Weekly Devotional 9-28-15 My Father is Greater Than I
A sister in the Lord told me recently of a visit she had by two Jehovah Witnesses who asked her, “If Jesus was God, why did He say ‘The Father is greater than I’ in John 14:28?” She answered with Jesus’ words recorded in John 14:9-10 where in conversation with one of His apostles said, “9 Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
I am not sure if this had an impact on them or not, only the Lord knows, but from the time she told me of this conversation I have been considering how I might encourage her. In her walk before the Lord this won’t be the last time that she will be challenged. Searching for the best words by which I might encourage her I turned to GotQuestions.org a volunteer ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics.
They write that the phrase “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28) was spoken by Jesus during the upper room discourse, and the greater context is the promising of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus says repeatedly that He is doing the Father’s will, thereby implying that He is somehow subservient to the Father. The question then becomes how can Jesus be equal to God when by His own admission He is subservient to the will of God? The answer to this question lies within the nature of the incarnation.
During the incarnation, Jesus was temporarily ‘made lower than the angels’ (Hebrews 2:9), which refers to Jesus’ status. The doctrine of the incarnation says that the second Person of the Trinity took on human flesh. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, Jesus was fully human and ‘made lower than the angels.’ However, Jesus is full deity too. By taking on human nature, Jesus did not relinquish His divine nature—God cannot stop being God. How do we reconcile the fact that the second Person of the Trinity is full deity yet fully human, and by definition, ‘lower than the angels’? The answer to this question can be found in Philippians 2:5-11.
‘5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (NKJV).
When the second Person of the Trinity took on human form something amazing occurred. Christ ‘made himself nothing.’ This phrase has generated more ink than almost any other phrase in the Bible. In essence, what it means is that Jesus voluntarily relinquished the prerogative of freely exercising His divine attributes and subjected Himself to the will of the Father while on earth.
Another thing to consider is the fact that subservience in role does not equate to subservience in essence. For example, consider an employer/employee relationship. The employer has the right to make demands of the employee and the employee has the obligation to serve the employer. The roles clearly define a subservient relationship. However, both people are still human beings and share in the same human nature. There is no difference between the two as to their essence; they stand as equals. The fact that one is an employer and the other is an employee does nothing to alter the essential equality of these two individuals as human beings. The same can be said of the members of the Trinity. All three members (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are essentially equal; i.e., they are all divine in nature. However, in the grand plan of redemption, they play certain roles, and these roles define authority and subservience. The Father commands the Son, and the Father and the Son command the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the fact that the Son took on a human nature and made Himself subservient to the Father in no way denies the deity of the Son, nor does it diminish His essential equality with the Father. The ‘greatness’ spoken of in this verse, then, relates to role, not to essence.”
Many are they who will not accept the plain truth of Scripture which clearly declares that Jesus was God in the flesh. The apostle John for instance declares, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (NKJV)…. “14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-3; 14 NKJV).
Further, the Holy Spirit inspired writer of the Book of Hebrews was led to write,“1For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘ Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.’ 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’8Previously saying, ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’ which are offered according to the law), 9then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:1-18 NKJV).
How can anyone deny these truths? Scripture clearly states that God the Son became the Son of God for the purpose of sacrificing Himself on the cross of Calvary. God is eternal and cannot die, so in his love of man He took upon Himself human flesh, becoming the man Jesus so that he could as a human die. The wonder of it is the taking on of flesh did not negate that He was God, but in flesh He subjected Himself to the will and direction of God the Father.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman@comcast.net
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man
www.gbchurch.us