NCCG.ORG - 1-2. The Deity of the Son

Yah'shua the Messiah (or Jesus Christ, from the Greek Iesous Christos as He is more commonly known in Christendom) is the Hebrew and therefore authentic Name of the Son of Elohim (God). Many Messianics use the Aramaic diminutive, Yeshua which was almost certainly used in New Testament times too.

You will notice immediately that the Name of the Son of Elohim (God) contains a contraction of the Name of the Father, Yah. Literally translated, His Name means "Yah Saves" or "Yahweh Saves". The fact that He bears His Father's Name (which is not possible to discern in the Greek corruption, "Jesus", that we are most familiar with), tells us much about His relationship to the Father and the Elohim/Godhead.

Messiah (from the Hebrew 'Mashiach) or Christ (from the Greek 'Christos') was always aware of a unique relationship He had with the Father. In Matthew 11:27 He says that He and the Father know each other in a way that no other person can experience. We note that the knowledge is reciprocal. Hence we are justified as seeing His claim to be the Son of Elohim (God) as an awareness of His divine nature. The Judahites (Yehudim) understood this, and accused Him of blasphemy because, being a man, He made Himself Elohim (God) (John 10:33). Again, they tried to kill Him because He "called Elohim (God) His Father, making Himself equal with Elohim (God)" (John 5:18). Yah'shua (Jesus) admits that the title ELOHIM (God or gods) is sometimes applied to Yahweh's deputy rulers or Judges, but says that the title, Son of Elohim (God), is all the more applicable to Him, since He had been consecrated by the Father and sent into the world (John 10:34-38).

It is important to note how often Yah'shua haMashiach (Jesus Christ) spoke of Himself as having been sent into the world (e.g. John 5:23-24,30; 8:18,26; 16:5; cp. Romans 8:3). He had a previous life with the Father (John 16:28; 17:5) and was Elohim (God) (John 1:1-2).

Other uses of the title "Son of Elohim (God)" are significant. In the temptation in the wilderness He did not dispute Satan's use of His title (Matthew 4:1-11). The point of Satan's "if" was not to throw doubt on His divinity, but to try to make Him misuse His divine powers. It is the "if" of argument, as in the text, "If Elohim (God) be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31, KJV). When demons were forced to admit that he was the Son of Elohim (God), he did not deny it, but forbad them to make it known (Mark 3:11-12). He needed to prepare the minds of His talmidim (disciples) to reach the inevitable conclusion that He was more than mere man. To have gone around continually asserting His deity would have been too much for their minds to bear. What He aimed at was to draw out an ultimate response such as Peter made in Matthew 16:16, "You are the Messiah (Christ), the Son of the living Elohim (God)", although it was not until after His resurrection and the coming of the Ruach (Spirit) that the full significance of the title dawned on the talmidim (disciples). We realise that there are passages in the Bible to which we can return and find a fuller significance in them after we have had a further revelation in Scripture.

It is important also to note that, while Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the unique Son of Elohim (God) (e.g. John 1:18, etc.), we may become sons and daughters of Elohim (God) through emunah (faith) in Him (John 1:12).

Whatever weight we may attach to the title "Son of Elohim (God)", there are some plain texts that certainly teach Messiah's deity:

a. John 1:1. In spite of what Jehovah's Witnesses say, the Greek can only mean "The Davar/Logos (Word) was Elohim (God)", or "What Elohim (God) was, the Davar/Logos (Word) was."
b. John 8:58. "Before Abraham was, I am." This extraordinary use of the present tense can only be because Messiah was claiming to have the Name Yahweh (Exodus 3:14). The Jehovah's Witness 'New World Translation' excels itself in evasion by translating, "Before Abraham came into existence, I have been", an impossible rendering of the present tense.
c. John 20:28. Messiah accepts Thomas' worship of Him as "My Lord {Yahweh} and my God {Elohim}". This cannot simply be a pious exclamation, since no Judahite (Yehudi, Jew) would thus dare take Elohim's (God's) Name in vain.
d. Philippians 2:6. The technical term, form of Elohim (God), can only mean having the nature of Elohim (God), or all that constitutes Elohim (God) as Elohim (God). If we deny this meaning, we must also deny the manhood of Messiah, since exactly the same Greek word is used in verse 7 of His taking the form of a servant.
e. Hebrews 1:8. Messiah is here distinguished from malakim (angels) and men by being given the title Elohim (God).
f. Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:35. His conception through the action of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) demonstrated that He was the Son of Elohim (God) and 'El[ohim] (God) with us' (Immanuel).'

These are a few clear texts, but Messiah's deity underlines the whole Messianic Scriptures (New Testament). Thus His promise to be with all His people all the time could be fulfilled only if He is Elohim (God) (Matthew 28:20). He is identified with Yahweh in John 12:40-41, which says that the vision of Yahweh that Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6 was a vision of Messiah. Similarly Revelation 2:23 applies to Messiah the claims of Jeremiah 17:9-10, that only Yahweh can search the heart of man.

If Messiah is Elohim (God), He cannot be a created being. He and the Father must be eternal, as is also true of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). Thus the title Son is pictorial rather than genetic, and includes the concept of the One who is heir of all things (Colossians 1:15-20). Note that Messiah remembered His pre-incarnation existence with His Father, a pre-existence that predated man (John 17:5).