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Jesus a god or actually God

Reading through the Psalms this morning I was again reminded of who God is. As God’s nature does not change and we view the whole Old Testament and New Testament as His revelation to us. And these revelations of God also are unchanging just like His very nature. As the Jehovah Witness Bible translation (NWT) reads John 1:1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was A god. (emphasis mine) Jesus is only A god, not THE God.  However reading through Psalm 96:4-5 this morning this verse struck me:

“For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ 

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, (ESV)”

Where verse 4 uses the word LORD which is actually a substitute for YHWH (the name of God) and which is symbolized in Hebrew by what is called the Tetragrammaton - see picture below:

Basically Psalm 96:4 is saying That Great is YHWH and greatly to be praised, and that any other gods are worthless idols compared to Him.

So if I am to take the NWT version of John 1:1 as truth, that Jesus is A god and not THE God I also have to accept that he is is a worthless idol compared to YHWH. Even if Jesus is “The Greatest Man that ever lived” as the Jehovah Witnesses claim he would still be a worthless idol as Psalm 96:4 states. So my question is, “Does the rest of scripture talk about Jesus as a mere worthless idol?” 

A few verses came to mind: 

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and hthe exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” Hebrews 1:3 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  (Philippians 2:5-7 ESV)

Do these verses really reflect a Jesus that is a worthless idol, or do the reflect more than that? Hebrews states that Jesus is the ‘exact imprint’ of YHWH’s nature and that Jesus upholds the universe by the word of His power - a attribute only ascribed to God through out the Old Testament. 

Philippians goes a bit further stating that Jesus was in the very form of God, but gave that up and humbled Himself to become a servant to die for our sins. 

Lastly John 1:1 in actual Greek states that the word (Jesus) was with God and that the word (Jesus) is God

With all that being said I need to make a decision of who Jesus is, a mere man, a worthless idol? Or is He the imprint of YHWH in the flesh as Hebrews states who submitted Himself as a servant for the sake of those who would put their faith in Him?

Lastly let’s not forget that Jesus is often referred to as the Son of man and the Son of God. Historical Christianity has always held to the fact that just as the term Son of man affirms his human form, the Son of God affirms His divine form as Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Is this hard for us to understand, yes! But we are talking about the creator of infinity - just that statement alone is mind boggling. Is it possible that God is outside our comprehension? Not only is it possible, it is extremely probable. Although He has not left us to guess in regards to all the details of His character. He has given us the Bible. 

Why this matters? 

Jesus stated this:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40 ESV)

We must come to Jesus for eternal life. If he is merely the “Greatest man who ever lived” and/ or just a worthless idol why would we go to Him? As Christians we are to have nothing to do with idols. And why would He make this statement? But rather if He is God and the founder of our salvation (Heb 2:10) and the author of life (Acts 3:15) He is worthy of our praise, adoration, & worship. He is more than just a man.  

This is a question I have had to wrestle with and am thankful to God that he has opened my eyes to this. I hope He does the same for you. 

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