1 Corinthians 2:8 – Lord Of Glory

The Lord of Glory

When Paul wrote of Jesus as "Lord of glory" in 1 Corinthians 2:8, was he saying that Jesus is Jehovah?

For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. — 1 Corinthians 2:8, World English.

The claim is sometimes made that 1 Corinthians 2:8 proves that Jesus is Jehovah (Yahweh), “the King of glory.” The way this is allegedly proved is that 1 Corinthians 2:8 is crossed with the following scriptures, by which it is supposed that this proves that Jesus is Jehovah (Yahweh):

{Psalm 24:7} Lift up your heads, you gates! Be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.
{Psalm 24:8} Who is the King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle.
{Psalm 24:9} Lift up your heads, you gates; yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.
{Psalm 24:10} Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of Armies is the King of glory! Selah. — RLIV.

At most, what we can see between the two scriptures is that both Jesus and His God have an attribute of “glory”. Nevertheless, any thought that this means that Jesus is Jehovah has to be imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures. And then to get trinity into the verses, one has to imagine and assume and add to the first assumption that Jesus is a person of Jehovah, and then add this and read this also into the scriptures.

Although many speak of Jesus as the “King of glory,” this expression, as such, is never used of Jesus in the Bible. It is only used of Jehovah (Yahweh), the God and Father of Jesus, whom Jesus spoke of as the “only true God” (Isaiah 61:1; John 17:1,3). As such, the expression, “King of glory” in Psalm 24 describes Jehovah’s glory as related to His being King, the ruler of all that he has created. This glory is not something that anyone has given to Him. It is innately His glory, and His right as Most High to be this “King of glory.”

This is not to say that Jesus is not a “king of glory.” Prophetically, Jesus, in speaking of his second appearing, said, “the Son of the Man [the son of the man, David] will sit on the throne of his glory.” (Matthew 19:28) “They will see the Son of the Man coming on clouds of the sky with power and glory.” (Matthew 24:30) “He comes in the glory of himself, of the Father, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26) Thus, at Jesus’ second appearing, his rulership at that time, the power and authority given to him by the only Most High, could be described as a “king of glory.” Unlike Jehovah, however, this kingship of Jesus is given to him from Jehovah his God, in whose strength Jesus stands (Micah 5:4), and Jesus’ kingship is that of lineage of David, who sat on the throne of Jehovah . (1 Chronicles 29:23) All the glory of his rulership is given to him by the only Most High, Jehovah, and reflects the glory of Jehovah, to praise of Jehovah. — Psalm 2:6-8; 45:7; 110:1,2; Isaiah 9:6,7; 11:2; 42:1; 61:1-3; Jeremiah 23:5; Daniel 7:13,14; Matthew 12:28; 28:28; Luke 1:32; 4:14,18; 5:17; John 3:34; 5:19,27,30; 10:18,36-38; Acts 2:22; 10:38; Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:27; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Colossians 1:15,16; 2:10; Ephesians 1:17-22; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:2,4,6,9; 1 Peter 3:22.

Does what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:8 support the claim that Jesus is Jehovah (Yahweh), the “King of Glory?” Paul wrote: “which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.” Jesus is here spoken of as the “Lord of glory.” “The Lord of glory” was crucified. Except in the sense that what was done to Jesus was also considered to be done to the God and Father of Jesus (John 15:23), Jehovah, the only Most High Himself was not crucified. Jesus was made “Lord” by Jehovah. (Isaiah 6:1; Acts 2:36) Jesus’ being made “Lord” and “Christ” by Jehovah does not mean that Jesus became Jehovah.

Our trinitarian neighbors may say that it was not "God the Son" that was crucified, but that it was simply Jesus' manhood that was crucified. If so, it would seem to say that the fleshy body of Jesus is the "Lord of glory", and thus, one would wonder how such would mean that Jesus is Jehovah, the King of glory, who is not a man, having the glory that is a little lower than the angels. -- Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7,9.

It is possible, however, that 1 Corinthians 2:8 refers to Jesus' sinless glory as a human, since, unlike all the offspring of Adam, he never fell short of the glory of his God while he was in the days of his flesh. -- Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22.

In reality, there is no scriptural reason to imagine, assume, add to, and read into 1 Corinthians 2:8 that Paul had any intent of saying that Jesus is Jehovah of Psalm 24. There is definitely nothing there that says that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is more than one person, or that Jesus is a person of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc.

Illustration at top adapted from image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay