I continue from where I left off: JW BIBLE ADMITS: JESUS IS ABRAHAM’S GOD!.
In this post I will set to prove that the Jehovah who appeared on earth as a Man to Abraham was Jesus Christ in his prehuman existence.
JESUS: THE JEHOVAH THAT PUNISHES
According to the NT, the Lord God who destroyed Sodom and the cities nearby, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt and punished them in the desert, the God who consigned the angels to darkness for not maintaining their heavenly position, was Jesus in his prehuman existence.
Note, for example, what Jude wrote:
“For there have slipped in some men forewritten of old for this doom, impious men who shift the grace of our God into immorality and repudiate our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (ton monon Despoten kai Kyrion hemon ‘Iesoun Christon). But I would remind you, though you know the whole once for all, that after the Lord (Kyrios) had saved a people out of the land of Egypt HE in the second instance destroyed those who did not believe, and angels who did not keep their prerogative but left their domicile HE has kept under darkness by everlasting fetters for the judgment of the Great Day, as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having run into debauchery and gone after another flesh in like manner with these, are on exhibition as an example, undergoing the penalty of eternal fire.” Jude 1:4-7 BYINGTON
The context makes it clear that the Lord who saved and punished Israel and so on is none other than Christ since Jude has just described him as the believers one and only Master and Lord. As such, Jesus is here being identified as that very God who carried out all those punishments mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.(1)
This is further confirmed from the fact that the earlier Greek copies and ancient translations actually have the word Jesus in v. 5, not Lord, a reading found in the following English versions:
“Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;” Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
“… that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” English Standard Version (ESV)
“But I will admonish you once, that know all things, that Jesus saved his people from the land of Egypt, and the second time destroyed them that believed not. [Forsooth I will together admonish you, witting once all things, for Jesus saving his people of the land of Egypt, the second time lost them that believed not.]” Wycliffe Bible (WYC)
“… that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, did afterwards destroy them that believed not:” Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
“… that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, the second time destroyed those who did not believe.” Lexham English Bible (LEB)
“… that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.” New English Translation (NET)
“… that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful.” New Living Translation (NLT)
Even more remarkable is that the oldest extant copy of Jude is P72, which is a papyrus that scholars believe comes from the third century. And in that manuscript, v. 5 actually calls Jesus God!
“But I want to remind you about what you have always known, namely, that the GOD CHRIST (God, who is Christ [Theos Christos]), saved people out of Egypt, but then he destroyed those who did not believe.”
The words Theos Christos are written as nomina sacra (θς χρς), i.e., a practice where scribes would abbreviate the names and titles of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, out of reverence and recognition of their essential Deity.
These variants all prove thar, no matter what reading a JW and/or any other anti-Trinitarian adopts, s/he is still left with the inescapable fact that Jude emphatically and unambiguously proclaims that it was the Person of Christ who delivered and punished Israel during the time of Moses!
NT textual critic Philip W. Comfort explains it best as he shows why the reading Jesus is not only possible, but most likely what Jude wrote. After mentioning the following reading,
panta hoti [ho] kyrios hapax
“[knowing that] the Lord having once and for all”
Comfort lists the major variants,
1. hapax panta, hoti Iesous
“[knowing] once for all, Jesus”
2. panta, hoti Iesous hapax
“[knowing] everything, that Jesus once”
3. hapax panta, hoti theos Christos
“[knowing] once and for all, that God [the] Messiah (or, Messiah God)”
4. hapax panta, hoti ho theos
“[knowing] once and for all, that God”
5. hapax touto, hoti ho kyrios
“once [you knew] this, that the Lord”
And then concludes:
Among all the readings cited above, the first and second variants are the most remarkable, for they say that “Jesus delivered his people out of Egypt.” This reading is found in A B 33 1739 1881 Origen Cyril Jerome Bede–AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF WITNESSES. P72 may possibly be an indirect witness to the reading “Jesus,” because it shows that the scribe had before him in his exemplar a messianic title–“Christ” (= “Messiah”). At any rate, it is easier to argue (from a textual perspective) that the reading “Jesus” is the one which all the others deviated than to argue that the reading with “Lord” (or “God”) was changed to “Jesus,” because scribes were not known for fabricating difficult readings.
Some scholars, such as Wikgren (1967, 147-152) have argued that Jude may have written Iesous in Jude 5 intending “Joshua” (see NEBmg), as in Heb 4:8. But this is very unlikely, because Joshua led the Israelites into the good land of Canaan, but not out of Egypt, and Joshua certainly did not destroy those who did not believe (Jude 5b). This was a divine activity. Thus, it is likely that Jesus here is being seen as Yahweh the Savior. In other words, from Jude’s perspective, it was Jesus, the I AM (see John 8:58), who was present with the Israelites and operative in their deliverance from Egypt. Paul shared a similar view inasmuch as he proclaimed that “Christ” was the Rock that accompanied the Israelites in their desert journeys and that “Christ” was the one the Israelites constantly “tested” during these times (see 1 Cor 10:4, 9 and note on 1 Cor 10:9). Thus, the reading “Jesus,” though difficult, IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. As such, it should be accepted AS THE ORIGINAL READING (as it was by Eberhard Nestle [1901, 328-329] and F. F. Bruce [1964, 63]).
The first edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament contained the reading “Jesus” in the text. But this was changed in the third edition, when a slim majority of the editors voted to put the reading with “Lord” in the text and the one with “Jesus” in the margin (Metzger and Wikgren voted against the decision and stated their reasons for doing so in TCGNT.)
The first English translation to adopt the wording “Jesus” was NLT. (As the New Testament coordinator who proposed this reading to the NLT committee, I was glad to see them adopt it.) Two other recent versions have adopted this reading: TNIV (a change from the NIV) and NET (see the note in NETmg). Otherwise, it has been regulated to the margin of all the other versions. NASB notes that “two early manuscripts read ‘Jesus.’” Those manuscripts are A and B. (Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary, pp. 802-803; bold and capital emphasis mine)
Comfort isn’t the sole textual critic of the NT who concurs that the reading Jesus is original:
21 tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1…
24 tc The reading ᾿Ιησοῦς (Iēsous, “Jesus”) is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel (the NA27 has “the Lord” instead of “Jesus”). However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from A VARIETY OF EARLY WITNESSES (e.g., A B 33 81 88 322 424c 665 915 1241 (1735: “the Lord Jesus”) 1739 1881 2298 2344 vg co eth Or1739mg Cyr Hier Bede), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) or θεός (theos, “God”) for ᾿Ιησοῦς (though P72 has the intriguing reading θεὸς Χριστός [theos Christos, “God Christ”] for ᾿Ιησοῦς). As difficult as the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is, in light of v. 4 and in light of the progress of revelation (Jude being one of the last books in the NT to be composed), it is wholly appropriate. The NA28 text now also reads Ιησοῦς. For defense of this reading, see Philipp Bartholomä, “Did Jesus Save the People out of Egypt: A Re-examination of a Textual Problem in Jude 5, ” NovT 50 (2008): 143-58.
sn The construction our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ in v. 4 follows Granville Sharp’s rule (see note on Lord). The construction strongly implies the deity of Christ. This is followed by a statement that Jesus was involved in the salvation (and later judgment) of the Hebrews. He is thus to be identified with the Lord God, Yahweh. Verse 5, then, simply fleshes out what is implicit in v. 4. (NET Bible https://netbible.org/bible/Jude+1)
The foregoing confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that Jude truly believed it was Jesus in his prehuman existence who personally condemned the rebellious angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the Israelites during Moses’ time.
JESUS: THE JEHOVAH WHO JUDGES ALL CREATION
The other line of evidence, which establishes that it was Jesus whom Abraham spoke with, comes from the fact that the latter identified the God before whom he stood as the Judge of all the earth:
“‘It is unthinkable that you would act in this manner by putting the righteous man to death with the wicked one so that the outcome for the righteous man and the wicked is the same! It is unthinkable of you. Will the Judge of all the earth not do what is right?’ Then Jehovah said: ‘If I find in Sodʹom 50 righteous men in the city, I will pardon the whole place for their sake.’” Genesis 18:25-26
According to the NT, it is the Son who has been appointed to carry out all of God’s judgment,
“For the Father judges NO ONE AT ALL, but he has entrusted ALL the judging to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” John 5:22-23
Since he is the One who shall come to recompense every individual for what s/he has earned:
“For the Son of man is to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each one according to his behavior. Truly I say to you that there are some of those standing here who will not taste death at all until first they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdom.” Matthew 16:27-28
“And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory… Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that must occur and in standing before the Son of man.” Luke 21:27, 36
“He sent out the word to the sons of Israel to declare to them the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—this one is Lord of all… Also, he ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness that this is the one decreed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone putting faith in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:36, 42-43
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Christ, so that each one may be repaid according to the things he has practiced while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10
“I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by HIS manifestation and HIS Kingdom:… From this time on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not to me only, but also to all those who have loved HIS manifestation… In my first defense no one came to my side, but they all forsook me—may they not be held accountable. But the Lord stood near me and infused power into me, so that through me the preaching might be fully accomplished and all the nations might hear it; and I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every wicked work and will save me for HIS heavenly Kingdom. To HIM be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:1, 8, 16-18
“To the angel of the congregation in Thy·a·tiʹra write: These are the things that the Son of God says, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine copper: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and ministry and endurance, and that your deeds of late are more than those you did at first. Nevertheless, I do hold this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezʹe·bel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and misleads my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. Look! I am about to throw her into a sickbed, and those committing adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with deadly plague, so that all the congregations will know that I am the one who searches the innermost thoughts and hearts, and I will give to you individually according to your deeds.’” Revelation 2:18-23
“‘Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to repay each one according to his work. I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga, the first and the last, the beginning and the end… I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to you about these things for the congregations. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star.’… The one who bears witness of these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus. May the undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus be with the holy ones.” Revelation 22:12-13, 16, 20-21
These texts show that Jesus must have been the One whom Abraham identified as the Judge of the whole earth.
And seeing that the Son has always been the same,
“And: ‘At the beginning, O Lord [the Son], you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; and just like a garment, they will all wear out, and you will wrap them up just as a cloak, as a garment, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never come to an end.’” Hebrews 1:10-12
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
It, therefore, makes absolute sense that he was the One doing all the judging during the OT period.
As such, it comes as no surprise that Jesus could speak of having personally seen Abraham where he beheld the latter’s ecstasy and glee at knowing that Christ would one day come to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
“The Jews replied ‘Are we not right in saying you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’ Jesus answered “I do not have a demon; but I am honoring my Father and you are dishonoring me. But I am not looking out for my glory; there is one who looks out and judges. Verily, verily I tell you, if one keeps my words he shall not behold death forevermore.’ The Jews said to him “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets, and you say “if one keeps my words he shall not taste death forevermore.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died; whom are you claiming to be?’ Jesus answered ‘If I glorify myself there is nothing to my glory. It is my Father that glorifies me, who you say is your God, and you do not know him. But I do know him; and if I say I do not know him I shall be a liar like you; but I know him and keep his words. Your father Abraham exulted that he should see my day, and he saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to him ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and has Abraham seen you?’ Jesus said to them ‘Verily, verily I tell you, before there was an Abraham I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple-precinct.” John 8:48-59 BYINGTON – Cf. 1:29-36; Gen. 22:7-8 (1-18)
With the foregoing in view the readers are advised to read the next installment where I refute a typical objection leveled by anti-Trinitarian groups against the clear witness of Genesis 18-19 that there are two distinct Persons of YHWH God: JWS, RABBIS & THE 2 YHWHS OF GEN. 18-19.
FURTHER READING
JUDE TESTIFIES THAT JESUS IS YHWH ALMIGHTY!
Jesus Christ: The Lord God Who Saved and Punished Israel During the Exodus
UNITARIANS PROVE THE FATHER ISN’T THE TRUE GOD
ENDNOTES
(1) In order to avoid having to admit that Jude is describing Christ as that very YHWH who performed these specific acts in the OT, the Watchtower deceptively inserted the name Jehovah in their (mis)translation:
“My reason is that certain men have slipped in among you who were long ago appointed to this judgment by the Scriptures; they are ungodly men who turn the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for brazen conduct and who prove false to our ONLY owner and LORD, Jesus Christ. Although you are fully aware of all of this, I want to remind you that Jehovah, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those not showing faith.” Jude1:4-5
The Society has done this in 236 other places, placing the name Jehovah in particular texts without any scriptural warrant for doing so. The fact is that there isn’t a shred of manuscript evidence for any writer ever employing the Divine Name in any of the Greek NT writings.
The Greek term used in Jude v. 5 is Kyrios (“Lord”) as even the Watchtower’s own The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures shows:
5 ὙπομνῆσαιδὲὑμᾶςεἰδόταςἅπαξὅτιΚύριοςλαὸνἐκγῆςΑἰγύπτουσώσαςτὸδεύτεροντοὺςμὴπιστεύσαντας
This is why none of the versions posted by the Society on their site have the name Jehovah in their translation:
“I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Jude 1:5 KJV
“Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” ASV
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