I really don't get it! There are MANY verses in both the Old and New Testaments, that are VERY CLEAR, that Jesus Christ in the Eternal Divine Nature, or Godhead, is, from all eternity, 100% coequal with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.
We have Isaiah 9:6, where Jesus Christ is "The Mighty God", and in 10:21, the Father is "The Mighty God". In both places, the Hebrew is the exact same, "’êl Gibbôr", and does not mean anything less when used for Jesus, other than for ones theology!
We have in Genesis 1:26, where God is in the PLURAL "WE", "OUR", which is NOT God the Father speaking with "angels", as some try to argue, because there is not ONE verse in the entire Bible, that says humans are Created in the "image of angels"! or anyone else. Genesis 1:1, and in many places, God is not “˒ēl”, or “˒ĕlōah”, which are in the masculine SINGULAR, but, “˒ĕlōhı̂m”,which is the masculine PLURAL. I have shown at great length from the Hebrew uses of these words, that the plural does not ever mean "plural of Majesties", which is seen in the singular! It is clearly PLURAL OF PERSONS!
We then have Psalm 110:1, where the Hebrew has "YHWH" speaking with "’Aḏōn". Some has wrongly used this verse to show that Jesus Christ, Who is "’Aḏōn" here, is not Almighty God, and lesser than "YHWH". This is not the case, as there are many places in the Bible, where "’Aḏōn" is indeed used for Almighty God, eg, Exodus 23:17, Exodus 34:23,Deuteronomy 10:17, Joshua 3:11, 13, Psalm 8:1, etc, etc. In fact, "The Lord at Your Right Hand", in Psalm 110:5, is in the Hebrew, “’Aḏōnāy”, Who is called "’Aḏōn" in verse 1. In about 20 Jewish Hebrew manuscripts, instead of “’Aḏōnāy”, it reads, "YHWH! This shows that there are TWO distinct Persons Who are YHWH!
In Isaiah 48:16, we have the Speaker Who is clearly YHWH, Who says that ANOTHER PERSON, “Adonay Yahweh”, is to Send Himself and the Spirit. The context is clear that the Speaker is not Isaiah, or any human, as He Speaks of Creation and Eternity as belonging to Him!
Zechariah 2:6-11, we have the Speaker Who is YHWH, Who says that ANOTHER PERSON, Who is also YHWH, "Sends" Him!
“Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh. ‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’ For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For Honor He has sent Me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For, behold, I will shake My hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent Me. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I Come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent Me to you”
The One Who SENDS, is note the same Person as the One Who is SENT. Both are clearly YHWH!
John 1:1 is very clear, when read in context, and with 1 John 1:1-3, that "The Word", is the PERSON, The Lord Jesus Christ. He is said to exist from ETERNITY, as the Father IS, and is in Eternal Fellowship WITH God the Father. "The Word" is also GOD, in exactly the same way the Father is GOD.
John 1:18, in the oldest and best textual evidence, as even attested by some of those who denied that Jesus Christ is GOD, reads as Written by the Apostle John, "God [the Father] no one has ever seen, The Unique God [Jesus Christ] is Eternally in Fellowship with the Father..." TWO distinct Person, who are EQUALLY ALMIGHTY GOD!
Titus 2:13, is also very clear, that Jesus Christ is "The Great God and Saviour", which is what the Greek grammar actually says. This is even admitted in a note by the Greek scholar, Dr George Winer, who was a Unitarian
"In the above remarks it was not my intention to deny that, in point of grammar, Σωτηρoς μωv (our Saviour) may be regarded as a second predicate, jointly dependent on the article τoυ (the); but the dogmatic conviction derived from Paul's writings that this apostle cannot have called Christ the great God induced me to show that there is no grammatical obstacle to our taking the clause και Σωτ...Χριστoυ (from,'and to Christ') by itself as referring to a second subject" (A Treatise on the Grammar of New Testament Greek, p.162. 1877 edition. - words in brackets are mine)
Note, Winer says that the Greek grammar says that Jesus Christ is called "Great God and Saviour", but his THEOLOGY did not allow this!
In John 20:28, Thomas declares that The Risen Jesus Christ, is, " Ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου", which is, "my Lord and my God". Not "a god"!
In Hebrews 1:8, we have God the Father address Jesus Christ, and says, “ο θρονος σου ο θεος”, which is, "Your Throne O God". Again, for theological purposes alone, some has tried to make this, "God is Your Throne", etc. However, it is clear, as in John 20:28, that we have the where the nominative is used for the vocative, in direct address.
Dr George Winer, also admits that in Hebrews 1:8, the vocative is to be understood. “The nominative (with the article) is sometimes used in an address, particularly in calling or commanding, thus taking the place of the vocative…H. i.8” (A Treatise on the Grammar of New Testament Greek, p.227). Another Unitarian, Dr George Noyes, reads in his New Testament: “but of the Son: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”.
We also have in the Gospels, Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2-3, Luke 3:4-5; John 1:23; "For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight"
This is taken from Isaiah 40:3, which reads: “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the Way of YHWH, make straight in the desert a Highway for our God”
Clearly Jesus Christ is YHWH!
We also read in 1 Corinthians 10:9, in the best textual evidence, "“nor let us test the Christ, as some of them also tested ,and were destroyed by serpents”. In Numbers 21:6, we read, “So YHWH sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died”
Again, Jesus Christ is YHWH
In the Book of Revelation, there are at least three references where Jesus says of Himself, that He is “THE FIRST AND THE LAST”:
Revelation 1:17-18
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades”
Revelation 2:8
“Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: “The First and the Last, the One who was dead and came to life, says”
Revelation 22:13
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End”
The words, “egō eimi ho prōtos kai ho eschatos”, mean that Jesus Christ is The Eternal God. The Greek scholar, Dr Joseph Thayer, who was a Unitarian, and denied that Jesus Christ is God, says this of this phrase in his Greek Lexicon
“absolutely (i. e. without a noun) and substantively; α. with the article: ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος, i. e. the eternal One, Rev. 1:17; Rev. 2:8; Rev. 22:13”
THE ETERNAL ONE, which can only be used for YHWH.
In the Greek Old Testament, known as the Septuagint (LXX), translated by Jewish scholars over 100 years before the Birth of Jesus Christ, Exodus 3:14, reads:
“egō eimi ho ōn”, literally, “I am The Eternal One”. The Greek verb “ōn”, meaning, “timeless, continuance present”.
What Jesus Christ says of Himself in the Book of Revelation, is also said of YHWH in the Prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 41:4
“Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, am the first, and with the last—I am He.”
Isaiah 44:6
“This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, Yahweh of Hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but Me”
Isaiah 48:12
“Listen to Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also the last”
HOW can anyone ever doubt that The Holy Bible Teaches that Jesus Christ is YHWH, The Great I AM, The Eternal God?
