Problem: Matthew speaks of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” all being part of one “name.” But these are three distinct persons. How can there be three persons in the Godhead when there is only “one God” (Deut 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:6)?

Solution: God is one in essence, but three in Persons. God has one nature, but three centers of consciousness. That is, there is only one What in God, but there are three Whos. There is one It, but three I’s. This is a mystery, but not a contradiction. It would be contradictory to say God was only one person, but also was three persons. Or that God is only one nature, but that He also had three natures. But to declare, as Christians do, that God is one essence, eternally revealed in three distinct persons is not a contradiction.

The Bible clearly identifies Jesus as God and specifically as YHWH, the one true God of the Old Testament. Jesus affirmed His own deity and so did the New Testament writers and the early Christian writers after them. It is abundantly clear that Jesus is and has eternally been God. Yet, there are startling phrases occasionally used about Jesus that, to our modern eyes, can seem out of place with this eternal reality. These passages speak of Jesus being given authority by God and given the name above all names at the time of His resurrection. But as God, did He not already have all authority? Did He not already possess the name above all names? What could these statements mean? As it turns out, these passages are steeped in Messianic tradition and, when considered in context, present no contradiction to the broader claims of Scripture about Jesus’ deity.

The passages and the question

We will here examine four of the major passages that present us with this conundrum: Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:9-10, Hebrews 1:2-4, and Romans 1:3-4.

All authority has been given?

Matthew 28:18-20 reports for us the great commission, one of the most well-known passages in Scripture among evangelicals where Jesus commanded His disciples to bring the gospel to all nations. But sometimes overlooked is this very first phrase:

> “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,'” (Matthew 28:18).

Jesus says this to them when He appears after His resurrection, and the implication is obviously that it is now, at His resurrection, that He has been given this authority. Yet, it is not as if Matthew had presented Jesus as one without divine authority up until this point. In the first chapter, He comes as Immanuel, literally “God with us,” (Matthew 1:23). He is the virgin-born son of David, the promised Messiah-King. In Chapter two, Magi come to worship Him and honor him as king. His kingship is foretold by the prophets, (Matthew 2:4-6) and even marked by a star in the heavens, (Matthew 2:2). The star is perhaps a reference to the Messianic promise in Numbers 24:17 that “A star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel.” The star may also have called to mind a Roman tradition that a heavenly sign marked a king as divine. Either way, the star implied that Jesus was already a king.

As the gospel went on, we are told that Jesus spoke as one with authority (Matthew 7:29) and had the authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). A Roman Centurion displayed his great faith by rightly believing in Jesus’ authority to command at a great distance for his servant to be healed, (Matthew 8:5-13). The wind and the waves obeyed Jesus’ commands, (Matthew 8:27), which was actually a sign of His deity. The demons feared His authority as the Son of God, (Matthew 8:29). Jesus even affirmed in several places that He was the one to whom all would answer as judge on the last day! Further examples could be multiplied, but it is abundantly clear in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus already possessed kingship and divine authority. Even the very passage in Matthew 28 contains the great Trinitarian formula identifying Father, Son, and Spirit as the one God in whose name we baptize!

What, then, did Jesus mean by saying that all authority had been given to Him at His resurrection?

Bestowed on Him the Name?

Philippians 2:3-11 calls Christians to humility using the model of Christ who came as a man, humbled Himself unto death by crucifixion, and was afterward glorified. It concludes with the words:

> “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Again, this very passage acknowledges that Jesus existed “in the form of God,” (Philippians 2:6) and then humbled Himself to come “in the likeness of men,” (Philippians 2:7). This, indeed, is what makes the incarnation an act of humility. That Jesus is God is essential to the meaning of this passage! But then, as God, didn’t the Son already have the name that is above all names? In what sense was He given that name after suffering unto death on the cross (i.e., at His resurrection)?

Becoming better than the angels and inheriting a Name?

The opening chapter of Hebrews is a glorious passage that presents the supremacy of Christ. But it includes the words:

> “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they,” (Hebrews 1:3b-4).

It also speaks of “His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things,” though it finishes the sentence, “through whom also He made the world,” (Hebrews 1:2). Indeed, it calls Jesus “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,” and says that He “upholds all things by the word of His power,” (Hebrews 1:3). And it quotes from the Psalms about Him:

> “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain, And they all will become old like a garment, And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end,” (Hebrews 1:10-12, quoting Psalm 102:25-27).

This is a Psalm of praise to YHWH, the one true God of Israel, and the author of Hebrews says that is Jesus. Elsewhere in the book, he writes things like:

> “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8).

So, Jesus is unchanging and eternal, the creator, and the one true God. Wasn’t He, then, already better than the angels? Didn’t He already have the most excellent name? What does it mean that He received these things “when He had made purification of sins,” (i.e., after His death and resurrection)?

Appointed the Son of God?

Finally, our last example comes in Romans 1, where Paul says:

> “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 1:4).

At issue is the proper translation of the Greek word “ὁρίζω.” The word literally means to set defining boundaries, but came to be used as a term for “determine” or “appoint” and occasionally “to declare someone to be something.” “Appointed” is the more natural and straightforward reading. Paul used the same word in Acts 17:31:

> “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

It is a plausible reading that Romans 1 says Jesus was in some sense “appointed” the son of God in the resurrection. Yet, the Book of Romans also plainly declares Jesus to be God.

The Biblical answer: The appointed Son and the authority given

The answer to this apparent conundrum is found in the Messianic language of Old Testament prophecy. God promises David regarding his descendants:

> “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me,” (2 Samuel 7:12-14).

This promise is applied to David’s whole line, but it is certainly fully and finally fulfilled in the eternal reign of the Messiah. And here we see that to reign on David’s throne is to be appointed “son of God.” If we look back at Romans 1 in context, we read:

> “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared [or “appointed”] the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 1:1-4).

So, even if we take “appointed” to be the best translation, the context here is of Jesus who is in the line of David and appointed “son of God.” This is the Old Testament language of covenantal kingly authority. It is a powerful way of establishing Jesus’ authority as Messiah and King. Not merely King of Israel, but King of the nations! In Psalm 2, God the Father says to the Messiah:

> “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession,” (Psalm 2:7-8).

This sonship of the Messiah as a Davidic king is directly connected with the idea of inheritance, authority, and the reigning of all the earth. This is actually consistent. It is not in any way a denial of all the plain biblical statements about Jesus’ deity, but rather the fulfillment of the purpose of His humanity! It relates to the incarnational identity and mission of Jesus as the Messiah. We see quite the same thing in Matthew 28:

> “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...'” (Matthew 28:18-19).

What do we see? Divine appointment to authority over all the earth and the sending out of ambassadors to the nations to preach faith expressed in baptism that leads to obedient submission to Jesus.

The Biblical answer: The incarnation and the angels

The Messianic reading of the Psalms is also relevant regarding Hebrews 1 and Jesus’ status in relation to the angels. The author of Hebrews sees a special Messianic fulfillment of Psalm 8 in Christ:

> “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone,” (Hebrews 2:9).

So, the point is not that Jesus’ eternal, divine nature was somehow lower than the angels. The point is that Jesus came in humility and took on human flesh. In doing so, he became “for a little while lower than the angels,” in the incarnation for the sake of the cross. Then, in His humanity, He was crowned with glory in resurrection life and seated at the right hand of the Father. The purpose was not so that He could gain something that He lacked. The purpose was for us! To redeem us from our sins. Christ became for a short time “a little lower than the angels” so that he might, in His humanity as the incarnate Messiah, “become as much better than the angels,” (Hebrews 1:4).

Thus, Jesus was not a man by nature who was elevated to something greater. He was God by nature who took on the lowliness of human flesh, suffering, and death for our redemption so that we as humans might share in the subsequent glorification of His own humanity. This is strikingly similar to what we find in Philippians 2.

Conclusion

Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, was always eternal, divine, and thus had all authority over everything. Yet, in love for us and submission to the Father, He humbled Himself and also became a man. As a man, He was the son of David, the rightful king of Israel. Only after His death and resurrection did Jesus, in His humanity, claim the kingly authority over the nations which were already His right and ascend in the flesh to be seated at the right hand of the Father not only as God but also as man. Only then, after His resurrection, did He send His followers out to all nations. Only then did He elevate even His human nature to the place above that of the angels. In this, He sealed our salvation, and these otherwise vexing passages are pointing to this truth.