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MORE EVIDENCE THAT JESUS IS JEHOVAH

Michael T. Griffith

1999

@All Rights Reserved

The Mormon Church teaches that Christ was and is Jehovah. This view is powerfully supported by scripture.

There are very few verses that actually contradict the view that Christ is Jehovah, while there are a number of passages that plainly teach he is Jehovah. One of them is 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, where Paul says Christ was Israel's Rock. I don't know how much plainer scripture can be. Christ was Israel's Rock, and the Old Testament (OT) repeatedly says Jehovah was Israel's Rock.

Consider a few of the many things that the Bible says about Jehovah that apply only to the Savior:

Jehovah is the one and only Savior. Christ is the one and only Savior.

Jehovah will judge us. Christ will judge us.

Jehovah will return and the Jews will see his wounds, including the wounds in his hands, and he will tell them he received the wounds in the house of his friends (Zechariah 12:10; 13:6). The only being this could possibly fit is Christ, who was pierced in his hands and in his feet and in his side, and who showed his wounds to Thomas after the resurrection.

The identity of the wounded being in Zechariah is quite plain. Jehovah is speaking in Zech. 12:10, unless one is going to argue that some other being is capable of "pouring out the spirit of grace and supplications" upon the people:

Some have argued that the switching back and forth between the third and first person in this verse somehow means the identity of the pierced being should be in dispute. But such switching of pronouns occurs repeatedly in the OT. For example, in Isaiah 45:11-18 we see the Lord switch back and forth between the first and third person, ending in verse 18:

Examples of this switching back and forth between the first and third person abound in the Bible. Another example is Jeremiah 48:12-47. A well-known example of such usage in the New Testament is Christ's referring to himself in the third person as "the Son of Man."

The most important fact to keep in mind about Zech. 12:10 is that the verse makes it clear that Jehovah will be the one "whom they have pierced." Plainly and clearly, this alone identifies Jehovah and Christ as the same being--unless one is prepared to argue that two Gods will have been pierced by the time of the second coming.

Another verse that shows Christ is Jehovah is Matthew 23:37, where Christ says,

Now, if Christ weren't Yahweh, how could he have said he had tried to gather Jerusalem? The only being who repeatedly tried to gather Jerusalem was Jehovah. What we have here is Jehovah come to earth lamenting the fact that Jerusalem had declined to be gathered under his wing as chickens gather under their mother's wing.

All Evangelicals believe Jesus is Jehovah. Only Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, and some other groups believe that Jesus is not Jehovah. Just look under "Jesus" or "Jehovah" in the DICTIONARY OF EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY. Ask Evangelical pastor or scholar. They will tell you they believe Jesus is Jehovah. Anti-Mormon organizations all believe that Jesus is Jehovah.

Concerning the fact that the OT repeatedly identifies Jehovah as Israel's Rock, and that Paul explicitly says Christ was that very Rock, let's look at some of the OT verses that identify Jehovah as the Rock:

For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? (2 Sam. 22:32, NIV)

Incidentally, the word "Lord" in capital letters signifies the occurrence of the name Jehovah (Yahweh).

And of course we don't need to document that it was this same Rock, i.e., Jehovah, who accompanied Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, who led the Israelites out of Egypt, and who gave them the promised land. Isaiah 44 reaffirms this for later readers, lest they forget. And who does Paul say was that very Rock who accompanied the children of Israel?

In Deuteronomy 32 we read that Jehovah was among the sons of the Most High (El Elyon), and that Israel was his, Jehovah's, "allotted" inheritance. Later editors attempted to merge El and Yahweh and to attribute all of El's titles and names to Yahweh, but the OT still contains traces of the original doctrine of El as the Father and Yahweh as the Son.

The ancient, revered ancient Christian apologist Justin Martyr, who died a martyr's death rather than deny Christ, taught that Jehovah and Heavenly Father were two separate beings.

According to historian William P. Barker, Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 100-165) was one of the early church's "ablest defenders" (WHO'S WHO IN CHURCH HISTORY, p. 162). Justin was awarded the name "Martyr" for his heroic witness before the Roman Prefect Rusticus. Justin was put to death because he refused to deny his testimony of Christ.

Justin taught many things about the Godhead that flatly contradict the traditional three-in-one doctrine of the Trinity. He taught over and over again that Jesus was subordinate to the Father. Justin declared that the Son "is a reality distinct from the Father" and that Jesus was "begotten" by the Father for the creation of the world (Norris, THE CHRISTOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY, p. 6).

Justin explained that the god of the OT was not the same deity as God the Father (Roberts and Donaldson, THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS, vol. 1, pp. 223, 263). Indeed, one of Justin's chapter headings reads, "God Who Appeared To Moses [i.e., Jehovah] Is Distinguished From God The Father" (Roberts and Donaldson 1:223).

Justin not only recognized the Father as a deity separate from (and superior to) Jehovah, but he correctly identified the Father as the ultimate creator. This can be seen in statements he made to a Jewish critic named Trypho:

And again:

It must be remembered that although Christ is sometimes spoken of in scripture as the creator, his creative work was done under the Father's direction. Hebrews 1:1-3 and Ephesians 3:9 point out that it was Jesus "by whom" THE FATHER "made the worlds." Therefore, Justin's teaching was entirely scriptural.

Justin rejected the proposition that the Father and the Son were of the same undivided substance. In so doing, he repudiated an analogy which is still popular among modern three-in-oneists, namely, that Jesus is to the Father as a ray of light is to the sun (Roberts and Donaldson 1:264). Justin asserted that the Savior was "NUMERICALLY DISTINCT" from the Father (Roberts and Donaldson 1:264, emphasis added). He pointed out that the Father's begetting of Christ was not by some form of abscission or decreasing of the Father's substance. Instead, Justin, in a marvelous analogy, compared this divine process to fires kindled from a fire, "which we see to be distinct from it" (Roberts and Donaldson 1:264)! In harmony with this, Professor Robert M. Grant points out that Justin described the Son ". . . as a second God, one who proceeded from the Father before creation. . . ." (Grant, GODS AND THE ONE GOD, p. 109, emphasis added).

And let it be noted that Justin Martyr was a revered, highly honored ancient Christian defender, who, as mentioned, suffered a martyr's death because he would not deny Christ. He was quoted and honored by later Christians, and to this day is classed among the apostolic fathers. His teachings on Jehovah and the Father are in perfect harmony with Mormon doctrine on the subject, but they contradict three-in-one trinitarianism.

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