Stephen E. Jones

Jesus is Jehovah Quotes: Unclassified quotes: July 2009

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The following are quotes added to my Jesus is Jehovah unclassified quotes database in July 2009.
The date format is dd/mm/yy. See copyright conditions at end.

2009: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

4/07/2009
"[Rom 1:5] The goal of the gospel is the honour of Christ's name The words for his name's sake, which NIV 
places at the beginning of verse 5, actually come at the end of the Greek sentence and so form something of 
a climax. Why did Paul desire to bring the nations to the obedience of faith? It was for the sake of the glory 
and honour of Christ's name. For God had `exalted him to the highest place' and had given him `the name 
that is above every name', in order that `at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and every tongue 
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord' [Phil. 2:9ff.]. If, therefore, God desires every knee to bow to Jesus and 
every tongue to confess him, so should we. We should be `jealous' (as Scripture sometimes puts it) for the 
honour of his name - troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is 
blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honour and glory which are 
due to it. The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as 
that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we 
contemplate the wrath of God, verse 18), but rather zeal - burning and passionate zeal - for the glory of Jesus 
Christ. Some evangelism, to be sure, is no better than a thinly disguised form of imperialism, whenever our 
real ambition is for the honour of our nation, church, organization, or ourselves. Only one imperialism is 
Christian, however, and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire 
or kingdom. The earliest Christians, John tells us, went out `for the sake of the Name' [3 Jn. 7]. He does not 
even specify to which name he is referring. But we know. And Paul tells us. It is the incomparable name of 
Jesus. Before this supreme goal of the Christian mission, all unworthy motives wither and die. To sum up, 
here are six fundamental truths about the gospel. Its origin is God the Father and its substance Jesus Christ 
his Son. Its attestation is Old Testament Scripture and its scope all the nations. Our immediate purpose in 
proclaiming it is to bring people to the obedience of faith, but our ultimate goal is the greater glory of the 
name of Jesus Christ. Or, to simplify these truths by the use of six prepositions, we can say that the good 
news is the gospel of God, about Christ, according to Scripture, for the nations, unto the obedience 
of faith, and for the sake of the Name." (Stott, J.R.W., "The Message of Romans: God's Good News for 
the World," The Bible Speaks Today, Inter-Varsity Press: Leicester UK, 1994, Reprinted, 2002, pp.53-54. 
Emphasis original)

5/07/2009
"For the Name The apostles and other early Christians were willing to suffer and die for the sake of the 
name of Jesus. Jesus had, in fact, warned them that they would be hated and persecuted for his name's sake 
(Matt. 10:22; 24:9; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:12, 17; John 15:21). He promised, though, that those who experienced 
such suffering, who lost property or family for the sake of his name, would receive a hundredfold back and 
eternal life (Matt. 19:29). It did not take long for Jesus' warnings to come true. Shortly after the resurrection, 
the religious establishment in Jerusalem opposed the followers of Jesus and tried to suppress their message. 
The authorities told the apostles not to speak to anyone in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:17-18; 5:28, 40). The 
apostles, though, rejoiced in suffering dishonor `for the sake of the name' (Acts 5:41) or, as some 
translations put it, `the Name' (ASV, NIV). Years later, John mentioned in one of his epistles the itinerant 
evangelists who went out `for the sake of the Name' (3 John 7 NASB, NIV). This expression is a startling 
indicator of the preeminence the apostles attached to Jesus' name. One of the most aggressive enemies of 
the Christian church in its first years was Saul of Tarsus. He had authority from the chief priests to bind all 
who called on Jesus' name (Acts 9:14, 21). As he acknowledged after his conversion, he had tried `to do 
many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth' (Acts 26:9). These statements reveal that, for Saul, the 
place of the name of Jesus in the early Christian movement was especially troubling to his rabbinical, 
Pharisaic mind-set. But Jesus, the Lord, had chosen Saul to take his name before Gentiles, kings, and the 
people of Israel, even though it meant that he would suffer for the sake of Jesus' name (Acts 9:15-16). Saul, 
better known to us as Paul, was soon speaking boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:27-28). Paul and his 
ministry partner Barnabas `risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts 15:26 NASB, NIV). 
Paul was ready to go to prison and even to die `for the name of the Lord Jesus' (Acts 21:13). Clearly, for the 
early Christians the belief in Jesus' deity was not just a doctrinal affirmation but was the crux of their entire 
value system. Peter encouraged Christians to consider themselves blessed if they were `reviled for the name 
of Christ' (1 Peter 4:14). In the book of Revelation, Jesus measures the faithfulness of the churches by their 
adherence to his name (2:3,13; 3:8). Recognizing Jesus' divine claims on our lives, and the astounding, 
eternal blessings he promises us, ought to motivate us to live as if the only thing that matters to us is `the 
name:' As Paul put it, we should `do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Col. 3:17). ... For other 
expressions of the exalted place of Jesus' name, see Matthew 18:5, 20; 24:5; Mark 6:14; 9:41; John 3:18; 14:13-
14, 26; 15:16; 16:2326; Acts 8:12; Romans 1:5; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 10; Ephesians 5:20; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 
3:6; Hebrews 1:4; James 2:7; 5:14." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The 
Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.133-134, 325 n.18. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"OLD TESTAMENT TITLES OF JEHOVAH APPROPRIATED BY CHRIST One of the most remarkable 
things in our Lord's ministry is the quiet assurance with which he unhesitatingly applies to Himself titles 
from the Old Testament which are there indisputably used of Jehovah. Moreover, the writers in the New 
Testament often ascribe such titles to Christ. `FIRST AND LAST' A significant title assumed by the Lord 
Jesus in the book of Revelation is: `First and Last' (chapter 1:11; 2:8; 22:13). In 22:16 the speaker says of 
Himself: `I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you of these things', having already said in verse 13 `I 
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last'. Also in chapter 2:8, there is no doubt about the person to whom 
the words refer: `These things saith the first and last, who died and came to life'. Now this designation `First 
and last' occurs three times in Isaiah (41:4; 44:6; 48:12) where on each occasion Jehovah is the speaker." 
(Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 
1964, p.6. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"THE `I AM' Jehovah, the incorrect but well established rendering of the Hebrew consonants YHWH, 
was regarded by the Jews as too sacred to be pronounced and was replaced by a variety of substitutes, 
such as `Lord' (Adonai), or `The Name'. We can no longer say with certainty how it was pronounced, but 
from Exodus 3:14 we know that it was derived from the verb `to be': `God said to Moses "I am who I am"; 
and He said: Say to the people of Israel "I am" has sent you.' Now on more than one occasion our Lord 
refers to Himself by using `I am' in a way that points unmistakably to this Old Testament title of Jehovah. In 
a controversy with the Jews He declared: `Before Abraham was, I am' (John 8:58). Had He been merely a pre-
existent Being, then He would have had to say `Before Abraham was, I was'. That the amazing implication of 
His claim did not escape the Jews is clearly shown by the extreme violence of their reaction in attempting to 
stone Him to death for alleged blasphemy. Another occasion on which He used it was at the time of His 
arrest. To His question to His approaching captors `Whom seek ye?', they answered `Jesus of Nazareth', to 
which He replied, `I am'. The effect that this brief utterance had on them was dramatic: `They went backward 
and fell to the ground' (John 18:5, 6). The mere literal sense of these words could hardly have produced this 
extraordinary effect. Then again at the crucial stage of His trial, Jesus being interrogated by the high priest 
as to His messianic claims, replied 'I am': and you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power 
and coming with the clouds of heaven' (Mark 14:62). The savage vehemence that this called forth in the high 
priest and the company can be explained only if it was understood by them to be a claim to personal deity, a 
blasphemy in their eyes of such magnitude as to be expiated only by death." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., 
"The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.7-8. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"AUTHOR OF ETERNAL WORDS The Old Testament constantly claims to be an authoritative and 
immutable communication from God. In Isaiah 40:8 we are told: `The grass withers and the flower fades, but 
the word of our God stands for ever'. To this view of the Old Testament as a divine revelation our Lord 
unquestionably subscribes. For instance, His words in Matthew 5:18, `For truly I say unto you, until heaven 
and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall not pass away from the Law, until all things are fulfilled'. For 
His own words He makes a substantially similar claim: `Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall 
not pass away' (Matthew 24:35)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.8. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"LIGHT The coming Messiah is designated in two familiar prophecies as `Light' (Isaiah 9:2, compare 
Matthew 4:16; and Isaiah 49:6, compare Luke 2:32). Five times in the first chapter of John (verses 4, 5, 7, 8, 9) 
this description is used. His uniqueness is stressed in verse 9: `The true light'. Our Lord Himself said: `I am 
the light of the world' (John 8:12). Now light is a well-known title of Jehovah in the Old Testament, for 
instance, Psalm 27:1, `The Lord is my Light and my salvation', or even more specifically in Isaiah in a context 
of messianic prophecies: `Jehovah will be to you an everlasting light' (Isaiah 60:19 and 20). Again, following 
on the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 59:20 we have in 60:1 `light' designating the Messiah, equated with the 
glory of Jehovah. `Arise, shine (that is, Zion), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has dawned 
upon you'. It is instructive to see how John in his introduction to his first epistle uses the very same epithet 
of God that he had already used in the opening verses of his Gospel of the incarnate Son, who is there the 
`light that the darkness found invincible' while in I John 1:5, `God is light and in Him is no darkness at all'.?" 
(Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 
1964, pp.8-9. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"ROCK There are two words commonly used in Hebrew for `rock', as well as the word `stone'. One is used 
for instance in Psalm 18:2, `Jehovah is my rock', the other in Psalm 95:1, `O come let us sing to Jehovah, let 
us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation'. Paul in I Corinthians 10:4 interprets the `rock' of Exodus 
17;6 as referring to Christ. `Stone' is used as a title of God in Genesis 49:24, and in the messianic passage in 
Isaiah 28:16, `Behold I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone'. Peter in his first letter (I 
Peter 2:68) understands this passage to be speaking of Christ as the foundation stone of the `spiritual 
house', the church. Although the word here is not the one used in Matthew 16:18 (and upon this rock I will 
build my church'), the similarity of function is so obvious that Peter must also have had these words in mind. 
This seems all the more certain from his application two verses later of `rock', a description of Jehovah taken 
from Isaiah 8:14, to Christ. On linguistic grounds there could be no objection to seeing in Matthew 16:19 
another instance of our Lord, taking to Himself a common title of Jehovah in the Old Testament (in II Samuel 
22 alone, `rock' is used five times of God)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of 
England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.9-10. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"BRIDEGROOM The figure of a bridegroom is one that is frequently used either implicitly or explicitly of 
Jehovah in the Old Testament. In Hosea 2:16, for instance, Jehovah says, `You will call me "my husband"'. 
Again in Isaiah 62:5, `As a bridegroom rejoicing over the bride, your God will rejoice over you'. Our Lord 
early in His ministry and often subsequently depicts Himself as a bridegroom. In a reply to the Pharisees, He 
says concerning Himself: `Can the sons of the wedding chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?' 
(Mark 2:19). Again in the parable of the `Foolish Virgins' He is the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13). In that 
great final beatific vision (Revelation 21:2) the church is depicted `as a bride adorned for her husband'." 
(Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 
1964, p.10. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"SHEPHERD In Psalm 23:1 we read, `Jehovah is my shepherd', and in Ezekiel 34:15, `I myself will be the 
shepherd of my sheep'. In John 10:11, our Lord uses this title of Himself, `I am the good shepherd, the good 
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.' Peter calls Him `The Shepherd and Guardian of your souls' (I 
Peter 2:25) and again `the chief Shepherd' (1 Peter 5:4). The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews speaks of 
Him as `the great shepherd' (Hebrews 13:20). That the title is unique is clear from John 10:16 `So there shall 
be one flock, one shepherd'." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.10-11. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"FORGIVER OF SINS In the Old Testament God alone has the right and power to forgive sins: Jeremiah 
31:34, `For I (Jehovah) will forgive their wickedness, and their sin will I remember no more'. Or again Psalm 
130:4, `For with Thee is forgiveness that Thou shouldest be feared'. In the New Testament we find our Lord 
claiming this right for Himself. In Luke 5:21 we read of the Pharisees protesting that only God could forgive 
sins. This was to them, as it would be to us, self-evident. To this Christ replied by substantiating His 
authority to forgive, by healing the paralytic. In Acts 5:31 Peter proclaims Christ as the One whom `God has 
exalted at His right hand as Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins'. In 
Colossians 2:13 Paul speaks of God `having forgiven us all our transgressions', while in chapter 3:13, it is 
`the Lord (or Christ) has forgiven you'. If the right reading here is Lord, it must stand for Christ, as is clear 
from such a reference as `Christ Jesus the Lord.' in chapter 2:6." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of 
Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.11. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"REDEEMER The act of redemption is peculiar to God in the Old Testament. Two Hebrew words are in use, 
and both occur in Hosea 13:14, `From the power of Sheol, I will ransom them, from death I will redeem them'. 
Again in Psalm 130:7, `For with Jehovah is grace and abundance of ransom and He will ransom Israel from all 
his iniquities.' A direct parallel to this is found in Titus 2:13 with the difference that now Christ is identified 
with God (see verse 1o): `Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that He might 
ransom us from all iniquity'. A different Greek verb for redemption is found in Galatians 3:13, `Christ has 
purchased us from the curse of the law'. Again in Revelation 5:9, `For Thou (the Lamb) wast slain, and didst 
purchase unto God with Thy blood, men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation'." (Bruce, F.F. & 
Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.11-12. 
Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"SAVIOUR, OR AUTHOR OF SALVATION In the Old Testament Jehovah is frequently described as 
Saviour or as the author of salvation: Isaiah 43:3, `For I am Jehovah, thy God, the holy One of Israel, thy 
Saviour'; or Ezekiel 34:22, `And I (the Lord Jehovah, verse 20) will save my flock and it will no longer be for 
booty and I will judge between sheep and sheep, and I will establish over them one shepherd'. The 
resemblance to John 10:17, 16, is striking: `I (Jesus) lay down my life for the sheep' and `they shall be one 
flock, one shepherd'. In Isaiah 45:22 a world-wide salvation is promised: `Turn to me and let yourselves be 
saved, all the ends of the earth', and a little later (verse 23): `To me every knee shall bow and every tongue 
shall swear', words taken up by Paul in Philippians 2:10, `At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow', (verse 
11) `and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord'. It would be impossible to quote all the passages in 
the New Testament that refer to the Lord Jesus as Saviour or the author of salvation. He was given the name 
Jesus expressly: `for He will save His people from their sins' (Matthew 1:21); in Hebrews 5:9, `He became 
unto all those who obey Him the author of eternal salvation'. In harmony with all this is the significant 
parallel between `our God and Saviour Jesus Christ' and `our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' by Peter (II 
Peter 1:1 and 1:11)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: 
Manchester UK, 1964, pp.12-13. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"CO-PARTNER OF DIVINE GLORY In Isaiah 42:8 we read: `I am Jehovah and I shall not give My glory to 
another', and the phrase is repeated again in Isaiah 48:11. Now in that sacredest of all His prayers recorded 
in John 17, our Lord speaks of the reciprocal nature of His shared glory with the Father and says: `Father the 
hour is come, glorify the Son, that the Son may glorify Thee' (verse 1). And again a little later: `And now 
glorify me, Father, with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was' (verse 5). 
Paul sums all this up in an arresting phrase. When he confronts the abjection of His humiliation with the 
sublimity of His exaltation, the title he uses contains two superlatives. `For had they (the leaders) known it, 
they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (I Corinthians 2:8)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity 
of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.13. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"JUDGE One of the earliest titles of Jehovah is that of universal judge. Abraham standing before Him says: 
`Shall not the judge of all the earth execute justice? (Genesis 18:25). And in Joel 3:12 Jehovah says: `I will sit 
to judge all the nations round about'. Now from Matthew 25:31-46 we learn that Christ will occupy the throne 
of glory - and there can be none more eminent than this - and preside at the last judgement. Here it is not so 
much the assumption of a title as the exercising of an office. In Romans 2:3 Paul speaks of the judgement of 
God but in II Timothy 4:1 it is, `Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead'. It is not surprising, 
therefore, to find that 11 Corinthians s:10 speaks of the judgement seat of Christ, whereas the better reading 
in Romans 14:10 has the judgement seat of God." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North 
of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.13-14. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"THE PERSON OF CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY Some of the prophecies about Christ make it 
clear that He is more than man. Isaiah 9:6, `For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the princedom 
will be upon His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, mighty God, Everlasting 
Father, Prince of Peace'. No plainer words could be used to express His deity. Again, although often 
designated as the son of David, this implied more than an earthly descendant of David. The Lord makes this 
plain by quoting the words of David in Psalm 110:1, `The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I 
put Thy enemies as Thy footstool' (Matthew 22:43 and 44). That an angelic Being is not meant is shown by 
Hebrews 1:13, 'But to what angel has He ever said: "Sit at my right hand, till I make Thy enemies Thy 
footstool".' Peter also quotes this passage in his sermon on the day of Pentecost to prove the Lordship and 
Messiahship of Jesus (Acts 2:34-35)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.14. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"WORKS OR ACTIONS PECULIAR TO JEHOVAH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT PERFORMED BY OR 
ASCRIBED TO CHRIST Both Jehovah and Christ are said to have the power to give life. Hannah in her 
`Magnificat' says: `Jehovah is the one who causes to die and the one who makes alive' (1 Samuel 2:6). 
Eleven times in Psalm i 19 alone Jehovah is credited with the power to make alive. In John 5:21 Christ claims 
to have this power in equal measure with the Father: `For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, 
so also the Son gives life to whom He will'. In I Corinthians 15:45, Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 `The first man 
Adam became a living being' and adds `the last Adam a life-giving spirit'. And, perhaps, the best-known and 
most often quoted passage of all, the words of Jesus to Martha: `I am the resurrection and the life, he who 
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live' (John 11:25)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of 
Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.15. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"CREATOR AND THE ACT OF CREATION The Bible opens with the statement: `In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth', that is, all things. In Isaiah 40:2 8, `Jehovah is the eternal God, the creator 
of the ends of the earth'. Jeremiah calls him `The former (or creator) of all things' (Jeremiah 10:16). Paul 
speaks of Christ in similar terms. `For by (or in) Him were all things created in the heavens, and upon the 
earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things 
have been created through Him and for Him' (Colossians 1:16), and John 1:2 `He (the Logos) was in the 
beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was 
made'." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester 
UK, 1964, pp.15-16. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"THE NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES TO THE DEITY OF CHRIST No clearer expression of the fact of 
the Trinity could be desired than that given by the risen Christ in the baptismal formula in Matthew 29:19, 
with its inescapable implication of the co-equality and hence co-eternity of the three persons of the 
Godhead. `Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Spirit'. Notice that our Lord said `name' not `names'. There subsist three co-eternal 
persons, but the Divine essence or substance is one. The model for this formula is probably to be found in 
the benediction given by the Lord to Moses in Numbers 6:24, `Jehovah bless thee and keep thee, Jehovah 
cause His face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee, Jehovah lift up His face upon thee and give thee 
peace'. And God adds: `That they may put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless you'. 
Although there are three blessings there is only one Blesser, thus it is `name' not 'names'." (Bruce, F.F. & 
Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.16. 
Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"At the end of Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he pronounces a benediction in which the three 
persons of the Trinity are named as partners with co-equal power to bless: 'The grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen'. The use of all of 
Christ's titles is significant, He is not merely Jesus Christ, He is the Lord Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 13:14)." 
(Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 
1964, p.16. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Paul again in 1 Corinthians 12, gives us a passage in which the `trinitarian' pattern is obvious: `Now there 
are diversities of gifts of grace, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of services, but the same Lord. 
And there are diversities of activities but the same God, who is effecting all things in all' (verses 4, 5, 6). The 
mention of the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God, demands the use of the word `trinity', or another 
word meaning the same thing." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.17. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, within a brief compass he refers to the Trinity no fewer than four- times. 
The first mention describes the trinitarian nature of our approach to God: `For through Him (Christ) we both 
(Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit to the Father'. The word for `access' is that used of bringing a 
subject into the presence of his king, or as we would say `to have audience of' (Ephesians 2:18). The second 
reference describes the collaboration of the `Trinity' in our edification (Ephesians 2:22) `In whom (Jesus 
Christ, the chief corner stone, verse 20) you are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.' 
Again the same pattern: In whom-Christ; to whom-God; through whom-the Spirit. The third passage is 
Ephesians 3:14-17, `For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, of whom the whole `repatriation' in heaven 
and on earth is named. That He would grant unto you according to the riches of His grace, that ye may be 
strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may come and take up His abode in 
your hearts by faith.' Thus for enjoyment of abiding fellowship we have the cooperation of the Father, the 
Holy Spirit, and Christ. Again Paul refers to the work of the Trinity in maintaining unification in His church 
(Ephesians 4:4-6) `One body, and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all'. Here we have 
unity in tri-unity." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: 
Manchester UK, 1964, pp.17-18)

6/07/2009
"In the first chapter of Colossians we have a number of significant statements concerning the person of 
Christ. In verse 15 we read: `who (the Son) is the image of the invisible God'. `Image' by the common process 
of extension came to denote not only representation but manifestation. Thus in II Corinthians 4:4 we find it 
used in this latter sense: `that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should 
not dawn upon them.' But Christ is also: `the first-born of every creature'. The word first-born had long since 
ceased to be used exclusively in its literal sense, just as prime (from Latin primus-first) with us. The Prime 
Minister is not the first minister we have had, he is the most preeminent. A man in the `prime' of life has long 
since left the first part of his life behind. Similarly, first-born came to denote not priority in time but 
preeminence in rank. For instance in Psalm 89:27, `I have put him (given him) as first-born, higher than the 
kings of the earth'. In a given situation even a whole company may rank as first-borns, as in Hebrews 12:23, 
`and church of the first-born ones, who are enrolled in heaven'. But Paul leaves us in no doubt as to what he 
means by the word; for he proceeds: `for (because, for this reason) by Him were all things created'; and the 
word Paul uses for `all' means without any exception whatever. Had Christ Himself been a created being, 
Paul would have had to use the Greek word meaning `other things' or the word meaning `remainder, rest'. But 
then Paul would not have called Him first-born but 'first-created', a term never applied to Christ. But verse 17
clinches the whole matter: `And He is before all things', not `He was'. The force of this statement is equal to 
that of the `I am' of John 8:58." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.18-19)

6/07/2009
"Paul on occasions exploits language to its maximal limit to find terms in which to describe the absolute 
exaltation of Christ. To the believers in Rome he writes: `From whom (the Jewish nation) as concerning the 
flesh is Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever' (Romans 9:5). When speaking to the Corinthian 
converts about the Cross as the focal point of their salvation, he goes on to say: `To us there is one God: 
the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all 
things, and we through Him' (I Corinthians 8:6). To the Ephesians, he asserts: `(He is set) far above all 
hierarchy, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come' (Ephesians 1:21). To the Colossian Christians he says: `In Him dwells the 
fulness of the deity bodily' (Colossians 2:9). Even in his short letter to Titus he must mention it: `Expecting 
the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and the Saviour Jesus Christ' (Titus 2:13)." 
(Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 
1964, p.19)

6/07/2009
"In the most unlikely places in the New Testament we find the deity of Christ taken for granted. James, His 
brother, begins his letter with the words: `James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ'. James must 
have heard our Lord often say `No servant can serve two masters' (Luke 16:13). But the very title, too, that 
he gives to Christ, shows that he is placing Him equal with God. And if emphasis was needed he provides it 
in chapter 2:1, `My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with respect of 
persons'. For a Jew, glory was an attribute of God alone." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," 
North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.19-20)

6/07/2009
"In 1 John 5:6-9 (as everyone knows, verse 7 is absent from all good manuscripts) there appears again the 
trinitarian pattern: the witness of the Spirit with the witness of God witnessing concerning His Son. 
Before John finishes his letter he leaves us in no doubt concerning the person of the Son (verse 20) ; "And 
we know that the Son of God is come and has given us understanding that we know Him that is true, and we 
are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life'." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, 
W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.20)

6/07/2009
"It was evident for the writers in the New Testament, as it should be for us, that Christ could not save if He 
were not fully divine. The all-sufficiency of His sacrifice depends on His absolute authority. Had He been a 
created being, He would have been in some sense under compulsion, a victim. It is His possession of 
absolute free-will that removes the stigma of injustice from the Cross. And only of one who had Himself 
absolute immortality could it be said, that `He became obedient unto death' [Php 2:8]." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, 
W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.20)

6/07/2009
"Among the disciples was one who refused to believe in the resurrection of Christ without tangible proof. 
For him the witness of others was not sufficient in a matter of such momentous consequence. He demanded 
nothing less than positive proof within the domain of his own senses. When Our Lord appeared to Him, He 
did not rebuke him for his scepticism, rather He readily provided the kind of proof asked for. His confession, 
in words expressing the ultimate in Christian faith, could not have been a consequence of seeing someone 
risen from the dead, for he must surely have seen the risen Lazarus. There is no mistaking their intent: 
`Thomas answered and said to Him, `My Lord and My God'. And our Lord did not restrain him nor rebuke 
him, He received this as His rightful designation (John 20:24-29)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of 
Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.20-21. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"The claims of Christ to deity, embedded in the highest ethical teaching known to man, are expressed in 
irreducible matter-of-fact language. Either He was a fraud, or He was God. There is no middle position. Paul 
provides a simple test for the sincerity of our faith. To be able to confess Jesus as Lord, Paul says, we need 
the power of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:3). Ask the one who places Christ any lower than the highest, 
if he will submit to this test. What is your own response, for this is a condition of salvation? `Because, if 
you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, 
you will be saved' (Romans 10:9)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England 
Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.21. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Brief notes on some of the texts used by Arians John 1:1 Much is made by Arian amateur 
grammarians of the omission of the definite article with `God' in the phrase `And the Word was God'. Such 
an omission is common with nouns in a predicative construction. To have used it would have equated the 
Word and the Word only with God, whereas without it the force is `And the Word was Himself God'. The 
article is omitted, too, on occasion in other constructions, in fact, there are four instances of it in this very 
chapter (verses 6, 12, 13, 19), and in John 13:3, 'God' is written once without and once with the article. To 
translate in any one of these cases `a god' would be totally indefensible (see R. Kuehner - B. Gerth, 
Ausfuehrliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, Vol. i. p. 591f., and E. Schwyzer, Griechische Grammatik, 
Vol. II. p, 24ff.)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: 
Manchester UK, 1964, pp.21-22. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Strange literalistic interpretations, too, have been put on the word `beginning' in this verse, and to read as 
if it said `In the beginning the Word began', whereas what is affirmed is that in the beginning He was already 
existing. The reference is to something within the divine, not the human, order of things, and to apply the 
analogy of temporal succession and progression to the presence of God (`And the Word was with God') is 
utterly unwarranted. Equally narrow interpretations have been put or, the word `Beginning' in such 
passages as Revelation 3:14: `the beginning of the creation of God'. The context, however, demands an 
agent as a parallel to `witness', so the sense must be `Beginner' or ,the first cause', as is the case in 
Revelation 21:6 where 'Beginning' is applied to God Himself (compare the Greek translation of Genesis 49:3, 
and Colossians 1:18, and Revelation 22:13). To understand what John means by `Word' (Logos) read 
Revelation 19:13-16 in conjunction with I Timothy 6: 14-16." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of 
Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.22)

6/07/2009
"John 14:28. `My Father is greater than I'. This can refer only to the self-imposed limitations of the Son in 
His incarnation. He has already claimed equality with God (John 5:18), and oneness with Him (John 10:30), 
but He was not only true God, He was now also true man. In fact, rightly understood this is a claim of the 
highest import, for only things of the same order of magnitude can be compared. No mere man or angelic 
being could ever say `God is greater than I', for created and uncreated are of different orders." (Bruce, F.F. & 
Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.22. 
Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Mark 13:32 (Matthew 24:36 R. V.) `Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in 
heaven, not even the Son, but the Father'. This is in complete harmony with His consistent claim that He 
came to do the Father's will. He came to reveal the redemptive purpose of God but certainly not His whole 
mind (see John 17:8). There is again nothing here to contradict the many passages where His deity is 
positively and clearly stated, on the contrary it is in itself a very extraordinary claim, when we consider the 
ascending order: men, angels, Son, Father. He places Himself above the category of angels (the highest 
created beings) and classes Himself with the Father (see Hebrews 1:13)." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The 
Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.22. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"I Corinthians 11:3. `And the Head of Christ is God'. Paul cannot imply by this inferiority, no more than in 
the case of the wife to the husband, which would be a contradiction of Galatians 3:28." (Bruce, F.F. & 
Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.22. 
Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"I Corinthians 15:28 `And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son also Himself will be 
subjected to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all'. Paul is speaking of the relation of 
the Son to the Father (verse 24) which was ever one of subjection (see John 5:30). But subjection does not 
imply subordination in the sense of inequality (see I Corinthians 14:32, `The spirits of the prophets are 
subject to the prophets'). The reference in verse 28 may well refer to organisational matters that do not come 
within the purview of revealed knowledge." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of 
England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.22. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"John 17:21. This verse is quoted in an attempt to weaken the force of John 10:30, `I and the Father are 
one', about the meaning of which his audience were in no doubt whatever (see verse 33). In 17:21, however, 
the second `one' is not in the best manuscripts (see R.V.), thus simply, `that they also may be in us'." (Bruce, 
F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.23. 
Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Philippians 2:5-9. A fair rendering of this passage might be: `Cultivate this attitude of mind among you, 
which was in Christ Jesus, who being already in the form of God, did not treat it as a prize to be equal with 
God, but divested Himself, taking the form of a servant'. No one would dispute that when Paul says, Christ 
was in the 'form' of a servant, he meant that He was a servant in the truest and fullest meaning of the word. 
There is no ground for taking the phrase `in the `form' of God' to mean less. Now from the nadir of His 
humiliation God has re-invested Him with the insignia of His ineffable and divine glory, `and has given Him 
the name that is-without exception-above every name'." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," 
North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.23. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Mark 10:18 (`Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good; none but one is good, God'). `Good' in the 
phrase `Good Master' meant in the suppliant's language (Aramaic) `benevolent', not `morally good', hence 
there is no question of Christ denying that He was sinless (see H. L. Strack, P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum 
Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, Vol. 1. p. 809f. and Vol. II, p. 24f). Moreover, `The Good'-Psalm 
145:9 was probably cited -was one of the many Judaic titles for God (op. cit. Vol. i, p. 809). The point of our 
Lord's remark is that a word with such hallowed association should not be used in a merely conventional 
manner. He is not stating that God alone is sinless, but that He is the personification of benevolence. To 
deduce from this an unexpressed contrary: `I am not sinless' or `I am not God' would be sheer sophistry. 
Besides, in all interpretation, situation and context, immediate and remote, must be taken into account. Now 
when Christ comes to disclose (verse 21) the full limit of benevolence (the end of selfish possessing), He 
demands a response that hitherto had been the prerogative of God alone: `And come, follow Me'. No 
prophet had ever presumed to say this. Even the great Samuel unshakeable in his integrity (I Samuel 12, 3) 
did not suggest personal discipleship but said: `Turn not aside from following Jehovah' (verse 20). And 
invariably in the Old Testament `following' in a religious sense has as its object God (Numbers 14, 24 and 
passim). The implication is surely undeniable." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of 
England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.23. Emphasis original)

6/07/2009
"Mark 15:34 (Matthew 27:46). This prayer on the Cross (`My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?') 
has been seized upon as a possible refutation of Christ's claims to deity. We cannot, of course, know all that 
these words meant for Him at that terrible moment, but there are several possible interpretations. First, He 
was still in communion with His Father, in spite of the past tense of the verb. Second, the meaning of these 
words to an attentive Jew would be that He was claiming all the 22nd Psalm for Himself, for it was a 
common practice to name books and Psalms by their opening words, e.g. Psalm 113 was called the `Hallel', 
from the Hebrew word with which it begins. An approximate analogy might be a dying Christian saying only: 
`Just as I am without one plea' but his friends would know that the hymn as a whole was in his mind. The 
third possibility is that He was quoting it with the immediate context in mind, namely, forsaken with regard to 
present help. The fact that He did not use the Hebrew wording of the original but that of His mother-tongue 
serves only to bring out the poignant depth of His feeling of desolation." (Bruce, F.F. & Martin, W.J., "The 
Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, pp.23-24. Emphasis original) 

6/07/2009
"The main argument of those who deny the deity of Christ seems to rest on a misconception of the full 
meaning of `Son'. The fallacy consists of arguing from the analogy of human experience, that `son' implies a 
pre-existing father in time. The truth is, however, that `son' is used widely both in the Old and New 
Testaments divorced from the idea of `generation' or `priority', to denote relationship only. For instance in 
Hebrew, age is expressed by `the son of x years', and in the New Testament in such expressions as `the sons 
of disobedience'. It was, in fact, one of the commonest ways of expressing identity. Again the phrase 'only-
begotten' refers to the uniqueness of Christ's relationship to the Father. The word is even applied to God 
Himself in John 1:18 where the reading in the most ancient and textually best manuscripts is `God only-
begotten' (In Hebrews 11:17 of Isaac, one of several sons, where the stress is on relationship)." (Bruce, F.F. 
& Martin, W.J., "The Deity of Christ," North of England Evangelical Trust: Manchester UK, 1964, p.24)

6/07/2009
"The reward God’s people are working hard for is sure, for it is guaranteed by the Creator himself, of whom 
the apostle Paul confidently declared: `God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love you 
showed for his name.' (Heb. 6:10) Your hard work in proclaiming the good news of his kingdom, and thereby 
publicizing his holy name Jehovah, will not go unrewarded. Assured of that fact, be like Abraham who held 
unbreakably to his faith in God’s word to him: `Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield for you. Your reward will be 
very great.' (Gen. 15:1) Also, be like the Moabitess Ruth who accepted in full faith the marvelous prospect 
held forth to her: `May Jehovah reward the way you act, and may there come to be a perfect wage for you 
from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.' (Ruth 2:12) May you too 
find the strength and courage to seek refuge under Jehovah’s widespreading wings as his fellow worker. 24 
As you manifest the right attitude toward work you will not want to relax your effort but be alert always to 
have plenty to do in the work of the Lord, doing more and more, if possible. (1 Cor. 15:58) Our service to God 
is the highest form of work to which man can devote himself. It is the greatest Cause of all. It is that which 
has to do with the Name of our God and Creator, Jehovah, and certainly that is no lost cause. Rather, it is a 
triumphant cause, and one that gives promise to those diligently promoting it of a full and satisfying life 
now with the prospect of unending life in God’s new order so near at hand. May you qualify to join us in 
this most urgent of all causes now." ("Working Hard for the Reward of Eternal Life," The Watchtower 
August 15, 1972, pp.496-497)

7/07/2009
"[Rom 1:3-4] Paul confesses Jesus to be God's Son. He means that the Savior was God's Son entirely apart 
from and antecedently to his assumption of the human nature. He is the Son of God from all eternity; hence, 
he is God. This confession harmonizes with what the apostle says elsewhere. Thus, in Rom. 9:5, according 
to what is probably the best reading and interpretation, Paul calls Jesus `over all God blest forever.' In Titus 
2:13 he describes him as `our great God and Savior.' He is, in fact, `the One in whom all the fulness of the 
godhead is concentrated' (Col. 2:9). Cf. Phil. 2:6." (Hendriksen, W., "Romans: Volume 1: Chapters 1-8," New 
Testament Commentary, The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1980, p.42. Emphasis original)

9/07/2009
"Jesus as `the Lord' It is plainly in his description of Jesus as `the [or, `our' or `my'] Lord' (... kurios) that 
Paul brings out most clearly his assessment of Jesus as divine. From the five distinct facts that Paul: 1. 
prayed to Christ as `the Lord' (2 Cor 12:8-9); 2. declared `the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' to be the name to 
be `called upon' in the church (1 Cor 1:2; Rom 10:9-13; see Joel 2:32a); 3. coupled `the Lord Jesus Christ' with 
`God our Father' as the co-source of those spiritual blessings (grace, mercy, and peace) which God alone has 
the power to grant (Gal 1:3; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1-2; Rom 1:7; 16:20; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; 1 
Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Tit 1:4; see 1 Thes 3:11; 2 Thes 1:12; Eph 6:23); 4. applied to Christ the very term (... 
kurios) that in the Septuagint is employed to translate the sacred name of Yahweh; and more specifically, 5. 
applied Old Testament passages in which God (Yahweh) is the subject directly to Jesus (see Isa 8:14 and 
Rom 9:32, 33; Joel 2:32 and Rom 10:12-13; Isa 40:13 and 1 Cor 2:16; Ps 24:1 [LXX, 23: l ] and 1 Cor 10:26 [see 
10:21-22]; Ps 68:18 and Eph 4:8-10; Isa 45:23 and Phil 2:10), there can be no legitimate doubt that as `the Lord,' 
Jesus was, for Paul, divine and rightly to be regarded by others as such." (Reymond, R.L., "Jesus, Divine 
Messiah: The New Testament and Old Testament Witness," [1990], Mentor: Fearn UK, 2003, p.428. 
Emphasis original)

9/07/2009
"When it is further noted that it is as `the Lord' that Paul speaks of Jesus in his `trinitarian' passages (Rom 
15:30; 1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor 13:14; Eph 4:4-6), it is not too much to say that the title `Lord' was for Paul the 
Christological title which both equates and distinguishes him from the Father and the Spirit, and that it is the 
heavenly triad that is his presupposition when he speaks of Jesus as `Lord.' [Warfield, B.B., `The Lord of 
Glory,' Baker: Grand Rapids, 1974, p.231] Magnificently does Warfield capture the essence of the meaning of 
`Lord' as a Christological title in Paul's writings when he writes: `Lord' to [Paul] is not a general term of 
respect which he naturally applies to Jesus because he recognized Jesus as supreme, and was glad to 
acknowledge Him as his Master (Eph 6:9, Col 4:1), or even in the great words of Col 2:19 as the `Head' of the 
body which is His Church (see Eph 4:15). It is to him the specific title of divinity by which he indicates to 
himself the relation in which Jesus stands to Deity. Jesus is not `Lord' to him because He has been given 
dominion over all creation; He has been given this universal dominion because He is `Lord,' who with the 
Father and the Spirit is to be served and worshipped, and from whom all that the Christian longs for is to be 
expected. [Warfield, B.B., "The Lord of Glory," Baker: Grand Rapids, 1974, p.231]" (Reymond, R.L., "Jesus, 
Divine Messiah: The New Testament and Old Testament Witness," [1990], Mentor: Fearn UK, 2003, pp.428-
429)

9/07/2009
"The Pre-existence of `the Son' A further line of evidence suggesting that Jesus Christ, for Paul, was 
divine is the catena of verses that implies his pre-existence as God's Son (see 2 Cor 8:9; Rom 8:3; Gal 4:4; Phil 
2:6-7; Col 1:15-16; Eph 4:8-9). It has been suggested that such statements need reflect no more than an `ideal' 
pre-existence, and do not require Christ's personal pre-existence. But such a contention will fail to persuade 
any but the gullible once the passages have been carefully examined. Consider: The Apostle will appeal for 
Christian generosity on the ground that Christ, the Christian's example, `though he was rich, yet for your 
sakes became poor `(2 Cor 8:9). He urges Christians to live as sons of God should live because `God sent 
forth his Son' to make us his sons (Gal 4:4). He grounds his argument for Christian self-effacement in the fact 
that `though [Christ] was in the form of God,...he poured himself out, having taken [... labon] the form of a 
servant' (Phil 2:6-7). He insists that the Colossians must not find in the pagan ... (pleroma, `fullness') their 
fullness because it is Christ, God's Son (see vs 13), who is `before all things' and `by whom and for whom all 
things were created' (Col 1:16-17). To bring about such practical ends as are here envisioned by the Apostle, 
it is highly doubtful that he would have grounded his pastoral appeals in a mere speculative `ideal' pre-
existence. Much more likely is it that such appeals were based upon a familiar, treasured, foundational truth 
central to the Christian faith-namely, that Christ as God's Son had personally pre-existed with the Father 
from eternity and had come to earth on a mission of mercy." (Reymond, R.L., "Jesus, Divine Messiah: The 
New Testament and Old Testament Witness," [1990], Mentor: Fearn UK, 2003, p.429. Emphasis original)

9/07/2009
"[Rom 2:16]. (All this will become clear) on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus 
Christ, will judge men's secrets. ... The meaning of verse 16, then, is along this line, that on judgment Day 
`all this'-men's thoughts, words, actions, motivations, God's evaluations-will become clear. It is on that day 
that God will judge not only men's open deeds but even their secrets (Eccl. 12:14; Luke 12:3; I Cor. 4:5). ... 
God will judge `through Jesus Christ.' ... Here, as frequently, the emphasis is on the fact that God will judge 
mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ. A passage which, in more than one respect, parallels Rom. 2:16 is I 
Cor. 4:5, `Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring 
to light the things hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.' Other passages in which 
the truth that God judges through Jesus Christ is taught, either directly or by implication, are Matt. 25:31-36; 
John 5:22; Acts 17:31; II Cor. 5:10." (Hendriksen, W., "Romans: Volume 1: Chapters 1-8," New Testament 
Commentary, The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1980, p.98. Emphasis original)

22/07/2009
"Jesus calms the storm ([Mk ]4:35-41) With the series of parables closed, we enter a new section: here 
Jesus will be shown as Lord of nature. This is a new revelation in Mark, yet a very necessary one, if Jesus is 
God: for, both in the Law and in the Prophets, God is seen as Controller of the natural world and natural 
phenomena. The God who blew with an east wind and dried up the waters of the Red Sea before Israel His 
people (Ex. 14:21), is now about to make a path over the wind and waves of Gennesaret for the disciples, the 
new 'people of God'. Already, Mark has shown Jesus as one who sees heaven opened, one upon whom the 
Spirit rests, who is responsive to the Spirit's guidance, who enjoys angelic ministry, and who receives the 
testimony of demons to His divine nature. Jesus in Mark preaches and teaches with a new ring of authority: 
He heals the sick, expels demons and forgives sins. Now, only the one who had initially created the wind 
and sea in the first place would dare to rebuke them so (verse 39): their instant obedience shows His full 
deity as Creator as well as Redeemer. The wondering question of His disciples in verse 41 shows that they 
realized in part at least the implications of His action here. It is significant that no 'nature miracles' are 
recorded in Mark as having been performed by the apostles, although (as Anderson well points out), Mark 
would not have distinguished nature miracles sharply from healings and exorcisms, as we might do today. 
Apart from calming storms (here and 6:51), Mark records Jesus as multiplying loaves (6:41 and 8:6) and 
withering a fig tree (11:20): he therefore accepts completely the power of Jesus over the natural world, as 
Son of God." (Cole, R.A., "The Gospel According to Mark: An Introduction and Commentary," The Tyndale 
New Testament commentaries, [1961], Inter-Varsity Press Leicester: UK, Second edition, 1989, pp.153-154. 
Emphasis original)

23/07/2009
"[Mk 6:]50. As so often, the exhibition of miraculous power by Jesus merely threw the disciples into fresh 
fear and confusion. So the initial entry of Jesus into their situation was marked by an increase in the tempo 
of the strife (cf. 9:26, the healing of the demoniac boy), although that would soon pass into tranquillity. 
Minear points out that, in answering with the words It is I, Jesus may have been deliberately using the 
name of God (Ex. 3:14). This would only have increased the awe of the disciples, although it could also have 
given them a clue as to the true nature of Jesus, if their hearts had not been hardened (verse 52)." (Cole, 
R.A., "The Gospel According to Mark: An Introduction and Commentary," The Tyndale New Testament 
commentaries, [1961], Inter-Varsity Press Leicester: UK, Second edition, 1989, p.180. Emphasis original)

24/07/2009
"Perhaps Jesus' most dramatic miraculous demonstrations of his power over nature, other than his own 
resurrection (John 2:19-22; 10:17-18; 20:27-28), were his acts of feeding the multitude and of walking on the Sea of 
Galilee. These two miracles occurred one after the other, and both echo miracles experienced by the Israelites in 
the Exodus (Matt. 14:13-33; Mark 6:33-52; John 6:1-58; cf. Luke 9:12-17). The miraculous feeding of over five 
thousand people (the one miracle of Jesus' earthly ministry reported in all four Gospels) has obvious associations 
with the feeding of the Israelites with manna in the wilderness shortly after the crossing of the Red Sea. In John's 
extended account of the aftermath of this miracle, Jesus explicitly compares it to the giving of manna (John 
6:31-33, 49-51, 58). According to Exodus, God, not Moses, gave the Israelites the manna (Exod.16:4, 8,15). Rather 
than casting himself in the `role' of Moses, Jesus actually casts himself both as the Lord who gives the bread and 
as the bread itself `I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me 
will never be thirsty... . the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh' (John 6:35, 51)." (Bowman, 
R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand 
Rapids MI, 2007, p.204)

24/07/2009
"As various scholars, both conservative and liberal, have observed, the Gospel accounts of Jesus walking on the 
sea allude rather clearly to the account in Exodus 14-15 of the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea. The Israelites 
walked in `the midst of the sea' (Exod. 14:16, 22, 27, 29 NASB) and crossed to the other side (Exod. 15:16). 
Likewise, the disciples' boat was `in the middle of the sea' (Mark 6:47 NASB) and they also `crossed over' the sea 
(Mark 6:53). A strong wind from the east blew across the Red Sea and, close to daybreak, the Egyptians found it 
increasingly difficult to drive their chariots as they attempted to follow the Israelites (Exod. 14:21, 24-25). 
Likewise, an adverse wind blew across the Sea of Galilee and, based on the geography, it also would have been 
blowing from the east; this wind also blew close to daybreak and made it difficult for the disciples to row their 
boat (Mark 6:48). According to Mark, the disciples had the same problem as the Egyptians: their hearts were 
hardened (Exod. 14:4, 8, 17; Mark 6:52)." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: 
The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.204-205)

24/07/2009
"According to Eric Eve (and many other commentators), in this miracle account `Jesus is portrayed as filling the 
role, not of another Moses, but of Yahweh.' [Eve, E., "Jewish Context of Jesus' Miracles," Continuum: New York, 
2002, p.384.] We suggest that this conclusion needs to be restated in a more nuanced way. Jesus appears, in fact, 
to fulfill the role of a greater Moses and of Yahweh. Jesus' response to the disciples' fear encompasses both 
roles. Moses had told the Israelites, `Take heart!' (tharseite, Exod. 14:13 LXX) and Jesus told the disciples the 
same thing: `Take heart!' (tharseite, Matt. 14:27; Mark 6:50). But then Jesus added, `It is I [ego eimi]; do not 
be afraid' (Matt. 14:27; Mark 6:50; John 6:20). This statement echoes statements by the Lord God in Isaiah, where 
he speaks of a kind of `new Exodus' when the Jews would be restored to their land: `Do not fear, for I have 
redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; Do not fear, for I am with you; ... so that you may know 
and believe me and understand that I am he [ego eimi] ... I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, 
your King:' Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. (Isa. 43:1-2, 5, 10, 15-
16)." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," 
Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, p.205)

24/07/2009
"The most striking aspect of the account is, of course, Jesus' actually walking on the sea. In the historical Exodus 
miracle, the Israelites crossed through the sea but on dry land. In later poetic reflection on this defining moment 
in Israel's history, biblical authors pictured God walking on the sea: When the waters saw you, O God, when the 
waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; 
your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the 
world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet 
your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Ps. 77:16-20) By 
walking out to the disciples' boat on the sea, Jesus demonstrated a mastery over the forces of nature unparalleled 
among human beings. Moses was merely the human agent through whom the Lord led the Israelites across the 
dry bed of the Red Sea. Jesus walked across the raging waters of the Sea of Galilee and spoke divine words of 
assurance and sovereign control to his disciples. No wonder, according to Matthew, the disciples responded by 
worshiping Jesus and affirming that he was God's Son (Matt. 14:33). They did not understand it at the time, but 
what they had witnessed was a display of God's own numinous power incarnate." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & 
Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, 
pp.205-206)

24/07/2009
"Matthew 19:17 reports Jesus' comment as follows: `The good is one' or possibly `One is the good' (heis 
estin ho agathos). Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 read, `No one is good except one: God' (oudeis agathos ei 
me heis ho theos). Mark and Luke also report Jesus asking, `Why do you call me good?' Jesus was not 
denying being good; he was pointing out that human beings are not good and therefore, since the young 
man who approached Jesus regarded him as a merely human `teacher,' he should not have addressed him 
flatteringly as `good teacher' (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18). If anything, Jesus' statement in context implies that 
Jesus is more than human, since Jesus goes on to summon the young man to follow him in order to be 
complete (Matt. 19:18-21; Mark 10:19-21; Luke 18:20-22). Matthew's wording ('Why are you asking me about 
the good?') does not change the meaning; rather, on the assumption that Matthew's account is based on 
Mark, it avoids the possible misunderstanding that Jesus was denying being good." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & 
Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 
2007, pp.304-305 n.3)

24/07/2009
"[Mk 10:40] This is a reminder that even the Son is in loving submission to His Father; it is not left to Jesus 
but only to the Father to dispense such honours at will. So, too, the time of the 'last hour' is hidden from 
Jesus deep in the mind of God (13:32); and yet this is not theological 'subordinationism', for it is voluntary 
acceptance of this position by the Son. Humility and submission are not popular Christian virtues, but they 
are basic, for they are founded on the 'servant' example of Jesus Himself (verse 45)." (Cole, R.A., "The 
Gospel According to Mark: An Introduction and Commentary," The Tyndale New Testament commentaries, 
[1961], Inter-Varsity Press Leicester: UK, Second edition, 1989, p.243)

25/07/2009
"LORD What it meant in the New Testament period to call Christ `Lord' ... In over 6,000 cases in the LXX, 
kurios is a linguistic substitute for YHWH, the device which afforded the Jews the opportunity of 
referring to God without mentioning his name. Second-century manuscripts of the LXX show this, leading 
Marshall to conclude that kurios was used by Greek-speaking Jews `as a translation of adon, `Lord,' 
and as the equivalent of Yahweh.' [Marshall, I.H., `"The Origins of New Testament Christology," 
InterVarsity Press: Leicester UK, 1977, p.99] This translation was not the imposition on the LXX of later 
Christian interests. There has, likewise, been a debate over the merits of translating the Aramaic mare as 
`Lord' ... The argument has been that mare ' was never used absolutely of God. The Qumran scrolls, 
however, have provided instances of such an absolute usage, and Moule has observed that Palestinian 
communities `already had a word mare' which was capable of being used in a sense uncommonly near to 
that of kurios as a divine designation.' [Moule, C.F.D., "The Origin of Christology," Cambridge University 
Press: London, 1977, p.37] That being the case, the expression marana tha (1 Cor. 16:22) should not be 
seen merely as invocation with respect to the future coming of Christ, but also as the acclamation of his 
present status as sovereign.." (Wells, D.F., "The Person of Christ: A Biblical and Historical Analysis of the 
Incarnation," Bible Scholar Books: Alliance OH, 1992, pp.74-75)

25/07/2009
"That a linguistic bridge was built early between Christ as kurios and Yahweh seems beyond dispute, and 
this bridge led naturally to a doctrinal identity between them. What could be said of Yahweh in the Old 
Testament could equally be said in many instances of Christ in the New Testament, and it was. Thus the 
words, 'before me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear' (Isa. 45:23), spoken of Yahweh, were 
seen to apply to Christ (Phil. 2:10, 11). The writer of Hebrews, likewise, used the words of Psalm 102:25-27, 
which celebrated Yahweh as Creator, equally of Christ 25 (Heb. 1:10-12). These usages are, as we have 
already seen, but a small part of an extraordinary development which was characteristic of virtually the 
whole of the epistolatory section of the New Testament. What could be said of Yahweh, could be said of 
Christ. If the gospel was God's, then it was also Christ's. If the Kingdom was God's, then it was also Christ's. 
To have faith is, indiscriminately, to have faith either in God or in Christ, and God and Christ were alike to be 
praised, thanked, and worshiped. That being the case, the use of kurios became indistinguishable from 
the use of Theos in its content. The Lordship of Christ was therefore placed in an eternal perspective. As 
Lord, Christ was preexistent and the Creator of all things (John 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:2, 3); and as Lord he 
will yield up to his Father a redeemed cosmos (1 Cor. 15:23-28) 26 and institute the new creation. And 
everywhere the conviction is expressed that because he is the Sovereign Lord, all enemies who oppose 
God's will, truth, and reign will be conquered (Acts 2:34, 35; 5:31; 7:55; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Eph. 1:20; 1 Pet. 
3:22; Rev. 3:21). This conquest is, of course, still to be realized in its fullness, but it has already been 
experienced in part in the church. The `last times' are being inaugurated (Acts 2:14-18), 27 the `powers of the 
coming age' (Heb. 6:5) are being experienced, and he who is Head of the church now (Col. 1:18) will be 
acknowledged as head of all of creation at that time when `every knee [shall] bow, in heaven and on earth 
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord' (Phil. 2:10, 11)." (Wells, D.F., "The 
Person of Christ: A Biblical and Historical Analysis of the Incarnation," Bible Scholar Books: Alliance OH, 
1992, pp.76-77)

25/07/2009
"It is in Paul's theology, however, that the title really catches fire ... Paul referred to Jesus as `Lord' in some 
two hundred and fifty passages is itself indicative of the importance this title held for him. To believe, is to 
believe in Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3), who is identified with God and also personally 
distinguished from the Father (Rom. 1:8; 1 Con 1:4, 9; 2 Cor. 1:3, Eph. 1:3; Rom. 15:6). Yet his is a name above 
every name. The essence of his being, with its power and functions, is unmatched and unparalleled in 
heaven or on earth. It was this being, glorious and radiant, who confronted Paul on the Damascus road and 
in whose presence Paul continued to fashion his thought. And no term conveyed the sense of awe, of 
adoration and wonder better than `Lord.' To speak of Christ as Lord, then, is to identify him ontologically 
with Yahweh, to ascribe to him the worship which rightly belongs only to God, to acknowledge him as 
sovereign in his church and in his creation, and to see him as the vindicator of God's character in the world. 
This vindication, wrought on the cross, is only partially recognized, but the vindication is fully 
accomplished. This recognition is a part of and necessarily accompanies the progressive realization of God's 
Kingdom whose climax and culmination will occur at the return of Christ. Then will occur the unveiling to all 
of the world of what, in fact, has been true from the very beginning-that the second person of the Godhead 
is Lord." (Wells, D.F., "The Person of Christ: A Biblical and Historical Analysis of the Incarnation," Bible 
Scholar Books: Alliance OH, 1992, p.77)

25/07/2009
"Statements of Belief That we might have unity among us, and that we all speak the same thing as 
regards the foundation of our faith, and that with integrity we present our witness of Yeshua/Jesus, the 
Messiah, as those who walk in His light, let it be hereby established that the Torah-Observant Followers 
website, herein known as TOFY, holds that... 1. All Scripture is given by the Ruach Elohim [Breath/Spirit of 
God], and is to be used for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness, so that 
man can be competent and able equipped to do the work that God has planned for him. 2 Timothy 3:16-17. 2. 
YHWH [the LORD] is our Elohim. He is echad [One]. He alone is YHWH. Deuteronomy 6:4. 3. The nature of 
YHWH is a compound unity expressed in the aspects of Abba [God, the Father], Yeshua [Salvation, Jesus, 
the Son, Messiah] and the Ruach HaKodesh [the Holy Spirit/Breath] in this age. Matthew 28:19. 4. YHWH 
and His Word (Yeshua/Jesus) are eternal, that is: He, His Word and His Will has always been and will 
always be the same. Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, Matthew 5:18; 24:35, John 1:1. 5. The Shabbat [Sabbath], the 
seventh day of the week, is the created holy day of YHWH, which He gave to mankind and covenanted with 
His people as a sign forever. Exodus 31:16, Genesis 2:2-3, Isaiah 58:13-14, Matthew 12:8. 6. Yeshua of 
Natzeret [Nazareth] is the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He 
is YHWH who appeared among mankind in the flesh, and now is glorified with all power in Heaven and in 
Earth, at the right hand of Abba. John 1:12-14, 18." ("Torah Observant Followers of Yeshua - Statement of 
Beliefs," December 28, 2006)

25/07/2009
"As we saw in the previous chapter, Jesus' answer to the question about his identity at his trial before the 
Sanhedrin revealed that he thought himself to be much more than Israel's king. His answer, however, contains 
language that even many Christians today find somewhat unfamiliar. As we unpack the meaning of Jesus' 
answer, we will discover that he claimed to be functioning in the very place of God. ... `I am; and `you will see the 
Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,' and `coming with the clouds of heaven' (Mark 14:62). `The 
LORD says to my Lord: `Sit at my right band `' (Ps. 110:1 ESV). `And behold, with the clouds of heaven there 
came one like a son of man' (Dan. 7:13 ESV). In Mark 14:62, Jesus' answer to Caiaphas's question blended two Old 
Testament texts that confirmed he was the Messiah, but expanded the concept to include total authority. These 
two texts were Psalm 110:1, in which David speaks of someone as his Lord sitting at God's `right hand,' and 
Daniel 7:13, in which someone `like a son of man' is said to come `with the clouds of heaven:'" (Bowman, R.M., Jr. 
& Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 
2007, p.243)

25/07/2009
"Sitting in the Big Chair (Psalm 110:1) ... Psalm 110:1, in which David says, The LORD [YHWH] says to my 
Lord ['adoni]: `Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' (ESV) The Hebrew makes it clear 
that by `the LORD' and `my Lord' two different persons are in view. Jesus identified the second person ('my 
Lord') as the Messiah when he applied the text to himself. Earlier in Mark, Jesus points out something peculiar 
about this statement. The Jews typically expected the Messiah simply to be a descendant of David who would 
prove to be the ultimate human warrior-king. Yet David calls the future Messiah his `Lord:' How, Jesus asks, 
could the Messiah be David's son and also be his Lord (Mark 12:35-37)? Some modern readers of the Bible have 
suggested that Jesus was here denying that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but this really misses 
the point. Jesus is not denying that the Messiah would be a descendant of David but is pointing out that 
somehow the Messiah would be much more than that. The Messiah would not be a mere Davidic king but would 
be a universal sovereign, sitting at God's right hand, honored as Lord even by his ancestor David. A careful 
examination of Psalm 110:1, and Jesus' application of it (in conjunction with Daniel 7:13) to himself, reveals how 
remarkable Jesus' claim was and why it seemed to the Sanhedrin to be blasphemous. It was one thing to enter 
God's presence and yet another to sit in it. But to sit at God's right side was another matter altogether. In the 
religious and cultural milieu of Jesus' day, to claim to sit at God's right hand was tantamount to claiming equality 
with God. ... For Jesus to claim that he would sit at God's right hand was akin to claiming, in an `Oriental' cultural 
context, that he would be entitled to have his head as high as that of the king. Jesus, then, was claiming the right 
to go directly into God's `throne room' and sit at his side. The temerity of such a claim for any mere human would 
be astonishing to the Jews of Jesus' day. The priests of the Sanhedrin, to whom Jesus made this claim, could not, 
as a rule, even go into the inner sanctum of the temple, known as the Holy of Holies. Many of them probably had 
never been inside it. The Holy of Holies could be entered only on a specific day in specific ways by one specific 
person. Failure to follow the instructions exactly resulted in death. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest 
entered the Holy of Holies, carrying. the blood of a bull as offering for personal purification and the blood of a 
ram as offering for atonement for the people. This was followed by a change of garments and ritual washings 
(Lev. 16). In other words, one entered into God's presence in the temple cautiously. If entrance requirements to 
the earthly Holy of Holies were so strict, we can imagine what the Sanhedrin priests would have thought about 
Jesus claiming to have the right to enter God's heavenly presence. After all, the earthly temple was, according to 
Josephus, viewed as a model of the heavenly one [Josephus Antiquities 3.181-87]. Worse still, though, Jesus 
was claiming that he was going to enter permanently into the heavenly Holies of Holies and sit down. Jesus 
might as well have claimed that he owned the place! Indeed, that is what his statement amounted to. As Darrell 
Bock has put it, Jesus' claim `would be worse, in the leadership's view, than claiming the right to be able to walk 
into the Holy of Holies in the temple and live there!' [Bock, D.L., "Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the 
Portrait from the Gospels," Baker: Grand Rapids, 2002, p.375]" (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting 
Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.243-245)

26/07/2009
"The Heavenly Man (Daniel 7:13) The other Old Testament text to which Jesus alludes is Daniel 7:13-14, 
in which Daniel says (ESV, emphasis added), `I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of 
heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before 
him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages 
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one 
that shall not be destroyed. Jesus' allusion to `the Son of Man ... coming with the clouds of heaven' clearly 
would have been recognized by his learned interrogators as a reference to Daniel 7:13. Jesus was claiming to 
be the figure described as `one like a son of man' and to possess his kind of authority. It is often mistakenly 
assumed that the title `Son of Man' refers simply to Jesus' humanity. It is true that the common phrase `son 
of man' is another way of saying `human being,' and that when used in this sense in the Old Testament it 
most often stresses human frailty and dependence (see, e.g., Pss. 8:4; 80:17 NASB; nearly a hundred 
occurrences in Ezekiel; cf. `sons of men' in Isa. 52:14 NASB). When Daniel 7:13 speaks of `one like a son of 
man,' however, it is to indicate that this figure has a human appearance or likeness (in contrast to the beasts 
of Daniel's vision) and yet is not simply or merely human. In this respect, `son of man' is more like the figure 
of God at the end of Ezekiel 1: `And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in 
appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a 
human form. Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something 
that looked like fire enclosed all around; and downward from what looked like the loins I saw something that 
looked like fire, and there was a splendor all around. Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the 
appearance of the splendor all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.' 
(Ezek. 1:26-28, emphasis added) In all likelihood, then, Daniel's description of `one like a son of man' is a 
symbolic, visionary description of a figure who is actually divine. In Daniel's vision, the humanlike figure 
possesses all judgment authority and rules over an everlasting kingdom. The notion of frailty and 
dependence is absent. The description of the figure as coming with the clouds also identifies him as divine, 
since elsewhere in the Old Testament the imagery of coming on clouds is used exclusively for divine figures: 
`The image of riding the clouds is reserved for God or as a description of pagan gods in the Old Testament, 
outside of this text in Daniel (Exod. 14:20; 34:5; Num. 10:34; Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1). So the image shows how 
intimately the function of the Son of Man is tied to divine authority even though the description is of a 
human. [Bock, D.L., "Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels," Baker: Grand 
Rapids, 2002, pp.345-346] Jesus frequently used the phrase `Son of Man' in conjunction with his messianic 
role, effectively giving it the force of a title. That Jesus had Daniel's `one like a son of man' in mind when he 
used this title is evident from other places where he explicitly quotes Daniel 7:13 (e.g., Mark 13:26; see also 
Mark 8:38). So, when Jesus alluded to Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 110:1 in his response to Caiaphas's question, he 
was making a staggering claim. Jesus was claiming to be a heavenly, divine figure who would be seated at 
God's right hand, exercising divine rule forever over all people everywhere. This claim to divine authority 
creates a great deal of irony in Jesus' hearing before the Sanhedrin. As the Son of Man who sits at God's 
right hand, Jesus exercises the authority of God. So while the religious leaders thought they sat in judgment 
over Jesus (and were seeking his death!), Jesus asserted they were actually the ones on trial. The response 
of the religious leaders to Jesus' statement is not surprising. In their minds, Jesus had committed blasphemy 
by claiming that he belonged right alongside God. What's more, Jesus undermined the authority of the 
religious establishment by suggesting that their examination of him was a farce and that in the end he 
would be judging them. `Not only had Jesus made himself too close to God, he had also created a great, 
irreversible gap between himself and the leadership.' [Bock, D.L., "Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The 
Charge Against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65," Baker: Grand Rapids, 2000, p.209] Indeed, he had claimed to 
occupy `the highest place in heaven:' [Hengel, M., "Studies in Early Christology," T & T Clark: Edinburgh, 
1995, p.155]" (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of 
Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.245-247)

26/07/2009
"In crucial ways, though, Jesus did not speak like a rabbi or a prophet ... Rabbis based their teaching on this oral 
tradition to such an extent that offering interpretations of the Torah without citing past rabbis or scribes was 
something of an outrage ... Jesus never spoke this way. In the Sermon on the Mount, he deliberately 
contrasts his approach with that of `the scribes and Pharisees' (Matt. 5:20), drawing the contrast in this way: 
`You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times.... But I say to you' (vv. 21-22). The scribes 
claimed that their interpretations derived ultimately from God through Moses via the process of oral 
tradition passed down from the time of Moses to their own day. Jesus' statement, `You have heard that it 
was said to those of ancient times,' refers to the rabbinical, scribal way of reasoning: they heard it from this 
rabbi, who heard it from that rabbi before him, and so on, back to the ancient source. Jesus sets aside all that 
and says, `but I say to you..' Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cites not one single rabbi or 
other religious authority. Instead, he says, `I say to you,' thirteen times just in this one sermon (Matt. 5:18, 
20, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; 6:2, 5, 16, 25, 29). At the close of his sermon, Jesus challenges his hearers to base 
their lives on his words: `Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise 
man who built his house on rock.... And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them 
will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand' (Matt. 7:24, 26). Not surprisingly, Matthew reports 
that `the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as 
their scribes' (7:28-29). The other Gospels report similar reactions to Jesus' teaching (Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32; 
John 7:46)." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of 
Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.214-215)

26/07/2009
"Nor did Jesus speak like a prophet. In the Old Testament, prophets did not speak in their own name or treat 
their own words as the word of God. Instead, when they prophesied, they would generally introduce God's 
message with a formula such as `thus says the Lord' (over 400 times) or `the word of the Lord came' to such-
and-such prophet (about 100 times). Jesus never uses such an introductory formula. Instead, as we have 
just noted, Jesus typically introduced his comments by saying, `I say to you' (about 145 times). While it 
is possible for mere humans to use those words in various contexts without implying any exalted claims for 
themselves, the way Jesus uses them (in deliberate contrast to the most highly respected religious 
authorities of Jewish tradition) does imply such claims. Moreover, seventy-four or seventy-five times Jesus 
uses an introductory locution that appears to be unparalleled: `Amen I say to you' (often translated `Truly I 
say to you'). Jesus' habit of beginning a sentence with the word `Amen' has no precedent in the Old 
Testament, nor have scholars found any precedent in the rest of ancient Jewish literature. This expression 
invests what Jesus is about to say with religious authority and assurance even before he says it. Jesus 
speaks with absolute confidence that what he says-that everything he says-is the absolute truth. `Heaven 
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away' (Matt. 24:35; Mark 13:31). No rabbi, no priest, no 
prophet would ever say `my words' here; they would confidently say that God's words will never pass away, 
but no pious Jew would dare claim that his words would never pass away. Yet Jesus made such a claim. 
Isaiah, one of Israel's greatest prophets, said, `The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God 
will stand forever' (Isa. 40:8). Jesus makes the equivalent claim for his own words. As Ben Witherington 
points out, `Jesus believed he spoke not merely by inspiration and thus for God, but also with divine power 
and authority and for himself... No ordinary or even extraordinary person, whether teacher or prophet, spoke 
this way.' [Witherington, B., III, "The Christology of Jesus," Fortress: Minneapolis, 1990, pp.188-189]" 
(Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ," 
Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, p.215)

26/07/2009
"As with all the other divine attributes of the Son of God, there is another side that results in paradox. We 
saw that the Son is uncreated and yet became a human being; that he is immutable and yet grew up from 
infancy to adulthood; that he is omnipotent and yet experienced weariness, sleep, and even death; that he is 
omnipresent and yet walked from place to place like any ordinary human being. His divine attributes are his 
by virtue of his eternal identity as the Son of God; his finite, human limitations are normal human attributes 
that he has by virtue of his becoming a man in the Incarnation. A similar paradox pertains to his 
omniscience. By virtue of being the divine Son, Jesus was in some sense omniscient, knowing the hearts of 
the people around him; yet, by virtue of his incarnation, Jesus also experienced the normal limitations of 
human knowledge. The New Testament states that Jesus grew in wisdom (Luke 2:40, 52) and that he `learned 
obedience' through his sufferings (Heb. 5:8). Most famously, although Jesus predicted that the destruction 
of Jerusalem and the temple would occur within the lifetime of his generation, he denied knowing the day or 
hour of the end of the age. `Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have 
taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour 
no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.' (Matt. 24:34-36; Mark 13:30-
32) Christians who affirm the deity of Christ take different approaches to resolving this paradox. Some 
Christians suggest that Christ gave up omniscience and other infinite attributes of deity in order to become 
a human being. ... The principal difficulty with this explanation is that it seems to be incompatible with the 
immutability of God. Furthermore, if Christ could not be omniscient and also be human, then it would seem 
that, on this view, Christ is still not omniscient, since according to the New Testament the risen Christ is 
human (Luke 24:39; Acts 17:31; 1 Cor. 15:47; 1 Tim. 2:5). A second approach is to attribute Jesus' lack of 
knowledge strictly to his human nature alone. Jesus is simultaneously omniscient with respect to his divine 
nature and not omniscient with respect to his human nature. When he says that `the Son' does not know, he 
uses this divine title merely as a self-designation, and not to mean that what he says applies to himself in his 
divine nature. This is a possible explanation, but it can be charged with implying that natures know or do 
not know, whereas knowing and not knowing are properties of persons, not natures. To put it more simply 
Jesus did not say, `My human nature does not know,' but rather said that he did not know. A third 
approach agrees that distinguishing the two natures is a key to resolving the paradox but suggests a 
different way of framing the resolution. According to this approach, the divine Son of God knew everything, 
yet chose in his earthly life not to have that knowledge as part of his conscious, human awareness in 
regards to such matters as the timing of his future return. Some theologians put it this way: the Son had the 
knowledge available to him by virtue of his divine nature but chose not to use that knowledge in his human 
life. This explanation allows Christ to know what is in people's hearts, to know that he will die and then rise 
from the dead on the third day, and the like, while not knowing things he did not need to know to 
accomplish his mission. ... The chief difficulty with this approach is that we do not really understand what it 
would be like to be omniscient and choose to experience a lack of knowledge. Then again, we are hardly 
likely to understand what it would be like to be God incarnate in the first place. However we resolve the 
difficulty of his lack of knowledge of certain matters during his earthly life, Jesus has no deficiency of 
knowledge now. The limitations on his knowledge were aspects of his self-imposed act of humbling himself 
to share in our mortal human nature (Phil. 2:6-7; 2 Cor. 8:9). Now, following his resurrection and ascension, in 
Christ `are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.... For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells 
bodily' (Col. 2:3, 9). ... When the disciples asked the risen Jesus if it was then time for the kingdom to be 
restored to Israel-an event they associated with the end of the age-he replied, `It is not for you to know the 
times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority' (Acts 1:7). Here, Jesus did not disavow 
knowing the timing of the event in question, as he had before his death (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32). On the 
other hand, he did not actually claim to have that knowledge either, but again refers to the timing as a matter 
of the Father's prerogative." (Bowman, R.M., Jr. & Komoszewski, J.E., "Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case 
for the Deity of Christ," Kregel: Grand Rapids MI, 2007, pp.120-122, 322 n19. Emphasis original)

27/07/2009
"[Mk 1:]10-11. This is one of the great `trinitarian' passages of the New Testament. Here the Spirit and the 
Father both bear witness to the Son. As in the book of Genesis God created by His word and through the 
Spirit (Gen. 1:2-3), so it was fitting that, at the very commencement of God's new work of re-creation, there 
would be the same operation of the whole Godhead. Here, on Jordan's banks, God speaks His word again, 
and again the Spirit is brooding over the waters, as in Genesis (Gn. 1:2). Mark does not say that the Spirit 
descended on Jesus only at His baptism, however, still less that He only then became the Son of God. Mark 
is clear that Jesus is already Messiah and God's Son (1:1): what he is describing here is a vision that either 
Jesus or John had, after the baptism, as a sign confirming the existing reality of the person and status of 
Jesus. The voice from heaven (11) is a combination of Psalm 2:7, which deals with the Messiah, and Isaiah 
42:1, which deals with the suffering Servant. This creative fusion of two concepts is a perfect expression of 
the double nature of the work of Jesus. The Greek word agapetos, translated beloved, has also the 
nuance of 'only' when applied to a child, and so was particularly appropriate here. The other word for son in 
Greek, pais, can mean both son and 'servant', so would have been doubly appropriate when describing 
Jesus, but although used of Jesus in Matthew (12:18) and Acts (3:13), Mark does not use the word at all, for 
whatever reason." (Cole, R.A., "The Gospel According to Mark: An Introduction and Commentary," The 
Tyndale New Testament commentaries, [1961], Inter-Varsity Press Leicester: UK, Second edition, 1989, 
pp.108-109. Emphasis original)

28/07/2009
"`I Am' Among the other important features of the Johannine presentation of Jesus is a recurrent form of 
expression that functions to indicate vividly his transcendent significance, `I am [Ego eimi],' used in a variety 
of statements. In particular, there are in GJohn [Gospel of John] a number sentences in which `I am' is itself the 
stated claim, and other sentences in which `I am' is followed by predicates that express Jesus' significance.
In the preceding discussion of preexistence I cited John 8:58, one of several instances where Jesus applies the 
expression `I am' in this absolute form (i.e., without a predicate) to himself. The immediate outraged response of 
the crowd - they prepare to stone him (8:59) - indicates the enormity of what the expression connotes in the 
narrative: it is either (as the crowd judges) blasphemy or truly expresses an astonishing claim. Other Johannine 
instances of this absolute form confirm that it functions as an important christological expression. Note the 
following examples: `Unless you believe that I am, you will surely die in your sins' (8:24); `When you lift up the 
son of man, then you will realize that I am' (8:28); `When this [what Jesus has foretold] happens, then you will 
believe that I am' (13:19). Clearly, in all these cases `I am' itself expresses a vital christological claim that can be 
perceived, and either believed or rejected, with momentous consequences. Yet, equally, to perceive the claim 
requires some special knowledge of the significance of this `I am' formulation, for it is as strange-sounding and 
mysterious in Greek as it is in literal translation. ... Indeed, this use of `I am' is probably influenced by, and alludes 
to, Old Testament passages where God uses the same sort of self-referential language, particularly passages in 
Isaiah (e.g., LXX Isa. 43:10, 25; 45:18 for uses of Ego eimi). In fact, in the Old Testament passages the Greek 
expression, and the Hebrew expressions it translates, appear to function almost like the name of God. So in the 
story of Jesus walking on the water in John 6:16-20, Jesus' use of the expression (v. 20) both identifies him (in the 
sense of `It is I') and also probably signals readers that this is an epiphanic scene (the same seems to be the case 
in the Synoptic versions of this story too, in Mark 6:50/Matt. 14:27). This latter connotation is also suggested 
dramatically in John 18:5-6, where the soldiers sent to arrest Jesus fall to the ground when he utters the 
expression. A few examples of this sonorous expression appear in the Synoptic Gospels, and they are also clearly 
intended to have a connotation beyond mere self-identification." (Hurtado, L.W., "Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to 
Jesus in Earliest Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, pp.370-371)

28/07/2009
"Most importantly, in light of the biblical passages to which the obvious allusions are directed, this absolute use 
of `I am' in the Gospels amounts to nothing less than designating Jesus with the same special referential formula 
that is used in the Greek Old Testament for God's own self-declaration. That is, the `I am' expression as used in 
GJohn reflects the belief that Jesus is in some direct way associated with God. I shall say more on this later in this 
chapter, but the basic point here is that this appropriation of the `I am' expression reflects a daring christological 
conviction, and itself constitutes a breathtaking devotional move. In the Isaiah uses to which direct allusion is 
made in GJohn, `I am' expresses the uniqueness of the God of Israel. The application of this self-designation 
formula to Jesus can indicate only that those who did this associated him with God `the Father' so closely that he 
can rightly share in its self-referential usage." (Hurtado, L.W., "Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest 
Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, pp.371-372)

28/07/2009
"The Hebrew expression most often translated into Greek as Ego eimi is 'ani hu' (`I am He,' Isa. 41:4; 43:10; 
46:4), and in one case 'ani Yhwh ('I am Yahweh,' e.g., Isa. 45:18). Other relevant biblical expressions are `I am 
Yahweh/the Lord' (often with further identifying phrasing; e.g., Exod. 20:2; Ezek. 33:29; 36:36; 37:6,13; 39:28; Isa. 
44:6, 24). `I am [+ predicate]' statements abound especially in religious texts of the ancient world, but the absolute 
form, Ego eimi, does not occur in classical Greek literature; it is in fact very difficult to posit any assured uses 
of the expression in sources prior to (or not influenced by) the New Testament writings except for the uses in 
the Greek Old Testament such as those cited here (and others, e.g., Deut. 32:39). " (Hurtado, L.W., "Lord Jesus 
Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, p.371)

28/07/2009
"In addition to the Synoptic parallels of the sea miracle cited above, note also the following uses of the absolute 
`I am' expression. Jesus' prediction that people will come falsely claiming `Ego eimi' (Mark 13:6/Luke 21:8) may 
be patterned after the christological use of this expression, but cf. the form of the saying in Matt. 24:5, `I am (the) 
Christ:' In Mark 14:62 Jesus uses the expression in replying to the high priest's question about whether he claims 
to be Christ and Son of God; but cf Luke 22:70, `You say that I am,' and Matt. 26:64, `You say so:' Cf. also Luke 
24:39, where the risen Jesus urges disciples to see from his bodily reality that `it is I myself' (Ego eimi autos)." 
(Hurtado, L.W., "Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, 
p.371)

29/07/2009
"In addition to a more frequent use of this absolute `I am' form, GJohn also has a number of other striking and 
unique statements of Jesus in which the `I am' is combined with a predicate, the sentence making an exclusive 
christological claim. There are several related statements in the debate with the Jewish crowd in John 6, after the 
bread miracle: `I am the bread of life [ho artos tes zoes]' (vv. 35, 48); `I am the bread that came down from 
heaven' (v. 41); and `I am the living bread [ho artos ho zon] which came down from heaven' (v. 51). In the 
context, the force of these statements is to express Jesus' redemptive significance through comparison and 
contrast with the biblical story of manna provided to Israel by God ('bread from heaven,' Ps. 78:24, cited in John 
6:31). Thus Jesus comes from heaven, and is the true life-giving provision from God ('the true bread from heaven,' 
6:32), for which the Old Testament manna is only an inferior comparison. Jesus also claims to be `the light of the 
world' (8:12; 9:5), which echoes and affirms the statements in the prologue that he is `the light of all people' (to 
phos ton anthropon, 1:4) and `the true light that illumines all people' (1:9). In 10:7, 9 Jesus says, `I am the gate 
of/for the sheep' and `I am the gate'; in the same context he also twice claims to be `the good shepherd' (10:11, 14) 
who lays down his life for his sheep and knows his own as they know him. To Martha Jesus claims, `I am the 
resurrection and the life' (11:25), and to Thomas he makes the strong exclusivist statement, `I am the way, the 
truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me' (14:6). Finally, in 15:1-5 Jesus claims, `I am the true vine, 
and my Father is the vine-grower,' and then `I am the vine, and you are the branches.'" (Hurtado, L.W., "Lord 
Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, p.372)

29/07/2009
"These `I am' statements (both the absolute forms and the predicate forms) combine to form an impressive 
constellation of christological claims, each of them attributing to Jesus a unique and utterly superior status and 
significance. The consistent use of the definite article in the predicative statements expresses Jesus' exclusivity: 
e.g., `the way, the truth, the life.' The repeated use of the adjective `true' posits Jesus' superiority to any other 
claimant. Thus, as `the true light' (1:9; cf 1 John 2:8), Jesus is superior to the revelation given through Moses 
(John 1:16-18); as `the true bread that came down from heaven' (6:32), Jesus supersedes the manna given by 
Moses; and as `the true vine' (15:1), Jesus redefines the elect as those who abide in him, an allusive contrast to 
Old Testament references to Israel as God's sacred vine (e.g., Isa. 5:1-7). Furthermore, especially in the absolute `I 
am' statements but also in some of the predicative statements, Jesus speaks in the manner of God, and claims to 
be authorized to exercise the powers and prerogatives of God. To cite one transparent example, the statement in 
John 11:25, `I am the resurrection and the life,' corresponds to statements in 5:21-29 that the Father who has 
power to raise the dead has granted the Son resurrection power as well (vv. 21, 26, 28), and has authorized the 
Son to execute `all judgment' (vv. 22, 2]). In the coming resurrection `the dead will hear the voice of the Son of 
God, and those who hear will live' (v. 25). Consequently, obeying Jesus' word is the determining factor as to 
whether one comes into eschatological life or judgment (v. 24). Still further, it is God's will that `all may honor the 
Son just as they honor the Father'; indeed, to refuse to honor the Son is to dishonor the Father (v. 23). As I have 
indicated already, the term for `honor' used here can refer to worship-honor given to a deity, so worship is 
obviously what is intended in verse 23." (Hurtado, L.W., "Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest 
Christianity," Eerdmans: Grand Rapids MI, 2005, pp.372-373)

30/07/2009
"[Rom 8:34] Who is at the right hand of God. An echo of Psalm 110:1, 'The LORD says to my lord: `Sit at my 
right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.'" These words, whose Messianic reference was 
apparently accepted by Jewish scribes of our Lord's time (cf. Mk. 12:35-37), were applied to Jesus from the 
earliest days of the church, and form the biblical foundation of the doctrine of his exaltation and session at 
the Father's right hand - that is, in the place of supremacy over the universe." (Bruce, F.F., "The Letter of 
Paul to the Romans: An Introduction and Commentary," [1963 ], Inter-Varsity Press: Leicester UK, Second 
edition, 1985, Reprinted, 1987, p.170)

30/07/2009
"[Rom 9:5] patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons. Christ, who is God. One of the clearest 
statements of the deity of Jesus Christ found in the entire NT, assuming the accuracy of the translation ... 
See also 1:4; Mt 1:23; 28:19; Lk 1:35; 5:20-21; Jn 1:1,3,10,14,18; 5:18; 2Co 13:14; Php 2:6; Col 1:15-20; 2:9; Tit 
2:13; Heb 1:3,8; 2Pe 1:1; Rev 1:13-18; 22:13." (Barker, K., ed., "The NIV Study Bible," Zondervan: Grand 
Rapids MI, 1985, p.1719)

30/07/2009
"[Romans 9:5] God who is over all be blessed for ever. The relation of these words to those which 
precede is disputed. RSV takes them as an independent ascription of praise to God, prompted by the 
mention of God's crowning his many blessings on Israel by sending them the Messiah (similarly NEB, GNB). 
They may be taken, on the other hand, as in apposition to `the Christ'; so RSV margin: 'who is God over all, 
blessed for ever' (similarly AV, RV, NIV). The latter construction is more in keeping with the general 
structure of the sentence (cf. 1:25, where the words 'who is blessed for ever! Amen' are not an independent 
ascription of praise but the integral peroration of the sentence, standing in apposition to 'the Creator'). It is 
further supported by the consideration that something is required to balance the phrase 'according to the 
flesh' (as in 1:3-4, where the same phrase is balanced by 'according to the Spirit of holiness'). Here the 
Messiah is said, with regard to his human descent, to have come of a long line of Israelite ancestors; but as 
regards his eternal being, he is 'God over all, blessed for ever'. It is true that Paul is not in the habit of calling 
Christ 'God'; he reserves for him the title 'Lord': 'for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things 
and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist' 
(1 Cor. 8:6). Yet for Paul Christ is the one in whom, through whom and for whom all things were created (Col. 
1:16), in whom 'the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily' (Col. 2:9). 'The judgment seat of God' (14:10) is 
called in 2 Corinthians 5:10 'the judgment seat of Christ'. Moreover, when Paul gives Jesus the title 'Lord', he 
does so because God the Father has bestowed this title on him as 'the name which is above every name' 
(Phil. 2:9). This title 'Lord' is given to Jesus by Paul as the equivalent of Yahweh; his application of Isaiah 
45:23 (cf. Rom. 14:11) to Jesus in Philippians 2:10-11 indicates that to him the confession 'Jesus Christ is 
Lord' is equivalent to 'Jesus Christ is Yahweh'." (Bruce, F.F., "The Letter of Paul to the Romans: An 
Introduction and Commentary," [1963 ], Inter-Varsity Press: Leicester UK, Second edition, 1985, Reprinted, 
1987, p.176)

30/07/2009
"[Rom 9:5] Of whom (ex hon). Fourth relative clause and here with ex and the ablative. Christ (ho 
Christos). The Messiah. As concerning the flesh (to kata sarka). Accusative of general reference, `as to 
the according to the flesh.' Paul limits the descent of Jesus from the Jews to his human side as he did in 1:3f. 
Who is over all, God blessed for ever (ho on epi panton theos eulogetos). A clear statement of the 
deity of Christ following the remark about his humanity. This is the natural and the obvious way of 
punctuating the sentence. To make a full stop after sarka (or colon) and start a new sentence for the 
doxology is very abrupt and awkward. See Acts 20:28 and Titus 2:13 for Paul's use of theos applied to 
Jesus Christ." (Robertson, A.T., "Word Pictures in the New Testament: Volume IV: The Epistles of Paul," 
Broadman Press: Nashville TN, 1931, p.381)

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