Is Jesus God? Part 6: Scripture in Context: The Old Testament

Introduction to "Scripture in Context"

Hebrews 1:8 says that God the Father says about the Son, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever…” Out of context, and only reading this verse from the Bible, the reader must conclude that Jesus is God.

In John 17:3 Jesus prays to the Father, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Out of context, and only reading this verse from the Bible, the reader must conclude that the Father, whom Jesus is praying to, is the only true God, and Jesus is not God, as “only” means “solely or exclusively”.

Yet one must be true: either Jesus is God, or he is not. This is why it is vital in answering this question to look at what the Bible says in context. History shows that determining whether Jesus is God or not is confusing. This confusion drove the discussions concerning Jesus’ deity for centuries.

The "Scripture in Context" posts look at many of the major passages concerning Jesus’ identity from Genesis to Revelation, considering the traditional passages put forth to prove his deity and those that put his deity in question. There is certainly more to be studied and considered than I highlight, and this topic is so worth our time, prayer, and energy as right worship of God is at stake. Please pray before you continue. We are in a spiritual battle, and this topic is, Christians generally agree, very important.

The Old Testament

1.     Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Jesus, the Messiah, would be the offspring of Eve, so he would be a man. This in no way shape or form suggests this Messiah would be God – it arguably states the opposite, as God multiple times in the Old Testament says he is not a man (for example, Hosea 11:9, Numbers 23:19).

2.     Genesis 22:18 “…and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,  nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

These prophecies all state that the Messiah would be a man in Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s line, from the tribe of Judah. The Jews were expecting a man Messiah. There is no evidence they were expecting a God-man. The idea of a "God-man" is completely foreign to Judaism.

3.     2 Samuel 7:12-13 ^“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Verse 8 of this chapter says that “The Lord of hosts” is speaking to David. This Lord is referring to the Messiah, as Jesus’ kingdom is the one that will be established forever. The Lord is talking as if someone separate from Himself He will raise up and establish his kingdom. If the Trinity is true, all 3 persons as 1 God are speaking here as the “Lord of hosts”, and these verses do not really make sense. Is Yahweh, God, God in 3 persons, the Trinity, raising up an offspring of David and establishing the throne of his kingdom forever… and somehow referring to God the Son, Jesus in these verses?  Is Jesus raising up himself? Is he establishing the throne of his kingdom himself?

If the Trinity is true, that is what these verses must mean, which is illogical given the sentence structure. The only other option is that the “Lord of hosts” is referring to only God the Father, talking about the Son, but there is nothing in this passage or in the entire Bible that suggests the “Lord of hosts” is only “1 person of God”, the Father. The Trinity doctrine maintains that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament.

Finally, these verses emphasize the humanity of the heir of David whose throne will be established forever. He is the “offspring” of David. David would not have understood God to be saying that his offspring was a God-man; he would have understood these words to mean his offspring was a man and his throne would be established forever by God.

4.     Isaiah 7:14, the Messiah would be called “Immanuel”, “God with us”. Does this mean Jesus is God, “God with us?”

This is addressed in the “Matthew” section when this verse is quoted in the New Testament.

5.     Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen…”

This verse states that the Messiah would be a prophet. No Jew had any concept of a prophet being God. A prophet was a man or woman sent by God. What is more, “Lord your God”, Yahweh God, is distinct from this prophet, so the prophet cannot be Yahweh.

We know this verse is referring to Jesus because Peter quotes this verse in reference to Jesus in Acts 3:22. Jesus is not God, according to Peter and to the writer of Deuteronomy, Moses. Jesus is a prophet that the Lord God raised up. Prophets, by definition, are not God but messengers sent by God. So how can Jesus be God?

6.     Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?”

The Messiah was forsaken by God. Indeed, Jesus says the first words of this Psalm on the cross. This indicates that the Messiah was not God himself: how he could he be forsaken by himself? The author of this Psalm was King David, who was fiercely monotheistic along with the rest of the Jews. They had, and still have no, understanding of God as 3 in 1. If God really was 3 in 1, why would He wait to reveal this explicitly till the 4th century, centuries after the Bible had been written?

7.     Psalm 110:1

“The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The Messiah would be seated at God’s right hand. Someone seated at God’s right hand cannot be God himself; that does not make sense. Trinitarians may argue that God the Father sits on the throne and Jesus, God the Son sits at his right hand. However, that is not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying that Yahweh (who Trinitarians claim Jesus is), the “Lord”, is speaking to someone else, who the gospels reveal to be Jesus, to sit at his right hand. If Jesus sits at Yahweh’s right hand, he is, logically, not Yahweh Himself.

 This verse is quoted by Jesus in the gospels, and I explain more in my posts analyzing the gospels as to why this cannot mean he is Yahweh. The Hebrew shows the second “lord” is not a reference to some other Yahweh but instead a human lord.

8. Daniel 7:13-14 says, “As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that should not pass away, and his kingship shall never be destroyed.”

   
   

   Christians agree that the "human being" coming with the clouds of heaven is Jesus, and many think this passage is evidence of his deity. I think this actually shows the opposite. The Ancient One he is presented to is God. This passage says that this “human being” was GIVEN dominion and glory, etc., that all should serve him. This is proof he is not God, as God already owns everything as the Creator and does not need to be given anything. This passage is simply affirming what many other passages do: that Jesus was established as King of Kings and Lord of Lords by God, and that God gave Jesus his kingdom and his authority. Jesus has the highest role of any human, but this does not mean he is God, as he was given all of it by God.

9.    Isaiah 40:3 “A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

This refers prophetically to John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord, Yahweh in the Old Testament. As God’s chosen instrument, Jesus acted as God’s agent and John the Baptist prepared the way for him. This does not mean Jesus is literally Yahweh, as that would contradict many other passages.

This can also be understood as John preparing the way for the Lord God who filled Jesus. God's Spirit dwelt in Jesus and worked mightily through him. Certainly, the Lord worked in and through Jesus.

Moreover, simply quoting a prophecy about God in the Old Testament referring to Jesus in the New does not mean he is God as prophecies in the Bible often have double fulfillment. For example, in Hosea 11:1, the Old Testament is speaking of Israel coming out of Egypt, but in Matthew 2:15 it is quoted as Christ coming out of Egypt as a child. In Jeremiah 31:15 Rachel is weeping, and in Matthew 2:18 Rachel is “weeping” due to the children in Bethlehem being killed. In Psalm 69:2 David is asking God to deliver him from his enemies, but in Acts 1:20 Peter is talking about Judas. 

(Common Verses, 2010)

10.     Joel 2:32a “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

This says that whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord Yahweh is saved. This is quoted by Peter in Acts 2:21 and by Paul in Romans 10:13, but this does not mean Jesus is Yahweh. In Acts 2:21, Peter quotes Joel 2:32 and then immediately in verses 22-24 says “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Verses 22-24 demonstrate that Peter did not think Jesus was God. He believed him to a man separate from God, raised from the dead by God. Further, concerning Romans 10:13, Acts 2:36 says, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Peter says that Jesus was MADE Lord. He was NOT always Lord. This shows that Jesus was NOT the Yahweh of the Old Testament – he could not have been as he was not Lord during the time of the Old Testament. He was made Lord AFTER the time of the Old Testament.

See point 9 again as to why simply quoting a prophecy about God in the Old Testament referring to Jesus in the New does not mean he is God.

11.    Isaiah 9:6 

“For to us a child is born; to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace    there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom,  to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

If Jesus isn’t God, why is he called “Mighty God”?

This verse can be translated differently than it is. It can be translated “Jesus is the father of the coming age”. The description of Jesus as God could be translated as “mighty hero” or “divine hero”. Martin Luther even favored this translation. The word “el” translated as God could also be translated as “ruler”. In Ezekiel 32:21 this same word is translated “dead heroes” or “mighty leaders”. If this proves Jesus is God, other people, like those described in Ezekiel, would be God. Further, this verse is used in the context of Yahweh bringing this child about, and in the context, it seems clear that the child is not Yahweh. The passage says in the following verse, “the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this”. It seems that the Lord and the child in verse 6 are distinct – that Yahweh and the child distinct.

(Common verses, 2010)

12.  Isaiah 43:11

“I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.”

If Jesus isn’t God, how can he be our savior given that the Lord God is the only savior?

While this passage states that God is the only savior, one must consider it in the context of the entire Bible. Some Trinitarians state that because God is the only savior, Jesus must be God as he is our savior. Yet, other “saviors” are mentioned in Nehemiah 9:27, 2 Kings 13:5, and Obadiah 21. Ultimately, God is the savior, but clearly, He uses human beings to save and carry out His will, and in this sense, they are also saviors, as shown in those passages. 

(Common verses, 2010)

13. Isaiah 44:6

“Thus says the Lord, 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.” 

“I [Jesus] am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13)

If Jesus isn’t God, why is he also the first and the last, just like God?

God calls himself “the first and the last” in this verse. Some Trinitarians argue that because Jesus also calls himself the “first and the last”, Jesus must be God. However, just because two persons have the same title does not make them the same.  For example, in Ezra 7:12, King Artaxerxes is called “king of kings”. Obviously, he is neither God nor Jesus, but the same title is used for him that was used for them (see 1 Timothy 6:14-16 where God is called “King of kings”). Additionally, Jesus’ declaration is also decidedly different than God’s in Isaiah because he omits “besides me there is no god.” He is “the first and the last” without being God.

(Common Verses, 2010)

14.  Zechariah 12:10 

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

If Jesus isn’t God, why does God say here that He is the one who is pierced [referring to the crucifixion]?

Different translations say different things. Some say “one whom they have pierced”, which does not suggest that God is the one who is being pierced. This passage is also quoted in John 19:37 as “They shall look on him whom they have pierced”. This quote agrees with the Old Testament translation of God not being the one pierced, but someone else who is pierced.  

Another way to think about it would be that God is saying this because He loves his Son so much. When his son was pierced, it was like he was pierced Himself; He felt his Son’s pain. This line of thinking is consistent with Luke 2:35, where Simeon tells Mary, the mother of Jesus, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Mary, as Jesus’ mother, would experience “piercing” because of what her Son would go through. Maybe this verse in Zechariah is not saying that Jesus is God.

(Common Verses, 2010)

Note: If helpful, please see the Resources for Additional Research if there are other Old Testament passages you think prove Jesus is God to see additional arguments. I tried to pick the major ones, but my blog is by no means exhaustive.

Conclusion: There is 0 evidence from the Old Testament that Jesus is God. The Jews were expecting a human Messiah: a male King. They were not expecting a God-man.