Saying Jesus is not God goes against the opening of John's gospel:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (Joh 1:1-3 NKJV)
Well actually, if you read that verse in Greek, it doesn’t say what it says in English, since the translators were trinitarians, and they left out a very important little word…..
Here it is word for word
John 1:1 Mounce Interlinear…..
“In en the beginning archē was eimi
the ho Word logos, and kai
the ho Word logos was eimi with pros ·
ho God theos, and kai
the ho Word logos was eimi God
theos.”
…..do you see that little word “ho” used several times in that verse? It clearly means “the” and “theos” clealy means “God”….so what is this saying in Greek that is left out in English? The word was with ”ho theos“ but the Word was just “theos”….
We know that God’s divine name (Yahweh) was no longer used by the Jews when Jesus came to begin his ministry, so the Greeks (who were polytheistic) had no word to identify a god with no name, so using the word “theos” for the one nameless God of the Jews required them to use the definite article “ho” or “the” to describe “THE God” of the Jews.
According to Strongs Concordance, “theos” was the word used for “any god or goddess or divinity”. So the term itself (theos) was non-specific to those who worshipped multiple gods, all of whom had names to distinguish them. Israel’s God was unique, but they refused to utter his name.
By putting the definite article before the word “theos” they identified “the God” of Israel. The OT leaves us in no doubt as to what God’s name is.
Psalm 83:18 KJV….
”That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”
But if you look up that verse in the NKJV….what do you notice?…
“That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.”
Where did God’s name go? And more importantly why did they change it and substitute a title instead?
At Exodus 3:13-15 the NKJV says….
”Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?
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.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ”
When you read that passage from the Jewish Tanakh….it says…
| 13 And Moses said to God, "Behold I come to the children of Israel, and I say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" | | יגוַיֹּ֨אמֶר משֶׁ֜ה אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּ֨ה אָֽנֹכִ֣י בָא֘ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ וְאָֽמַרְתִּ֣י לָהֶ֔ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם וְאָֽמְרוּ־לִ֣י מַה־שְּׁמ֔וֹ מָ֥ה אֹמַ֖ר אֲלֵהֶֽם: |
| 14 God said to Moses, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh (I will be what I will be)," and He said, "So shall you say to the children of Israel, 'Ehyeh (I will be) has sent me to you.'" | | ידוַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־משֶׁ֔ה אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם: |
| 15 And God said further to Moses, "So shall you say to the children of Israel, 'The Lord God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation.” | | טווַיֹּ֩אמֶר֩ ע֨וֹד אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶל־משֶׁ֗ה כֹּ֣ה תֹאמַר֘ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ יְהֹוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֗ם אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִצְחָ֛ק וֵֽאלֹהֵ֥י יַֽעֲקֹ֖ב שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י לְעֹלָ֔ם וְזֶ֥ה זִכְרִ֖י לְדֹ֥ר דֹּֽר: |
What do you see there? What does God’s name mean?…..”l will be what I will be”…..not “I AM”. Why is that important? Because the Jews already knew who their God was, but he was revealing a new aspect to his name….he would “be” or “become” whatever he needed to be in order to fulfill his purpose. What was his purpose for the Israelites? To produce their Messiah in Abraham’s family line.
And what do we see in this translation that is the same as the English translations revealing blatant disobedience on the part of the Jews concerning the divine name?
What did God tell Moses to tell his people…?
“This is My name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation.”
So what was God’s name as mentioned in Jewish Scripture but not translated into English as “Jehovah”, and not even transliterated to “Yahweh”, in spite of the consensus that this may have been the way to pronounce it….now lost in antiquity through their disobedience.
It is there in the Hebrew text….
יְהֹוָ֞ה……YHWH.
This is God’s unique name, and is given to no others. Yahweh “alone is the Most High”.….there is none higher or his equal.
Why did Jesus make a big deal out of God’s name? Why did he say in the Lord’s Prayer that it must be “hallowed”…which means ”made holy”…”greatly revered“…”honored”.
How do you honor a name you never use?
Jesus prayed….
”Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you, but I know you, and these have come to know that you sent me. 26 I have made your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.” (John 17:25-26)
If John 1:1 had included the divine name, no trinity could ever have been suggested because it would have said in John 1:1….
”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yahweh and the Word was divine”.
It was “ho logos“ who “became flesh”, not “ ho theos”. (John 1:14)
John 1:18….
”No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (NKJV)
How many people saw Jesus?
The “bosom” is a position of favor with the Father.
This is what genuine Bible study reveals….not just a study of “theology”.
John explains a few verses later Who he meant by "the Word":
“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.” (Joh 1:14 NKJV)
Yes “the Word“ is a title for Jesus Christ…who was “with“ his God and Father in heaven before coming to earth to be born as a human child.….the meaning of that title can be applied to “one who speaks for God”…a representative or spokesman. Jesus was indeed God’s representative who came to die so that the curse of Adam’s sin could be removed by his atonement.
Please tell me how an immortal God can die…..or how mere humans can kill God?
Jesus only ever said he was “God’s son”…never once did he claim to be God incarnate.
John 10:31-36 attested to the fact that the Jews did not accuse Jesus of being “God“ but of being “divine”, which is what “theos“ means……”divinity” is not necessarily “deity” as that scripture proves, because Yahweh himself called human judges in Israel “gods” (theos) because they were his authorized representatives. That is another scripture that read in Greek, shows the difference between “theos” and “ho theos”.
Christendom’s trinity is not found in Scripture…..it is entirely an invention of the Catholic church and propped up by biased translators.
