Earlier I explained that focusing on a deep love for Jesus preceded my request for faith. However, there was a foundation of biblical truth that came before even that first desire to love Jesus.

    All of my Bible background from early childhood through seminary graduation reinforced the common assumption that Jesus is subordinate to the Father. I, like the large majority of my evangelical peers, was comfortable viewing the Father as the ultimate divine authority. It was not until I was in my late 30s that I began to understand the significance of Jesus' identification with Yahweh of the Old Testament.

    Let me briefly interrupt my story. In the remaining chapters, I want to introduce you to a number of topics dealing with faith. In most instances, I merely want to call your attention to them for your own study. As a result, I will cite few Scripture verses in the following chapters.

    May I restate my earlier caution? Do not copy either my experiences in living by faith or my interpretation of Scripture. You must increasingly seek God's personal direction from Scripture in your life of faith.

    Let's return to the story. In a study lasting almost two years, I examined each of the 714 New Testament citations of the Greek word kurios. This Greek word is generally translated into English as Lord. It was an English study, though I used a concordance that identified words in the Greek New Testament.^[1] First, I was interested in the use of the word
Lord in the New Testament itself. Secondly, I wanted to examine each New Testament passage that used Lord when quoting an Old Testament passage using God's name Yahweh.^[2]

^[1] A Concordance to the Greek Testament, edited by W.F. Moulton and A.S. Geden. This concordance also gives helpful citations of Old Testament quotations that use the Hebrew name of God. Other references like the Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament are also available. The New American Standard Bible translation (NASB) is also helpful because it uses capital letters to identify Old Testament quotations in the New Testament.

^[2] In Chapter 1, I gave a footnote explaining William Tyndale's use of "Iovah" (Jehovah) and "LORD" in his 1530-31 English Old Testament translation of the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) and Jonah. You now need a more complete explanation in order to understand the significance of the name Yahweh. The Old Testament uses four Hebrew characters (which are transliterated—that is, written in English letters—as YHWH) as the proper name of God. In Exodus 3:13 (NASB) Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.'" In Exodus 6:3 (NASB) God said to Moses, "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name [I AM], I did not make Myself known to them."
    God gave a first person singular form of the verb "to be" as His personal name. God called Himself I AM. The human speaker, however, did not address God as "I AM." Rather, God is called HE IS, or YHWH. With added English vowels, YHWH becomes Yahweh. This personal name of God is used over 6,800 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. The use of God's personal name is abundantly clear in the original language of the Old Testament and should have been carried over into the English Bible in a better form than LORD. However, this is a much more complex issue than this short footnote suggests.

    Let me give an example.

    In Isaiah 45, the prophet was quoting Yahweh, whom verses 18 and 19 identified as the speaker:

    For this is what [Yahweh] says—he who created the heavens, he is God...he says: "I am [Yahweh] and there is no other...I, [Yahweh], speak the truth; I declare what is right."

    Then in Isaiah 45:20-23 Yahweh said,

    Who foretold this long ago?...Was it not I, [Yahweh]? And there is no God apart from me...By myself I have sworn...Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."

    Paul also quoted these verses in Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:9-10. Romans 14:11 says:

    '"As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"

    Romans 14:11 is somewhat vague in its identification of the speaker. Verse 9 clearly talks about "Christ...so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." However, verse 10 says, "For we will all stand before God's judgment seat." Consequently, it could be argued that it is God "to whom every knee will bow."

    Nonetheless, the subject of the verse in the Greek sentence is the Lord,^[3] which is the title used of Jesus throughout the New Testament.

^[3] In every instance in the New Testament where an Old Testament verse using YHWH is quoted, the Greek New Testament uses the Greek word for Lord (kurios). Consequently, Lord is always the correct translation in the New Testament for God's proper name. That is significant to the subject of this chapter. In the Old Testament, Almighty God was known as Yahweh. In the New Testament, both Almighty God and Jesus are identified with the same title. Was this merely a limitation of language or an oversight by the New Testament writers? Or does this blurring of the name of Yahweh and Jesus' title Lord carry immense significance? I personally think this is a powerful evidence of Jesus' eternal nature as Almighty God.

    Before we go to the Philippians passage, consider what is taking place. Isaiah made it clear that Yahweh alone can say of Himself, "I am [Yahweh] and there is no other...there is no God apart from me." Then Yahweh made a statement that is uniquely true of Him: "Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."

    It would be rank blasphemy to say of any created being that every knee will bow and every tongue will swear before him in worship. The context of Isaiah makes it very clear that this worship is due to Yahweh alone.

    Philippians 2:9-10 elaborates the same Isaiah passage but clearly attributes to Jesus the worship which is due only to Yahweh.

    Therefore God exalted [Christ Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    No Jew familiar with the Isaiah passage could read Philippians 2:9-10 and not see the implication of these verses. To the Messianic Jew, they are a powerful identification of Jesus with Yahweh. To the non-Messianic Jew, these verses represent the epitome of blasphemy because they defame the One who said, "I am [Yahweh] and there is no other."

    Notice something else in this passage. God gave Jesus a name. What name is that? It is the name that "is above every name." That name could be none other than Yahweh. However, the New Testament writers always use Lord (kurios) rather than Yahweh for God's name. (See any of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament that context would identify as speaking of Yahweh. This would include verses such as Luke 1:46 where Mary would be speaking of Yahweh rather than her unborn son, Luke 10:21 where Jesus addressed the Father as Lord, etc.) Do you see the significance of the statement, "God...gave him the name that is above every name...and every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (kurios)"?

    As I traced verse after verse through the New Testament, I began to see this repeated use of Lord (Jesus) in Old Testament quotations which described attributes or prerogatives of Yahweh. The pattern occurs at least 112 times.^[4] The identification was unmistakable. Jesus is fully identified with Yahweh. What can be said of Yahweh in the Old Testament can also be said of Jesus in the New Testament.

^[4] The total must allow for some variation in the way each passage is identified.

    Jesus is none other than Almighty, Sovereign God.

    I then began to see passages that identified Jesus as the Creator of the cosmos. Colossians 1:15-18, Hebrews 1:1-2, John 1:1-3, and Revelation 4:11 all identify Jesus as the Creator.^[5] Creation was not the independent act of Jesus. All of creation—from its grandeur and beauty to man and the plan of redemption—expresses the Unity of the Godhead. Because of this identification of the Godhead with all of the acts of God, both the Father and the Spirit can be called Creator just as either can be identified as Savior. But it was Jesus who was the active Agent in creation.^[5]

    The implications of Jesus being Creator are momentous. Jesus is my indwelling Savior. However, Jesus' presence in me is not that of a mere subordinate to the Father. It is the presence of Almighty, Creator God Himself. Not only does Jesus have the desire to mold me into His image and do that which is best for me, but He also has the power to complete everything He intends to accomplish!

    Because of our longstanding creedal statements and traditional teaching of the Father's role as Creator, many have difficulty with the New Testament teaching that Jesus is the Creator. Were we to suggest that Jesus is a superior God and the Father is a subordinate, we would be in gross error. Jesus is not greater than the Father, and the Father is not greater than Jesus or the Spirit. It is appropriate to recognize the New Testament's teaching regarding Jesus' work of creation and the various roles of each of the three Persons of the Godhead. But it is entirely inappropriate to suggest that there is any difference of rank.

    Modern evangelical Christianity has devised a God who cannot logically exist. Some in our evangelical churches today would acquiesce to the statement that the Father existed before Jesus. (This position is untenable if Jesus is God.) At the very least, most are comfortable with a statement that the Father is preeminent, while Jesus—and, finally, the Spirit—have some hierarchical rank lower than the Father. Most see the Father as the One in ultimate control, giving direction to Jesus and the Spirit.

    This notion is pure gnosticism, the heresy that engrafted itself into Christianity in the latter part of the 1st century and has never entirely disappeared since. In its simplest form, gnosticism was a pervasive philosophy having a Supreme God and a hierarchical order of lesser gods. Since man could not communicate with the Supreme God, the lesser gods provided a means of access through their intercessory roles. Though modern evangelicals do not insert other gods between the Father and Jesus, they generally accept an unstated theology that Jesus, as a lesser God (though they would abhor the term lesser), is more accessible to us and can intercede for us before the more powerful Father. They also believe that it was Jesus' subordinate role that allowed the Father^[7] to send Him to earth to accomplish redemption. (See Appendix A for more information on the Person of God.)

^[7] A verse such as John 3:16 does not say that the Father sent Jesus. It says that God sent Jesus. Jesus' incarnation was a corporate decision of the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit, or the Godhead.

    A fundamental truth throughout Scripture is the Absolute nature of God. All of His attributes are Absolute; He lacks nothing in any area of His Being. The Absolute nature of God is fundamental to both the Old and New Testament and is the foundation of Judeo/Christian theology.

    Therefore, we are left with a logical conclusion. If Jesus is God, then Jesus must be Absolute. Conversely, if Jesus is not Absolute, then Jesus cannot be God. (The same statements would equally apply to the Spirit.) The attribute of Absolute cannot have rank. Two beings cannot both be Absolute with one having authority over the other.

    Either Jesus is God and is thus Absolute in all of His attributes, or He is other than God, in which case He is not Absolute but was created by the Father. Again, the same is also true of the Spirit.

    If Jesus is Absolute, then the New Testament introduces a dilemma. Jesus repeatedly acknowledges His dependence upon the Father in the Gospels.

    The common understanding among many evangelicals regarding Jesus' dependence is that He was eternally subordinate to the Father. This viewpoint sees Jesus as having been under the Father's authority from eternity past. The difficulty with this explanation is that if Jesus is not Absolute, then He cannot be God.

    On the other hand, if Jesus was Absolute in eternity past, we must reconcile His statements of dependency on the Father in the Gospels and allusions to it elsewhere in the New Testament. The answer will require a much more comprehensive understanding of the cost of the Incarnation and Salvation. When Jesus laid aside His prerogatives of Deity to become Man, that action carried with it the high price of relinquishing His Absolute control as Sovereign God. (He did not, however, relinquish His Absolute nature as Sovereign God.) Scripture teaches that Jesus still has a body that evidences the scars of the crucifixion (Revelation 5:6). This indicates that Jesus still acts under costly restraints that He willingly chose for the purpose of redeeming us from sin. There is a profound difference, however, between One who is Absolute choosing to restrict that prerogative in order to achieve a holy purpose, and one who is less than Absolute functioning under the authority of a Superior.

    This issue is much more complicated than my brief comments indicate. Any explanation of Jesus' relationship to the Father must reconcile verses such as Romans 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, 2 Corinthians 1:3, and many others, yet also accommodate the Absolute attribute of God. Regrettably, the subject cannot be developed more without detracting from the intent of this book.

    In Christian circles of almost any persuasion, there is generally a casual acceptance of Jesus' coming to earth.

    If I asked you to list details needing to be resolved if it had been the Father who had come to earth, you would quickly see the difficulty of the task. Assuming that you held a traditional viewpoint of the Father as the Superior God, you would see the complexity of the arrangements necessary if Almighty God were to be absent from a position of control for 33 years.

    You would also see the immense gap between the holiness of the Almighty and the sinfulness of the people He was living among. You would struggle with the mere possibility that the God of the Bible could live a human existence on earth.

    You would see numerous difficulties ranging from the human birth of the most Sovereign God, to the death of the Almighty on a Roman cross, to His weariness during ministry even though He was all-powerful. You would be hard-pressed to explain how the entire cosmos could be sustained in the absence of the Father.

    If you could look ahead, you would also realize the ramifications of the Father assuming a body throughout the remainder of eternity with all the inherent limitations of that physical existence. Had the Father been the Incarnate Savior, the cost of Salvation would seem staggering.

    Why was it any different when Jesus came?

    It is one thing to recite attributes of Jesus in a doctrinal statement or creed. It is quite another to view this Jesus Who indwells me as the Absolute Sovereign, Creator, and Redeemer. As I began to understand the grandeur and holiness of my Savior, I began to realize what He was capable of doing in my life.

    Knowing Jesus better gave me a deep desire to love and trust Him.

    There are many false dogmas in gnosticism besides that of multiple gods of descending power. A second is that there is secret knowledge that is obtainable by only an elite class.

    There is no esoteric knowledge of Jesus that is restricted to a certain class of Christians. There is no deep love for Jesus that is available to only a few. There is no life of faith that is attainable by a limited elect.

    Any believer can purpose to know Jesus. Any believer can pursue loving Jesus and living by faith.

    Sadly, however, not all do!

    At some point in my growing love for Jesus, I questioned the propriety of emphasizing a love for Jesus rather than a love for God. John 14:21 says,

    He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. (NASB)

    This verse seemed to answer several of my questions. First, it is apparent that the Father welcomes our love for Jesus because it is precisely for this reason that the Father will in turn love us. The Father delights in our devotion to Jesus.

    However, there are two other benefits that result from loving Jesus. Jesus tells us that if we love Him deeply, He will return our love in a way that will become a great delight.

    There is another benefit that is astounding. If we love Jesus, He will disclose Himself to us. Certainly, we could expect that we would learn more about Jesus through careful Bible study. However, that is not what this verse says. Jesus said that if we love Him, He will disclose more of who He is to us!

    As stated earlier, I also think it is appropriate to focus our love on Jesus because of the Incarnation. There is an understandable link to this Person of the Godhead because He shared our humanity.

    As a practical matter, however, I often pray about loving the Father and the Spirit in the same way I pray about loving Jesus. I also make it a point to express my love for God. (By this I mean the corporate Godhead. I often address Him as Yahweh.)

    It would be entirely inappropriate to focus attention exclusively on Jesus.

    Pursuing a deep love for Jesus or a life of faith does not spring from an innate need. Rather, as we learn who Jesus is in all of His grandeur and holiness, we are then compelled to love Him and trust Him by faith because of who He is.

    God will work in your life in the way He has chosen uniquely for you. Experience suggests, however, that a reverential knowledge of Jesus will be a precursor to an active life of faith. How could you trust someone that you hardly knew? Why would you want to live by faith with its intended purpose of learning to know Jesus better if you were not intent on knowing Him in the first place?

    This Jesus is Sovereign, Almighty God!

    In order to live by faith, we must understand the God we are trusting. An active faith life is not contingent on understanding a prescribed body of theological information. Nonetheless, understanding the interrelationship of the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit will have a bearing on the effectiveness of our life of faith. For this reason, Appendix A entitled The Person of God has been added.