Jesus and His God

For neither does the Father judge any man, but he has given all judgment to the Son, [23] that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him. — John 5:22-23, World English . John 5:23 is often cited as proof that Jesus is Jehovah, or a person of Jehovah. In reality, there is nothing in John 5:23 that means that Jesus was claiming to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is nothing in John 5:23 that says that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is more than one person. There is nothing in John 5:23 that says that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is three persons. All such thoughts have to be added to, and read into, what Jesus said. Indeed, Jesus claimed the one who had sent him, which he spoke of in John 5:23, as the “only true God”, and by claiming the “only true God” had sent him, Jesus was, in effect, denying that he was that “only true God”. — John 17:1,3.In the Bible, only the God and Father ...

Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion, Who was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory. — 1 Timothy 3:16, New American Bible . There is a footnote given for the word “Who”, which reads: Who: the reference is to Christ, who is himself “the mystery of our devotion.” Some predominantly Western manuscripts read “which,” harmonizing the gender of the pronoun with that of the Greek word for mystery; many later (eighth/ninth century on), predominantly Byzantine manuscripts read “God,” possibly for theological reasons. — found on page 325 of The New Testament of the New American Bible (Saint Joseph Edition), Catholic Book Publishing Company (New York), copyright 1986 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC. While many trinitarians, at least for this verse, prefer the later manuscript reading of “God”, this reading is the hardest to fit the context of...

The affirmation below is made by many Bible Students: I. We affirm the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Christ. (Reprints 4955) Probably, most Bible Students would say that Jesus is divine, but Bible Students generally limit the term “divine” as applied to Jesus only after his resurrection, for they blend the meaning of “divine” with “immortality” in the spirit realm. We believe, however, the scriptures indicate that a broader usage of the terms “deity” and “divine” can be applied. The question has been raised, was Jesus, as a human being, “divine”, or “deity”? Most Bible Students would probably answer “no”, for they generally view the term “divine” to be equivalent with “spirit being”, without consideration of any broader usage of the term. Additionally, to say, as a human, that Jesus was divine, implies agreement the trinitarian alleged dual nature of Jesus, in their claim that he was God in the flesh. But we believe that there is a scriptural sense in which Jesus, as a human,...