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From ancient times, the Jews understood that the coming Messiah would be a servant or agent of Yahuwah who would rule on Yahuwah’s behalf.1 Just as King David was referred to as Yahuwah’s anointed2, so the coming king would be called the same:
Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahuwah and against His Anointed.
The Christ of Yahuwah
From ancient times, the Jews understood that the coming Messiah would be a servant or agent of Yahuwah who would rule on Yahuwah’s behalf.
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To be sure, throughout Scripture, Yahushua is referred to as being of or belonging to Yahuwah. For example, in Luke’s account of the famous exchange between Yahushua and his disciples, we find Yahushua described as the Christ of Yahuwah:
Luke 9:20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of Yahuwah.”
On a separate occasion, John records a similar exchange between Yahushua and his disciples where they acknowledge that he is of Yahuwah:
John 6:69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of Yahuwah.”
The word holy in Greek is hagios, which means set apart by or for Yahuwah. In other words, the disciples did not believe that Yahushua was Yahuwah but that he had been set apart by Yahuwah for His use.
Nevertheless, even those who did not align themselves with Yahushua understood that Christ would be “of Yahuwah.” For example, at Yahushua’s crucifixion, the rulers of the people said as much:
Luke 23:35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of Yahuwah, His Chosen One.”
After Yahushua’s resurrection, Peter declared that the cross had been a part of Yahuwah’s plan for His Christ:
Acts 3:18 “But the things which Yahuwah announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Peter later quoted Psalm 2 in his prayer as having been fulfilled in Yahushua’ suffering and death:
Acts 4:24, 26-28 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to Yahuwah with one accord and said…’THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ 27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Yahushua, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
Even after Yahushua’s ascension to Yahuwah’s right hand, Peter still refers to Yahushua as Yahuwah’s Christ and Yahuwah’s servant.
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Even after Yahushua’s ascension to Yahuwah’s right hand, Peter still refers to Yahushua as Yahuwah’s Christ and Yahuwah’s servant. What’s more, in John’s heavenly vision, the seventh angel confirms that Yahushua is the Lord’s (Yahuwah’s) Christ:
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
Once more, the angel declares in a loud voice that Yahushua is Yahuwah’s Christ:
Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
Christ Belongs to Yahuwah
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, conveys Yahushua’s relationship to Yahuwah in very similar terms:
1 Corinthians 3:21-23 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to Yahuwah.
Paul said that all things belong to the disciples, who belong to Christ in the same way that Christ belongs to Yahuwah. The word belong does not appear in the original Greek text which reads “you of Christ, Christ of God [Yahuwah].”3 Thus, Young’s Literal Translation adds basic “be” verbs to the sentence to lessen its awkwardness for English readers:
1 Corinthians 3:23 ye are Christ’s, and Christ is Yahuwah’s.
Paul said that all things belong to the disciples, who belong to Christ in the same way that Christ belongs to Yahuwah.
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Similarly, several translators, like the NASB above, add the phrase “belongs to” so as to clarify the meaning of the text.4 In other words, “Christ of Yahuwah” means that Christ belongs to Yahuwah.
Spiros Zodhiates speaks to this as well when he references 1 Corinthians 3:23 and says that it refers to the “possession, property” of a master, teacher, or guide.5 In like manner, another commentator defines Yahuwah’s relationship to Yahushua as that of an owner or proprietor:
Yahuwah has a proprietorship in all that [Yahushua] does since Christ lived, acted, and reigns to promote the glory of his Father.6
Not surprisingly, then, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states that the passage means that Yahushua is “subject to [Yahuwah]; to be in his hands or power.”7
Christ is Subordinate to Yahuwah
The fact that Yahushua is the Christ of Yahuwah creates a problem for those who hold to the doctrine of the Trinity, which states that Yahuwah the Father, Yahushua, and the Holy Spirit are all co-equally God. Yet, as we have seen, Scripture clearly states that Yahushua belongs to Yahuwah and is subordinate to Him. F.B. Meyer admits in his commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:23 that “The strict monotheism of the N. T. (see on Romans 9:5), and the relation of Christ as the Son to the Father, necessarily give the idea of the subordination of Christ under Yahuwah.“8
This reality is stated in other passages as well. For example, Paul speaks to this rather specifically when he addresses the topic of the coming kingdom of Yahuwah. The apostle writes that Yahuwah has put all things in subjection to Yahushua, all things, that is, except Yahuwah Himself:
1 Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to Him [Yahushua], then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that Yahuwah may be all in all.
Why is Yahushua subordinate to Yahuwah? Because, as Scripture repeatedly states, only one God is the Father, and He alone reigns supreme.
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Why is Yahushua subordinate to Yahuwah? Because, as Scripture repeatedly states, only one God is the Father, and He alone reigns supreme. Yahushua, Yahuwah’s royal servant,9 himself, said:
John 14:28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
To be sure, Yahuwah is greater than the Son, for it was Yahuwah who exalted Yahushua to His right hand for his obedience.10 And it is this Yahuwah who is the head of Christ:
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and Yahuwah is the head of Christ.
Scripture vs Orthodoxy
The orthodoxy that developed in the first few centuries after Yahushua’s ascension contravenes this Biblical truth. Having read the Jewish Scriptures through their Platonic lens, the Church Fathers reclassified Yahushua as a man with two natures. They reasoned that Yahushua was subordinate to Yahuwah only concerning his human nature. On the other hand, they theorized that his supposed divine nature was equal to the Father. However, no Biblical author speaks of Yahushua as having dual natures. Furthermore, no one qualifies Yahushua’s subordination as excluding a theorized divine nature. Indeed, this was a post-Biblical development.
Adam Clarke’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:23 is just one example of how Greek philosophy, which slowly began to infiltrate the Church after the first century, still finds its expression in today’s dogma:
Scripture teaches that Yahushua is not Yahuwah; instead, he is the Christ of Yahuwah.
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And Christ is of God. Christ, the Messiah, is the gift of God’s eternal love and mercy to mankind…Christ in his human nature is as much the property of God as any other human being. And as mediator between God and man, he must be considered, in a certain way, inferior to God, but in his own essential, eternal nature, there is no inequality – he is God over all.11
The text forces Clarke to admit that it teaches that Yahushua is the “property of God” just as “any other human being” is. But he is compelled by post-Biblical orthodoxy to add to the text by saying that Yahuwah’s superiority to Christ is only over Christ’s human nature since the Son is himself, “God overall.” This is anachronistic and directly contradicts Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15 that even in the coming eternal kingdom, Yahushua is subjected to Yahuwah the Father12 so that “Yahuwah may be all in all.”13
Unlike Church orthodoxy, Paul is consistent in his Christology. The one God is the Father,14 and He is Yahuwah overall:
Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Scripture teaches that Yahushua is not Yahuwah; instead, he is the Christ of Yahuwah. Moreover, he belongs to Yahuwah in the same way that we belong to Him. The Christ cannot be Yahuwah and belong to Yahuwah simultaneously.
1 Isaiah 42:1; Micah 5:2.
2 2 Chronicles 6:42.
3 Berean Literal Bible, https://biblehub.com/blb/1_corinthians/3.htm ; The text in Greek, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_corinthians/3-23.htm
4 NASB, Holman Christian Standard, Berean Study Bible, Weymouth New Testament, etc.
5Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992), p. 516.
6 Barne’s Notes, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/3-23.htm
7Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, https://biblehub.com/greek/1510.htm
8 Meyer’s NT Commentary, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/1_corinthians/3.htm
9 Acts 4:24, 26-28
10 Philippians 2:5-11; Ephesians 1:19-22.
11 Adam Clarke Commentary, StudyLight.org, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/1-corinthians-3.html
12 1 Corinthians 15:24.
13 1 Corinthians 15:28.
14 1 Corinthians 1:3; 8:6; Ephesians 1:2-3; Romans 16:27; 1 Timothy 2:5, etc.
This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://oneGodworship.com/christ-belongs-to-God/
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
