JESUS SON OF GOD, SON OF MAN

By Bro. Manny, OTFS Chief Apologist

In Psalm 45:6-7 it says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your fellows." In the original Greek version, this is what it says "
Ως εκ τούτου ο Θεός, ο Θεός σας, σας έχει έχρισε Με το λάδι της χαράς παραπάνω υποτρόφων σας"

The Greek word for God is Θεός it's used twice original Greek translation thus the one being addressed is God who has been anointed by his God with oil of joy above his fellows. 

The mystery in the Psalm is that there is a God who is anointed by his God. Which in effect would point to a God with a God? Are there two Gods? Is the Psalm referring to a God that is lesser than the God who anointed him? For the one who anoints should be greater than the one anointed. But its also very clear in the scripture that God is one and there is no other God. So what is Psalm 45:6-7 tells us? 

First to understand Psalm 45:6-7 in its proper context we need to know who is it referring to as the God who is anointed by his God. It is generally accepted by many knowledgeable Theologians and Scholars of the Bible that the scripture refers to Jesus who is the Christ, the Messiah, who is the anointed one of God. Jesus declared himself to be no other but the Messiah Himself, the Christ who is to come. Let us recall that Jesus started his public ministry with a declaration in the town of Nazareth, his hometown where he's known as the carpenter's son and his mother Mary and this what happened according to the Gospel of Luke 4:16-21 Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news (the Gospel) to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

Then he rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began by saying, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" 

It was an earthshaking declaration to the faithful Jews who knew that the scripture reading in Isaiah refers to the Christ, the Messiah who is the Holy One of God that will come to re-establish the kingdom of David. Apparently just like today many Jews did not fully understand the scripture. A mob of enraged Jews who may even be his neighbors and his childhood playmates in Nazareth began to gather around him. He was led out of the Synagogue to be pushed to the cliff and stoned to death for claiming to be the Anointed One, the Messiah. To their hearing, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and thus knowing him as coming from their own town, he could not be and with that he just committed an act punishable by death, while saying "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"

In Jesus' own words he is the one referred to in Isaiah as the Anointed One and therefore the same one referred to in Psalm 45:6-7 as many theologians also agreed. But there is something more to the passage and that how can God anoint a God if they are just one God? I believe that it refers to Jesus as a Man-God. The Psalm recognizes that Jesus although he became man has not lost his original nature as God. The vision of the Psalmist who is believed to be King David, is that of Jesus his God, but he sees him also as a man in the flesh who calls on his Father his God thus the dual meaning of "God, your God" has anointed you. Therefore in the Old Testament, the one who is coming, the Anointed One of God is God. Jesus who is the Anointed one is God.

Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God.

It says in John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. This biblical scripture stressed out one very important point, "NO MAN HAD SEEN GOD THE FATHER AT ANY TIME" yet Jesus has come from his bosom as the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON and Jesus alone declared or made known the Father to us. If therefore he comes from the bosom of the father which means out from the Father then he must be of the same nature as the Father who is God and therefore God. Ok, let us further discuss the meaning of the word "begotten".

Begotten is past participle of the verb beget which means to generate or Father an offspring. It is typically used for male gender in generic meaning begotten is a reproduction of the parent. Beget is to reproduce or bring into being. Thus a begotten is one in substance and nature of one who begot him. It's different from creating or make because one can create or make something but not of the same nature or substance since to create or to make means something that is created or made does not have the same substance as the creator. This brings us to the Article of Faith of the Catholic Church that spells out the doctrine of Jesus Christ as Man and God in the following creed:

"I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man."

Here in the excerpt from the Nicene Creed it has aptly described what is the meaning of Begotten Son of God which is that Jesus is born of the Father before all ages, therefore Jesus is eternal for God is eternal and it is in eternity that Jesus was born. Before all ages mean before even time began and that is at the point when there is only eternity and there was no time yet for time is also created by God, thus to say Jesus is born before all ages mean he is eternal like the Father who has no beginning for how can one determine his beginning which is a point in time when there was only eternity and infinity. But then he said he is the beginning and end, that refers to creation which made the heavens and the earth from the beginning and he also will be the one to end them to create a new earth and new heaven. God has no beginning and end, he is eternal. Jesus is simply pointing out that he is from the beginning of creation because he is Word of God from whom all creation has come to existence including time and of which the end of the age will also come.

As God from God and Light from Light, Jesus is a true God because he is begotten (reproduction) of the Father who is the true God. Why? Would God the Father produce an offspring from his own substance and nature that is not God? Even by the nature of God that can be seen in his creation where man is reproduced from a man not of another being. Likewise God from God. That is why John said "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". Thus Jesus is born of the Father, a distinct person in one Godhead, the Son of God by his nature, substance and power. He is therefore equal to the Father in all his attributes, qualities, nature, substance and power but he is obedient to him as his Son. Jesus being subservient to the Father has only his will to follow. They are not two but one and together with the Holy Spirit which preceded from them as One God in 3 divine persons equal in power but eternally united and undivided which we call the Holy Trinity. 

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-6

"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Jesus is the Christ and he is both man and God. The Son of Man and the Son of God. He is true God and true man in one person united in one physical body in one being but has retained the nature of each person. This union is inseparable and indivisible which is termed as hypostatic union of the divine and the human in one being or one person, not two but one.  The hypostatic union is the mystical union of the divine person and the human person in one being which is somewhat incomprehensible to our finite human mind but can only be understood in the eyes of faith. We know that this is true because it has been witnessed not just by the scriptures, the words of God and the angels but also by men who walked with Jesus and have known him up close and personal.

Being both God and man in one body, Jesus was raised from the dead with his glorified human body and HE ASCENDED TO HEAVEN BODY, BLOOD, SOUL AND DIVINITY as he sits at the right hand of the Father. What does this tell us? This tell us that Jesus as both God and Man is indivisible with his two natures eternally fused and unified in one being to the delight of the Father who created man to the image and likeness of God. God who is spirit and is invisible has never been seen by man until Christ came, no one has seen God. But with Christ, the Godhead suddenly can be seen, we can behold him. The Godhead has become visible in Christ in his glorious human body. This is the essence of Jesus telling Philip, have I not been with you and you look for the Father? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father also. Since the fullness of the Godhead is in Jesus Christ with his coming as man and ascending to heaven both as God and Man we have finally seen God who came to be in the world but the world did not recognize their creator. Having the physical body, man is able to relate with him and make an image of him in paintings, in statues that will remind men how Jesus looks and thus how God looks. Thus it is written by God with Us.

We know that Jesus is  a true human being because he was conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While Jesus declared God his Father, likewise the Blessed Mother brought us the only Begotten Son of God in human form. Her flesh is his flesh; her blood, his blood; God chose to be born of woman and therefore became true human being with his Father, the true living God and his mother a true human being. He lived in obedience with her mother and was with her for his entire earthly life. No one knew Jesus up close and personal more than the Blessed Mother. Thus the Holy Spirit inspiring Elizabeth would have the son in her womb leaped with joy at hearing the voice of the Virgin Mary.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to us. He who is true God lived with us, became truly human and one of us, suffered like us, experience pain and disappointments, prayed like us, cried and laughed like us he did everything as a normal ordinary human being except to sin. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven with his glorified body. This is an absolute truth and revealed doctrine from God and that to teach and preach otherwise is a grave sin that can bring one straight to hell.

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