The Forgotten Trinity (19 page)

THE EXALTATION OF THE SON

But we are not left with only this assertion. Paul goes on to "seal
the issue," so to speak. If the direct assertion of the eternal deity of Christ wasn't enough, he goes on to use a passage from the Old Testament to demonstrate the deity of the Father and the Son:

Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him
the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians
2:9-11)

Some point to verse 9 and say, "See, God highly exalted Jesus,
hence, Jesus can't possibly be God." Such a statement flows from a
misunderstanding of the Trinity and the simple fact that normally Paul
speaks of the Father simply as "God," and the Son simply as "Lord."
Both are titles of deity, and since we are not in any way trying to confuse the Father and the Son, we can fully understand Paul's language.
It is the Father who exalted the Son, just as it was the Son, not the
Father, who took on human flesh. But notice carefully what Paul does
with his words. He quotes from an Old Testament passage, Isaiah
45:23, which reads,

"I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My
mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every
knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."

In context, this passage is specifically about Yahweh, the God of
Israel (see Isaiah 45:21). Yet Paul quotes from this passage and says
that it is to Jesus that every knee shall bow (when in Isaiah it is to
Yahweh), to the glory of God the Father! How can Paul say this? Does
he believe in more than one God? Certainly not! But he realizes that
both the Father and the Son are worthy of the name Yahweh! To bow
the knee to the Son, Jesus, is to bow to Yahweh. To do so is in no way
to slight the Father, who, like the Son, shares the one divine name,
Yahweh. The glorification of the Son results in the glorification of the
Father as well. Perfect balance, perfect consistency with the entirety of
divine revelation.

And so we understand Paul's exhortation to humility and take it to heart. As Christ laid aside His eternal privileges to serve His people,
dying as the sacrifice for their sins, so we, too, are called to give ourselves in service to others. This is the primary meaning of the passage,
but it comes to us only as we understand who Christ really was and is.
The example only carries its weight when we realize that the Lord Jesus
eternally existed as the Father's equal and laid aside His divine privileges
out of love for us. A quasi divine Jesus, or a mighty creature, does not
fit this passage but instead destroys the entire thrust. Rather, we rejoice
in the truth that the Son, though eternally equal with the Father, made
himself "nothing" so that we-those who name His name, love Him,
and obey Him-might have eternal life.

When I share the truth about the Trinity and the deity of Christ
with Jehovah's Witnesses, I often begin with something like this:

I believe in the Trinity because the Bible teaches the doctrine.
No, the Bible doesn't use the specific word "Trinity" any more than
it uses the specific word "theocratic" or "Bible." Instead, it teaches
the doctrine by teaching the three pillars or foundations that make
up the doctrine. The first such pillar is that there is only one true
God, Yahweh, the Creator of all things. The second is that there
are three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The
Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is
not the Father. Three persons who communicate with one another
and love one another. Finally, the third pillar is the teaching that
these three persons are completely equal in sharing in the divine
Being. This would include the deity of Christ and the personality
of the Holy Spirit. This is where we directly disagree. May I show you from the Bible how it teaches these truths?

Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Trinity is nowhere to be found in
Scripture, so they are quite confident that you will fail in attempting
to support the Trinity from the Bible. So I press on:

I assume you would agree with me that there is only one true
God, Yahweh, or as you pronounce it, Jehovah. I believe the name
"Jehovah" refers to the very divine Being, the eternal God who
created every thing. We can agree, I assume, that the Father is identified as Jehovah.' But I believe that the Bible identifies Jesus as
Yahweh, as well, and the Spirit is the Spirit of Yahweh. Each of
these three persons share the one divine name, Yahweh or Jehovah.
May I show you a few passages of Scripture that make this identification?

At this point I can go to a large number of passages where the New
Testament writers think nothing of applying to the Lord Jesus passages
from the Old Testament that were written in reference to Yahweh.' But
I have found two particular passages to carry the most weight in communicating this truth to those who believe that Yahweh is God, believe
the Bible is true, but reject the deity of Christ: Hebrews 1:10-12 in
comparison with Psalm 102:25-27, and John 12:37-41 in comparison
with Isaiah 6:1-10.

ETERNAL CREATOR

There can be no confusion about the intended meaning of the
psalmist who penned these words in Psalm 102:25-27:

Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.

The first thing to establish in fairly and honestly dealing with the passage is what it meant in its original context. The entire psalm is
written about Yahweh. Verse 1 indicates it is a prayer to the LORD. The
use of the all-caps form LORD is the standard English means of indicating that the underlying Hebrew term is Yahweh, or Jehovah. Some
Bibles, such as the Jerusalem Bible, or the New World Translation published by the Watchtower Society, use the term "Jehovah" or "Yahweh."
Throughout Psalm 102 this term is found, indicating plainly that the
psalm was originally written in praise of Yahweh. This is important,
for it is the context of the words found in verses 25 through 27.

The psalmist speaks in these verses of the unchanging and eternal
nature of Yahweh. He does so by contrasting the changing creation
with the unchangeable Creator. One of the primary "evidences" God
uses to demonstrate His unique nature and sole standing as the one
true God is that He is the Creator.' This is the case here. Yahweh
founded the earth (Psalm 24:1; 78:69; 89:11; Proverbs 3:19; Isaiah
48:13), and the heavens are described as a "work" of His hands (Psalm
19:1). On the most basic level, then, the universe itself is a dependent
creation, while God is eternal and unchanging. They are temporal and
will pass away, but God is eternal, and He will "endure." They are like
an old garment that we throw away when it becomes old and useless.
But He does not age. He does not change. His years have no number
and will never come to an end. As Moses had said, "from everlasting
to everlasting, You are God" (Psalm 90:2).

Why is it important to focus on what this passage means? Because
it is speaking of characteristics that are unique to the one true God. This
will become vitally important when we look at the means some use to
avoid the weight of these passages as they are used in the New Testament.

The writer to the Hebrews shows no compunctions in taking this
passage from the Psalter-a passage fit only for describing the eternal
Creator himself-and applying it to Jesus Christ. Here is how he does
it in Hebrews 1:8-12:

But of the Son He says,
"YOUR THRONE, 0 GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."
And,
"You, LORD," IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE
EARTH,
AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;
AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,
AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;
LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.
BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,
AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END."

An entire string of Old Testament passages are presented, each
intended to demonstrate the superiority of Christ. Verse 8 begins by
introducing the words of the Father regarding the Son. Verse 10 continues the same theme, again giving us the words of the Father relevant
to the Son. It is vital to understand that verses 10 through 12 are, in
fact, addressed to the Son. It is Jesus who is addressed as "LORD" in
verse 10, and it is His activity in creation, and His unchanging nature,
that is revealed in the rest of the passage. The significance of this is
clear when one realizes that the writer to the Hebrews is directly applying the passage from Psalm 102:25-275 to the Son. The meaning of
the original is beyond dispute. The fact that it is speaking of unique
characteristics of the true God is likewise unarguable. Therefore, the fact
that Hebrews applies such a passage to the Son tells us what the writer
himself believed about the nature of Jesus Christ. One simply could not
meaningfully apply such a passage to a mere creature, no matter how
highly exalted.

What does it mean that the writer to the Hebrews could take a
passage that is only applicable to Yahweh and apply it to the Son of God,
Jesus Christ? It means that they saw no problem in making such an
identification, because they believed that the Son was, indeed, the very
incarnation of Yahweh.

The only way "around" this kind of direct identification of the Son
as Yahweh is to point out that using an Old Testament passage of someone in the New Testament does not, of necessity, argue for identity of
person. For example, in Hebrews 1:8, the writer applies a passage that
was originally about one of Israel's kings (possibly Solomon) to the
Lord Jesus. Does this mean that Jesus is Solomon? Aside from the impossibility of such an identification in the first place, such an argument
misses a very important distinction. The connection between the Lord
Jesus and Solomon has to do with a shared characteristic: kingship.
But kingship is not a unique attribute of Solomon. There have been
many kings. So while citing a passage about Solomon of Jesus doesn't
make Jesus Solomon, citing a passage about a unique characteristic
(creatorship, immutability, eternality) of Yahweh does make Jesus Yahweh, for no one else shares that characteristic. Being a king didn't make
Solomon who he was, but being eternal and unchangeable does define
who Yahweh is.

Allow me to illustrate. If I wanted to identify someone as Solomon
by using a citation from the Old Testament, I would not do it by citing
a passage that is merely about Solomon as a king, for that would not
prove identity but rather position. There were other kings, like David,
or Hezekiah. Simply identifying someone as a king wouldn't tell me
which king I had in mind. If I instead applied a unique description of
Solomon, that would convey identity. If I, for example, said that such
and such a king had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), who
else could I be referring to but Solomon? That would distinguish which
king I had in mind and would communicate identity. In the same way,
if I were to merely call a person "loving," I would not, by so doing, be
identifying that person as God, even though God is, indeed, loving.
God is love, but there are others who express love and are loving. It is
not unique to God to love. But if I were to say that someone is eternal,
the Creator of all things, and unchanging, that would communicate
identity, for there is only one who is eternal, unchanging, and the Creator of all things. And this is what the writer to the Hebrews does in
1:10-12. Hence the error of the attempt to avoid the force of the identification of Jesus as Yahweh here in Hebrews 1.1