THE USE OF THE DIVINITY AND LORDSHIP TERMS IN THE BIBLE

THE USE OF THE DIVINITY AND LORDSHIP TERMS IN THE BIBLE

 

Calling Jesus (PBUH), “lord" or "god” is not evidence of his divinity, for they are commonly in use in the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible uses these two words to name many creatures, among them are the angels.

 

In the Book of Judges, we read, “The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." ” (Judges 13:21-22) (ESV), but he meant “the angel of Allah (S.W)”. 

 

Allah’s (S.W) angel appeared to Sarah and gave her good news about Isaac. “And the angel of the LORD said to her… she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, ‘you are the God of seeing.’ (Gen. 16:11-13)

 

Another example is in the Book of Exodus, which talks about the angel who accompanied the Israelites when they departed from Egypt and the passage calls him god. “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them along the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; that they might travel by day and night…. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them.”

(Ex.13:21, 14:19)

 

The Torah also gives these names to some prophets, but it does not mean the real meaning of the word. Allah (S.W) spoke to Moses regarding Aaron (PBUT), “He will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.” (Ex.4:16) (ESV), “And the LORD said to Moses, see, I have made you a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” (Ex. 7:1)

 

The prophets named Gods in the Torah metaphorically, and it meant “messengers of God”, as mentioned in the First Book of Samuel, “(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today's "prophet" was formerly called a seer.) ” (Sam.1 9:9)

 

The Torah also mentions the word “God” and it refers to Judges, because they Judge according to Allah’s (S.W) Law. “But if the servant shall plainly say… then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door.”(Ex.21:5-6)

 

In the next chapter of the same book, we read, “If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property… The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.” (Ex.22: 8-9)

 

In the Book of Deuteronomy, we read,“then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests”(Duet. 19:17)

 

In the Book of Psalms, “God stands in the congregation of God; He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, and respect the persons of the wicked?”(Psalms 82:1) It is clear that this passage talks about the Judges and the noble Israelites.

 

The use of this word has spread even further to call all the Israelites, as mentioned in Psalms.“I said, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.Nevertheless you shall die like men.”(Psalms 82:6) This passage is what Jesus (PBUH) quoted while he was speaking to the Jews. “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent to the world, you blasphemes; because I said, I am the Son of God?” (John 10:34)

 

The Holy Books continue in giving these names even to devils and nations’ false gods. Not only that Paul called the devil god, but also the belly. He said about the devil:“In whom the god of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.” (Cor.2 4:4)

 

He said the following about people who follow their desires: “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame.” (Phi. 3:19)

 

We find the same thing in Psalms. “For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.” (Psalms 135:5).

 

The divinity of the belly and the others is metaphoric and not real.

In “Explanation of the Faith’s principles” the authors wrote, “Moses was called god by God himself as he was acting on God’s behalf, and not because he was divine. The same goes for the Judges because they judge according to God’s Law. The belly, the statues and the money, it was called as such because some people had taken it as gods, and the devil was called god because he controls our world”.[1]      

This is the Holy Bible’s language and way of expression; whoever insists on taking its words literally, is wrong. The lordship mentioned above was just metaphoric, and the same goes for Jesus (PBUH).

In his book "the Precious Holy Bible seekers’ guide", Dr. Samaan Kahloon wrote, “Expressions in the Holy Bible are very metaphoric and mysterious especially in the Old Testament”.

He also wrote, “Expressions in the New Testament are also very metaphoric, specially "the words of our Savior", and because some of the Christian teachers used literal interpretation methods, many of the false and corrupted opinions were spread around…”2

 

In addition, when Jesus (PBUH) heard about these metaphoric gods, he declared that there is only One True God who is Allah (S.W), he said,“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) which clearly means that heaven and eternal life will be obtained by bearing witness that Allah (S.W) is One, and that Jesus (PBUH) is his messenger, and this is what all Muslims believe.