Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
JESUS NEVER SAID HE WAS GOD
The arrogance of ignorance. Can today’s Gentiles hear what He said?
A common lament
So many times I’ve heard it said (from both inside and outside the Church), “Jesus never actually said He was God.”
But is that the case? It cannot be ignored because, if He didn’t, who did?
In his Humanity He was declared as King of the Jews by the Magi (Matthew 2:2) and Pilate (Matthew 27:37); the legal representatives of the two Empires sandwiching Israel at the time. But who can declare someone to be God? I’m open to correction but it seems that only One of the Trinity would have that much clout.
I can’t find anywhere in the wording of the Gospels that the Holy Spirit specifically said, through anyone, He was God (please let me know if I’m mistaken). The Father in Heaven identified Him as His Beloved Son (Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, Mark 1:11, Mark 9:7, Luke 3:22, Luke 9:35, Luke 20:13, and 2 Peter 1:17). That has implications but does not actually say the words I want to hear.
A personal experience from Days of Yore
I found that I could misunderstand maths as well as anyone as an engineering undergraduate back in the early 70s. My son did an engineering course in the 00s. He would ask me if I knew how to do so-&-so. I would say, “No.” Then I would see I knew what he was doing. New era — new name — same sum. Obviously, if you’re looking for other words you won’t find the ones your looking for.
So what word(s) are we looking for?
Let the spelling do the work. The Bible Teaching group, VERITAS International, advises serious students to do their Exegesis first and develop personal understanding, then go to Commentators to find out what they say, then discern. Like most of my hyper-educated peers studying the Bible I didn’t waste time messing about with my own technical theological studies — I could read. I went straight to “commentators I trusted.” But a lot of commentators have gone under the bridge since then. It was taught to me that we can’t know everything but out job is to be diligent and study in order to detect false teachers. I found that my engineering degrees did not make me a great builder but it helped me to identify, by the odour, what was emanating from the mouth of people trying to convince me of something.
Thinking the extra thought
It is written in Exodus 3:14 || 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.’ ” [“I AM Who I AM,” or “I will be what I will be.”]
I AM Who I AM in Hebrew is (remembering Hebrew runs right-to-left) אהיה אשר אהיה
אהיה is spelled phonically, ה (hey) י (yod) ה (hey) (א is silent)
Phonically, the phrase is sounded ’ha’yeh ashoo’er ’ha’yeh
So what?
The Hebrew characters spelling ‘Yehovah’ are called the Tetragrammaton, יהוה, spelled yod-hey-vav-hey.
Apparently, not the name of the Person in the bush. But things are not as they seem. The grammar clears it up.
I AM, hayeh, has the Strong’s Number H1961. It is a verb which is a primitive root meaning ‘exist,’ ‘existence,’ “I exist.”
Yehovah, H3068 is the noun form of the verb H1961. It means, “He exists.” It is a proper name of the one true God — a term of endearment in Hebrew. Meaning roughly, “The Covenant Keeping God Who Comes Down and delights in keeping His Promise.”
The English Name Jesus is derived from Yĕhowshuwa (Yoshua or Yehoshua), H3091 meaning, “Jehovah is salvation.” This is derived from H3068 which is derived in turn from H1961.
So at the Burning Bush Moses was speaking to One Person, the God of both the OT and the NT.
How subtle is the Written Word of the Living Word of God?
The Trinity, actually mentioned in the OT and NT, comprises Father (in the Heavenly Throne Room) Yehovah/Yeshua (on Earth) Holy Spirit; all based on H1961.
But you already knew that. This was just a quick reminder so we’re all on the same page.
What group was Jesus speaking to in the Gospels?
Jews.
What was He speaking about?
The Torah and the Prophets; both of these focus on the Messiah.
Did His audience have good Bible teaching?
It was always there but some days it was very, very, very good, as is written in Luke 4:16 || So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
What did He read to them that day?
Isaiah 61:1–2 ||
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord . . .
But He then stopped at an implied comma in the OT.
Who was doing the speaking those words in Isaiah verse?
Yehovah, as is written in the verse before, Isaiah 60:22 ||
A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation.
I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
Jews knew what He was saying when He said it
John 8:58 || Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
How do we know they knew?
In v.59 || Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
You will have noticed that several times the Jews wanted to stone Jesus to death. Chuck Missler, the late American Bible Teacher, points out that when this happens, it means the Holy Spirit is using the Jews to attract the attention of Torahfied NT Saints who have missed an important point. Go and find out why.
Compare John 8:58 to other words from Jesus using the Greek of the Textus Receptus:-
John 8:58 || εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί
John 8:58 || Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Luke 21:8 || ὁ δὲ εἶπεν Βλέπετε μὴ πλανηθῆτε· πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες ὃτι ἐγὼ εἰμι καί Ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγικεν μὴ οὖν πορευθῆτε ὀπίσω
Luke 21:8 || And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.
You have noticed that “He” is not contained in the Greek. For whatever reason, it has been added by the translator.
This happens in many verses. Here is a selection. Check them out with BLB. Find others:-
Luke 21:8, John 8:24, John 8:28, John 9:9, John 18:5, John 18:6, John 18:8.
The burning questions
Does this mean the Bible is corrupted and useless?
1) It is not useless! The important points, the Gospel and what a person must do to be saved is described so simply that even a child could understand it. Everything else is there to be found. The late English Thinker about thinking, Tony Buzan, said, “If you come to a point where the thinking becomes so strenuous that you know there is more but you just give up and say, ‘It must be,’ it means you have come to the end of your interest or your imagination.” It is written that Yehovah says, “If you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.” If you maintain your interest, He will Inspire your imagination.
2) Does this mean only scholars will enter the Pearly Gates? I’m open to correction but I see no evidence of St Peter keeping Saints out with a, “Sorry. You almost made it but your Hebrew/Greek wasn’t good enough.” My favourite tract is 1 Corinthians 8:1–3 which says, in so many words, “You’re not as clever as you think you are but you can depend on God.”
What to do now?
If you have not already done so, allow your spiritual eyes to be opened to see that the Messiah shouts out that He is the Voice in the Burning Bush — to those who have ears. See then, if your natural eyes don’t also open. You may be in for an astounding surprise.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
