Is Jesus God? Is He the same as Jehovah? Is there more than one God? Here you will find God’s answer – from His own word – as revealed in your Bible.
Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for sin in our stead. He gave of Himself that we might be reconciled to God. How was this possible?
First, if Jesus had been only human, His death could have paid the penalty for but one other human who had incurred that penalty by transgression of God’s spiritual law (Romans 6:23 NKJ version throughout). Since God the Father created all things by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9), and since all things, including man, were made by Jesus Christ, He is our maker and therefore God, and His life which he gave was of greater value than the sum total of all human beings. For we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3). “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father—(verse 14). “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him (verse 10). Compare these scriptures with 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:12-19.
Life alone can beget life. This is the absolute law of biogenesis. Since eternal life is the gift of God (John 3:16), only God possessing immortality could give it. If Jesus were only human, we could not receive eternal life through Him and He could not be our Savior. Man does not have eternal life inherent in himself. But, as God “the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” And, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (John 5:26 and 1 John 5:11-12).
He Was Also Human
On the other hand, Jesus was also human. Since it is human life which has transgressed God’s law, the law claims human life as its penalty. Contrary to popular present day teaching, the word of God states that the wages (the penalty) of sin is death – not eternal life in a so-called “hell fire” (Romans 6:23). When we sin, we break God’s perfect spiritual law, “sin is lawlessness (transgression of the law)” (1 John 3:4). The penalty for this sin is death. The penalty must be paid. God the Father will not compromise. It must be paid by a man. Therefore, Jesus, who is and was God, who has always existed (John 1:1-2), was actually made flesh (verse 14). He who was God, actually became human flesh because 1 John 4:2-3 states “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.” He was conceived in and born of the human virgin, Mary. “Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). He was made not only flesh, but human flesh and blood. Notice Hebrews 2:14 “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same-.”
Jesus called Himself the Son of Man repeatedly, and also the Son of God. Matthew wrote, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16-13-17).
Jesus, in nature, is equal with God -“who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:6).
He is called God in Titus 2:10, 13. Therefore He is God. The Bible contains so much on these points that the above is a mere fragment of the evidence.
Yes, Jesus is also Jehovah. The original name, in the Hebrew, contained the consonants “YHVH”. In writing in Hebrew, vowels were omitted, supplied only in speaking. Thus the precise pronunciation of the name is not definitely known, but today it is commonly assumed to be Yahveh or Yahweh. The meaning, in English, is The Eternal or the Ever-living or the Self-existent. It is commonly supposed that Yahveh, sometimes translated Jehovah, or the LORD of the Old Testament, was God the Father of Jesus Christ. This is a major error.
The New Testament account of the transfiguration is found in Matthew Chapter 17. Here in verse five the disciples heard a voice coming out of a cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” But notice, did the scripture say it was God the Father who spoke? No. Read it in your own Bible.
Many have carelessly assumed the Bible says what it does not say. Notice this particular case, where a voice is heard speaking, and yet Christ Himself tells us it could not have been the voice of God (John 5:37). The only logical conclusion in the light of all scripture is that an angel (messenger) spoke, as one bearing this message from the Father in heaven.
Since it was not God the Father who spoke to Moses, and who even allowed Moses to see His back (Exodus 33:23), then it had to be the Eternal Being who was instrumental in executing God’s Word. That was Christ’s prior office – that was His all-important job. Who was the One who spoke to Moses? It was the Spokesman, the Logos, of course.
Notice 1Corinthians 10:4,” – and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they (ancient Israelites) drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
That certainly clinches it. The One who actually gave the laws to the children of Israel from Mount Sinai was the One who later became Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the LORD of the Old Testament, the God who dealt personally with Israel, who inspired the prophets, who revealed Himself to the Pharaoh, to Nebuchadnezzar and the Kings of the Earth.
Most people have assumed the God of the Old Testament was the Father of Jesus Christ. This is proven by God’s own inspired word to be a great error. As we read in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the Rock of the Old Testament was Jesus Christ. Remember the word LORD is actually YHVH, which means the Ever-living One, or Life Self-existent One. Now see 2 Samuel 22:2-3 David said “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior, you save me from violence.”
In Psalm 18:1-2, this same Rock is Yahveh. When Moses was talking to Yahveh and asked his name (Exodus 3:4, 5, 13), He answered that His name was I AM (verses 6, 14) and Yahveh—the Eternal One (verse 15). See also Exodus 6:2-3. In John 18:5-8, as soon as Jesus made Himself known to the crowd led by Judas as I AM (the “he” in italics is added without inspiration and was not in the original), they went backward and fell to the ground. Again in John 8:56-58, Jesus called Himself I AM.
The person of the Godhead who is our Redeemer is Jesus Christ. John 4:42 contains this, “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.’” See Isaiah 60:16 where Yahveh is called the Redeemer, which is the Savior or Mighty One of Israel (Jacob).
In almost every Old Testament passage the LORD (Yahveh, the Eternal) is Jesus Christ. Clearly Jesus is the LORD (the God) of the Old Testament.