Did Paul Believe that Jesus Is God?

(Part of chapter 42. The Jesus of Paul)

 Note: Words and phrases within curly braces { } within quotations are furnished by the author to explain such quotations. Words and phrases within square brackets [ ] within quotations are part of the quoted text.    

Who Was the God of Paul?

          Paul wrote, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ ...” (Romans 1:8 RSV) His god was the Father of Jesus. “…before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord {Master} Jesus …” (1 Thessalonians 3:13 NASB) “Blessed be God and Father {Gr. ο θεός καί πατήρ} of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (2 Corinthians 1:3 NASB) [1]  In other words, “blessed be God, who is the Father of our Master Jesus.” Paul’s god was the god of Jesus. He wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father …” (Ephesians 1:17 NIV) Paul and Jesus prayed to the same god. Paul prayed to God through Jesus, whereas Jesus prayed directly to God. Paul, repeatedly, identified God as “the Father” and Jesus as “our Lord” (our Master). He repeatedly identified God as one person, and Jesus as another person: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... knows that I lie not.” (2 Corinthians 11:31 KJV) [2] Paul served Jesus, so that he may be acceptable to God: “The one who … serves {Gr. ο δουλεύον} Christ is acceptable to God ...” (Romans 14:18 NRSV) [3] He repeatedly differentiated Jesus from God. Nowhere in his letters did Paul write that he worshipped Jesus. He worshipped God: “For God is my witness, whom I worship {Gr. λατρεύω [4]} with my spirit in the gospel of his Son ...” (Romans 1:9) [5] Paul “worshipped” God and “rejoiced” in Jesus: “For we ... worship {Gr. λατρεύοντες} God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus ...” (Philippians 3:3 KJV)  Paul pointed out that Jesus is an heir of God: “… we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17 KJV) Paul put believers on an equal footing with Jesus: joint-heirs of  God. An heir is not equal to the one who confers. God will confer glory on believers and on Jesus. Paul’s god was God, “the Father of all.” He wrote, “There is ... One Lord {One Master: Jesus}, one faith, one baptism, One {Gr. eiV : indicates one person in the male gender} God and Father of all, who is above all.” (Ephesians 4:4‑6 KJV) Notice, the conspicuous absence of the Holy Spirit. Paul did not say, "there is One Holy Spirit." According to Paul, “God and Father of all” is one person and is “above all” persons, including Jesus. The verb “is” indicates now, the present. At the time Paul wrote this verse the Father was above Jesus (and, allegedly, still is). Nowhere in his letters did Paul state that the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one entity or equal. To the contrary, Paul refuted the Trinity when he wrote that God is “above all” and that God is one person, and that Jesus is merely Lord: “... there is none other God but one {Gr. eiV, = one person in the male gender}.” (1 Corinthians 8:4 KJV) “But to us there is but one {Gr. eiV, one person} God, the Father, [6] ... and one {Gr. eiV, referring to one person} Lord {one master} Jesus Christ ...” (1 Corinthians 8:6 KJV) The English word “one” is an inadequate translation of the Greek word “eiV”, which denotes “one male person.” Paul identified two persons: “one God” and “one Lord.” 

    Paul indicated that his god was also the god of the Jews: “Or is God the god of Jews only? Is he not the god of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one person {Gr. eiV = one person}.” (Romans 3:29-30) [7] The god of the Jews is one person: Yahweh, the Father of Jesus. Jesus confirmed this: “... it is my Father who honors me; of whom you {the Jews} say, that he is your God.” (John 8:54 KJV) Paul worshipped the god of his ancestors: “... I worship the God of our ancestors ...” (Acts 24:14 NRSV) His ancestors were Jews. The god of the Jews is one person. Therefore, he believed that God is one person.
            The Jews did not accuse Paul of preaching a different god. They did not persecute him for calling Jesus “God.” They accused him of “persuading the people to worship their God in ways contrary to the law”: “ ‘This man {Paul},’ they {the Jews} charged, ‘is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.’ ” (Acts 18:13 NIV) Notice the expression, “to worship God,” not “to worship another god.” The Jews persecuted Paul because he abolished the law and proclaimed Jesus as the intermediary, the intercessor, the mediator to God. They Jews thanked God and prayed to God directly. Paul thanked God and prayed to God “through Jesus.” In Romans Paul declares the Father as “the only wise God”: “... to the only wise God, through {the mediator} Jesus Christ ...” (Romans 16:27 NASB) The phrase “the only wise God” implies that existence of other gods. The other gods are the “improperly called gods” or “the so-called gods.” He wrote, “... there may be so-called gods in heaven {i.e. angels} or on earth {i.e. demons or the fallen angels}--as in fact there are many gods ...” (1 Corinthians 8:5 NRSV) Paul wrote that “there are many gods.” Yet, he was a monotheist. These “many gods” the “so-called gods” were the angels, the Archangel Jesus, other divine beings such as the Cherubim and the Seraphim, spirits, and even demons or the fallen angels. Paul believed that Satan was a fallen angel, an evil spirit. In this sense, he called Satan “a god”: “... the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers ...” (2 Corinthians 4:4 NRSV) In those days spirits were commonly called gods. Since after his death Jesus became a spirit, Paul called Jesus “a blessed god ...” (Romans 9:5). Using Paul’s expression, Jesus is “a so-called god.” But there is only one “true God”: the Father. As mentioned above, Philo wrote, “There is only one true God; but they who are improperly called gods are many.” [8]
            To distinguish God from “the so-called gods”, Paul identified the Father of Jesus as “the true God”: “... how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God {the Father}, and to wait for his Son ...” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 NIV) With the phrase “the true God and ... his Son” Paul clearly differentiated the true God from his Son Jesus (a “so-called god,” that is, a spirit or an angel). Paul was in agreement with the Jews on who God is. Jeremiah wrote, “But the LORD {Yahweh} is the true God ...” (Jeremiah 10:10 KJV) Jesus agreed with Paul and Jeremiah on who God is. In the following verse, Jesus called his Father  “the only true God.” He prayed to his Father and said, “... that they {his disciples} might know you, the only true God, and {me,} Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 KJV) John wrote, “Then cried Jesus ... he {God} that sent me is true {i.e. the true God} ...” (John 7:28 KJV) In the following statement Jesus identified his Father as “God.” He said, “… on Him {on the Son of Man} the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:27 NASB) The Jewish Christians, too, called the Father of Jesus “the true God.” Irenaeus wrote, “The so-called Ebionites admit that the world was made by the true God {the Father of Jesus}, but in regard to the Lord {the Master: Jesus} ...” [9] Clement, too, called the Father of Jesus the “only true God.” He called him, “the uncreated and imperishable and only true God.” [10] Philo, Jeremiah, John, Paul, Jesus, the Jews, the Jewish Christians and Clement claimed that the Father of Jesus is “the true God.”
            Paul believed that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus: “For in him {Jesus} the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily ...” (Colossians 2:9 RSV) “For in him {Jesus} all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell ...” (Colossians 1:19-20 (NRSV) God dwells in Jesus in the same way he dwells every believer. “For you {Corinthian believers} are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them ...” (2 Corinthians 6:16 NASB) John wrote in his letter, “Whosoever will confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:15 KJV) Since believers occasionally sin, all the fullness of God does not dwell in them. But because Jesus became perfected “all the fullness of God” dwells in him.
            Jesus stated that he was the instrument of his Father and that The Father is greater than him. Paul stated that even after the end of time Jesus will remain subject to the Father: “Then comes the end, when he {Jesus} hands over the kingdom to God the Father ... For he {Jesus} must reign until he {the Father} has put all his enemies under his feet. ... But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that this does not include the one {the Father} who put all things in subjection under him {the Son}. When all things are subjected to him {to the Son}, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one {the Father} who put all things in subjection under him {the Son} ...” (1 Corinthians 15:24-25, 27-28 NRSV) After God subjects everything to Jesus, Jesus will be subjected to God. Paul indicated that before Jesus came to earth he was not equal to God; after Jesus returned to Heaven he was not equal to God, and at “the end” of time Jesus will not be equal to God. He also wrote, “... the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3 KJV) Paul could not make it any clearer that Jesus is the subject of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “… you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:23 NASB) According to Paul, Jesus is a possession of God.

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