If Jesus is God, How can he have “a God”?

By Peter Salemi

www.British-Israel.ca

This has puzzled many people for centuries. Many Trinitarians, Unitarians and others try and explain how Jesus being God, can have a God? Jesus plainly said, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” (Rev 3:12; see also John 20:17; Ephesians 1:3, 17;  Matt 27:46; Rom 15:6; 2 Cor 11:31; Heb 1:9; 1 Peter 1:3; Rev 1:6). Can we reconcile this? If Jesus is God how can he have a God?

Jesus is Jehovah of the OT

The NT often takes unique title of YHWH of the OT and applies them to Jesus. Here is a good example:

·        Isa 43:11 - I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.

·        Titus 2:13 - as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here is a longer list that is far from exhaustive.

Clearly Jesus is Jehovah or Yahweh of the Old Testament. And even in the Old Testament Jehovah has a God, notice, “You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.” (AFV).

When, Jesus hung on the cross he quoted Psalm 22.1 and applied it to himself by crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34).

Isaiah foretold about the righteous Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 42—53), whom the Apostle Peter implied was Jesus (Acts 3.13; 4.27, 30). Isaiah represented this Servant as saying, “the justice due to Me is with the LORD [=Yahweh], and My reward with My God…. For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength” (Isaiah 49.4-5).

Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in “Bethlehem” and become “ruler in Israel” in “the name of the LORD His God” (Micah 5.2, 4).

So we see that the Bible is consistent. In the Old Testament Jehovah has a God, and in the New Testament Jesus-who is Jehovah has a God. But again, how can God, have a God?

The Family of God

We here in the church of God believe and can prove from the scriptures that God is a family consisting of the Father and the Son, and that the word “God” “Theos” in Greek and “Elohim” in Hebrew means the “Kind” of being, like the word “Human.” That Jesus and the Father are the same “Kind” the GodKind. This is plainly demonstrated in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the “only begotten of the Father.” This word in the Greek for “only begotten” is “monogenes.” This means that Jesus is the only “race stock kind family” of the Father. Monogenēs is made from two Greek words. “Monos means ‘alone, only, sole.’ Genos has a range of meanings: ‘offspring, family, relation, lineage, race, kind, species,”’ (Article: Monogenēs: Only Begotten? By Marg Mowczko; see also Is Jesus God? p.21 by. Spiros Zodhiates).

The Old Testament as well demonstrates this fact when we read about the prophecy of Christ, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2). “His goings forth” from the Strong’s shows that this means, “H4163 ‘motsa’ah motsaw-aw’ Feminine of H4161; a family descent;” His actually family descent comes from “Everlasting.” Who is the “everlasting” One of the Bible? YAHWEH.

Again, Zechariah 13, speaking of the Shepherd of Israel, it says, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts:” (v.7). The phrase “my fellow,” again means, “ ‘My fellow,’ that is, ‘my associate.’ ‘My equal’ [DE WETTE]; a remarkable admission from a Rationalist). ‘My nearest kinsman’ [HENGSTENBERG],” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary). The Strong’s translates this as, “H5997 ‘amýyth aw-meeth’ From a primitive root meaning to associate; companionship; hence (concretely) a comrade or kindred man: - another, fellow, neighbour.” Jesus is of the same family as the Father.

However if they are the same kind why is the Father Jesus’ “God,” when they are both the same kind-the GodKind?

Jesus’ Relationship to the Father

Jesus not only called the Father, “My God.” Jesus also spoke of God as “My Father.” John 5:17. The Bible speaks frequently about God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son and always the Son is described as in subordination to the Father. This is intended to at once show Jesus’ connection to and respect for the Father as it is to show His submission to Him.

This subordination of Jesus to God one cannot automatically assume that this subordination necessarily means inferiority in nature or a essence. Jesus is equal in nature to the Father and in subordination to the Father’s authority. “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:” (Philippians 2:6); “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Philip asked Jesus to, “shew us the Father” (John 14:8). How did Jesus answer Philip? “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (v.9). Jesus and the Father are equal in every way. “the Son is equal to the Father, having the self-same essence, perfections, and glory: nor with respect to personality, the Son is equally a divine person, as the Father is…” (Gill’s Commentary, emphasis added). This is why Jesus said if you have seen him you have seen the Father. He is an exact copy of the Father in every way, as Hebrews said, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” (1:3). The “express image” means, “

Here, substantial nature, essence. Χαρακτὴρ from χαράσσειν to engrave or inscribe, originally a graving-tool; also the die on which a device is cut. It seems to have lost that meaning, and always signifies the impression made by the die or graver. Hence, mark, stamp, as the image on a coin (so often) which indicates its nature and value, or the device impressed by a signet… the Son bears the exact impress of the divine nature and character.” (Vincent Word Studies, emphasis his and mine). Jesus is an exact copy of the Father.

Now Jesus said, “…for my Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28). This does not mean that the nature and the divinity of Christ is less than the Father. The Father is greater in authority, like human fathers have authority over their sons. Both are equal in nature-both are equal in essence and humanity, but one has authority over the other. The Greek words, “Greater than I (meizōn mou)…Not a distinction in nature or essence (cf. John 10:30), but in rank…” (Robertson’s Word Pictures, emphasis added).

If we understand the relationship between Jesus and the Father then there is nothing logically incoherent about the Son who is God calling God the Father “my God.” It is the Father’s being, essence, nature and Title, and for Jesus to call him that is completely normal and in sync with other scriptures. I call my father Human, even as I am human, (we are both humankind); but he is greater that I in authority and rank, and as a child I relied on him and asked him for things and help because I depended on him even as Jesus when he was a man was dependant on the Father. I call my dad “my father” even as Jesus called God “my Father.”

Now, for Jesus to call the Father “my God,” is completely normal. Why would God call Himself “My God”? It has to do with Christ’s relationship to His Father. Even though Christ is the eternal God Himself incarnate, He is still a different person from the Father. God the Father was the God of Jesus. The Father is the God of the Son, but it doesn’t imply inferiority, only a difference in roles!

Understanding this truth we can understand this scripture, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Cor 8:6).

Alford’s New Testament states, “there is ONE GOD, the Father (ὁ πατήρ answers to Ἰησοῦς χριστός in the parallel clause below, and serves to specify what God—viz. the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) [Jesus’ God]” (emphasis his and mine).

And “one Lord Jesus Christ,” “The word ‘Lord’ here is used in the sense of proprietor, ruler, governor, or king; and the idea is, that Christians acknowledge subjection to Him alone, and not to many sovereigns, as the pagans did. Jesus Christ is the Ruler and Lord of his people. They acknowledge their allegiance to him as their supreme Lawgiver and King… The word ‘Lord’ here does not imply of necessity any inferiority to God; since it is a term which is frequently applied to God himself. The idea in the passage is, that from God, the Father of all, we derive our existence, and all that we have; and that we acknowledge ‘immediate and direct’ subjection to the Lord Jesus as our Lawgiver and Sovereign. From him Christians receive their laws, and to him they submit their lives. And this idea is so far from supposing inferiority in the Lord Jesus to God, that it rather supposes equality; since a right to give laws to people, to rule their consciences, to direct their religious opinions and their lives, can appropriately pertain only to one who has equality with God.” (Barnes Notes, emphasis added).

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