It is clear that by the time the New Testament writings began to appear, there was already a surprisingly settled understanding on the part of those adhering to the nascent Jesus movement that Jesus was not only to be followed as leader, but to be worshiped as Lord. In this article, we will examine two features of the New Testament writings in defense of this claim: the use of Psalm 110:1 and the parallel thought forms of Philippians 2:5-11 and portions of Isaiah.

The New Testament quotes or alludes to Psalm 110:1 twenty-one times, more than any other Old Testament verse: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘sit at my right hand until I make my enemies your footstool.’ ” Richard Bauckham asserts that, although some Jewish rabbis read this verse as suggesting “simply that the Messiah is given a position of honor beside the divine throne…, it is quite clear…that early Christians read it differently: as placing Jesus on the divine throne itself, exercising God’s own rule over all things” (God Crucified, 30). This may be why the verse is not uncommonly found paired with an allusion to Psalm 8:6: “You made him ruler over the works of your hands and placed all things under his feet” (Ibid., e.g., Matt 22:44; Mark 12:36; 1 Cor 15:25-28; Eph 1:20-22; 1 Pet 3:22; Heb 1:13).  

An example of this pairing occurs in a startling manner in Ephesians 1:20-22 where we find that God has raised Jesus “from the dead and seated him at his right hand…far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” and that he has “put all things under his feet....” The Christological interpretation and juxtaposition of these Old Testament verses can only mean that the New Testament church was acknowledging Jesus as God’s equal. As Bauckham argues, "The spatial relationship between Jesus and the angelic powers is precisely how Jewish pictures of the heavenly realms portrayed the relationship between the divine throne and the angelic powers subject to God" (Ibid., 33). Therefore, it appears that the New Testament writers were very intentional in their exegesis and their application of Psalm 110:1 to the phenomenon of Jesus. Jesus was to be included in and interpreted in terms of the divine identity as fully understood and apprehended by Jewish monotheism. 

Philippians 2:5-11 begins in eternity past and ends with the consummation of all things. The star of this short epic is Jesus. Here we find that he who is in the form of God assumes human flesh and suffers humiliation unto death. The implication is that God and man have become one. Lest anyone should doubt Paul’s intent in this passage, the apostle performs Christological exegesis of Isaiah 52:13-14 and 45:22-24. In Isaiah 52:13-14, we find one who is “marred beyond human resemblance” and is nonetheless to be “high and lifted up” and “exalted.”

In Isaiah 45:22-24, God declares his uniqueness as the only God and as the one who saves. He is the sole possessor of righteousness and strength, and swears by himself (and, by implication, by his “name”) that to him “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” Paul interprets and applies these verses directly to Jesus in Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

Hence, Jesus is the fulfillment of these verses in Isaiah. The name that is attributed to God and God alone is now Jesus’ name as well. Jesus is the one who is high and exalted and to whom every knee shall bow in worship. By invoking these Old Testament verses that speak so clearly of the almighty and sovereign God of Israel and applying them directly to Jesus, the apostle has deliberately included Jesus within the divine identity. Paul Owen comments,

Whereas Isaiah depicted every knee as bowing to Yahweh and every tongue confessing him as LORD, Paul understands this prophecy in terms of the confession and acknowledgement of Jesus universal Lordship…and [to mean] that the divine name YHWH and Jesus’ name are to be revered as one and the same (in The New Mormon Challenge, 287). 

David Yeago concludes,

According to the message of the apostles…in the resurrection and exaltation, the God of Israel has identified himself with the particular human being, Jesus of Nazareth. God has not, in exalting Jesus as Lord, merely affirmed that he was right, nor only identified himself with Jesus cause or teaching. In his exaltation, Jesus’ person, Jesus himself, has been definitively identified with God (in The Theological Interpretation of Scripture, 89).  

It is difficult to infer from this text that Paul had anything else in mind.

In our next article, we will explore the triadic formulas in the New Testament and what they tell us about the trinitarian understanding of the earliest New Testament believers.

Blessings,