Question:  Dear Greg,

            Some believe that Jesus is God.  Is there not God the Father and Jesus, His son?  Why would Jesus cry out to Him if they were one and the same?

            Tam

Answer:  Dear Tam,

            God is one (see Deuteronomy 6:4).  Based upon its foundation in Judaism, Christianity has never denied this, but rather affirmed and insisted upon the oneness of God.  One God, not two, not three, not billions.  Just one.  It’s called monotheism, and is one of the basic distinguishing features that separates Christianity (and Judaism and Islam) from all other world religions.  Those who worship more than one god are often defined as pagans (by Christians) for doing so.

            However, the Bible (not accepted as scripture by Moslems who instead rely upon the Koran)—particularly the New Testament--also insists (not accepted by the Jews) that the Godhead is one but includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  It was in this one name (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) that Jesus told his disciples to baptize new believers (Matthew 28:19).  These three are one—not three separate Gods, but three distinct persons of the godhead who are distinct Persons, yet one God.  Notice Matthew 28:19 says baptize in the name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—NOT the name(S).  One name—one God.  Three persons of the Godhead.

            When the one God, in the person of Jesus, came to this earth to save us from our sins, he came as the God-man.  He came as Emmanuel—God with us (see Matthew 1:23).  He remained God—for by definition God cannot die or stop being God, for he is eternal—while adding something that he never was before—human.  He became incarnate.  He was Jesus—the Son of God, and the son of man.  Both divine and human—the natures were not co-mingled, but separate.

            In order to do what he came to this earth to do, Jesus laid aside many of the privileges and powers of divinity.  He did not have to subject himself to nature, but he did.  There were times when he manifested his deity—when he walked on water, when he healed others, when he created food, when he resurrected Lazarus from the dead.  But there were many times that he did not use the powers of his deity so that he could be our Savior—such as the time when Judas betrayed him, and Christ was taken away by soldiers to be brutalized, tortured and killed.  Peter tried to prevent the soldiers, actually cutting off the ear of one of them.  But Christ told him to put away his sword, letting him know that he had legions of angels at his disposal (Matthew 26:53).

            Jesus said that he would resurrect his own body from the grave—(see John 2:19-22).  He was two natures, divine and human.  When the human Jesus was in the grave, the eternal Son of God was “alive”—just as God is, always has been, and always will be “alive”—he is eternal.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht