Isaiah prophesied:

“Thus says the LORD (YHVH), the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. -- Isaiah 44:6 (NKJV)

Note that a singular God "I am" is speaking. He did not say "we, the Godhead, are...".

Being the LORD (YHVH) is significant because He is:

• the Creator of our world (Genesis 2:4-9)
• the most high God (Psalm 83:18)
• the God that should be worshipped (Psalm 118:27)
• the all-knowing wise God (Isaiah 11:2)
• and so forth...

Being the LORD of hosts is significant because He is:

• the God that should be worshipped (1 Samuel 1:11, 4:4)
• the God of the temple (Psalm 48:9, 84:4; Haggai 1:14)
• the God who rules the sea (Psalm 89:9), nations (Isaiah 1:9,24, 3:1, 5:7; Amos 5:27, 6:8; Micah 4:4; Nahum 2:14, 3:5; Habakkuk 2:13; Zephaniah 2:9; Haggai 1:2, 2:4; Malachi 3:10,17)
• the God who can read human minds (Amos 4:13)
• the God who is able to destroy the world (Amos 4:13; Haggai 2:6)
• the God whose laws should be obeyed (Zechariah 1:6)
• and so forth...

Jesus cannot be God together with another God, because Polytheism is forbidden for the Israelites who were commanded to worship only one God.

This means:

• either Jesus is YHVH, the Creator, the all-knowing, most high, eternal God who should be worshipped, or
• Jesus is not God

Therefore, it is very important that we correctly understand who Jesus was so that we can worship God correctly.

Views on Jesus

Theologians argue for centuries on what the essence of Jesus could be:

Those who belief Jesus is God come up with:

• Apophatic theology (mystery of God): Avoid trying to explain the mystery of how Jesus could be God, because our human minds are too limited to comprehend and infinite God.
• Avatarism (avatar of God): Jesus was God's avatar (puppet or human representation). The "avatar" was 100% human, represented 100% of God, while God was still safely governing His creation outside his limited human avatar.
• Binitarianism (separate god): Jesus was a separate God, but reincarnated and took on a human form while God the Father governed the universe.
• Christian Panentheism (all human spirits are God): Each human's spirit is a part of God in the spiritual dimension. Therefore, it is no problem for Jesus to be God and still be a real human like us (God-man), because we too are supposed to rule as gods (Man-god) with the exception that our spirits (god-part) are still dormant.
• Incarnationalism: Jesus was God, then he completely incarnated to become 100% true human but somehow also manage to retain 100% of his God-like attributes simultaneously (known as a "god-man").
• Kenotic theology (temporarily limited himself): Jesus only temporary limited ("emptied") himself from his God-hood to have a true 100% human experience like us while still being 100% God.
• Modalism (mode of God): Jesus is just one of God's modes or forms or interfaces with his creation. For example the same water substance could be found in an ice, liquid water or steam forms.
• Partialism (part of the God): Jesus is a part of God. For example your hand is part of you, but your hand is not completely you. Likewise, they would argue Jesus is God's body. Other parts of God are the Father and the Holy Spirit. Together these parts are viewed as "the Godhead" which each part is also considered "God".
• Tritheism (member of "the Godhead"): Because Jesus is considered a member of the "Godhead", he could be referred to as "God". For example, an English man is considered English, although he represents only one of the Englishmen. In this is the case the other members could be the Father and the Holy Spirit. Together they could be viewed as "the Godhead".

Those who belief Jesus is not God come up with:

• Adoptionism: God is not really Jesus' direct Father but instead God adopted Jesus to be His Son.
• Angelic Pre-existentialists (angel of the LORD): Jesus was active in creation before his human birth as the "angel of the LORD" and later reincarnated to be born as a human baby.
• Arianism: God created Jesus first as a subordinated being (direct son of the same essence but a lesser god) through whom He created and maintain our world. At Jesus birth, this lesser-son-god incarnated to become a real human like us.
• Gnosticism: Jesus was a divine being who came from Heaven (the spiritual) to Earth (material realm)
• Non-angelic Pre-existentialists (a tree, a rock, a bush, a lion, a lamb, etc.): Jesus reincarnated into different form before finally turning in to a human infant.
• Non-Christian Monotheists (prophet): Jesus was just another prophet who was born and died like all other humans.
• Socinianism, Socinian- or Strict Unitarian (human Son of God): Like Adam, Jesus was directly created as a human by God's Spirit without sin. While Adam chooses to defile the world with sin, Jesus choose to took cleanse the world from sin as the Christ. Both had to die because of sin. However, God resurrected Jesus to acts as a mediator and lord (master or king) for all mankind to God.

How Jesus is identified

How God identifies Himself

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. -- Numbers 23:19 (ESV)

and

“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD,
“And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.

-- Isaiah 43:10 (NKJV)

and

For I am the LORD, I do not change. -- Malachi 3:6 (NKJV)

These scriptures:

• challenge Binitarianism because there was on previous god, nor any god after God
• challenge Christian Panentheism because each time a new human is born another god should be created and each time a human's spirit is activated, God's Spirit should change to accommodate this new god
• challenge Incarnationalism because "God do not change" and will never turn into "a son of man" nor allow any gods to be "formed".

How Jesus identifies himself

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

-- Matthew 16:13-19 (NKJV)"

In pagan religious, if someone was considered "a son of a god", it usually implied that the person is also a god. However, in paganism what would count as two separate gods which contradicts the Bible. Furthermore, adopted believers are also considered to be "sons of God" (Matthew 5:9, Romans 8:14,16-17, Ephesians 1:5, 2 Corinthians 6:18).

When Simon Peter recognize Jesus as "the Son of the living God", it means Jesus is the only directly begotten (John 3:16) "Son of the living God". All the other "sons of God" are adopted. This makes Jesus the "firstborn" of creation (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 1:4-5).

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,

• the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
• For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show him, so that you may marvel.
  • For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
  • For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
  • that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
• Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life.
• He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
• For as the Father has life in himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
• And He has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
• I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me.

-- John 5:19-30

These scriptures:

• challenge Modalism because the Son and the Father are described as different persons that interact with each other
• challenge Partialism because nature shows that sons are individuals separate from their fathers

How the angel of the Lord identifies Jesus

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God.

-- Luke 1:31-35 (ESV)

This scripture:

• challenges Adoptionism because Jesus was called "the Son of the Most High" before he was born
• challenges Angelic Pre-existentialists because the angel of the Lord interacted with Mary while being pregnant with Jesus
• challenges Gnosticism because Jesus was born as a human child
• challenges Tritheism because if the Holy Spirit is a different member than the Father, then the Holy Spirit would be Jesus' Father and not "the Father"

How the apostles identified Jesus

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. -- Matthew 1:18 (KJV)

This scripture challenges Pre-existentialists, Incarnationalism and Arianism because Matthew explain in detail the "genesis" of Jesus Christ. The Greek word "genesis" from which we have the name of the book Genesis, could mean "birth" but also means "origin". Matthew starts Jesus origin with "Mary was found with child" and does not explain any pre-existence of any kind of reincarnation how Jesus turned into a human.

And immediately he (Paul) proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” -- Acts 9:20 (NKJV)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which dhe promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ -- Romans 1:1-6 (NKJV)

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you... -- 2 Corinthians 1:19 (NKJV)

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. -- Galatians 4:4-5 (NKJV)

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. -- Hebrews 4:14 (NKJV)

Paul summarize 7 important aspects about Christ Jesus in Philippians 2:5-11 (REV):

Have this mindset in you that was also in Christ Jesus,

• who, though being in the appearance of God,
• did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at, but
• instead he emptied himself by taking the appearance of a servant, becoming like the rest of humankind. And being found as an ordinary human,
• he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death -- even death on a cross!
• And therefore God raised him to the highest place of honor and
• gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow --in heaven and on earth and under the earth-- and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
• to the glory of God the Father.

These scriptures challenge Modalism because requires that Jesus must be the same God, but then he cannot be only an "appearance of God", nor be "obedient" to himself, nor be his own "son", nor can modes interact with each other as separate individuals.

There are also many other testimonies recorded in the Gospels..

How Jesus relates to other

How God relates to Jesus

It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven,

“You are My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

-- Mark 1:9-11 (NKJV)

which was witnessed by Peter himself:

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the Excellent Glory:

“This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

-- 2 Peter 1:16-18 (NKJV)

These scriptures:

• challenge Avatarism and Modalism because a separate God spoke while Jesus were among the witnesses.
• challenge the Kenotic theology because it would not make sense for Jesus to publicly speak to himself, nor to call himself his own son.

How Jesus relates to his Father and disciples

Unfortunately many religious creeds confuses the Father with the Son.

Jesus clear this confusion up by explaining his and our relationships with God in his prayer to his Father:

"Father, the hour has come;

• glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You,
  • since You have given him authority over all flesh,
  • to give eternal life to all whom You have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
  • I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do.
  • And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.
• I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave me out of the world.
• Yours they were, and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that everything that You have given me is from You.
• For I have given them the words that You gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that
• I came from You; and they have believed that You sent me.
• I am praying for them.
• I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given me, for they are Yours. All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and
• I am glorified in them.
• And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You.
• Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given me,
• that they may be one, even as we are one.
• While I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
• But now I am coming to You, and
• these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
• I have given them Your word, and
• the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (John 18:36).
• Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
• As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
• And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
• I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one,
• just as You, Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me. The glory that You have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in me, that they may become perfectly one,
• so that the world may know that You sent me and loved them even as You loved me.
• Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that You have given me
• because You loved me before the foundation of the world.
• O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You, and these know that You have sent me.
• I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known,
• that the love with which You have loved me may be in them,
• and I in them.”

-- John 17:1-26 (ESV)

To summarize this prayer:

These scriptures:

• challenge Avatarism because he describes his relationship with the disciples as a different relationship than they have with the Father
• challenge the Kenotic theology because it would not make sense for Jesus to make requests to himself
• challenge Modalism because Jesus interact with his Father a separate God
• challenge Partialism and Tritheism because Jesus invite also the human disciples to be "part" of his relationship with his Father
• challenge Subordinationism and Incarnationalism because Jesus never said that he will reincarnate back and forth, but that he is going away from the presence of the disciples to his Father.

How Jesus relates to his disciples

But he (Jesus) replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

-- Matthew 12:48-50

and

You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you. -- John 15:14-15 (NKJV)

These scriptures challenge Avatarism because "the Father" will never relate to us as a "brother or sister".

How could the crucifixion be possible?

Jesus' crucifixion is the foundation of Christianity. His essence determine how we would believe in his crucifixion.

If Jesus was a distinct divine being from God

... then we would have had two competing gods which contradicts many scriptures.

If Jesus was the One and only God Almighty

... then the devil's human temptations to by-pass his sacrifice would have been futile and Jesus would not really have been tempted. The devil could then have rather suggested that Jesus should forgive humanity without a bloodshed. That would have been a far bigger "temptation" than the options that the devil suggested (Matthew 4:1-11).

If Jesus was partially God and human

• then Jesus would have only partially died and partially sacrificed himself.
• then Jesus' death would have been fake, because he would not have been completely dead.
• then God's sacrifice would not have been a sacrifice at all, because He could just recreate Himself a new human body everytime the old one is destroyed.

Scriptures like Romans 5:6,8 state that Jesus really died.

If Jesus was God's avatar

... then God would not have suffered any loss which means nothing was sacrificed.

Scriptures like Acts 3:18, 17:3, 26:23 state that Jesus had suffered.

If Jesus incarnated into a 100% human

... then there would have been no other god to maintain the universe while Jesus was in his limited human state. Jesus himself said there is only one God (Mark 12:28-32). Yet evil did not destroy the universe during that period, and we are still here today.

If Jesus was 100% God and 100% human simultaneously

... then Jesus had to be both God and human simultaneously.

• The bible stated that God nature and mankind's nature is not compatible, because God is not a human (Number 23:19) and no true human could be God, otherwise we would have been gods too.
• It also violates God's own commands and principles of what is required of a sacrifice.
• Some would explain that nothing is impossible for an almighty God. That is true, but if God violated His own prophecies, commands and principles, then He would also not be trustworthy. There are many verses that state that we need to trust (belief) God to be saved.
• Some would explain only the Jesus-part of the Godhead became 100% human. From that perspective Jesus was still 100% God as a member of the greater Godhead, and also 100% human.

If Jesus was God's exact copy

... then we would have 2 competing gods which contradicts Paul when he wrote after Jesus exaltation that there were still only 1 God (Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6).

If Jesus was born as a human version of God

... then scripture would have said so.

Some argue that Adam was, like Jesus, also a "human version" of God because:

• Neither Adam nor Jesus had a biological human father and God was in a sense their Father.
• Both Adam (Luke 3:38) and Jesus was called the Son of God.
• Paul compared Adam with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15) which hint they were from the same kind.

However, Adam could not have been God's direct or biological son, because:

• Each kind can only reproduce to the same kind such that God would have god-children and not humans.
• Nothing in the Old Testament suggest that Adam was God's direct or biological child. The phrases "son of" was added to Luke's genealogy by translators to make it easier to read to the English reader. Luke could have meant that Adam was created by God instead of born to God as a son.
• If Adam was indeed a human version of God, then it would mean that God could also error or fail like Adam.

What about Jesus?

Paul state that Jesus was made in "the image of God" which could also mean a "copy" (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4) or "human version of God".

There are many interpretations of Paul's scriptures mentioning the "image of God". For example, we are also "conformed to the image of God's Son" (Romans 8:29). These scriptures should not be taken out of context. If Jesus was a copy of God, and we are a copy of Jesus, then it would mean we are gods too. Therefore, we need to be careful to define what we understand from "image of God".

Paul more likely was not describing Jesus essence, but rather intended to communicate that Jesus was a representative agent of God, we too should represent Jesus in his physical absence as the body of Christ.

If Jesus was created as an agent to represent God

... then Jesus who was biologically Mary's human son, would be adopted by God as a son.

However, critics would argue that several scriptures specifically state that Jesus was the only-begotten son of God. At Jesus' birth, God had already adopted many people as "sons".

Titles of Jesus

Some people belief that Jesus is not God, while other do.

Angel of God

Angel could mean "messenger" which could be anything like a human, bush, fire and even spiritual beings. Therefore, Jesus qualifies as a messenger of God and technically be considered an angel of God.

This should not be confused with a very specific "the Angel of God" who appears multiple times through the Old Testament and whom was identified as the angel, Gabriel in the New Testament.

However, some belief Jesus is "the Angel of God" for various reasons.

Son as God

This is not to be confused with the Son of God.

The majority of Christian scholars belief that Jesus is the Son "as" God.

Son of God

When Jesus is called the Son of God, it means:

• the Son has is distinct from the Father
• the Son has a Father that approves him
• the Son has his Father's authority or permission

But Jesus never directly proclaim to be God.

Son of Man

There are many scriptures in the New Testament where Jesus is called "the Son of God" as well as "the Son of Man".

Some scholars argue that because Jesus is both "the Son of God" and "the Son of Man", that Jesus was a God-man, which means he was both God and human simultaneously.

Although "son of man" generally means any human offspring, especially in the Hebrew Old Testament, this would have been a silly thing for Jesus to say as his audience could see that he is human. However, when Jesus says that he is "the Son of Man", he means he is the specific prophesied person promised to Man (Adam) which benefits all mankind.

Therefore, it is possible for Jesus to be both:

• "the Son of God" which refers to his authority or relationship with God his Father,
• "the Son of Man" which refers to his purpose by fulfilling the prophecies of "the Son of Man".

This is also significant, because as the son of both man and God, Jesus are able to reconcile man with God.

Only-begotten son of God

The literal translation is "the only offspring Son of God". However, this same phrase is also used in Hebrews:

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. -- Hebrews 11:17 (KJV)

At that time Abraham already had another elder son. Isaac was not Abraham's only biological son. In this context it meant Isaac was the only heir of Abraham.

The bible is clear that:

1. Jesus and his Father's will and plans are in alignment.
2. Jesus trusted, loved, respected and served his Father to the end.
3. Jesus was distinct from his Father, because he had a freewill that could be tempted.
4. Jesus had a son-father relationship with his God.
5. Jesus is the greatest heir from his Father.
6. Jesus exercise great authority on behalf of his Father.
7. God the Father, really loves Jesus very much as a son.