Moses … went down from the mountain
with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand …
the writing was Godโs writing engraved on the tablets.โ
(Exo 32:14-16)
โ6 The LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah โฆ
7 But God appointed a worm … and … the plant … withered.
8 … God appointed a scorching east wind,
and the sun beat down on Jonahโs head …
he became faint and begged with all his soul to die …
9 Then God said to Jonah โฆโ (Jonah 4:6-9)
(3) Other techniques
The Old Testament also uses other techniques to ensure that the reader understands that the true God is intended, include:
The phrase โGod of Israelโ is found more than 60 times (e.g., Jer 19:15) and makes a distinction between YHVH and the false gods of the surrounding nations. For instance:
“Is it because there is no God in Israel
that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub,
the god of Ekron?” (2 King 1:3-4)
The phrase โGod Almightyโ is found 5 times (e.g., Gen 48:3).
Many times God is identified as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (e.g., Gen 32:9).
Jesus is Elohim.
It is difficult to find a place in the Old Testament where the term Elohim is used for YHVH without further identification. The name YHVH seems to be always somewhere in the context. This means that the Old Testament does not use Elohim as a unique identifier or as a name for the God of the Bible. In contrast, in modern English, “God” is used as a unique name for the Most High.
Since Elohim, by itself, does not identify any specific being uniquely and since it has such a wide range of meanings, so that it is even translated as “god,” “divine,” “divine being,” “great,” “judges,” and as “rulers,” given what we know of Jesus, He would also be Elohim. But we want to know more than that. We want to know whether Jesus is YHVH, or the Elohim of Israel.
Jesus is called God.
Of the 1314 times that the title โGodโ appears in the New Testament, it refers explicitly to Jesus about seven times, depending on the translation. Jesus is possibly called โGodโ three times in John (1:1, 18; 20:27; 1 John 5:20), twice in Paulโs letters (Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13), once by Peter (2 Peter 1:1) and once in Hebrews (Heb 1:8). This, by itself, does not prove that Jesus is the same as or equal to the Only True and invisible God (John 17:3; Col 1:15), because โgodโ is also used for false gods and for exalted created beings, and because Jesus is referred to as “God” in only about seven instances. Furthermore:
The NT reserves โGodโ as a name for the Father exclusively.
A separate article shows that, from the occurrences of โGodโ in the New Testament that do provide further identification, thatย the New Testament consistently and clearly draws a distinction between God and Jesus. For example:
Paul refers to โGod our Father and the Lord Jesus Christโ (Rom 1:7).ย
Revelation states. โI saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its templeโ (Rev 21:22).ย
John wrote of โthe only true God, and Jesus Christโ (John 17:3).ย
That article, therefore, concludes that the New Testament reserves the title โGodโ for the Father exclusively. With that use of the term “God,” Jesus is not God.
Another article confirms that Jesus is not God by showing that Jesus is subordinate to God. For instance, God is the Head of Christ (1 Cor 11:3) and Christ sits at Godโs right hand (e.g. Acts 2:33). Everything that His Son has, He has received from His Father. This includes:
Ability to raise the dead:
โJust as the Father has life in Himself,
even so He gave to the Son
also to have life in Himselfโ (John 5:26)
Authority to judge:
โThe Father โฆ gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Manโ (John 5:27).
Teachings:
โMy teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Meโ (John 7:16).
The Fullness of Deity:ย โIt was the Fatherโs good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in himโ (Colossians 1:19; cf. 2:9).
His glory:
“My glory which You have given Me” (John 17:24)
We must use the title โGodโ in the same way that the Bible does. If we define the title โGodโ as referring to the Father exclusively, then Jesus is not God.
Romans 9:5
Does Romans 9:5 refer to Jesus as God?
This is discussed in a separate article Jesus in Romans. That article analyses all references to โGodโ in the letter to the Romans and it concludes that Romans everywhere makes a distinction between God and Jesus. The only possible exception is Romans 9:5. Of the 28 translations of this verse, as provided by BibleHub, 14 identify Jesus as God but, in the other 14, Jesus is “God blessed” (NASB), which makes, like the entire rest of that letter, a distinction between God and Jesus. It is all a matter of punctuation, and punctuation in the Bible is interpretation (The Aquila Report).
Furthermore, Romans 9:5 contains the phrase โwho is over all” and ascribe blessing. To read Romans 9:5 as describing Jesus as God, He must be the One who is โwho is over all” and ascribe blessing. But in all other places in Paulโs writings โwho is over all” refer not to Christ, but to God (Eph 4:6). Similarly, everywhere else in Paulโs writings our thanks go to God; not to Jesus.
Given these facts, and since Paul nowhere else applied the title “God” to our Lord, Romans 9:5 should not be used to argue that Jesus is God.
Titus 2:13
โOur great Godย and Savior, Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,
and to purify for Himself a people for His own possessionโ (Titus 2:13).
But Paul also maintained a clear and consistent distinction between God and Jesus, for instance:
โThere is but one God, the Father โฆ
and one Lord, Jesus Christโ (I Cor. 8:6)
โI charge you in the presence of God,
who gives life to all things,
and of Christ Jesusโ (1 Timothy 6:13).
Peter
Peter described Jesus as โour God and Savior, Jesus Christโ (2 Peter 1:1).ย But in the very next verse Peter makes a distinction between God and Jesus:
โGrace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lordโ (2 Peter 1:2).
We see the same distinction between God and Jesus in Peterโs statement a few verses later, โLord Jesus Christ โฆ received honor and glory from God the Fatherโ (2 Peter 1:16-17).
Letter to the Hebrews
God says of โthe Sonโ: โYour throne,ย O God, is forever and ever” (Heb. 1:8).ย But the very next verse reads, โGod, your God, has anointed youโ.ย In other words, God is the God also of โthe Sonโ.
This entire passage is a quote from Psalm 82, where the king is called โGodโ (v6), saying โGod, Your God, has anointed Youโ (v7). This shows again that people are sometimes called โgodโ.ย Hebrews, under inspiration, applies this to Jesus.ย But the point remains; although Jesus is called God, God is also His God.ย This statement does not make Him the same as or equal to God.
Thomas
When Jesus showed him His wounds, the doubting Thomas realized that the One standing in front of him is the risen Lord, and he exclaimed:
โMy Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
However, just a minute before Thomas did not even believe that Jesus was resurrected.ย He had no idea of the profound concepts that God would later reveal to John, which we read of in His gospel.ย It is unthinkable that Thomas, at that moment, thought of Jesus as the same as or equal to the Only True and invisible God (John 17:3; Col. 1:15).
The Word was God (John 1)
John 1:1 is the best known “proof” that Jesus is God. John 1:18 is similar to John 1:1. These two verses are therefore discussed together:
Jesus is distinct from God.
Both verses start by making a distinction between God and Jesus:
John 1:1 refers to Jesus as the Word (see verse 14).ย It starts by saying, โin the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.โย Since Jesus was โwith God,โ He is distinct from God.
John 1:18 starts by saying that โNo one has seen God at any time.โย Colossians 1:15 also describes God as invisible.ย Since God is invisible, while Jesus was seen, Jesus is distinct from God.
But both God and Jesus existed in the infinite โbeginningโ (1:1) and both therefore are eternal.ย This is confirmed by 1:3 which says โAll things came into being through Him (the Word), and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into beingโ.ย There was no time that โthe Wordโ did not exist, for God created all things through Him; even time itself.
Jesus is God.
Both verses then continue to refer to Jesus as God:
John 1:1 continues to say โand the Word was God.โ
John 1:18 similarly continues, โthe only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.โ
Conclusions from John 1
Firstly, note that 1:18 identifies the unseen God as the Father.ย One of the many similar statements is โI ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your Godโ (John 20:17).ย This confirms the conclusion that the New Testament, in the vast majority of instances, reserves the title “God” for the Father.
Secondly, although John 1:1 and 1:18ย refer to Jesus as God, these same verses also make a distinction between God and Jesus.ย These are two different uses of the title โGod:โ
WHO: In the vast majority of instances the Bible uses โGodโ as a name for the Father, similar to the name YHVH.ย It uniquely identifies the Father.ย In this use of the term โGod,โ Jesus is not God.
WHAT: In the seven instances where Jesus is called โGod,โ the term โGodโ is used in a different sense.ย It is not used as an identification, but as a description, namely that Jesus is our God.
Note the “our” and “my:”ย Both Paul and Peter wrote,ย โOur great God … Christ Jesusโ (Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1).ย Thomas said โMy Lord and my God” (John 20:28).ย In other words, although Jesus is not the God, but He is our God.
When the New Testament refers to Jesus as God, then the NT reverts back to the common meaning of the word โgod.โ Other people have other gods, but Jesus is our God.ย This does not mean that He is God, for the title “God” is reserved for the Father, โwho alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can seeโ (1 Tim. 6:16).
Why is He our God?
To understand why the writers of the New Testament declared Jesus to be our God, we must read the seven verses where He is called God.ย Then we find that Jesus is our God because:
He was in the beginning with God and that God created all things through Jesus (1:1-3; Heb. 1:10). Although everything may perish, Jesus will always remain and will always remain the same (1:11-12). He is the only One who is able to explain God, who cannot be seen (John 1:18).ย He rose from the dead (John 20:28) and He is โover allโ (Rom. 9:5). He is โSaviorโ who โgave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possessionโ (Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1).
Is Jesus God?
This is a bad question, unless we define what we mean by โGod.โย The New Testament reserves the title โGodโ for the uncaused Cause of all things, who cannot be seen. Jesus referred to Him as “Father.”ย Gabriel referred to Him as the “Most High.” If we use this meaning for the title โGod,โ then Jesus is not God.
But in a small number of instances the New Testament refers to Jesus as โGod.โ These verses use a different meaning of the term โGod.โ These verses use the common meaning of theos, in which beings other than the uncaused Cause of all things may be called theos. Other people have other gods, but Jesus is the One that we worship and obey.
This does not mean that Jesus is equal to the uncaused Cause of all things.ย Here we depart from mainstream Christianity.
As discussed above, Jesus received everything from the Father.
Jesus is not the Creator of all things, but God created all things through Him.
If we ask whether Jesus always existed, then the answer is yes and no, for we need to understand what the questioner means.ย The term “always” assumes time, and time did not always exist.ย Time started when this universe was created.ย Before time there was no such thing as time.ย But we cannot even talk about โbeforeโ the creation of the universe.ย ย There is just no such thing.ย To talk about what exists outside time is to ask about the One โwho alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can seeโ (1 Tim. 6:16). ย These things are simply beyond human understanding.ย But Jesus existed in the โBeginningโ (John 1:1).ย We can therefore safely assume that Jesus existed from the beginning of time.
Jesus is not co-equal to the Father, but He is our God, for He created us, redeemed us, sustains us, is preparing homes for us, and one day He will return to take us where He is.ย Then:
โAll will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Himโ (John 5:23).
โGod highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW โฆ to the glory of God the Fatherโ (Phil. 2:9:11).
Conclusion
I have written several articles on the use of theos for Jesus in the NT. My conclusions can be summarised into the following categories:
Instances where it is NOT clear whether theos refers to Christ:
In many translations of Romans 9:5, Jesus is not God but blessed by God. See, Jesus in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
In 1 John 5:20, the title โtrue theosโ is sometimes understood as referring to the Son. However, the entire purpose of that verse is to say that the Father is the โtrueโ God, in contrast to the idols mentioned in the next verse. It twice refers to the Father as โHim who is true.โ Therefore, when that verse concludes by saying that โThis is the true God,โ this should be understood as referring to the Father:
20 And we know that the Son of God has come,
and has given us understanding
so that we may know Him who is true;
and we are in Him who is true,
in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (NASB)
Instances where it is not clear whether the original manuscripts contain the word theos:
Many of the ancient manuscripts of John 1:18 describe Jesus as โSonโ and not as God.โ See, Did John John refer to Jesus as theos (god) or huios (son)?
Instances where the meaning of the word theos is in dispute:
The grammatical structure of John 1:1c means that the word was like God; not that he is God. See, The Word was God or like God?
In Hebrews 1:8-9 and John 20:28, 19, Jesus is called theos but the Father is called His God. That means that theos is used in different senses for the Father and Son. See the article on theos.
Other Available Articles
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- Is Jesus God? – List of all articles
- The historical development of the Trinity doctrine – List of Articles
- All articles – List of all article series on this websiteย ย