Trinitarians see Jesus as YHWH

Having to read scholarly work on the Godhead from a Trinitarian perspective may have its surprises!

I recently read the book God Crucified by Richard Bauckham and I found that he had some beautiful insights into the deity of Jesus, specially his explanations of Jesus as the greatest revelation of God, “when the christological pattern of humiliation and exaltation is recognized as revelatory of God, indeed as the definitive revelation of who God is.” We can say, Amén! to that.

German theologian Louis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology gives some more theological Oneness “candy” when he says, “All the titles which in the N[ew] T[estament] are ascribed to Christ have an O[ld] T[estament] root,” and recognizes, in my view, that a Trinitarian attempt to harmonize passages like John 10:30 and John 14:28 has “given classical systematic theologians great difficulty.” To Oneness believers passages like those were used to teach us that Jesus was both God and man even when we were new converts.

I certainly enjoyed reading Berkhof and Bauckham’s take on the deity of Jesus. They brought to mind once again that the most substantial evidence for who Jesus is can be found in Jesus’ own words and self-understanding. His actions, his life, speak so loud that we really would not need a theologian like Paul to help us understand that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,” or that “God was manifest in the flesh.” Facts that to some are but details attain greater significance when seen through the eyes of a first century Jew.

For instance, the fact that Jesus healed all manners of disease, cast out demons, even resurrected the dead, and not even once calling the name of God over them to do it. He never said, “In the Name of YHWH you are healed,” yet, in His John 17 prayer, He assures the Father that He has made God’s name known. He affirms He revealed the Name of God, yet we find Him always saying, “In my Name you shall cast out demons...”, “where two or three are gathered together in my Name...”, etc.

He revealed the Name that was given to Him as inheritance: the very Name of God (Hebrews 1:4).

In Jesus we truly encounter YHWH revealed for our salvation.


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