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Who Was Jesus?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Except perhaps for the book of Hebrews, the Gospel of John gives the most complete explanation in the New Testament about the divinity of Jesus Christ. As previously related, verses 1-3 and 14 of John 1 clearly explain that the Word was God and dwelt with the Father until He later became the Christ, or “Anointed One.”

As British scholar F.F. Bruce put it: “The New Testament indicates that he [Jesus Christ] existed before he lived on earth as a historical character. We are thus encouraged to ask not only, ‘What was the mode of this earlier existence of his?’ . . . but also, ‘What is he said to have done in that earlier existence?’” (Jesus Past, Present and Future: The Work of Christ, 1979, pp. 11-12).

As The New Bible Commentary: Revised explains: “In the prologue [introductory passage of John’s Gospel] the pre-existence and deity of Christ are expressed explicitly. The Logos [Word] was not only with God in the beginning, but was God (1:1), and it was this Logos who became flesh and is identified with Christ” (p. 928).

Several other passages in John’s Gospel reveal significant details that help us understand even more fully. Consider an account later in chapter 1: “The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward Him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me”’” (verses 29-30).

John the Baptist was born before Jesus (Luke 1:35-36, 57-60) and began his ministry before Christ began His. Yet John still said, “He was before me.” Why? It was precisely because Jesus was the preexistent Word prior to His human birth (John 1:14).

Conversations with the Pharisees

In dealing with accusations from the Pharisees, Jesus said to them: “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from [the Father’s right hand in heaven] and where I am going; but you do not know where I came from and where I am going” (John 8:14).

Later the apostle Paul articulated this same view. “The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, or understand the word of the prophets which are read Sabbath by Sabbath. Indeed they fulfilled them by condemning Him” (Acts 13:27, REB).

Just as in the first century, today only a relatively few people truly comprehend who Jesus was, where He came from, what He is doing and what He will yet do. In the Bible this small but special group is called the “firstfruits” or “little flock” (James 1:18; Luke 12:32).

Later in this long exchange with the Pharisees, they asked Jesus, “Who do You make Yourself out to be?” (John 8:53). They simply had no idea of the real identity of the One with whom they were speaking. It is the same today. Few people really understand the true origins of Jesus Christ.

Christ patiently explained, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (verse 56). But how was this possible? The patriarch Abraham lived some 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus. Continuing Christ’s discourse: “Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’” (verses 57-58).

We should pause for a moment to digest what Jesus said.

We can know that the Word (John 1:l) personally interacted with Abraham during his day because Christ is identified as the “I AM” of the Bible. Jesus said that “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Remember Christ existed with the Father before everything else—visible and invisible—was created (Colossians 1:16). Both He and the Father had no beginning because They have self-existent life within Themselves (John 5:26).

That same Word was also the Being who spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. This was hundreds of years after the days of Abraham. “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD [Hebrew YHWH, or the more common term Yahweh] I was not known to them’” (Exodus 6:2-3).

We should note here that on occasion the biblical expression “LORD” refers to the Father rather than the Word. The context helps us understand which of Them is being discussed.

Jesus Himself explained this to the astonished Pharisees: “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The Son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’”? If David then calls Him “Lord,” how is He his Son?’ And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore” (Matthew 22:41-46).

A crucial encounter with Moses

Previously Moses had said to God: “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name? What shall I say to them?’” (Exodus 3:13). Here again we should pause and reflect. God’s answer is enormously important. The passage that follows is among the most important scriptures in the Bible. It reveals the identity of the “I AM” of John 8:58.

The Creator’s reply to Moses: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He [God] said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).

YHWH, or Yahweh (translated “LORD” in many versions of the Old Testament), conveys a similar meaning. It implies eternal, self-inherent existence (compare John 5:26). No one created Him. We should understand that God has many names in Scripture, each of which tells us something about His wonderful, divine nature and character.

Continuing with the Exodus account: “And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you” . . . This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations’” (Exodus 3:14-15).

Again, Christ is the “I AM” of the Bible. He was the guiding Rock who was with the children of Israel in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 32:4). Paul wrote: “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

The I AM of the Old Testament is further described as abounding in “goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Similarly, the New Testament tells us that Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Was Jesus the God of the Old Testament?

Except for Christ, no human being has ever directly heard the actual voice of the Father or seen His form and shape (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46; 1 John 4:12). So the YHWH, the I AM, the Word, who later became Jesus Christ, was the One who dealt directly with human beings in Old Testament times. Christ later died for our sins and became the ultimate mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), a role He had already partially fulfilled as the preexistent Word before His human birth.

So the Word was indeed the God of the Old Testament—and yet the Father fulfilled this role in a very real sense as well. For Christ dealt with mankind on the Father’s behalf as His Spokesman (compare John 8:28; 12:49-50). Moreover, in many passages in the Old Testament it can be difficult to separate these two great personages, whereas the New Testament is usually clear in this respect.

Of course, since Jesus came to reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27), the logical conclusion is that the Father was not generally known by those in Old Testament times except for a few of the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets. King David, for example, is one who understood (Acts 2:30).

Partially quoted earlier, Hebrews 1:1-2 states: “God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His [or ‘a’] Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”

In this opening passage of the book of Hebrews the clear implication is that the Father is the moving force behind the whole Old Testament. In context, verse 2 interprets verse 1. Though God the Father is the prime mover behind the Hebrew Bible, it is through Jesus Christ that He created the entire universe.

Also, the vital principle of the Bible interpreting the Bible helps us to understand the intent of Hebrews 1:1 in the light of other scriptures. Since God made the worlds through Christ and created all things by Him (Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; John 1:3), He dealt with man through the agency of the preexistent Word, Christ.

The meaning of Elohim

We come back to the biblical reality that God has chosen to express His personal nature in terms of a family relationship. Elohim is the Hebrew word for God in every passage of Genesis 1 as well as in more than 2,700 places throughout the Old Testament.

Elohim is a noun that is plural in form but normally singular in usage—that is, paired with singular verbs—when designating the true God. For a comparable modern expression, consider the term United States. This proper noun is plural in form but singular in usage. It is used with singular verbs. For example, Americans say, “The United States is going to take action,” not “The United States are going to take action.” The plural form does signify multiple states—but, taken collectively, they are viewed as one nation.

It is the same with Elohim. The word Eloah, meaning “Mighty One,” is the singular form. Elohim, meaning “Mighty Ones,” is plural. And, indeed, there were two Mighty Ones, the Father and the Word. But, collectively, as Elohim, the two are seen as one God. Elohim said, “Let Us make man in our image, according to Our likeness” (verse 26).

We should note that, since Elohim is the name of the God family, each family member can be called by this name. (Some Bible writers also use the word elohim as a plural noun with plural usage to describe false gods. So one crucial factor in comprehending the meaning of this Hebrew word is determining what is intended by the context.)

When Adam and Eve made the momentous decision to disobey their Creator by eating of the forbidden fruit, the divine reaction was, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil” (Genesis 3:22). And God cut them off from the tree of life (verses 22-24).

The Hebrew word here translated “know” often means to learn or become aware of something through one’s personal experience. For Adam and Eve it was not enough to simply accept God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They instead chose to step into God’s place and determine for themselves what was good and what was evil. The psalmist notes that the ungodly question God’s knowledge: “And they say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?’” (Psalm 73:11).

The phrase “one of Us,” we should note, provides clear evidence that more than one constituted the “Us.” Moreover, to “become like one of Us” was actually our Creator’s original intention for all humanity, but it has to be done God’s way and in His own time frame. That way is to submit ourselves to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Only our Creator has the right and wisdom to determine what is good and evil for us. He knows what’s best for us and never wanted us to learn what is evil through experimentation. He tells us: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8). He wants us to trust Him and His judgment.

Satan deceived Eve into attempting to take a shortcut to divine knowledge, and Adam followed her erroneous course of action. Some 4,000 years later the devil offered Jesus a similar shortcut, but He firmly rejected the temptation (Matthew 4:8-10). There are no shortcuts to something as precious as becoming part of God’s eternal ruling Kingdom. Instead, “we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Divine unity in solving problems

Much later in the history of humankind, that same expression, “Let Us . . . ,” is used to indicate the Father’s direct involvement in the divine decision at the Tower of Babel. “Come, let Us [Elohim] go down and there confuse their language that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:7). This was a joint decision.

Notice the context. What led up to this momentous decision to take such drastic action? “And the LORD [YHWH, the ‘I AM’] said, ‘Look, they are one people [wrongly united for a false purpose], and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them’” (verse 6, NRSV).

Our remarkable powers of planning and imagination are part of what it means to be made in the image of God. However, the sad state of our world is sufficient testimony to widespread misuse of our God-given abilities. As Christians we are required to develop an active imagination that is moral—allowing our incredible gift to be governed by the laws of our Creator.

Here in Genesis 11 the “LORD” (YHWH) surveyed a crisis situation at Babel and considered the tremendous, almost unlimited potential of mankind. After all, He made human beings in His own image. But it is Elohim [the Father and the Word together] who decided to intervene so decisively by scattering mankind through the sudden supernatural creation of many languages.

Otherwise the incredible scientific and technological advances of our age might have happened long ago, well before God’s time and purpose. It is only in the last century that the great language barrier has largely been overcome. Now, through vastly increased knowledge of DNA and the human genome, scientists appear to be on the brink of unlocking the secrets of life itself.

The divine interchange

Here YHWH (the Word, who later became Christ) analyzes the situation, but Elohim actually intervenes. That same divine interaction occurred earlier, just before the great Flood. YHWH (the LORD) saw “the wickedness of man” and that it “was great in the earth” and decided to destroy mankind, which He had created, but He also took careful note of righteous Noah (Genesis 6:5-9). Then much of this general narrative is repeated in verses 11-13, but this time it is Elohim who confirms the decision that YHWH had originally made with a sure eye on Noah, the patriarch whose righteousness enabled mankind to survive.

The two divine Beings were and are one in purpose and make decisions to solve problems in perfect divine unity. Yet it is the LORD (YHWH, the “I AM”) who sometimes, but not always, initiates the proceedings by a divine declaration. In English translations one misses the depths of this marvelous interchange.

So in this sense the Father was also very much the God of the Old Testament. Yet He continually worked with man through the direct actions of the preexistent Word.

Jesus—both God and man

Jesus Christ today is the mediator between God the Father and man. But to perfectly fulfill that crucial role He had to have been both God and man. He was truly a man in every sense of that word or we have no salvation from our sins. The apostle Paul calls Him “the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), as does the apostle Peter (Acts 2:22).

Paul tells us, in a verse quoted earlier from a different translation, that we should have the same humble, serving attitude of Jesus Christ, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8, New American Standard Bible).

Jesus’ manhood was full and complete in the sense that He lived a life as a physical human being that ended in death. He became hungry and ate, grew tired and rested, and walked and talked just like any other human being. There was nothing in His physical appearance to distinguish Him from other Jewish men of His time (Isaiah 53:2).

The essential difference was in the realm of the spiritual. Jesus continually received needed spiritual power from the Father (compare John 5:30; 14:10). In fact, He possessed God’s Spirit from conception, actually being begotten in Mary’s womb through the Holy Spirit. Although tempted like every one of us, Jesus never transgressed God’s law. He never once sinned (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22).

One of the most insidious heresies in the 2,000-year history of Christendom is that Jesus Christ was not really a man, that He was not really tempted to sin. The apostle John condemned this teaching in the strongest terms (1 John 4:3; 2 John 7).

This heresy began in the first century, and it persists even today, continuing to lead people away from the truth of God. We need to recognize that if Jesus had not really been human, then His sacrifice for our sins would be null and void.

The Son of Man and the Son of God

Jesus Christ is called “the Son of Man” more than 80 times in the New Testament. It was the term He most commonly used in referring to Himself.

Christ repeatedly referred to Himself as the Son of Man in connection with His sufferings and sacrificial death for the sins of mankind (Matthew 17:22; 26:45; Mark 9:31; 14:41). Although of divine origin, He deliberately identified with our human plight—the sorrows and sufferings of the human race. The prophet Isaiah calls Him “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

Sympathizing with our human frailties and difficulties, Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

He also called Himself the Son of Man when referring to His role as the coming Ruler of humanity in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19:28). He even used it when He described Himself as “the Lord of the Sabbath,” explaining how the seventh-day Sabbath should be observed with mercy and compassion (Mark 2:27-28; Matthew 12:8; Luke 6:5).

Then, when He came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13). They replied by recounting several commonly held but erroneous beliefs about Jesus’ identity. Simon Peter responded by saying, “You are the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the living God” (verse 16). Jesus observed that the Father Himself had revealed this wonderful truth to Peter (verse 17).

All of His apostles came to recognize the same truth and on occasion referred to Him by that title (Matthew 14:33; John 20:31; Romans 1:3-4). Jesus Christ is very much the Son of God with all that name implies.