Does God have a God? (Something for Christian friends to ponder over)
I have just come across a remark by a "Oneness" member of a Christian discussion group that the words of Thomas in John 20:28, "My Lord and My God" should be regarded as an Apostolic proclamation: that our Master Yeshua the Anointed One is God Himself.
Many Christians today who are likewise persuaded by these brief words of Thomas fail to consider the more detailed words of our Master Himself in John 20:17 where He told Mary to "go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’"
Also, If we take Thomas' words as Apostolic Proclamation, then how should we take Paul's words, quoted below?
2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
Ephesians 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Colossians 1:3
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Romans 1:8
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
Romans 1:8-9
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ . . .God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers . . ."
Romans 7:25
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God . . .
Romans 15:5-7
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
And Peter's words too:
1 Peter 1:3 NKJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
And finally, here are more words spoken by the Messiah Himself, where He refers to His God no less than four times in a single verse:
Revelation 3:11-12 (KJV)
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
If, on the basis of one very brief exclamation of Thomas alone, we are persuaded to regard our Master Yeshua the Anointed One as our God, then on the basis of so many express statements by Paul and Peter above, would we be persuaded to regard the Father in Heaven as our God's God?
Does our God have a God?
Related post:
Thanksgiving, Prayer and Praise in the NT
