Father

Jesus to the Jews about the Father:
"you. . . have no desire for the glory which comes from the only God"

John 5:43,44, (Montgomery, NIV similar, etc) "I am come in the name of my Father and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 "How can you believe when you receive glory from, one another, and have no desire for the glory which comes from the only God?

The issue here is, who is God, the Father? Is the Father Jehovah? Or, is Jehovah Jesus as some claim? Here, that will be explored diligently using undeniable scriptural proof.

The Father

The prayer Christ taught us, begins thus: (Matthew 6:9-10) Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (KJV)

From this we observe that

a. the Father has a name
b. the kingdom belongs to him
c. though we understand that Christ is installed as its king.

Psalm two is about this king God has chosen, God's son, the kingdom, and some of the things that this kingdom will do.

The DRC Bible has an interesting rendering for Psalms 2.

2The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ. 3Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us. 4He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. 5Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage. 6But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment. 7The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. 8Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Because the DRC uses the Greek word for anointed, Christ, its reference to Christ makes the subject obvious to all. The psalm is an obvious prophecy regarding Christ, his status as king and son. Here we see how God says that Christ is the begotten son of God. Now, another Bible version helps putting the whole picture in correct perspective. This is the ASV Bible quoting the same scripture:

¹Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing? ²The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying , ³Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us. ⁴He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision. ⁵Then will he speak unto them in his wrath, And ⁽¹⁾ vex them in his sore displeasure:_{(1) Or trouble}₎⁶Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.

⁷I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; This day have I begotten thee. ⁸Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. . .

The message is clear. Jehovah has begotten Christ as his only begotten son. This son, Jesus Christ, has been appointed king over God’s kingdom. From these few scriptures the message is crystal clear. The Father’s name is Jehovah. Jehovah owns the Kingdom and has appointed his only begotten son Jesus Christ as king over it. An expansion on this is given in the next quoted psalm: (ASV)

Psalm 110:1-7, A Psalm of David. Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. ²Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. ³Thy people offer themselves willingly In the day of thy power, in holy array: Out of the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of thy youth. ⁴Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek. ⁵The Lord at thy right hand Will strike through kings in the day of his wrath. ⁶He will judge among the nations. . .

Here Jehovah appoints Christ priest “after the order of Melchizedek”— the scriptures are in accord. Jehovah, the Father, appoints Christ king and priest. Actually, this point Paul also makes, verifying for us that Jehovah is the Father of Christ.

Hebrews 5:4,5, Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. ⁵So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. (DRC)

In Heb 1:5-7, Paul uses a different OT reference than Psalm 2. Here Paul uses 2 Samuel 7:11-14:

¹¹and since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. And I have given thee rest from all thine enemies; and Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. ¹²When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men; (Darby)

The re-emphasis of this matter gives continual additive support throughout the scriptures to the same dogma: In 2 Cor 6:16-18, the OT is quoted. Even though most Bibles say God as in DRC below, the NW incorporates this quote by name as likely occurred, see #2. Because these are OT quotes, we can verify that the term Lord seen in many Bibles in OT occurrences actually refers to Jehovah God, the Almighty, not to Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18, “. . . And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: ¹⁸And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (DRC)

#2: . . . And what agreement does God's temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: "I shall reside among them and walk among [them], and I shall be their God, and they will be my people." ¹⁷ "'Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,' says Jehovah, 'and quit touching the unclean thing'"; "'and I will take YOU in.'" ¹⁸ "'And I shall be a father to YOU, and YOU will be sons and daughters to me,' says Jehovah the Almighty." (NW)

Similar Father = Jehovah ≠Jesus Christ examples are found here:

Acts 2:32-36, This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. 34For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, (1) The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, ((1) Ps 110:1) 35Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified. (ASV)

Psalms 110:1, A Psalm of David. Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (ASV)

In the NW, the same quote is seen as the ASV shows Psalms 110:1 to be.

Acts 2:32-36 . . .. Therefore because he was exalted to the right hand of God and received the promised holy spirit from the Father, he has poured out this which YOU see and hear. 34 Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, 'Jehovah said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, 35 until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet."' 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom YOU impaled." (NW)

Luke makes this same point as I do here in Acts 13:32-33, “And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, 33that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, (1) Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.(1) Ps 2:7) “ (ASV)

The internal testimony is quite clear, Jehovah is the Father, and Jesus is the son !

Other supporting evidence

Part of the problem regarding the Jehovah-Jesus subject is created by the KJV-like translations having so many of the occurrences of God¨s name Jehovah written as LORD.

Especially, in the New Testament does this cause a big problem. Of course, many believe that God¨s name doesn¨t occur there except perhaps in Hallelujah. This world history and the Bible itself refutes. There are very few parts of the oldest manuscripts that contain God's name. Also, the Jews, the then deadliest enemies of the Christians, testify that the destruction of the Christians texts was a problem because these contained God's name.

Unfortunately, to what extent God's name occurred is unknowable. Still, though overdone in the NWT, some of the occurrences in the NWT are arguably valid. E.g. in Matthew chapter four where Jesus quotes the OT to Satan, it would only be proper to insist on this. Why? After all, Jesus said and claimed that he had made God¨s name known to his contemporaries. This constitutes proof that he freely used the name whenever the occasion permitted proper use thereof. It stands to reason that he obviously would quote Jehovah's name when quoting OT texts wherein it occurred.

John 17:25-26, O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me; 26and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them. (ASV)

For this reason, I employ the NWT translation in the quote of Matthew below, :

Matthew 4:1-11, Then Jesus was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he felt hungry. 3 Also, the Tempter came and said to him: "If you are a son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But in reply he said: "It is written, 'Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah's mouth.'" 5 Then the Devil took him along into the holy city, and he stationed him upon the battlement of the temple 6 and said to him: "If you are a son of God, hurl yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels a charge concerning you, and they will carry you on their hands, that you may at no time strike your foot against a stone.'" 7 Jesus said to him: "Again it is written, 'You must not put Jehovah your God to the test.'" 8 Again the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him: "All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me." 10 Then Jesus said to him: "Go away, Satan! For it is written, 'It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.'" 11 Then the Devil left him, and, look! angels came and began to minister to him.

When acknowledging that the OT contains in the quoted sections God¨s name, the above rendering is obviously proper.

Joshua 24:14, Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah. (ASV)

The logic in Matthew is then utterly simple. In this conversation, Satan never hints at Jesus being God. However, he uses the fact that Jesus is the 'son of God' to egg Jesus into committing foolishness. Jesus himself does not argue the reference; instead, he speaks about Jehovah in the third person, as in not being present. More importantly, Jesus says, "'It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service." Thus telling Satan and us, the readers, that Jesus and everybody else should worship Jehovah.

Had Jehovah not been the Father, but Jesus himself, Jesus would perhaps have said, "It is me your God you must worship . . ." For Jesus to refer to himself as Jehovah in this passage makes absolutely no sense, of the context, and in regard to whom we should worship.

This point really is emphasized throughout the Bible. In the case of the OT, many different Bible translations have retained God¨s name so as to make this conclusion easier.