Back to Son of God or God the Son?

I had promised to consider divine attributes and the book of Revelation in presenting the deity of Jesus but interrupted that with a necessary interlude.  So, I am now delivering on that promise in today's blog.

God possesses attributes, which are uniquely His and cannot be communicated to His creation.  These include His degree of knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), presence (omnipresence) and existence (eternal, without beginning and end).  God is also unchanging (immutable) in contrast to His creation.  These attributes are expressions of God's infinite being; One who is unlimited, in stark contrast to our human existence.

At this point, the mystery of Jesus as both God and human is most obvious.  How could Jesus as a genuine human being be God in view of these incredible divine attributes?  I think this is the stumbling block for many.  It also presents a challenge when interpreting statements about Jesus, because as a man, Jesus lived in dependence on God, His Father, which meant examples of divine power and knowledge in His earthly ministry were not expressions of Jesus divine nature.  They were evidence of the Father's and Holy Spirit's working through Him.  Yet, the record of the New Testament assigns to Jesus attributes that are consistent with God's and far beyond ours.

Paul declares that "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" are in Christ (Colossians 2:3).  Note that it is "all" and not some, and Christ is introduced as "God's mystery" prior to this statement (verse 2).  No mere human could have this capacity, which matches God's attribute of omniscience.  The most dramatic expression of God's omnipotence is creation and Jesus is repeatedly assigned this role (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2, 10).  This requires Jesus to have existed prior to His incarnation and possess omnipotence to be the creator.

Further, Jesus Himself declared that He will be with His disciples until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).  He also stated that He would be present among them when two or three were gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20).  Jesus also expressed His presence in believers during His high priestly prayer (John 17:21, 23, 26), which is also taught in the epistles (Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Colossians 1:27).  This capacity of Jesus corresponds well with God's attribute of omnipresence and could not be associated with a mere man.

With respect to eternality, Jesus is understood to exist prior to His incarnation and precede creation as its creator.  In addition, He is presented as with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2) and shared in glory with Him prior to creation (John 17:5).  Jesus is called "the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13 cf. 21:6), "the Alpha and Omega" (Revelation 22:13 cf. 1:8; 21:6) and "the first and the last" (Revelation 1:17; 2:8; 22:13), which are descriptions consistent with eternality.  I have already mentioned the titles assigned to the future Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, which included "Everlasting Father".

Last, in consideration of immutability, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8) and described as enduringly constant in Hebrews 1:11-12.  Such descriptions are not applied to humanity and best fit with the nature of God.  While it is true that in Jesus' humanity, he grew physically, in knowledge and maturity (Luke 2:40) and so changed in His human existence, this did not apply to His divine nature.

In conclusion, one more consideration is worthwhile.  In the book of Revelation, John records his experience of the revelation of Jesus Christ and includes powerful descriptions of Him.  Many commentators consider Revelation 1:8 to be the words of Jesus, but even if they are not, their content is applied to Him (Revelation 22:13).  The same adulation is given to God and Jesus in chapters four and five (Revelation 4:11 cf. 5:12).  The song of the Lamb addresses Him as "O Lord God the Almighty" and continues to elevate Him as "King of the nations" (Revelation 15:3-4).

The tension between Jesus as God and man is solely our problem.  We cannot conceive of this mode of existence and so struggle to receive it as true, but the Scriptures teach it.  It is a faith reality, in the same category as believing creation ex nihilo, something from nothing (Hebrews 11:3).  I hope these brief treatments have been helpful.  Next time we start a new topic yet to be revealed.  God bless!