I mean, I gave several arguments earlier today as to why, from the Bible,
people can argue Jesus is not God.
I mentioned, for example, the verse from the Gospel of John where Jesus says,
the Father is greater than I.
That's interesting.
We need to be able to explain how Jesus can be God while the Father is greater
than He is.
Verses in Mark's Gospel where Jesus says He doesn't know when the end of times is.
Neither the angels nor the Son, but only the Father knows when the end of
times is.
Fascinating stuff.
The first thing we need to do whenever we approach anything, when we approach the
Bible, when we approach anything, to see what it's saying is we have to get
its context.
So, let's read from the beginning.
Now, anyone who tries to argue from the Gospel of John that Jesus is not God has a
huge uphill battle to fight because John's Gospel starts off with what?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
Wow.
John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, so here's the Word, and the Word's
with God, so here's God, and the Word was God.
What just happened?
Mind blown.
How is the Word with God and also God at the same time?
Whatever the answer is, we need to realize that John's Gospel, the Word was with God
and is God.
And the next verse says, He was in the beginning.
He was in the beginning with God.
And then verse 14 says, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory.
Oh man, so much to talk about.
I haven't actually answered that question since I've been doing my recent studies at
Oxford, so I'm trying to craft in my head how to put this all together.
The idea of the Word being the thing through which the universe was created,
God's interaction with the world, was something that actually came partially
from Jewish thought.
So there's a guy named Philo, who's embracing kind of Greek thought as well as
being a Jew, and he's trying to think through how does the transcendent God
interact with this world?
And he says it happens through the Logos.
God's interaction with this world is through the Logos.
We see something similar in the Targums.
So, this idea of the Logos, the thing through which the universe is created,
that's present in that time, in that context, and that's what John's Gospel is
saying.
That the Word is the thing through which the universe is created, and we see that
in John 1 and John 1.2.
So from the very beginning of John's Gospel, Jesus is introduced as God.
Look at verse 118, by the way, of John's Gospel, when you get the chance.
Unless you have a Textus Receptus translation, if you're using a modern
translation like NASB, NIV, etc., you will see that 118 says that Jesus is
the only begotten God.
Interesting.
So very clearly from the beginning, that's all John's Gospel is trying to say.
So in other words, when we read John's Gospel, it's like John says, hey,
before you read this Gospel, read verses 11 through 118.
This is the lens through which I want you to read the rest of my book.
Jesus is the creator of the universe from the very beginning with God.
And then He became flesh.
Read my book through that lens.
That's what John is saying.
And so then you read a verse like the Father is greater than I.
What do you do?
Well, look at the context first.
Look at the context, because that chapter actually shows that Jesus is omnipresent
and omnipotent.
When He says the Father is greater than I, He also says that when I leave,
whatever you pray, pray in my name and I will do it for you.
Hold on.
That means that Jesus is saying when He's gone, He can still hear your prayers.
He's omnipresent.
And He also says that He can answer your prayers for you.
When He's gone, that makes Him omnipotent.
So whatever Jesus means when He says the Father is greater than I, we have to read
it in the context of that chapter.
That He's both omnipresent and omnipotent.
And what He says, when He says the Father is greater than I, here's how I want to
answer that.
Okay, I have to go to the Trinity then.
I have to go to the Trinity.
Alright, make sure you have a good definition of the Trinity.
The primary problem with people trying to explain the Trinity and going straight to
an illustration, like the egg or the water illustration, is that illustrations are
intended to demonstrate a definition.
So if you skip right over the definition and go straight to the illustration,
you're going to confuse people.
So we need to have a definition for the Trinity.
Are you still with me, by the way?
Okay, good.
I know it's hot in here.
There's a lot of people in here, oxygen levels and such.
Here is the definition of the Trinity.
If you write anything down tonight, write this down.
God is one in being and three in person.
One in being and three in person.
Now, that is not a contradiction.
See, if I said He's one in being and three in being, that's a contradiction that I'm
arguing with myself.
If I say He's one in person and three in person, that's a contradiction.
God is one in being and three in person.
So the next obvious question is, Nabeel, what's the difference between a
being and a person?
Glad you asked, thank you.
A being is that quality that makes you what you are, or makes a thing what it is.
So being is what'sness.
And a person is that which makes you who you are.
So for example, I am a human being.
That's what I am, in case you were confused.
I'm a human being.
Who I am is not a human being.
Who I am is Nabeel Qureshi.
What I am is a human being.
Who I am is Nabeel Qureshi.
What I am is heart, lungs, it's muscles, it's eyes, it's all this, tendons,
bones, etc.
That's what I am, but that's not who I am.
Who I am is a kind, loving, caring, compassionate person, as my wife would
tell you immediately.
Who I am is very different from what I am.
Humans happen to be one being and one person.
That's what humans are, one being, one person.
God is different.
God is one being.
Yahweh is what we call God.
But He's three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Those three persons are equal because they're all God.
They've all existed from the beginning, like John chapter 1 says, because they're
all God.
So then the question comes up, well how can Jesus say something like,
the Father is greater than I, if they're all God?
And the answer is actually quite simple.
Let's say I pointed to the President of the United States.
Let's say I said Obama.
I can very accurately say Obama is greater than I am.
Because when he goes somewhere, he rolls with the posse.
He's the most powerful man in the world.
There's news conferences when he sneezes.
I mean, he's greater than I am.
But, is he any more human than I am?
No, he's not.
He's greater than me in terms of role, but he's not greater than me in terms of
essence.
In the same way, the Father is greater than the Son in terms of role.
The Father is superior.
The Son is subjected to the Father in terms of role.
And we see that in 1 Corinthians 15.
It says that Jesus is going to subject himself to the authority of the Father so
the Father can be all in all.
It's because the Father is superior in terms of role.
But, is he any more God than Jesus is?
No, because they're both God.
There's only one God.
And they're equal in essence.
Father, Son, and Spirit.
So, I'm kind of... there's so much to cover in this question.
I want to go back another direction.
So that was to help you understand how some of those critiques simply don't work.
They're either out of context or they're missing the point.
Why can we know that Jesus claimed to be God?
I want to point to the earliest stratum of Christian history because the book of
Revelation, for example, and 2 Peter, are New Testament books, sure,
but they come much later than, for example, Mark's Gospel or any of the
Pauline epistles.
They're all New Testament, but they were written at different times.
Mark's Gospel is the earliest of the four Gospels.
It was written no later than 70 to 72 AD.
I believe it was written probably much earlier than that, but to concede for the
skeptics, the latest date possible, let's say it was written no later than 70
to 72 AD.
Then you've got the Pauline epistles.
Paul died around the time of the Neronian persecutions no later than 65 AD.
Paul wrote letters that were earlier than that.
I think I'm going to have to speed this along.
We've got a lot of questions to ask.
In the earliest of the four Gospels, Mark's Gospel, the whole thing points to
the deity of Jesus.
That's what the whole Gospel is about.
From the beginning to the end, it's all about Jesus being God,
except it's revealed slowly.
There's only one point where there's a massive climax, and that's Mark 14,
62.
In Mark 14, verse 62, finally Jesus is being told to answer for everyone,
who are you?
Up until then, whenever Jesus was asked, are you the Christ?
Or a demon would come out, for example, in Mark chapter 3 and say, you are the
Holy One of God.
What was Jesus' response?
Don't tell anyone.
Mark chapter 8, the disciples say, you're the Christ.
Jesus says, don't tell anyone.
Why?
He was waiting for a very specific moment to reveal who He is.
But we see glimpses throughout.
Mark chapter 2, verse 10, Jesus has the ability to forgive people's sins.
Mark chapter 2, verse 28, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
Who's Lord of the Sabbath?
Think about it.
The Sabbath is the fourth of the ten commandments.
Yeah, there's an Old Testament too.
The Sabbath is the fourth of the ten commandments.
If Jesus calls Himself Lord of the Sabbath, He's saying He's Lord over the
ten commandments.
Who's Lord over the ten commandments?
God.
In Mark chapter 2, verse 10, like I just mentioned, who has authority on earth to
forgive sins?
God.
And we see this.
There's so many more verses to talk about.
But Mark 14, 62, we have Jesus say publicly and boldly and loudly who He is.
The high priest asks Him, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?
Jesus responds by saying, I am.
Interesting, but we don't have time to go into that.
And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming
with the clouds of heaven.
Now we in the 21st century scratch our heads and we say, what the heck was that
about?
I am and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and
coming with the clouds of heaven.
People who know the Old Testament very well know what Jesus is saying.
When He calls Himself the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,
He's referring to a very specific passage of the Old Testament.
Anyone know?
Daniel 7, thank you.
Daniel chapter 7.
This is what's going on in Daniel chapter 7.
The prophet Daniel is looking in the sky and he sees the Ancient of Days.
He sees God the Father being worshipped by angels, surrounded, thrown of fire,
etc.
There's the Ancient of Days.
And then in verse 13 He says, behold in my night visions I looked and one like the
Son of Man was coming on the clouds of heaven and approached the Ancient of Days.
Time out, right there.
The Bible says repeatedly that there's only one who comes on the clouds of heaven
and that is Yahweh.
Only God, according to the Bible, comes on the clouds of heaven.
But He's over there.
Who's this guy coming on the clouds of heaven?
He's one who looks like a Son of Man.
He's one who looks like a human approaching the Ancient of Days,
coming in a way only God comes.
Interesting.
Let's keep going.
It says to Him, Jesus was given glory, authority, and sovereign power.
People ask me how I remember this stuff, by the way.
Glory, authority, and sovereign power spells gasp.
Gasp.
Glory, authority, and sovereign power is given to Jesus.
Now hold on for a second.
Who has glory, authority, and sovereign power in heaven?
God.
Yet here it's being given to this one who looks like a Son of Man.
Interesting.
Let's keep going.
It says people of every nation and language will serve Him.
Whoa, hold on.
In heaven, someone other than the Father is going to be served?
By people of every nation and language?
Well, the proper question to ask would be, Nabil, what kind of service?
And I would say, glad you asked.
Because the word Latruo, which is the Greek equivalent in the Septuagint,
but even the word Pelah, because I don't know if you know, Daniel is the only book
of the Old Testament that has portions written in Aramaic.
So Aramaic is the word here in Daniel.
Pelah.
The word Pelah and the word Latruo is only given to God.
A hundred and thirty times throughout the Old Testament and New, the word is used,
and every single time it is used as a service due to God alone, except in this
passage.
Where someone who looks like a Son of Man, who rides on the clouds of heaven,
who's going to have people of every nation and language serve him, he receives that
service due only to God.
Then it says, his kingdom is one that will not pass away and his dominion will never
be destroyed.
Wow.
So you have God the Father and somebody else who looks like a Son of Man,
who comes in on the clouds of heaven like only God does, he's given glory,
authority, and sovereign power of heaven.
He's worshiped and served by people of every nation and language with a worship
and service due only to God, and his dominion over heaven will never be
destroyed.
Jesus, when he says, you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,
he's saying, you remember that guy from Daniel 7?
That's me.
And by the way, whenever people say something like, oh, Son of Man is the
human title of Jesus and Son of God is the divine title, I say, no, that's kind of
backwards.
It's kind of backwards, at least from the Jewish perspective, that's backwards.
Because in the Jewish perspective, there are a bunch of people who are called
Sons of God.
Adam's called a Son of God.
Solomon is called a Son of God.
But there's only one divine Son of Man in the Old Testament.
And Jesus claims to be that one.
But, hold the phone, it gets even better.
Jesus says, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power.
Okay, what is that a reference to?
That's a reference to Psalm 110, verse 1.
The Lord said to my Lord, Yahweh said to Adonai, sit at my right hand and I will
make the enemies a footstool for your feet.
Understand the context of what's happening here.
When God says, sit at my right hand, in that Semitic context, what it means is,
rule the universe with me.
You are my heir.
That's why no one in the Second Temple period of Jewish history was ever depicted
sitting next to God.
Moses stood next to God, Enoch stood next to God, no one sat at the right hand of
God.
Because it would mean being co-heir, co-ruler over the universe.
Jesus said, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power.
Coming with the clouds of heaven.
Now, if you were to say to me, Nabeel, this is just Mark's gospel,
how do we know Jesus actually said this?
I would say, glad you asked.
This doctrine of the Son of Man is found in every layer of gospel history.
If you believe in Q theory, it's found in all five sources.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Q.
That is why the earliest Christians worshipped Jesus.
I'll toss in one last thing for free.
If I gave you any more, you'd have to pay.
Paul, in Philippians chapter 2, verses 6-11, says this, having your mind
the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of
God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.
But he emptied himself.
Paul, now Paul is before Mark's gospel, and as he's writing to the letter of the
Philippians, that's even earlier.
And he's saying, having yourselves the same attitude as that of Christ,
who, although he was God, did not resist humbling himself by emptying himself and
becoming a man.
And if he wants to make it any more clear, he does what he does in the next few
verses.
He says, to the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
What did he do there?
He took Isaiah 45, which says, to Yahweh, every knee will bow,
and every tongue will confess, took out Yahweh's name, put in Jesus'
name.
To Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess.
The earliest layer of Christian history that we have access to shows Jesus being
worshipped as Yahweh himself.
And I have to ask, in a Jewish context where people are very, very careful not to
worship anyone but God, how in the world do they start worshipping Jesus so fast?
And the best answer I can give, the best conclusion I can give is that
Jesus himself said he was God.