Christians have always claimed to be in profound theological unity with Israel’s great confession: “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord” (Dt 6:4 LXX); yet they have have had no qualm about confessing “one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:6).
Lets examine in full the two verses, and evidence the Greek of the critical words …
“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord” [kyrios eis] (Dt 6:4 LXX)
“Yet for us there is one God [eis theos], the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord [eis kyrios], Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” 1 Cor 8:6)
… it becomes even more evident that Paul attributes ONLY to Jesus the qualification of eis kyrios, that the Deuteronomy attributes ONLY to YHWH …
… unless, of course, in desperation, one claims that the order of the words eis and kyrios makes all the difference.
So, reading the text of 1 Corinthians 8:6, it seem that Paul has introduced a very relevant shift in the Biblical doctrine of the Godhead: the “one God, the Father” shares the title of “one Lord” with the Jesus Christ, nay Jesus Christ has become the “one Lord”.
Perhaps, more that anything else, this is the reason why the Jews considered Paul with great suspicion.
Are you saying that Jesus Christ just is YHWH, or that Jesus is identified with a peculiar epithet of YHWH by virtue of His incarnation as God's Logos? And does this mean that one ought to worship Jesus equally with YHWH, or is there some lower order of worship that is proper to him?
ReplyDeleteI am saying that Jesus, being the incarnation of YHWH's Word/logos/debar, YHWH's essential, eternal attribute, is "of the same substance" as YHWH. This doesn't mean that Jesus is an "eternal person", and even less that he is the "second person of the Trinity". Should Jesus be worshipped? Since YHWH had his sit at His right, and "exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name", most definitely yes.
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