The following is a letter in response to friend and a new Christian who has been studying with “Jehovah Witnesses” or as he calls them “Watchtower people”. My friend and brother asks, “Watchtower people told me that Jesus is not a God. They said according to the Bible, Jesus is one of the angels. Jesus prays to God; Jesus was baptized; even finally, Jesus sits by the side of God and there is only one God. So Jesus is not God? Can you help me?” No matter who accuses Christ of not being God, this post will be useful to you.
“First of all, you have a good question and one that most Christians have to ask at some time. In fact, your question is essential to your salvation. Jesus said in John 8:24, ‘Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins.’ Then Jesus said something that bothered the Jewish leaders. He said in John 8:58, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Jesus claimed to have lived before Abraham, knew it, and remembered it. Even in the Watchtower Bibles (which are altered), their Bibles show that Jesus claimed to be ‘I AM’, which is a name for God and God alone. Exodus 3:14 says, ‘And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” This is one of many references to Jesus being God. [Do not use the Watchtower bible until they can give you a list of the names of their editors and translators. As I know the Greek, there are many errors in their bibles. They don’t even ‘translate’ word-for-word.]
Jesus never claimed to be an angel, but there are references to God appearing as an angel. God apparently appeared to people in the Bible as an angel, who many believe that this is Jesus Christ. Even though God may appear as an angel or burning bush, He is neither an angel nor a burning bush. This appearing of God as an angel is called ‘the angel of the Lord’, and if you want we can discuss this further. This does not mean that God is an angel or that Jesus is an angel. See Hebrews 1 and 2 are all about how Jesus is greater than the angels, and that He is not an angel. Hebrews 1:1-3 shows that God spoke to everyone through His Son who is ‘the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person’. Then God says about Jesus is better than the angels and that He is God’s Son (Heb. 1:4-5). God said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him’ (Heb. 1:6, Psa. 97:7), and the Bible says that angels must not be worshipped (Col. 2:18, Rev. 22:8-9). Here the angels worship Jesus, so Jesus is not an angel. Then God calls Jesus ‘God’ and says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’ (Heb. 1:8-9, Psa. 45:6). Then God the Father calls Jesus ‘Lord’ saying, ‘You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands’ (Heb. 1:10, Psa. 102:25-27).
The Watchtower people will admit to you that they believe that Jesus is “a god”. Ask them about that. There are a number of verses in the Bible that say that Jesus is God as we have seen. The Gospel of John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Keep reading the Gospel of John and you’ll see that John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Clearly, there is God the Father and God the Son, and these two are one and they talk to one another. How? I don’t know. There is a separation between God the Father and God the Son. We can certainly not fully under God, but evidently God can speak to God. In Acts 2, Peter quotes from Psalm 110 of God the Father calling Jesus “Lord”. Psalm 110:1 says, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'” God the Father spoke to God the Son. Why? Did God have to? I don’t know, but I do know that God spoke to God for our own learning about God’s plans.
Here are some other verses about Jesus being God:
Jesus says in Revelation 1:8, ‘”I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”‘ [See also Rev. 1:17-18] God is the first and the last (Isa. 41:4, 44:6, 48:12).
Romans 9:5, ‘Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.’
Philippians 2:5-7, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.’
Colossians 2:9, ‘For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;’
Colossians 1:15-17 says about Jesus, ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.’ [Genesis 1:1, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’]
John 1:3, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Isaiah 9:6, ‘For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’
Acts 20:28, ‘Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.’
Clearly, Jesus is God. Even names ‘Savior’ and ‘Lord’ imply this and the Bible is filled with references to Jesus as Savior and Lord. The souls of these men that you study with are at stake. They will be condemned if they do not believe who Jesus says He is. I will pray for them. If these men are truly honest, they will repent and change their minds.
May God bless your family,
Scott”
Two scriptures I have used to challenge this are:
Isaiah 9:6-7 and John 14:16-20
We are told that Jesus is the “Everlasting FATHER, the Mighty God” and He says “I will come to you” when speaking of the Comforter which He calls the Holy Spirit. There He equates Himself and the Holy Spirit as the same entity and in verse 20 He says he is IN the Father and we will eventually see that for ourselves: “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
The verses in John, that you point out, where Christ says “I am” are quite convincing to anyone with eyes to see. As for “the Angel of the Lord” it is also quite evident that it truly means “the Lord of Hosts” and He never rebukes anyone for worshipping Him. That should be compelling evidence that this is the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus is His OT manifestation, and not an “angel” pre se’, because no angel of Heaven allows anyone to worship them in scripture, that I am aware of.
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Good point. All angels are created and that strikes at Christ.
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Angels are created Beings. Without the Word has nothing been made that has been made–borrowing wording from John’s Gospel. The Word became flesh (1:14). The Word is Jesus.
If Jesus was an angel, he would be a created being rather than the Creator. Nor is there any example of an angel being made flesh, though fallen angels indwell the bodies of living humans according to various biblical accounts.
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You know if Jesus was an angel that idea would not bother me. If that was the fact that I added to understanding Him.
Jesus working as God and man is amazingly perplexing. I guess the Apostle John kind of explains to me that Jesus is God wrapped in flesh and the limitation of the flesh of man, but there is certainly so much more.
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For a thorough treatment, if it is still in print, see Jesus as God by Murray Harris (ISBN 9780801021954).
My struggle is to see the interplay of Jesus’ humanity and deity. The possibility of Incarnation is mind blowing!
P.S. I believe Jesus was not one of the angels, but I know of no one who believes He is an angle. As I write, I think there is a spelling error above.
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I think you pretty much covered everything, Scott. Whenever someone makes Jesus out to be just another angel, I wonder to myself “Well how come no other angels did all the things Jesus did?”
Let’s entertain this idea further, nonetheless. If He was just and angel, then He would have to be a special one at that. I don’t think anyone could really say that He was an ordinary angel after thinking about everything He did for the people around him. Let’s also not forget to mention the fact that He was around in human form for over thirty years. What other angel has come close to that?
Again, I think you’ve covered this subject thoroughly. Nice work.
Peace,
Jordan
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To all readers,
So, how would you handle this? Do you know of better Scriptures? Or do you disagree that Jesus is God?
God bless.
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