Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament”.  Material covered in (1) won’t be repeated here in (2); I suggest you read Part 1 first.

Prior to being taken captive by Assyria (721 BC) and Babylon (586 BC), Israelites & Jews had spoken Old Hebrew or Judahite (Jehudíth Strongs h3066) in the Land of Canáan.  But when Jews returned to the Land from captivity in the days of Zerubabbél (530s BC), and with Ezra & Nehemiah (c 450 BC), they spoke the Aramáic language.  They’d learned it in the East, during the time of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian (Chaldéan), and Persian empires.  Aramaic was the língua fránca of those empires.

Most Israelites & Jews no longer spoke Judahite ‘Hebrew’, the old “lip of Canaan”.  Ne.13:24 “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the [common] Jews then spoke was Cháldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.” 

The returnees and their descendants spoke Aramaic.  Some of the later chapters in the Old Testament (OT) timeline were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b–7:28, Ezr.4:8–6:18, 7:12-26.  see Part 1.

Then Greek became the language of commerce for the Grecian and Roman empires.  Most historians say that at the New Testament (NT) time of Jesus/Yeshúa, Aramaic (also called Chaldee and Sýriac) was still the language spoken by the majority of common Jews in Judea.  In most Judean synagogues, the OT scriptures were read from Hebrew scrolls, and interpreters (meturganim) translated them into Aramaic for the hearers.  cf. Ne.8:8.  But there was no Aramaic text of the entire OT (there was an old Greek text).  So the Aramaic Tárgums were written. 

The Targums are OT paraphrases.  They were written in Aramaic, beginning in the 1^st century AD.  With them, Aramaic-speaking people could understand the OT text.  The Targum of Ónkelos (the Law) and the Targum of Jonathán (the Prophets) were composed prior to 200 AD.  They are official.  Another Targum of the Law/Torah/Péntateuch is the Jerusalem Targum (also known as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan).  There’s also the Targum Neofití, for the Pentateuch.  And a few others.

Perhaps the Aramaic Targums wouldn’t have been necessary if most Jews still knew Hebrew.  But most no longer knew Hebrew.  They spoke Aramaic or Greek.  Bruce Metzger The Jewish Targums “Such versions were needed when Hebrew ceased to be the normal medium of communication among Jews.”

Whenever the Targums came to passages where YHVH was anthropomorphized or seen (appearing human), or where plural YHVHs are indicated…Targums substituted the “Word of YHVH” for “YHVH”!  The Aramaic term for “Word” is Mémra.  In Greek, “Word” is Lógos g3056, e.g. Jn.1:1.  The Targum Neofiti was written in Palestine before 200 AD.  Targ Neofiti Ge.1:1 “From the beginning with Wisdom the Memra [Word] of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”  (Of note also is Targ Jonathan Is.52:13, “Behold My Servant the Messiah…!”  Disbelieving medieval rabbis claim “My Servant” here was the nation of Israel…but this earlier Targum indicated Is.52–53 refers to the Messiah an individual.) 

Again, a few chapters of the OT were written in Aramaic.  Ezr.5 is in Aramaic.  Ezr.5:2 “Yeshúa the son of Jozadák.”  Yeshua (a common male name) is also Messiah Jesus’ name in Aramaic.

The gospel writers record Jesus speaking Aramaic in red-letter text of our Bible, and they record places in Judea with Aramaic names.  Following are some of the Aramaic words in the NT:

Jesus called the brothers in Mk.3:17, “Boanergés, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder”.  Expositor’s Greek Testament “As pronounced by Galileans, in Syrian.”  Jesus said to the dead girl in Mk.5:41, “Taleetháh koómee (which translated means ‘Little girl, arise!’)”.  JFB Commentary “The words are Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldáic, the then language of Palestine.”  Jesus said to the deaf man in Mk.7:34, “Éffathah!’, that is, ‘Be opened!”  Cambridge Bible “The actual Aramaic word used by our Lord.”  Jesus prayed in Mk.14:36, “Abbáh! Father!”  Geneva Study Bible “The word Abba is a Syrian word.”  (The Hebrew word for Father is Awb h1, the Aramaic is Ab h2, also Abbah g5.)  Abbah is also seen in Ro.8:15 and Ga.4:6 of Paul’s epistles.  The above verses reflect (Western) Aramaic words.

Luke wrote, Ac.1:19 “In their own language that field was called Hakeldamáh, the Field of Blood.”  Luke recorded the Aramaic name of the field at Jerusalem purchased by Judas…“in their language”!  Poole Commentary Ac.1:19 “The Syriac language then in use after the Babylonish captivity.”

The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) was a priest born in Jerusalem.  His language was Aramaic.  Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “Josephus differentiated Hebrew from his language and that of 1^st century Israel. Josephus refers to Hebrew words as belonging to ‘the Hebrew tongue’ but refers to Aramaic words as belonging to ‘our tongue’ or ‘our language’ or ‘the language of our country.”

John recorded places at Jerusalem with Aramaic/Syriac names.  Jn.5:2 Bethesdáh.  Ellicott Commentary “Bethesda means ‘house of mercy’. The ‘Hebrew tongue’ is…what we ordinarily call Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic.”  Jn.19:13 ESV “A place called the Stone Pavement, which in Aramaic [Hebraistí g1447 adverb] is Gabbatháh.”  Gill Exposition “The Jews, who at this time spoke Syriac.”  Jn.19:17 CSB “The Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotháh.”  The NASB center margin notes the (bold) above terms as “Jewish Aramaic”…not Hebrew.  Strong’s Dictionary of terms, and the commentaries quoted above, say these NT words are Aramaic/Syriac/Chaldaic…not Hebrew.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “The Christian New Testament uses the Koine Greek phrase Ἑβραϊστί Hebraïstí to denote ‘Aramaic’, as Aramaic was at that time the language commonly spoken by the Jews.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you Simon BarJonáh” (Mt.16:17).  Bar-Jonah means ‘son of Jonah’.  Cambridge Bible “Bar is Aramaic for ‘son.”  bar h1247.  But the Hebrew term for “son” is ben h1121.  So here Matthew records Jesus speaking Aramaic, not Hebrew.  The Aramaic BarAbbás = son of Abbáh (Mt.27:16).  Wikipedia op. cit. “Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba, literally ‘son of the father.”  Also: BarTholomew = son of Tolmai/Ptolemy (Lk.6:14); BarTimaeus = son of Timaeus (Mk.10:46); BarSabas = son of Sabas (Ac.1:23 & 15:22 – two men); Barnabas = son of encouragement (Ac.4:36); Barjesus = son of Yeshua (Ac.13:6).  Wikipedia ibid “The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is bar, meaning ‘son of’. Its Hebrew equivalent, ben, is conspicuous by its absence.”  Those NT personal names are strong internal evidence that Aramaic language use was predominant!

Aramaic too is a language used by God!  Stephen Missick The Language of Jesus, p.60 “Jesus is God incarnate and He spoke Aramaic.”  The hand from God wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” in 539 BC…‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN’ (Da.5:24-28)!

{Sidelight: We don’t know what language Jesus wrote at the scene of the woman taken in adultery, writing on the ground with His finger (Jn.8:6).  Jesus could’ve written in the common Aramaic, or perhaps He quoted the OT Hebrew or old Greek version.  Jn.8:6 “Jesus with His finger wrote on the ground.”  Maybe Jesus quoted or referred to Je.17:13 as He wrote the names of her accusers?  Je.17:13 “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the dirt.”}

Jesus and 11 of His 12 disciples were from Galilee (Judas Iscariót likely was from Keriot in Judea).  Galileans had a noticeable accent in their Aramaic dialect.  ccaugusta.org “Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic.”  A dialect of regional Western Aramaic.  aramaicnt.com “Early Galilean Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus.”  Ac.2:7 “Are not all these which speak Galileans?”  Pulpit Commentary Ac.2:7 “The Galilean accent was peculiar and well known.”  It is thought that their accent was more guttural or the gutterals (throat articulations) were blurred.  One of the bystanders said to Peter in Mt.26:73 NET, “You really are one of them; even your accent gives you away”.  Meyer NT Commentary Mt.26:73 “The natives were unable to distinguish especially the gutterals properly.”

Jn.11:1 the NT name Lázarus was Eleázar in Hebrew and Alázar in Aramaic.  The ‘A’ was dropped and the Latin declension ‘us’ was added, resulting in Lazarus in our NT.  Comparably, Englishmen today pronounce ‘Henry’ as ‘Enry’ (dropping the ‘H’).  An older occasion of pronunciation difference in Israel is in Jg.12:6, where the Ephraimites said sibbóleth, but couldn’t say shibbóleth (with the ‘h’).

Aramaic is called a metallic-sounding language.  The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic (Mt.6:9-13):

“Abwoon d’Bwashmaya, Neet Kah Schmaakh

Teh Teh Malkutah, Neyweh Tzevyanah Aikhanah,

d’Bwashmayah Aph Buh Arh Ah Howlahn Lakhmah d’Soonkhanan Yaow Manah,

Wash Boh Klahn Kaow Behn, Wahktahehn,

Aikhanah Daph Knanahn Soobwoh-Khan Lahkhai Ah-Ben                                   

Welah Tahlah Le Nesyunah, Elah Patzan Min Bishah                                                 

Metohl Delakhih Malkutah, Whyallah Wateshbuktah, Lah-Allam, Allmin.”

It is said that Jesus’ red-letter words in the gospel accounts are powerful when they’re retroverted from Greek manuscripts into Aramaic!  But that they don’t back-translate as well into Hebrew.  John’s gospel is thought to have the strongest Aramaic flavor or substratum (underlying layer) of any gospel account, especially Jesus’ sayings.

In the gospel quotes above, Jesus spoke Aramaic words.  Also He likely spoke Greek in “Galilee of the gentiles” (Mt.4:15), and with Greek-speaking business clients there.  In the Nazareth synagogue (Lk.4:16-21), Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, either from the Hebrew OT or the old Greek version.  

Ac.21:40-ff Paul, in making his own defense, chose to address the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem in Aramaic (not Greek).  The NASB center margin notes the language Paul spoke here as “Jewish Aramaic” (Hebraís g1446 noun).  Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Ac.21:40 “The Araméan which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek.”  

Interestingly, the OT never refers to the ancient language of the Israelites or Jews as the ‘Hebrew language’!  Rather, in the OT their tongue was called the “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18) or Judahite (Jehudíth: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24).  see Part 1.

Wikipedia op. cit. “A small minority believes that most of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic.”  The Aramaic Primacy view.  At this point, that is speculation.

The Tálmud of rabbinic Judaism was written in Aramaic (200–500 AD).  Yehuda Shurpin Why is the Talmud in Aramaic? “The Western Aramaic languages were used largely in the area that was under Roman (and later Byzantine) rule. The Jerusalem Talmud, composed in Israel, is written in a Western Aramaic dialect. The Eastern Aramaic languages flourished in the Persian Empire, and as a result the Babylonian Talmud, written in Persian-dominated Babylon, is in Eastern Aramaic. The Talmud was written in Aramaic, the language of the masses, so that it would be accessible to all. ”

Aside from the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) religious community, to date most surviving inscriptions of Jesus’ period on artifacts, tombs (Caiáphas’ tomb too), ossuáries/bone boxes, etc. in the Holy Land…are in Aramaic or Greek.  Some are in Hebrew.  Pieter van der Horst Jewish Funerary Inscriptions “In Jerusalem itself about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first-century period (before 70 CE) are in Greek.”  (cf. Ac.6:1-5 Stephen was a Greek-speaking Jew in Jerusalem.)

Breakdown of DSS text scripts: Old/Paleo Hebrew 1%, Hebrew/Áshuri square 78%, Aramaic square 17%, Greek 3%, other 1%.  Historians say that some Hebrew language usage was redeveloping in Christ’s day in pocket areas (e.g. the DSS at Qumrán).  Some was known by the educated and priests.  Shurpin op. cit. “Hebrew was used for ‘holy’ matters, such as prayer, and not for ordinary activities.”      

Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “According to DSS archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Aramaic was the language of Hebrews until Simon Bar-Kókhba’s revolt [132-135 AD in Judea]. Yadin noticed the shift from Aramaic to Hebrew in the documents which had been written during the time of the revolt. Yadin said, ‘It seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state’. Yadin points out that Aramaic was the lingua franca [common language] at the time.” 

Both Aramaic and Hebrew are classed as NW Semític Áfro-Asiátic languages; Hebrew is sub-classed a Canaanite language.  Much later, c 800 AD, vowel points were added to the Hebrew language.

Prior to 1948, (Ashkenázi) Yíddish was the language of most Jews.  The national language in modern Israel today is called ‘Hebrew’.  It’d been near 2,500 years since Judahite/Hebrew was the language of common people (am-harétz) in the Land!  But Modern Hebrew (Ivrít) has been influenced by Yiddish.  Yiddish is classed a Germanic Indo-European language, not a Semitic.  The tongue spoken today in Israel isn’t the ancient Canaanite/Hebrew “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18).  Amir Zeldes wrote, “Modern Hebrew is a hybrid language. Modern Hebrew never was exactly Biblical Hebrew, and in many ways it has been a very different language for as long as it has existed.”  Jewish Agency Jewish Languages “Only a minority of the Jewish people today can speak Hebrew…It is more common to use English.”

Aramaic was gradually superceded by the Semitic sister language Arabic during the Moslem conquest (c 700–1300 AD).  Arabic is the liturgical language of Íslam. 

Very few Aramaic dialects are spoken today.  It is an endangered language.  Some Christian groups in areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran, SE Turkey, speak an Aramaic dialect called Syriac.  Churches in the East still use Aramaic as their liturgical language.  Some refer to themselves as Assyrians or Chaldeans.

The prophecy of Zep.3:9 NASB, “I will give to the peoples purified lips [h8193], that all of them may call on the name of the Lord. From beyond the rivers.”  Including heathens too, outside the Holy Land.  Ge.11:9 the penalty for the sin at Babel was the confusion of the language/lip/shore (h8193).  But eventually there’ll be no more ‘idol’ tongues speaking idolatry.  Zec.14:9 “The Lord will be King over all the earth in that day.”  

In the tongues miracle of Ac.2:1-11, pilgrim visitors at Jerusalem heard them speaking in their own languages.  In many dialects.  v.11 “We hear them speaking the mighty deeds of God.”  In a sense, this heals the breach which occurred back in Ge.11!  The penalty is removed.  Words may be spoken from a pure heart/lips in any language.  Ps.22:27 “All the ends of the earth will turn to the Lord. All the kindreds of the nations will worship before Thee.”  Praise the Lord!  

 

Godhead in Prehistory

God is a uniplural Being, a compound unity…yet the Creator God-kind is One.  De.6:4 “Hear O Israel, YHVH our God is one [echád Strongs h259, Hebrew].”  But this term doesn’t mean numerically or solely ‘one’.  Ge.2:7, 24 Adam & Eve were echad/“one”, unified in togetherness…the two of them.  Ezr.2:64 the whole assemblage together was echad, as one, although it numbered 42,360 people!

The intertestamental Bible books were included in most canons until 200 years ago.  These apocryphal or deuterocanonical books were in the Septúagint/LXX, in the early KJV, and remain in the canons of the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), and others.  Since the early Christians used these books, the Jews dropped them.  Because the books were used by the RCC, in 1534 AD Martin Luther placed the books after the canon, rather than keeping them interspersed within it.  (He began the Protestant Reformation.)  Around 200 years ago, Protestants dropped them from the Bible.

However, these intertestamental books were quoted or referenced by Jesus in the New Testament!  Compare: Mt.27:43 & Wisdom of Solomon (WSol) 2:13, 18; Lk.11:31 & WSol.8:1; Mt.6:14 & Wisdom of Sirach (WSir) 28:2.  WSol (written circa/c 20 BC) and WSir (written c 180 BC in Hebrew) will be quoted as we proceed with this topic.

In Ro.1:18-30, the apostle Paul paraphrased WSol.  Compare: Ro.1.21-22 & WSol.14:22; Ro.1:23-29 & WSol.14:29-30, 24-26.  In WSol.13:5, 8 & Ro.1:19-20 KJV, “The invisible things of Him from the creation are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…even His Godhead.”

The Creation evidences and reflects the Godhead, especially the family generative order of humans and animals.  Ep.3:14-15 Father God is the great prototype of all family relationships.  Orthodox Study Bible “God the Father is the ultimate Source of every living being.”

However, the expression ‘eternal Father’ doesn’t appear in scripture.  Although the Godhead is echad, one, uniplural…scripture indicates the Godhead wasn’t uniplural originally! 

Before God became the Father, God alone was the Self-Existent Being, Ancient of Days.  Not yet the Most High, since no one was below at that ‘time’.  The Being existed alone for an incalculable duration.

This great Omnipotent, Omniscient Being alone was the androgynous prototype or image of human male and female attributes & characteristics.  Were the theory of left-brain right-brain hemisphere dominance correct, the Being would’ve been both sides equally dominant.

But the great Being won’t remain alone!  As if to say (analogous to the later Ge.2:18)…‘It is not good for the androgynous Self-Existent Being to be alone (forever); I will make a Helper for The Being!’

Prehistory doesn’t begin with Ge.1:1!  Prior to Ge.1:1…Pr.8:1-2, 22-30 has a 1^st Person quote from Wisdom. “Does not wisdom call. She stands in the top of high places. ‘YHVH possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works. From everlasting I was established, from the earliest times. When there were no depths I was brought forth. When He established the heavens, I was there. I was beside Him, and I was daily His delight.”  Wisdom, at the Being’s side…She has a beginning!

WSir, also called Ecclesiásticus, supports and expands Proverbs.  WSir.1:4, 7 “Wisdom was created before all things….The Lord Himself created wisdom. He poured her out on all His works.”  The Being brought forth Wisdom before all else, pouring her out.

WSir.24:3-6 is a 1^st Person quote by Wisdom. “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High. My throne is in the pillar of a cloud.”  The Shekínah glory of YHVH is in the pillar of a cloud, and later led ancient Israel.  Ex.13:21 “YHVH went before them in the pillar of a cloud.”  cf. Ex.40:34-35.

He (now the Most High) and She (Wisdom) are both YHVH.  They are echad, one, uniplural.

WSol.7:22, 25 “In herself, wisdom is a spirit that is understanding, Holy. She is the breath of the power of God, and the emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit, split-off or spirated or emanated through the Being’s breath/mouth.  WSol.8:3-4 “She glorifies her noble birth by living with God, and the Master of all loves her.”

WSol and WSir reflect how Jews believed and interpreted Proverbs & Wisdom in latter BC times.  Wisdom is sophía (g4678) in Greek, and chokmáh (h2451) in Hebrew.  Orthodox Bible “The Holy Spirit receives eternal existence only from the Father.”  Wisdom says in Pr.8:25 LXX, “He begets [gennáo g1080] Me”.  Philo On Flight and Finding, p.325 “Wisdom, even if it be most ancient of all other things, still has only second place to that Omnipotent Being.”  He is the Most High.

Another 1^st Person quote from Wisdom is Pr.1:20-23. “Wisdom shouts/sings in the street. ‘Turn to my reproof, Behold I will pour out my spirit upon you.”  She is poured out, wisdom the Spirit.  Note the word of YHVH that came to Joel in 2:28-29. “I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit!  Compare Nu.27:18, “Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit.”…with De.34:9, “Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom”.  The spirit of Wisdom in Joshua is the Holy Spirit!

Solomon’s prayer of WSol.9:4, 10, 17. “Give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne…Send her forth from Your holy heavens…Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Wisdom the Holy Spirit sat beside God’s throne in the heavens, as a Queen beside the King’s throne.  The real “Queen of Heaven” (Je.44:17) isn’t Ashtóreth (e.g. 1Ki.11:5), other pagan goddesses, or Mary…rather, She’s the Holy Spirit (HS).

Returning to prehistory…The Being emanated the HS.  The Being is now become He, no longer an androgyne…the HS, She is with Him.  A later figure of this masculine and feminine is Is.42:13-14. “YHVH will go forth like a warrior. Like a woman in labor I will groan.”  YHVH is as warrior and pregnant woman both!  And Ps.123:2 “As servants look to their master, and a maid to her mistress, so our eyes look to YHVH.”  YHVH is both Master and Mistress!  He and She.  Yet they are one/echad.

Since the Godhead is divine ‘Persons’, we most often use personal pronouns to refer to Their reality.  In English, personal pronouns are masculine or feminine.  In the next scriptural revelation of prehistory, He will become Father too (but not Mother).  She will become Mother.

God made the family (father, mother, offspring) the foundational unit (Ro.1:19-20)!  The church ideal for children is two–parent families.  Yet are God’s born-again children, adopted into a single–parent family?  Can there be a Son of God without a Father God and a Mother God?  Was the Word or Logos begotten into a one-parent family?  Again, YHVH reflects both masculine and feminine (Ps.123:2)!

The Works of Philo, p.85, 331, 405 “The Word [Lógos g3056, Greek] has received wholly pure parents…God being the Father and husband of wisdom, the mother of the Word….the Divine Logos flows forth from Wisdom as a spring.”  (A spring of Living water poured-out, Jn.4:14.)  Creation of man/mammals reflects & teaches us that it’s impossible to have a father without having a mother!

When did the Word/Logos, the One who later became Jesus in the flesh, originate?

At Creation in Ge.1:1-2, “The Spirit of God was hovering [h7363]….”  JFB Commentary “The Holy Spirit was hovering as a mother bird, when hatching eggs.”  The Holy Spirit is the real Mother Nature, so to speak!  De.32:11 a mother eagle hovers (h7363) over her young.  Re.12:14 the Holy Spirit-filled church is metaphorically given the wings of a great she-eagle, “that she might fly”.

Jn.1:1-5, 14, 18 “In the beginning, the Word [Logos] was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through Him. In Him was life and the life was the Light of men….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….the only-begotten God.”  The Word/Logos/Light became Jesus.  He.1:2-3 Jesus the Son is the radiance of God’s glory.

Ge.1:2-4 “God said, ‘Light…Be!”  A great cosmic Light was brought forth on the 1^st day of Creation.  But no sun, moon, or stars luminaries appeared until the 4^th day (v.14-19).  2Co.4:6 Jesus is a great primordial Light!  Jesus Himself said in Jn.8:12, “I AM the Light of the world”.  Jesus was begotten or emanated from His Father and Mother (who “hovers”).  And Jesus said in Jn.12:46, “I have come as Light”.  1Jn.1:5 “God is Light.”  This first Light has been described as ‘the ongoing and working reflection of His [the Father’s] Intelligence.’

Thus God became a Family.  (Other closely related topics are: “Tri-unity of God”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit’s Identity”, “Jesus Is God…Jesus has A God”.)

Jesus said of Himself in Lk.7:35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus acknowledged His Mother God, Wisdom!

Orthodox Study Bible “The Son is begotten before all time and ages from the essence of the Father. The Son…has the Father as His Source from eternity.”  The oldest manuscript of Jn.1:18 refers to Jesus as the “only begotten God”.  The Word (Jesus) was begotten or generated, “made” in that sense.  He.3:1-2 says Jesus “was faithful to Him who made [poiéo g4160] Him”.  Jn.17:24 the Father gave Jesus His glory.  Jn.6:57 the Word/Jesus’ very life is because of the Father!

Theophilus, the 6^th bishop of Antioch (born approximately 20 years after the apostle John died), was the first to use the term trinity/triad.  In 175 AD he wrote To Autólycus, 2:10. “God, having His own Word internal within His own bosom, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own Wisdom before all things.”  2:15 Theophilus’ triad was, “The Trinity of [Father] God, His Word, and His Wisdom”.  To Autolycus is “the earliest extant Christian work to use the word ‘Trinity’ [trías Greek, triad].”

Christian historian Robert Grant’s Greek Apologists of the 2^nd Century, p.169. “Theophilus and almost every early Christian theologian agreed the Logos (like Sophia/Wisdom) was originally in God.”

Irenaeus (130-200 AD) of Lyons, France wrote Against Heresies. “The Son is rightly and properly called Word, while the Spirit is called the Wisdom [Sophia] of God.”  Ibid 4.7.4 “The Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom [Sophia], whom all the angels serve.”

The Father, Holy Spirit (Wisdom), and Son comprise YHVH…the Godhead.  In those early writings, the Christian belief wasn’t the same tri-unity/trinity the RCC later promulgated.  As the RCC changed from the belief of the early church, in ensuing centuries much of Christianity has also adopted the position of the RCC.  (Additionally the RCC began to emphasize Mary…see the topic “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”.)

{Sidelight: Although the feminine HS was present (Ge.1:2, Pr.8:22) before the Word or Light (Ge.1:3), She isn’t a Son.  Only sons are firstborns in scripture (e.g. Ex.13:13-15 LXX, g4416 firstborn).  Therefore the Word/Christ the Son, not the HS, is “the firstborn [g4416] of all creation” in Col.1:15.}

Next, after the Word (who became Jesus) was begotten, came other days of Creation…see Ge.1:6-25.

Ps.33:6 “By the Word of YHVH the heavens were made, and by the Spirit of His mouth [cf. WSir.24:3] all their host.”  Creation was by the Word/Jesus and the HS.  WSol.9:1-2 “God, who made all things by Your Word and in Your Wisdom built a man.”  Col.1:16 “Through Him [Jesus the Word, the Son, v.13] were all things created.”  Ps.104:24, 30 “You send forth Thy Spirit, they are created.”  Pr.3:19 “The Lord by Wisdom founded the earth.”  Job.33:4 “The Spirit of God has made me.”

The above verses all reflect the Spirit/Wisdom and the Word active at Creation.  Also, Philo The Special Laws 1, p.541 “Now the image of God is the Word [Logos], by which all the world was made.”  Written in Aramaic pre-200 AD, the Targum Neofití Ge.1:1, “In the beginning, with Wisdom, the Memra of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth”.  The Memra is the Aramaic equivalent of the Word (English) and Logos (Greek).  Wisdom/HS and the Word were Creator(s).

Theophilus also wrote in Autolycus 1:3, 7, 2:10, 22 that God made all things (he quotes Ps.33:6) by the Logos/Son and Wisdom, His two offspring/hands (2:18).  They are the “Us” in Ge.1:26 (below).  1Clement 15:7-8 “He with His holy and pure hands formed man…‘Let Us make man in Our image.”

Ge.1:26-27 “Let Us make mankind [adám h120] in Our image, according to Our likeness…in the image of God.” (not in the image of non-reproductive angel-kind spirits).  The human (adam h120) was created by the Word and Wisdom/HS, the Us…who are God.  Humans, both male and female, are made in God’s image/pattern/attributes.  (cf. a later reference for “image” is Nebuchadnézzar’s statue, also an image.)  And humans are made in God’s likeness/shape/form.  The Hebrew term for image (h6754) is masculine, and the term for likeness (h1823) is feminine.  How did we imagine God, and what does God appear like?  ref the Ezk.1:26-28 vision, when God appeared in the likeness (h1823) of mankind!

In Jewish thought, the first human possibly was created androgynous, or a two-sided being, with male and female attributes.  Ge.5:1-2 “In the day when God created mankind [h120] in the likeness of God, He created them male and female.”  “Them” is a plural.  Dual gender indwelling the human, on the 6^th day!?  Eve was then brought forth from Adam’s side (h6763).  Ge.2:21-23 “She shall be called woman [isháh h802], because she was taken out of man [ish h376].”  The human/adam (h120) wasn’t called ‘male human’ (ish h376) until Ge.2:23…when Eve is drawn out of Adam!  Not before then was the adam termed ish…male human.  1Co.11:12 “The woman came from the man.” (not from the ground.)

Within man was wo(mb)man, his ‘other half’.  John H. Walton Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, p.208 “All men and women are to be viewed as two sides of an original whole.”  The first human (adam h120), formed from the ground (adamáh h127, Ge.2:7) in The Being’s image, was perhaps a ‘quasi-androgynous’ (for lack of a better term) image of what God originally had been.  God then fashioned that human into two, Adam and Eve…as The Being had brought forth the feminine HS Wisdom from the “mouth” of The Being’s sole essence!  Husband and wife are to cling together as one/echad (flesh), Ge.2:24; as an androgynous first human was solely one flesh prior to the ish/male and ishah/female Eve.  And the Godhead is unified as One (De.6:4).

It takes both male and female humans, ish and ishah, to fully express the image and likeness of God!  Man and woman must both exist, or there would be no complete image and likeness of God (after The Being emanated the HS)!  Note: Though Paul did address female roles in the assembly, and the husband is the head of the wife (Ep.5:23), women were wrongly considered inferior by the institutional church.

In our various languages, we use terms which correspond to the ancient Hebrew & Greek terms chosen by the Bible writers to identify and describe the ‘Persons’ of the Godhead.  Jewish and Christian theology usually refers to God in male language and images, yet agrees it doesn’t adequately express all that the Divine is.  The Godhead possesses all the masculine and feminine attributes.  Words just cannot express how great God is!

Jesus Is God…Jesus Has a God

Different views are extant among Christians about the Godhead, the Deity.  Such as, the Unitarian view; but is it scriptural?  How about the purported Oneness doctrine; is it scriptural?  Also, does scripture indicate there’s complete equality in the Godhead; Deity in all respects?

John wrote this about Jesus/Yeshúa.  Jn.1:1-4, 9, 14 “In the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God…The true Light…The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  This reflects a high Christology.  The Word/Light, who also was God, was made flesh.  John identifies Him as Jesus.

Targum Neofití Ge.1:1, written in Aramaic pre-200 AD, “In the beginning, with Wisdom the Mémra (the Word) of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth”.  The Memra (Aramaic), the Word (English), the Lógos (Greek)…are equivalent terms.  Then Ge.1:26 “Let Us make man in Our image.”  In the Old Testament text, when YHVH was anthropomorphized (appeared as human) or there were plural YHVHs…the second YHVH was called the Memra (Word) in Aramaic Targums.

Ancient writings such as: the Aramaic Targum paraphrases (written when most Jews no longer knew Hebrew), the intertestamental Apocrypha, Philo and Josephus of the 1st century AD, other non-canonical literature…has much historical value, and some of it may be inspired.

The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria was born around 20 BC (prior to John).  Philo referred to the Word (logos Strongs g3056) as involved in the Creation, and as the second God.  The Works of Philo: p.541, The Special Laws 1 “Now the image of God is the Logos, by which all the world was made.”  p.747, On Providence 1 “The second God, who is the Word.”  p.293, Who Is the Heir of Divine Things “The Logos is continually a suppliant to the immortal God on behalf of the mortal race.”  Philo exemplifies a more ancient path of Hebrew thought than the rabbinics of the Middle Ages!

John 1 regarding the Word, quoted above, resembles somewhat the writing of Philo (who wrote in Greek) and the Targum Neofiti Ge.1:1 (written in Aramaic).

Jeremiah had prophesied in Je.23:5-6. “I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch. This is His Name [shem Strongs h8034, Hebrew] by which He will be called, YHVH our righteousness.”  He will become the God-man.  He will be YHVH and the Son of David…both!  Philo On the Unchangeableness of God, p.162 “God is not as a man…God is as a man.”  The Targum Jonathan and the Talmud Lam Rab 1:51 also agree that the Branch in Je.23:6 refers to the Messiah.  Fulfilling v.5-6 via the virgin birth, Jesus is both…Son of God and Son of Man!  Mt.1:20 Jesus as Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit…God.  (see the topic “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”.)

{Sidelight: Je.33:15-16 the English word “name” in v.16 is in italics, meaning that word wasn’t in the actual Hebrew text of the verse.  It was added by translators.  Furthermore, the Cháldee, Syriac and Vulgar Latin all render Je.33:16 without the “she”…rather, “whereby they shall call Him.”}

Jesus is God!  Jesus is the prophesied Messiah.  (see “Jesus Is the Messiah”.)  He said in Jn.10:30, “I and My Father are One”.  Father and Son are both of the same essence and God-kind.  Kind begets kind.  Ge.1:11, 21, 25-26 reflect this biogenesis.

De.6:4 “The Lord is one”, echád (h259) in Hebrew.  God is unified, but not numerically or solely, one.  e.g. in Ge.2:22-24 Adam & Eve also were one/echad…the two of them!  Ezr.2:64 an assembly of 42,360 was as one/echad! 

Following are several New Testament (NT) verses which confirm Jesus is God.

Again, Jn.1:1, 14 the Word who became flesh “was God”.  Mt.1:23 Jesus is “Emmanuel, God (is) with us”.  Jn.20:28 Thomas called Jesus, “My Lord and my God”.  Php.2:5-7 the apostle Paul said Jesus had “existed in the form of God” (not in the form of angels, but as the Word/Logos of God) prior to His human birth.  Col.2:9 in Jesus Christ “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form”.  He.1:3 Jesus the Son is “The radiance of His (Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His nature”.  He.1:6-8 “Let all the angels of God worship Him. Of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever.”

In Re.1:8 Jesus calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty”.  Jesus says in v.17-18, “I AM the first and the last, the living One, and I was dead”.  Re.22:13 “I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.”  In v.16 He specifically identifies Himself by Name, “I, Jesus”.  Jesus Himself says He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty (God)!

Again, in Je.23:6 the Messiah would also be YHVH.  Re.5:11-14 “Worthy is the Lamb! And they fell down and worshiped.”  In Re.5, all those angels, living creatures and elders seen around the heavenly Throne are worshiping the sacrificial Lamb Jesus…they aren’t idolators!  They’re worshiping Jesus because He also is very God!  It’s plain that the many above verses show…Jesus is God/YHVH too!

Compare Jn.8:57-59 & 18:5-6, where Jesus calls Himself “I AM”, with…Ex.3:14 “I AM” in the LXX/Septúagint.  Again, Jesus is of the God-kind.  Jn.6:62 Jesus refers to Himself as “ascending where He was before [His human birth]”.  Also Jn.6:51 “I AM the living bread.”  And v.54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”  These astounding words of Jesus aren’t the words of some deranged human martyr!

Even the opposing Jewish leaders understood Jesus as saying He’s more than a mere man.  Jn.10:33 “You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”  And Jn.19:7 “He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”  They understood Jesus was indicating He is God!

Unitarianism ignores some of the NT scriptures.  It’s the belief that Jesus is the Son of God but isn’t God the Son; that Jesus isn’t divine, isn’t Deity.

Jesus declared in Mt.28:18, “All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”.  In Ac.7:56, 59 the dying Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven, and said, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit”.  (Ec.12:7 “The spirit returns to God who gave it.”)  Ruling at God’s very throne, Jesus is more than a good man! 

Yet Jesus indicated in Mt.28:18 that Someone else gave Jesus His power.

Jesus has a God!  Following are several verses which attest to this.

Jesus said in Jn.14:28, “My Father is greater than I”.  His Father is God Most High!  The angel Gabriel spoke of the unborn Jesus to the virgin Mary in Lk.1:32. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.”  Jesus the Son isn’t the Most High God…His Father is.

Jesus cried out while on the cross in Mt.27:46. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  The human Jesus at that time called upon His God.  Soon afterwards, Jn.20:17 “I ascend to My God and your God”.  Here the resurrected Jesus spoke of ascending to His God.  He.1:9 also refers to Jesus’ God. “God, Your God.”  Paul wrote in 1Co.3:23, “Christ belongs to God”.  And, “God is the head of Christ.” (1Co.11:3)  Paul indicates in 1Co.15:27-28 that at the end Jesus will still be in subjection to His Father God!  Finally, in Re.3:12 Jesus refers to “My God”…four times!  Here in Re.3:12, even the glorified Jesus (ref Re.1:13-15) affirms that He still has a God!  

So from the preceding passages, it is also plain that God the Father and Jesus are both God…but not equal in authority or position.

Jesus has been given all authority (Mt.28:18), except…the Father’s authority is greater.  Again, Jesus said in Jn.14:28, “My Father is greater than I”.  The Father, God Most High, is Jesus’ God.

Mt.20:23 Jesus said in regards to ruling with Him in the Kingdom,“To sit on My right and My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father”.  God’s Word Translation paraphrase “I don’t have the authority to grant you a seat at My right or left.”  Pulpit Commentary Mt.20:23 “The boon was solely at His Father’s disposal.”  The Father has greater authority than Jesus.

Jesus isn’t His Father!  When Jesus was only a few weeks old, in Lk.2:21-24 Joseph & Mary brought Him up to Jerusalem to “present Him to the Lord”.  To presume they presented baby Jesus to Himself would be nonsensical!  Here “the Lord” referred to His Father God.

At Jesus’ water baptism in Lk.3:21-22, “The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in a bodily form as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, with You I Am well-pleased”.  That wasn’t Jesus on earth saying He loved Himself; nor was that Jesus speaking in heaven above!  And a being in the order of heavenly angels didn’t lie and call Jesus “My beloved Son”.  Again, in Lk.1:32 the angel Gabriel as God’s agent told Mary that Jesus is the “Son of the Most High”; not even Gabriel referred to Jesus as ‘my Son’!  Lk.3:21-22 indicates the voice from above belonged to Father God, not an angel.  Jesus heard Father God’s voice.  The Two exist simultaneously.

Before Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus fell face-down on the ground in Mt.26:39 and supplicated in prayer. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup of suffering pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will”.  No need for Jesus to lay prostrate if He was just talking to Himself!  Rather, He entreated Someone else.

Again, while hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out in Mt.27:46. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Jesus wasn’t crying out to Himself!  He was addressing His Father as His God.

In Jn.8:17-18, Jesus cites God’s law about plural witnesses (cf. De.19:15), indicating His Father is a second witness. “I AM He who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”  According to Jesus, He and the Father comprise two witnesses (not one).  They’re not the same entity or ‘Person’ or hypostasis.  They’re echad (h259), of the one essence or God Family, yet distinct.

Furthermore, Re.3:12 precludes us from assuming that after Jesus’ ascension His Person assimilated or melded into the Father’s Person.  Again, in that verse even the glorified Jesus says He still has a God!

Oneness ignores some of the NT revelation, as seen in the preceding verses.  It’s a form of Modalism belief that God is no distinction of Persons, that God is only one ‘Person’ or entity, that Jesus is also His/the Father, that there’s no ‘Trinity’.  Wikipedia: Oneness Pentecostalism “It first emerged in America around 1914. Oneness believers state that Jesus is the one name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  But the NT doesn’t specifically name the Father and/or the Holy Spirit…‘Yeshua/Jesus’.

Is.9:6 is in regards to Jesus the Messiah.  Is.9:6 the child/Son will be called the “Father of eternity” (Hebrew).  Is.9:6 Alexandrian LXX “The Father of the age to come.”  To Jews, the Messiah is the father of the Messianic age.  Benson Commentary Is.9:6 “Christ, the father of the new and eternal age.”  Barnes Notes “The Chaldee renders this expression, ‘The man abiding forever’. The Vulgate, ‘The Father of the future age’. The Hebrews used the term ‘father’ in a great variety of senses.”  Is.9:6 LXX “His name is called the Messenger of great counsel.”  This verse didn’t mean Jesus is Father God.

Some try to make a case for either Oneness or Unitarianism, based on part of the scriptural evidence.  But as we examine & compare more of the whole of the Bible…we see both of those views are lacking.

{{Sidelight: God said in Ge.2:18-20, it isn’t good for the human (LXX ánthropos) to be alone.  There was then no one else, no other person, of the human-kind with Adam.  How lonely Adam must have been!  Adam’s singularity was not good, according to God!  All the other creatures had another of its kind (Ge.1:24-25), except for Adam.  Imagine you being on the proverbial deserted island for your lifetime with no one else, no other person, of your kind in existence…only creatures of a different kind than you.  Loneliness personified!  But have we ever thought it is somehow good for God to be alone (for eternity!), with none other Person of His God-kind in existence?}}

Father God is the Source of all Life!  In Jn.17:24, Jesus said that the Father gave Jesus His glory!  “My Glory, which You gave Me.”  Jesus didn’t have glory of Himself.  And Jesus said in Jn.6:57, “I live because of the Father”.  Also Jn.5:26 “the Father…gave to the Son to have life in Himself.”  Jesus attributed His own Existence to the Father!  Jesus said in Jn.5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself”.  Furthermore Jn.5:30, “I can do nothing on My own initiative”.  Jesus only did the will of the Father who sent Him!  Jn.14:10 “The Father abiding in Me does the works.”  Jesus so subjugated His own will to His Father’s will!  The Father did the miraculous works through Jesus, we may say.

How is it that Father God has more authority, and Jesus only did that which His Father willed for Him?  First, we understand that fathers precede their sons.  Orthodox Study Bible “The Son is begotten before all time and ages from the essence of the Father. The Son (has no beginning but) has the Father as His Source from eternity.”  The oldest manuscripts of Jn.1:18 render Jesus as the “only begotten God”.  Begotten, not created.  Philo On Flight and Finding, p.331 “The Word of God…God being His Father, who is also the Father of all things.”  The Father had generated or emanated the Word in prehistory.  (see “Godhead in Prehistory”.)  Again Jn.17:24, the Father had given Jesus His glory…and Jn.6:57, Jesus lives because of the Father.  The Father has precedence and is greater (than all).

Where in scripture might we see the Word/Jesus originating from eternity?  Ge.1:2-4 on the 1^st day God brought forth cosmic Light!  Yet no sun, moon, stars (luminaries) were visible until the 4^th day (v.14-19).  In v.3, both the Hebrew and the Greek LXX terms for “light” differ from their terms for “light” in v.14.  The Light in the beginning was different.  In 2Co.4:6, Paul said that God caused “Light to shine out of darkness in the face of Christ”.  Jesus as the great primordial Light!  (In analogy, at the least.)  Jn.1:5 the Light of the Word (Logos) shined!  Jn.1:9, 14 identifies Jesus as that true Light.  In Jn.8:12, Jesus Himself said, “I AM the Light of the world”!  Jesus/the Word was Light and came as Light.  (Moses’ face even shined after speaking with Him, Ex.34:29.  see “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.  (Also ref Mt.4:16, Ac.9:3.)  He/Jesus is the emanating radiance of His Father’s glory (He.1:3).  The Father gave Jesus His glory (Jn.17:24).

Jesus is subordinate to His Father because…the Father preceded Jesus, and the Father has greater authority!  Anciently God and the Word didn’t flip a heavenly coin to determine Who would serve as Father and Who would become Son Jesus on earth.  No, the Father always had precedence.  Fathers precede their sons. 

The form of Trinitarian belief that thinks Father God and the glorified Jesus are completely co-equal in all respects is not in agreement with the entirety of the scriptural evidence.  Again, 1Co.11:3 “God is the head of Christ.”

And yet, a person who doesn’t honor the Son of God doesn’t really honor Father God either.  Jesus said in Jn.5:23, “He who does not honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent Him”.  Father and Son are One, unified in purpose and as the God-kind (Jn.10:30)…both are God.  Praise God!