Is Jesus the Father?
Jesus in several scriptures brings out the separateness of himself and his Father. He says, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” (John 7:16)
This statement verifies the father-son relationship. In the next verse, Jesus says, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”
This statement clarifies the separateness between him and his Father. God and Jesus have separate wills, and Jesus does the will of God.
“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38
Jesus says that he and his Father are separate beings and that his Father is greater than he. “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” John 14:28
From these scriptures and others, we conclude that Jesus is the Son and not the Father.
There is also a problem if you believe that Jesus is the Father because we know that the Father has always been divine, immortal, and, therefore, unable to die. If Jesus is the Father, was his death on the cross an act, or pretense?
Jesus answers that question in Revelation 1:18 when he says, “I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!”
If Jesus was divine, what did Paul mean when he stated the following:
“By one [man] shall many be made righteous” Romans 5:19
“By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” 1 Corinthians 15:21
“There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5
If you believe that Jesus was divine prior to his crucifixion, his death is minimized. Since Adam was a perfect man who sinned, only another perfect man who did not sin could redeem not only him, but also his entire race. God knew that Jesus, his Son, would need to actually die in order to redeem the fallen human race. After Jesus fulfilled his mission, he was resurrected divine. Henceforth, Jesus sits at the right hand of God and is truly like God. He is immortal and cannot die.
Therefore, we can see from the above scriptures that Jesus was not divine when he walked the earth. He was like Adam, a perfect human created in God’s image. Wherein Adam willingly sinned, Jesus remained sinless and was, thereby, able to pay the ransom price. It was not until after his resurrection that Jesus attained divinity like God, his Father.
To learn more about Jesus’ ransom listen to, “Are Jesus’ Ransom and Our Salvation the Same?”