Some notes of Max Hatton which reveal that Jesus Christ is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. It can be shown that each Member of the Trinity is Yahweh but in this paper we will confine our study to the person of the Lord Jesus. Scriptures quoted will be from the New International Version.

My purpose in providing these notes is to show the impossibility of Jesus being a literal Only Begotten Son of God. First of all an example of an Old Testament reference that is applied in the New Testament to Jesus:

Joel 2:32 – “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13 - “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Without doubt Joel 2:32 refers to calling on the name of Yahweh. Paul now applies the same phrase to the Lord Jesus. In effect Jesus is being designated as Yahweh. The evidence requires us to accept that He is Yahweh - the context of Romans 10:13 insists that this is so.

Jesus is Yahweh

Now some other interesting evidence of the fact that Jesus is Yahweh:

1. Yahweh says that He created everything alone, by Himself – Isaiah 44:24. Jesus is the Creator. Colossians 1:16, 17 advises that Jesus created everything and all was for Himself - additionally He preserves everything. Zechariah 12:1 advises that Yahweh is “the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth.”  Hebrews 1:10 advises about Jesus, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

2. Yahweh is the first and the last – “This is what the LORD says – Israel’sKing and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” - Isaiah 44:6. See also Isaiah 48:12.Of Jesus Revelation says: “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever.” - Revelation 1:17, 18. See also 2:8; 22:12, 13. It is only possible to have one First and one Last. Yahweh and Jesus are the same.

3. Yahweh will not share His glory. “I am the LORD; that is my name! I willnot give my glory to another.” – Isaiah 42:8. Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” – John 17:5.

4. How many can be “King of kings and Lord of lords”?Deuteronomy 10:17 says of Yahweh, “the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords.” 1 Timothy 6:15 refers to God as “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”Revelation 17:14 reports that “the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings.” Read the similar statement in Revelation 19:16.

5. Who alone is able to read the hearts of men?1 Kings 8:39 says of Yahweh, “you alone know the hearts of all men.” See also Psalm 7:9.At Revelation 2:23 we find Jesus claiming to be the one who has the ability to do this:“I am he who searches hearts and minds.” See also John 2:24, 25.Again it is quite clear that Jesus is Yahweh.

6. Who was the God of Israel? Of course it was Yahweh who was Jesus.1 Corinthians 10:4 – “the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”This verse applies to the God of Israel who accompanied them at the time of the Exodus. That God was Yahweh – that God was Jesus.

7. John 8:58 reveals that Jesus was the great I AM of Exodus 3:14. The Jews knew very well that Jesus was making the claim to be the God of the Old Testament and they took up stones to stone Him for committing blaspheme.

It hardly needs saying that Jesus cannot be the Yahweh of the Old Testament and at the same time be His own literal Son.

The King James Version translates the Greek word monogenes as “Only-Begotten” at John 3:16. This is an incorrect rendering as many modern translations show clearly. The word monogenes should be rendered as only or unique. The false rendering comes from confusion among early Christians, which was transmitted through the Roman Catholic Church past the Reformation into the Protestant Churches. Modern Scholarship has corrected the error. The following is from one of our Scholars at the Biblical Research Institute:

The Only One Unique by Angel Manual Rodriguez. “When the term is used to describe Jesus, it simply means ‘unique,’ or ‘one and only.’ It describes the uniqueness of His nature.”

Many other authorities could be cited, this is just one further example:

Newman and Nida in their A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of John, United Bible Societies, New York, 1980, were able to confidently state on page 24:

There is no doubt regarding the meaning of the Greek word used here (monogenes); it means “only” and not “only begotten.”

Conclusion

We can say without the slightest doubt that Jesus is Yahweh and therefore He cannot be his own only begotten son. Anti-Trinitarians in our Church do Him a great disservice when they try to make out that He is an inferior god who was born from God at sometime in the ancient past.

God says, “Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” Isaiah 43:10.