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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
This can definitely be a confusing issue. It all goes back to the "mystery" of the Trinity. When Jesus was on the cross, He quoted Psalm 22 (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). This was a psalm of David, b...
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Willie Washington
Supporter
Many of the responses indicate a level of study I have yet to attain and I agree with much of what is stated. The challenges to the trinitarian concept focus on the use of a word rather than a principle repeated throughout scripture. In the beginning "God"... The word translated God implies a plurality of some sort. Further in Genesis "let US create man in OUR image also implies plurality. What is the image of God? I understand it to be multifaceted but I'd like to focus on His expressed existence as a three-part being. Throughout scripture God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus have all been credited as having part in creation (Is. 42:5, Ps. 104:30, John 1:1 to name a few). Like God man is the only other three part being other than God. We exist as body, soul, and spirit... Each with its unique function and each identifying us individually. The creator has presented himself in three forms. He has revealed enough of Himself to demand our worship and praise. The limited words we use to explain the inexplicable only attest to limitations in our ability to comprehend HIS majesty. We are triune beings created in the image of God. How our parts function is something of a mystery... How God's parts function is simply beyond our ability to fully discern and (so far) beyond God's willingness to share. We accept what God has shared about Himself. The member of the Godhead we know as Jesus, acknowledged the existence of His Father and The Holy Spirit. When we see one... We see them all (John 14:19).
Robert Beaulieu
Supporter
Jesus came as an example to us all of how we should live. Him praying to father should not be any more confusing than having the angels give glory and praise to the Son in heaven before the dawn of man. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God for us all. It is their love for each other that sustains life, placing ourselves in the stream of their love is what makes real peace and joy possible. Stepping away from either one is cutting off life support. Your smart phone is not so smart if you do not plug it in and charge it. John 14:8-11 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. (9) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (10) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (11) Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Ezekiel Kimosop
Supporter
The question goes, "if Jesus was God, Why did He refer to God as "my God"? I note that this question rises from the confusion over the understanding of the special nature of the beneficial relationship that God the Father and God the Son share. Many people find it difficult to comprehend how Jesus being God could have referred to God the Father as "my God" or "My Father" unless he was inferior to God the Father or was not truly divine. Several false teachings have cropped up over the Church ages regarding this confusion leading to the rise of cultic movements such as the Jehovah's Witnesses who deny the deity of Christ. However the truth is that the special nature of Jesus' relationship with the Father is explained in Scripture. Let us now examine it. Philippians 2:1-11 carries one of the most explicit teachings that clearly confirms that Jesus voluntarily subordinated Himself to God the Father and of His own will and accord chose to forfeit His heavenly glory, and come to this world as God incarnate and dying on the Cross for the atonement of our sins. For this divine mission to be accomplished, Jesus accepted to submit Himself fully to God the Father and this explains why on many occasions in the Gospels Jesus refers to God the Father as "my Father" or "my God". 32 times in the Gospel of John (KJV) Jesus refers to God as "my Father". Two of the Synoptic Gospels quote Jesus referring to God the Father as "my God" as He died on the Cross (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). In the same way, the Holy Spirit submits Himself to God the Father and to God the Son while sharing full divinity with both. By this means, the Spirit is sent of the Father and of the Son (John 14:16,26; 15:26, 16:7). This is what is theologically understood as the doctrine of voluntary submission in the Holy Trinity. The three Persons in the Godhead function harmoniously through mutual submission even though none is greater or lesser than the other. Jesus forever retains the fullness of His divinity and at no time was this ever lost or diminished. He was fully God even during His eartlhy life and ministry in as much the same way as He is now in His glorified state and will forever be. The fact that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time yet this dual and indivisible nature did not affect his deity as God the Son is instructive of the mystery and incomprehensibility of God. Nevertheless the Bible clearly reveals that Jesus is God, fully divine and eternally coexisting with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Those who teach that Jesus is inferior to God the Father or that He is a creature of God openly contradict scriptural truth as revealed in the Bible. Any interpretation or teaching that denies the full divinity of Christ or the Holy Spirit is false and unbiblical.
Ray Harris
Supporter
it was the humanity in Him crying out the eternal cry of troubled man. he was behaving as David's heir in fulfilling the prophecy in David's Psalm,
Kenneth Heck
Supporter
When Christ incarnated into a physical body he humbled himself (Phil 2:8). How did he? By leaving most of his divine body behind in heaven so that only a fraction united with his physical body. Otherwise, his human body would have had to be inconceivably large to accommodate the second person of the Trinity. Thus, in his physical body Christ somewhat resembled other humans in his relation to his God and Father. In other words, as he grew in stature and wisdom as a human being, he actually did have a God over him which he obeyed like other human beings would. The same applies to the great angel of Christ in Rev 1:13-18. After the Ascension the full idea of the Trinity with Christ became effective and was revealed to Christians as such. It is one of those things which the Apostles could not bear to hear of before the Crucifixion. It was profitable to the apostles for Christ to leave the earth since the Trinity could then be more directly operating on earth through Christ and even greater miracles became possible.
Al Mari
Supporter
True, Jesus called the Father "my God" and by extension also "our God". Calling him so, does not negate the fact that Jesus is also God. Verses that prove Jesus' deity have already been enumerated by members in this forum and are incontrovertible. The context of the quote is not about "being God". Rather, as the word "god" is generic that includes Satan the god of this world and other false gods, the focus is on who is the one "among all gods" to be worshipped? In the Old Testament, the one commanded to be worshipped was YHVH ELOHIM, the Creator God, who was "above all gods"known at that time. See Ps. 95:3; 96:4; 97:9; 135:5; I Chr. 16:25; This YHVH ELOHIM is one, and consistent with the "Shema Doctrine", was the only one to be worshipped. In John 1:1, this specific proper name for God was identified as Logos, and man-Jesus. In the New Testament, when this YHVH ELOHIM incarnated into man-Jesus, being the only one who has seen the Father, rightfully he was the only legitimate person to introduce the Father to us. No one among the patriarchs knew about the Father. They only knew YHVH ELOHIM. This Jesus/YHVH ELOHIM taught us to pray to the Father and worship him. See Matthew 6:6-13; John 16:23-27; At the end, the Son of God will be "subject" to the Father as in, “when He (Jesus) delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father,… then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15.24-28). Paul also emphasized this in Ephesians 4:6 "...one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." And, to differentiate the two (although "one" as members of the body/church of Jesus is "one"), he wrote in Ephesians 6:23 "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In summary, when Jesus was quoted "my God" referring to the Father, contextually he meant to pray and worship the Father. See also, John 4:23-26, that Jesus, the Messiah who has come, has to teach us about the Father.
Oun Kwon
Supporter
The word 'God' (in English translation) does not refer to the identity itself. Used as a title (note - no difference from 'god' when read aloud), it concerns not about who God is, but rather what God is. Rather than asking "how come Yeshua calls His heavenly Father as my God", the more relevant question would be "How do we understand that Yeshua Himself was addressed as God" (John 20:28) while He is the Son of God. Of course, this goes back to the very first verse of G-John, which is often at the root of confusion and controversy - not only theological but also liturgical, when it is read as commonly translated as '.... the Word was with God and the Word was God.' A typical question coming from the Arian side of the debate is 'when the Word is said to be with God, how does it make sense to say the Word is God? It is a question question which needs to be answered clearly, but the Trinitarian side has failed to provide a correct answer (as far as I have checked). The Johannine text deserves translation much more accurate. '.... the Logos was face-to-face with the God, and fully God was the Logos' - See IRENT translation downloadable from http://tiny.cc/bostonreaders
Tim Beeker
Supporter
He was simply using Scripture, as He always did, to point out some facet of His life. Read Ps. 22. It points utterly, directly at His manner of death. SImply another prophecy fulfilled. Nothing magical or mystical about it.
Martha Coleman
Supporter
My opinion is Jesus was always acutely aware of his Divine Mission of setting a prefect example for us to follow. He by example was teaching us how to address our prayers (communications) to God as the Father. Once we accept Jesus and agree to follow His commandments by inviting Him and the Holy Spirit to take advise us and take complete control of our lives, we become new creatures which are now the adopted children of God the Father. So Jesus was encouraging us emotionally to begin accepting this new relationship. Wow! Just thinking about that is so humbling and exhilarating!
Salem Markus Purba
Supporter
Well, Jesus was God manifested in human being, to enable man to communicate with God as to communicate to a friend (John 1: 14;15:14) for the salvation of man (John 3: 16- 21),God's own image (Genesis 1: 27). Since Jesus was God (not if) who became/manifested in human being, as a human being He called God " My God" to teach man how should man communicate to God and having a close relationship with God as human father and son relationship.(John 1: 12-13).
John Moyo
Supporter
Jesus was born of a woman to live among us as a human. His mission was to set an example of how we, as humans, should relate to God so that by following His example we may become, like Him, God's beloved children again. That is, His brothers and sisters. By the same token Jesus sought the baptism of John even though John confessed that he was not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet. (John 1:20). Thus apart from teaching us how we should pray He also taught us how to be humble.
Sushil Gaikwad
Supporter
Jeremiah 32:27: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” Yahweh said that he is God of all flesh. He became God of Jesus when Jesus became flesh in Marys womb. John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 1 Tim 2:5 - 5: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[a] Christ Jesus. Jesus rose physically and here Paul says that there is one mediator who is the man Jesus. So Jesus now in heaven has a physical body. So God the Father will remain his God till Jesus is in his flesh. Hence Paul says in 1 Corinth 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Yahweh the Father is God and Father of Jesus.
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