@Wrangler
"Some who say that they accept Jesus’ teachings view him as God’s Son, not as the Creator himself. Others believe in “the divinity of Christ” and think that he is actually God. They hold that Jesus always existed and was more than a human when he was here on the earth. Are they right about this? What do the Scriptures say?
Jesus testified that he had a prehuman existence. He said:
“No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.” (
John 3:13) Jesus also stated:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and, for a fact, the bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.”—
John 6:51.
Just before his death, Jesus prayed:
“Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.”—
John 17:5.
The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus was entirely human from his birth until his death. John did not say that the Word was merely clothed with flesh. He
“became flesh” and was not part flesh and part God. . . .how could it could have been said that he had been
“made a little lower than angels.”—
Hebrews 2:9; Psalm 8:4, 5.
If Jesus had been both God and man when on the earth, why did he repeatedly pray to Jehovah? Paul wrote:
“In the days of his flesh Christ offered up supplications and also petitions to the One who was able to save him out of death, with strong outcries and tears, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear.”—
Hebrews 5:7.
Those saying that Jesus was a God-man use various scriptures in an effort to prove that he is a member of Christendom’s Trinity, equal with God in essence, power, glory, and duration. But when we examine these texts carefully, we find that those arguing for “the divinity of Christ” view these verses as saying more than they really do.
....what did Jesus mean when he told his followers to baptize disciples
“in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit”? (
Matthew 28:19, 20) Jesus did not mean or say that he, his Father, and the holy spirit were coequal. Rather, those baptized recognize Jehovah as the Life-Giver and Almighty God, to whom they dedicate their life. They accept Jesus as the Messiah and the one through whom God provided a ransom for believing mankind. And they realize that the holy spirit is God’s active force, to which they must submit.
Those who claim that God took on human existence as a God-man should note that the Bible does not even hint that Jesus viewed himself in such a way. Rather, it consistently shows that Jesus has always been inferior to his Father. When on the earth, Jesus never claimed to be more than "the Son of God". Moreover, Christ said:
“The Father is greater than I am.”—
John 14:28.
Paul made a distinction between Jehovah and Jesus in saying:
“There is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.” (
1 Corinthians 8:6) Paul also said:
“You belong to Christ; Christ, in turn, belongs to God.” (
1 Corinthians 3:23)"
(excerpts from
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1992044?q=divinity&p=par)
So was Jesus divine i.e. of a divine origin, or with divine authority? Or was Jesus deity, i.e. part God and part man?
Understanding the word "theos" in Greek answers that question....."theos" is translated "god" because this term applied to all those considered divine, or of divine origin, or with divine authority.
The word applied to the true God....to false gods....to satan....and even to the human Judges in Israel. It does not always mean the one singular God of Israel (Deuteronomy 6:4)...the Almighty Creator. There was no word for him in the Greek language because at that time, he was nameless. All the Greek gods had individual names, but Yahweh's name, according to a Jewish superstition, could not be uttered.
So, if the divine name had still been in use, John 1:1 the most widely used verse to promote the deity of Christ, would have read....
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yahweh, and the Word was divine."
And there would never have been this confusion. (John 17:3)
God's name was divine because it had the Creator himself as its origin. Jesus was divine because he too had the father as his Creator.....but nowhere is Jesus ever called a
deity.
So Jesus was
divine....but he was not
God. He did not accept worship but said all worship was to go to his God and Father. (Luke 4:5-8) Quoting Deuteronomy 6:14 Jesus said
"It is written ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’"
