kindle-sync: bookId: '63210' title: 'Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ' author: 'Robert Bowman, J. Ed Komoszewski, and Darrell L. Bock' asin: B001QOGJVI lastAnnotatedDate: '2012-07-29' bookImageUrl: 'https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515DuSi4k1L._SY160.jpg' highlightsCount: 100

Putting Jesus in His Place

Metadata

• Author: Robert Bowman, J. Ed Komoszewski, and Darrell L. Bock
• ASIN: B001QOGJVI
• Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QOGJVI
• Kindle link

Highlights

Almost no one minds a strong affirmation of belief in Jesus. To suggest, however, that without Jesus people of other religions are missing something of eternal importance is regarded by many as an attack on the right of people to believe whatever they want. — location: 136 ^ref-38410

Although it's hard to understand, the New Testament both distinguishes Jesus from God and identifies him as God-sometimes in the same breath (e.g., John 1:1; 20:28-31; Heb. 1:8-9; 2 Peter 1:1-2). — location: 166 ^ref-5717

The apostles and other early Jewish Christians did not just lavish high praises on Jesus. They accorded him honors that in Jewish teaching, as authoritatively set forth in their Scriptures, were due to the Lord God of Israel and no one else. — location: 225 ^ref-20188

The description of God as "jealous" may sound strange, but it was a forceful way of telling the Israelites that he would not "share" them with any other deity. — location: 229 ^ref-47727

To honor any creature, no matter how wonderful, as a deity was to detract from the honor due to God. — location: 239 ^ref-62243

Linking the honor due God with the honor due anyone else in this way was unprecedented in the Jewish Scriptures. That Jesus is here claiming divine honor is evident from the immediate context. Jesus has just claimed that he does whatever the Father does (v. 19) and that he "gives life to whomever he wishes" (v. 21). The Father even has entrusted to the Son (v. 22) the responsibility of rendering eternal judgment over all people. According to Jesus, the Father did so precisely so that everyone would honor him, the Son, as they honor the Father (v. 23). — location: 244 ^ref-31806

The book of Hebrews' asserts that Jesus "is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself" (3:3). — location: 249 ^ref-30420

"For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God" (v. 4). — location: 251 ^ref-12138

through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. — location: 267 ^ref-53017

to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. — location: 268 ^ref-2246

One later New Testament book even contains a doxology assigning eternal glory to Christ with no direct mention of God or the Father:But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18) — location: 270 ^ref-44916

In a religious or spiritual context, however, when performed toward a supernatural being (or an imagerepresenting such a being), the act is an acknowledgment of that being's deity. — location: 296 ^ref-3363

As always, the contexts in which words appear are crucial to understanding their meaning. — location: 299 ^ref-20538

A key to understanding Matthew's perspective is his report of the Devil's three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. In Matthew, the climactic third temptation' is the Devil's offer to give Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor" if he would "fall down and worship" (proskuneses) him (4:8-9). Surprisingly, Jesus did not respond by denying that Satan was personally worthy of any show of respect or honor (although that would seem to be true enough). Instead, Jesus responded by quoting the Old Testament: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him" (Matt. 4:10, quoting Dent. 6:13).3 After it is made clear in Matthew that Jesus regarded God as the only proper object of worship (proskuneo), it is striking that Jesus appears so… — location: 307 ^ref-55625

When the two got into the boat, the wind stopped, and the disciples worshiped Jesus and said, "Truly you are the… — location: 315 ^ref-46495

The other telling incident comes at the very end of the Gospel, when the disciples meet Jesus on a mountain in Galilee after his resurrection from the dead. "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted" (Matt. 28:17).7 One might suppose that what "some doubted" was that they were really seeing Jesus alive from the dead. Jesus did not respond, however, as he did on other occasions when his resurrection was in doubt, by assuring them of his identity or by pointing to his hands or inviting the doubters to touch him (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:20, 27). Instead, Jesus responded to their doubts by assuring them of his universal authority: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt. 28:18).… — location: 320 ^ref-40505

What Jesus refused to take from the Devil, he received from the Father; and instead of giving worship to the Devil, Jesus… — location: 328 ^ref-2347

It is worth noting that these two incidents-Jesus' walking on the sea and appearing as the risen Lord on the mountain-are the only two incidents in Matthew in which Jesus' disciples "worshiped" him. In both instances-once before his resurrection and once after it-the disciples were responding to… — location: 329 ^ref-5190

These are also the only two places in Matthew's Gospel where the word "doubted… — location: 331 ^ref-42161

we are clearly supposed to view the original disciples' worship of Jesus as a… — location: 334 ^ref-51092

Angels, on the other hand, have no such… — location: 340 ^ref-23512

Third, the directive for angels to worship Jesus is a quotation from the Old Testament that in its original context refers to the… — location: 341 ^ref-32034

Regardless of whether Psalm 97:7 or Deuteronomy 32:43 (or Odes 2:43) is the text quoted in Hebrews 1:6, the text refers to the worship of the Lord God. In Psalm 97:7-9 the psalmist is shaming those who worship idols and telling… — location: 349 ^ref-49402

Since both texts in context are speaking of angels as giving worship to the Lord God, the writer of Hebrews, in applying his quotation to Jesus, is affirming that… — location: 354 ^ref-40891

Indeed, to withhold such worship, when God has commanded it, is… — location: 358 ^ref-58587

The Lamb receives worship along with God, shares his throne, and is sharply distinguished from all of God's creatures as the… — location: 367 ^ref-27566

a monotheism which allows for Jesus to be included with God as the object of worship and which envisages Jesus sharing… — location: 370 ^ref-10213

These statements by the angel refute the claim that it was acceptable to worship or bow before an angel who was… — location: 372 ^ref-7903

There does not seem to have been any segment of first-century Judaism engaged in corporate or… — location: 375 ^ref-40089

By rejecting the practice of worshiping angels, the book of Revelation makes it even clearer that the practice of worshiping… — location: 391 ^ref-6991

There is a close, natural link in biblical thought between prayer and salvation. Prayer is essentially an appeal to one's deity for rescue, deliverance, or salvation in some situation of need or danger. Only the transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent God can… — location: 401 ^ref-16519

As the late Yale theologian and historian Jaroslav Pelikan pointed out, "For Stephen to commit his spirit to the Lord Jesus when the Lord Jesus himself had committed his spirit to the Father was either an act of blatant idolatry or the acknowledgment of the kurios 'Iesous [Lord Jesus] as the fitting recipient of the dying prayer of Stephen. — location: 426 ^ref-11610

As R. T. France has pointed out, the description of Christians as those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus shows that they thought of him not only as the proper recipient of prayer but also as God himself. — location: 439 ^ref-62660

The natural inference is that the person who does what we ask is the person whom we ask. — location: 461 ^ref-26892

Joseph A. Fitzmyer has shown, however, from a comparison with some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (from Cave 4 at Qumran) that maranatha means, "Our Lord, come."" — location: 476 ^ref-44212

Jesus once said that everyone should "honor the Son just as they honor the Father" (John 5:23). As we saw in chapter 1, Jesus here was making what would have to be regarded as an outrageous claim for any mere human being-or even for an angel. — location: 554 ^ref-46249

Yet throughout the New Testament, Jesus is repeatedly presented as the object of faith in a way that treats him as far more than a spokesman for God, like Moses was. When blind men came to Jesus, he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" (Matt. 9:28). What we would have expected a mere servant of God to have asked was whether the person believed that God was able to do it. — location: 569 ^ref-23738

John teaches his readers to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What this means is that faith in Christ is a confidence placed directly in him because of his own identity, not because of a merely functional role that he filled. — location: 576 ^ref-18971

Moses never spoke like this! — location: 582 ^ref-20337

Jesus made it clear that he was not inviting faith in him apart from, or in place of, faith in God. On the other hand, he made the claim-audacious for any creature to make-that he was just as trustworthy an object of faith as God himself: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1). Jesus' call here for the disciples to believe in him as they believed in God "links Jesus with the Father as the supreme object of faith."' — location: 583 ^ref-34723

It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. — location: 606 ^ref-8080

Paul contrasts the Lord Jesus with the deities worshiped in the pagan rites (which Paul calls "demons"). Paul thus makes it clear that the Lord's Supper is a religious rite in which the Lord Jesus is the presiding deity, the object of religious devotion or "service" for Christians.' — location: 639 ^ref-16642

In this setting, the vision of people from all nations "serving" the Son of Man presents a startling contrast. The "service" that Daniel and his friends refused to give to Nebuchadnezzar's image or to Darius, Daniel envisions all nations giving to the heavenly Son of Man. — location: 651 ^ref-31062

The One whom you regard as the Ruler of your entire universe for all time is by definition your God, and it would be the height of folly not to render religious devotion or service to him.' — location: 662 ^ref-26337

Yet Jesus expected to be given the same kind of absolute devotion-the same unqualified commitment of the heart and life-that we ought to give to God. Jesus put love for him above family ties: — location: 670 ^ref-2810

In Christian theology property "is a technical term that has been used to speak of the characteristics of the interior relations of the persons of the Godhead."' — location: 716 ^ref-48662

According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ was not originally like us in any of these ways, but "he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God" (Heb. 2:17 Niv, emphasis added). The result is that Jesus Christ has, as it were, two sets of attributes-those of human beings and those of God.One cannot validly object to this conclusion by pointing to biblical passages in which Jesus had human attributes. — location: 723 ^ref-45889

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col. 2:9). — location: 727 ^ref-46452

Just in case someone might misconstrue "deity" here as meaning the nature or state of being a god-as though Christ were simply one of a group of deities or gods-Paul states that "the fullness of deity" dwells in Christ.' The use of the word "fullness" makes it explicit that nothing of deity is missing in Christ. — location: 731 ^ref-41828

Jesus claims to be such a perfect revelation of the Father that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father (v. 9). This statement is so strong, some people have misunderstood it to mean that Jesus was claiming that he was the Father. — location: 761 ^ref-47729

Was Jesus a man through whom God was revealing himself, or was he God revealing himself as a man? — location: 801 ^ref-42511

It is worth noting that even Dunn acknowledges that the Gospel of John teaches that Jesus was God revealing himself as a man. — location: 801 ^ref-64501

even Dunn acknowledges that the Gospel of John teaches that Jesus was God revealing himself as a man. — location: 802 ^ref-800

Even Dunn, who denies that Paul taught the preexistence of Christ, admits that it is "almost inevitable" that the passage should be understood as speaking of the preexistent Christ choosing to become a man. According to Dunn, though, what Paul meant was that "preexistent" Wisdom became embodied in the human person of Christ.' The problem, of course, is that Paul says that Christ "existed in God's form" — location: 814 ^ref-46672

"Adam, who grasped at a dignity to which he had not right, should be contrasted with Christ, who renounced a status to which he had every right — location: 821 ^ref-48018

It would be better to draw a contrast between Adam, who existed in God's image, and Christ, who existed in God's form. — location: 825 ^ref-40963

would mean that the preexistent divine Christ did not try to seize recognition of his rightful status of equality with God, but chose to put the glory of the Father and the salvation of sinners ahead of his own glory. — location: 836 ^ref-18223

Christ was equal with God but did not seek to take advantage of that status for his own personal comfort or gain. — location: 838 ^ref-43116

Paul is saying that Christ was divine in his nature or glorious form but did not act in the self-serving manner one might have expected an omnipotent deity to act, taking whatever he wanted and demanding to be treated as superior. This understanding fits the context well. — location: 839 ^ref-4454

In Philippians he says that Christ was "born in human likeness" and "found in human form" (2:7). The former statement seems unnecessarily awkward and the latter statement unnecessarily redundant if Jesus began his existence as a human being. — location: 913 ^ref-55287

In other words, Jesus is saying that he often tried in the past to protect them from judgment by sending them prophets, but they rejected the offer of help. — location: 941 ^ref-10016

The latter view, however, does not easily fit Paul's statement that "the rock was Christ."' A few sentences later, Paul warns the Corinthian Christians, "We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents" (v. 9). Here, Paul states that some of the Israelites in the wilderness "put Christ to the test," and he warns the Corinthians not to make the same mistake. — location: 958 ^ref-63422

At a bare minimum, and beyond any reasonable doubt, Jesus here claims to have existed before Abraham was born. — location: 968 ^ref-50414

John 8:58 contrasts Abraham, who "came into being" (genesthai, translated "was" in the NRSV), with Jesus, who simply is (which Jesus states in the first person, "I am," ego eimi). — location: 973 ^ref-44769

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The reaction of Jesus' critics to his statement-attempting to stone him (John 8:59)-confirms that they thought he was making a divine claim. — location: 978 ^ref-64686

deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" — location: 993 ^ref-55597

After speaking of Jesus Christ as "our only Master and Lord," Jude could hardly have proceeded in the very next sentence to refer to someone other than Jesus as "the Lord." The Lord who delivered his people out of Egypt, then, must be the Lord Jesus. — location: 995 ^ref-64557

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Many of the earliest manuscripts actually say "Jesus" instead of "the Lord" in verse 5, and this is most likely the original reading." — location: 997 ^ref-9227

Some of these statementsemphasize in the strongest terms that not just part, but the totality of creation owes its existence to him. — location: 1047 ^ref-4269

Clearly, the New Testament does not understand divine immutability to be a limitation on God's ability to interact with and in his creation. — location: 1139 ^ref-9958

Can anyone imagine speaking this way about the love of any other human being? Think of anyone else in history renowned for being a loving person. Would anyone speak of the love of Mother Teresa, for example, as surpassing knowledge? — location: 1152 ^ref-30064

Truly, recognizing the love of Jesus Christ as the very love of God for us ought to move us to give Christ glory forever. That is what it means to honor Jesus as God. — location: 1170 ^ref-1394

It does not mean that God can do anything that is self-contradictory — location: 1174 ^ref-65326

or contrary to his perfect character. — location: 1175 ^ref-5611

The proof that his death was not a sign of defeat or incapacity was that Jesus also took back the life he laid down: — location: 1194 ^ref-7098

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27). — location: 1217 ^ref-27361

The same could be said of Jesus when He dwelt in the temple of a human body.

Yet he also displayed an ability to act in places distant from his own physical location. On at least one occasion,' Jesus told a man that his sick servant at home was healed, although Jesus never went to the man's home — location: 1220 ^ref-35156

"Here Jesus himself fills the role of the Shekinah, God's presence, in the traditional Jewish saying."' Such a claim implies that Jesus is omnipresent… — location: 1238 ^ref-38302

This is something that is true only of God, as Solomon acknowledged in prayer: "For you, you only, know the hearts of all the… — location: 1252 ^ref-3645

Elsewhere, the Gospels report that Jesus knew what other people were thinking (Matt. 9:4; 12:… — location: 1255 ^ref-570

In the book of Revelation, Jesus asserts that when they see his warnings fulfilled "all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give… — location: 1258 ^ref-53666

"Now we know that you know all things" (John 16:30). Jesus' response-"Do you now believe?" (v. 31)-does not deny such knowledge but shows that, at that point, he recognized that the disciples… — location: 1269 ^ref-58746

His divine attributes are his by virtue of his eternal identity as the Son of God; his finite, human limitations are normal human attributes that he has by virtue of his becoming a man in the Incarnation. A similar paradox pertains to his omniscience. By virtue of being the divine Son, Jesus was in some sense omniscient, knowing the hearts of the people around him; yet,… — location: 1275 ^ref-24619

This is a possible explanation, but it can be charged with implying that natures know or do not know, whereas knowing and not knowing are properties of persons, not natures. To put it more simply, Jesus did not say, "My human… — location: 1288 ^ref-64593

The chief difficulty with this approach is that we do not really understand what it would be like to be omniscient and choose to experience a lack of knowledge. Then again, we are hardly likely to understand what it… — location: 1295 ^ref-56013

Jesus himself once said, "No one knows the Son except the Father" (Matt. 11:27; cf. Luke 10:22). Peter would not have recognized Jesus' identity as the Son of God had the Father not revealed it to him (Matt. 16:16-17), and even after grasping that much,… — location: 1304 ^ref-37382

Think about it this way: suppose the infinite Creator of the universe assumed finite, human nature, grew from infancy to adulthood, and shared in our normal human experiences of working and playing, waking and sleeping, eating and drinking, learning and growing. Would we expect to understand how he could experience our humanity to the full and still be God? Of course not. We would expect paradoxes or mysteries, all down the line, with respect to his attributes. And that is exactly what we find (see the accompanying table). On the other hand, if Jesus were merely a great human being or even an angel who somehow became a human being, we… — location: 1313 ^ref-20513

We are not saying that if the Bible uses a particular name for God, then anyone else given that name in… — location: 1334 ^ref-1320

The Bible's use of various names for Jesus proves that he is God because of their contexts. — location: 1337 ^ref-10828

Second, when the New Testament uses these designations for Jesus, it very often does so by quoting from, or alluding to, Old Testament texts about God or by applying to Jesus characteristic Old Testament motifs and expressions that refer to God. It is one thing to call someone "lord"; it is another thing altogether to do so while saying that we "call on the name of the Lord" or that we are waiting for "the day of the Lord." — location: 1344 ^ref-57495

The originalreaders of the Bible could understand whether a name in a particular text referred to deity, but they did so based on context, not capitalization. — location: 1357 ^ref-34147

The name Jesus means "Jehovah saves," and the angel's comment assumes an awareness of this meaning. Since the angel said that "he," meaning in context Jesus, would save his people, the implication is that Jesus somehow is Jehovah? — location: 1361 ^ref-13345

John says that the Word that made his dwelling among us has the "glory as of the only Son from the Father" (v. 14 ESV). This statement is a way of saying that the Son is just like his Father when it comes to glory — location: 1482 ^ref-60011

John's statement, "No one has ever seen God" (v. 18a), clearly recalls the Lord's statement to Moses, "No man can see Me and live" (Exod. 33:20 NASB).8 John concludes, "It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known" (v. 18b). — location: 1489 ^ref-27498

The final occurrence of theos in John's prologue also refers to Christ: "No one has ever seen God [theon]. It is God [theos] the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." In this verse, the first occurrence of "God" (theon) refers to the Father. The second occurrence of "God" (theos) refers to the Son. — location: 1512 ^ref-26660

If it were true that John used thearticle with theon but not with theos in verse 1 in order to indicate that the Son was a lesser type of deity than the Father, it is very strange that he did not maintain this same distinction in verse 18. — location: 1518 ^ref-4933

Indeed, it is difficult to find any contemporary exegetical commentary or academic study that argues that Thomas's words in John 20:28 apply in context to the Father rather than to Jesus. The reason is simple: John prefaces what Thomas said with the words, "Thomas answered and said to Him" (v. 28a NASB). — location: 1528 ^ref-26495

Thomas's words echo statements addressed in the Psalms to the Lord (Jehovah), especially the following: "Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord [ho theos mou kai ho kurios mou]!" (Ps. 35:23). — location: 1534 ^ref-62592

Thomas calls Jesus "my God" with the article (ho theos mou, 20:28)! — location: 1541 ^ref-53103

The epistles of Paul, for example, refer to "our God and Father" (e.g., Gal. 1:4; Phil. 4:20; 1 Thess. 1:3; 3:11, 13) and"the God and Father" (Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 15:24), which certainly refer to one person by both titles God and Father. — location: 1648 ^ref-29301