In a article on my blog I left a question in the air for anyone who wanted to answer: Is Jesus also Yahveh?
The majority answered that each of the persons of the Holy Trinity is Yahveh, both the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, there were also, to a lesser extent, people who said that only God the Father, the first Person of the Holy Trinity, is Yahveh. Here is the answer.
Meaning of Yahveh
Yahveh is the proper name of God in the Old Testament, for this is how he identified himself before Moses in the theophany of the burning bush:
“Moses answered God: ‘If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ when they ask me, ‘What is his name?’, what will I say to them?” God said to Moses: «I AM WHO I AM.» And he added: “This is what you will say to the Israelites: “I am“has sent me to you.” “(Exodus 3,13-14)
At that moment God gave man the only name that could define him in any way: Yahveh, which in the Hebrew language can be translated “I am what I am”, “I am the one who is” or “I am the existent”, as translated by the translators of the Septuagint: ego eimi ho on. God, because he is who he is, is the only one who truly exists in the sense that he is not contingent, which means that he does not need anything or anyone to exist, as if creatures do. Since God is not contingent, he has not been created by anyone, but is the creator, beginning and end of all things.
In this regard the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
“In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH (“I AM HE WHO IS”, “I AM WHO AM” or “I AM WHO I AM”), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is — infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the “hidden God” (Is 45:15), his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men.
By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past (“I am the God of your father”, Ex 3:6), as for the future (“I will be with you”, Ex 3:12). God, who reveals his name as “I AM”, reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.” (CCC 206-207)
As can be seen, the question is already implicitly answered here, since the Catechism teaches that Yahveh is the proper name of God, not only of God the Father. And if as Catholics we profess the doctrine of the Trinity: that there is only one God in Three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is natural that each one can be identified with the name of Yahveh.
Denying this unequivocally leads to two options: a) Arianism, or b) a contradiction with what the Holy Scriptures teach.
- Those who think that only the Father is Yahveh fall into Arianism, thinking that only Yahveh is God, but neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit are. This position was unanimously rejected by the early Church as well as by all the Fathers of the Church, and is what sects such as Yahveh’s Witnesses profess today.
- He contradicts the Holy Scriptures who maintains that only the Father can identify himself with Yahveh and at the same time affirms that he professes the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Let’s see why:
Only Yahveh creates
Scripture teaches this when it states:
“Thus says Yahveh, your redeemer, who formed you from the womb. I, Yahveh, have done it all, I, alone, I stretched out the heavens, I established the earth, without any help.” (Isaiah 44,24)
Other similar texts are Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 3,4; Psalm 89:12; 33.6.
The Holy Scriptures also teach that God made everything for himself:
“The Lord has made all things for the glory of himself” (Proverbs 16:4)
If Yahveh did it all”only“, “without any help“, and he did it for himself, it would not explain how Jesus could not also be Yahveh, when the gospel of John begins by saying that ” All things were made through him [The Word made Flesh = Jesus] and without it nothing was done of how much exists” (John 1:3).
Note that when the gospel of John highlights that “Without him nothing was made that exists.” is saying that everything that can be called “made” was also created by the Word (Jesus).
There are also many reflections of the Fathers of the Church on the passage in Genesis where Yahveh creates man (Genesis 1:26): “Let us make man in our image and likeness“, which, being conjugated in plural, implicitly reveals the dialogue between the Persons of the Holy Trinity. See in this regard:
“Let us make man in our image and likeness”, reflections of the Fathers of the Church
Therefore, whoever affirms that only the Father is Yahveh, is consequently affirming that only the Father is the creator, without the Son and without the Holy Spirit. And if he affirms the first and tries to affirm the second, he contradicts himself.
Only Yahveh is worshiped
The Holy Scriptures also clearly teach it:
“I, Yahveh, am your God, that I have brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. There will be no other gods for you before me.” (Exodus 20,2-3)
“Thus says Yahveh the king of Israel, and his redeemer, Yahveh Sabaoth: I am the first and the last, outside of me, there is no god.” (Isaiah 44,6)
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, “He who is, who was, and who is to come,” the Almighty.” (Revelation 1,8)
Therefore, if only Yahveh should be worshiped and no one else outside of Him, if the Son and the Holy Spirit are not also Yahveh, they should not be worshiped, which is why those who affirm that only God the Father can be identified with Yahveh fall into contradiction again.
Only Yahveh saves and is the judge of humanity
The Holy Scriptures also teach that only Yahveh is the only true Savior:
“I, I am Yahveh, and besides me there is no Savior.” (Isaiah 43:11)
In the Old Testament it is also prophesied that both judgment and salvation will be done by Yahveh in person:
“He said, “Truly, these are my people, sons who will not deceive.” AND He was their Savior in all his anguish. He was not a messenger or an angel: He himself freed them in person. Through his love and compassion he rescued them: he lifted them up and carried them every day since forever.” (Isaiah 63,8-9)
This idea, which is repeated throughout the entire Old Testament (Psalm 50:1-6; 96:11-13; 98:9; Zechariah 14:5), is consummated in the New Testament in Jesus Christ, as the Savior of humanity:
“She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.»” (Matthew 1,21)
“Today there has been born to you, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord;” (Luke 2:11)
“For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world may be saved by him.” (John 3:17)
“and that has now manifested itself with the Manifestation of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has made life and immortality radiate through the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10)
In the same way it is he whom the New Testament identifies as the one who will judge the world:
“«When the Son of Man comes in his glory accompanied by all his angels, then will sit on his throne of glory. All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate one from the other, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25,31-32)
The Son of God identifies himself with Yahveh
Likewise, there are many texts of Holy Scripture where Jesus is identified with Yahveh. For example, arguing with the Jews he identified himself so clearly that the Jews tried to stone him:
“Jesus answered them: “Truly, truly, I say to you: Before Abraham existed, I Am.» Then they took stones to throw at him.; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.” (John 8:52-59)
The titles that are attributed to Yahveh in the Old Testament in Isaiah 44:6 are also attributed to him:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if dead. He laid his right hand on me saying, ‘Do not be afraid, It is I, the First and the Last, the one who lives; I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1,17-18)
“To the Angel of the Church of Smyrna write: This says the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life..” (Revelation 2:8)
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.. Blessed are those who wash their clothes, so they will be able to dispose of the tree of Life and will enter through the doors into the City. Out with the dogs, the sorcerers, the impure, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lies! I, Jesus, I have sent my Angel to testify to you regarding the Churches. I am the Branch and the descendant of David, the radiant Morning Star.»” (Revelation 22,13-16)
The Holy Spirit is also identified with Yahveh
There are passages in the New Testament where the Holy Spirit is identified with whom the Old Testament is identified as Yahveh. For example, when Saint Paul mentions words spoken by Yahveh to the people in Isaiah 6:8-10, but attributes them to the Holy Spirit:
“When, in disagreement among themselves, they were already leaving, Paul said this one thing: «No wonder the Holy Spirit spoke to your fathers through the prophet Isaiah: Go find this people and say to them: You will listen well, but you will not understand, you will look well, but you will not see. Because the heart of this people has become dull, their ears have been hardened, and their eyes have been closed; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and convert, and I heal them.”(Acts 28:25-27)
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews does the same:
“That’s why, as the Holy Spirit says: If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts as in the Quarrel, on the day of provocation in the desert, where your fathers provoked me and put me to the test, even after having seen my works = for forty years. That’s why I became angry with that generation and said: They are always wrong in their hearts; They did not know my ways. That is why I swore in my anger: They will not enter my rest! ” (Hebrews 3:7-11)
In summary…
There are certainly texts that refer to God the Father as Yahveh, just as there are texts in the New Testament where God is identified with the Person of the Father. There is no problem in this, but in understanding them with Protestant logic (aut aut) assuming that only the Father is Yahveh, and not with Catholic logic (et et) in which it can be affirmed that the Father is Yahveh, without denying that his Son or the Holy Spirit are so.
In this article I have limited myself to addressing the specific question of whether Jesus can identify with Yahveh.
Author: José Miguel Arraiz
