Before that question can be directly answered, it needs to be explained first that . . .
On this page: It shall be shown that when God came as the man Jesus Christ, He came in the role of a servant, and not of a Master. Why God did it this way will also be explained. The fact that it was YHVH (Jehovah) who came as Jesus Christ will also be presented using some of the very same scriptures, although it will be abbreviated in this presentation. (A more complete demonstration of this can be found at the main Oneness Bible Studyhttp://www.halfshekel.com/one/index.html.) The information on this page is necessary in order to explain the answers to the specific Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) listed at the bottom of this page.
The LORD said beforehand that when Christ was to come, that He would come as a servant of God:
ISAIAH 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
ISAIAH 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
ISAIAH 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Later, this Servant of God is positively identified as the man Jesus Christ:
MATTHEW 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
MATTHEW 12:16 And charged them that they should not make him known:
MATTHEW 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
MATTHEW 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
MATTHEW 12:19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
MATTHEW 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
MATTHEW 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Therefore, in plain language, the Bible says that Jesus Christ came in the role of a servant of God.
Although man was made in the image of God, the doings of mankind were routinely described in the Bible as abominations. God has already destroyed the world once in the days of Noah because of such things (Genesis 6-9). Eventually the Children of Israel, later called Jews, were given the Law of Moses—instructions as to what is right and wrong, and instructions concerning righteousness (cf. Isaiah 42:4, Matthew 12:20). As time passed however, they too had likewise defiled their way (1Kings 8:46, Jeremiah 3:6-10, Habakkuk 1:3-4, etc.).
Mankind failed.
There is an old saying that says: "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." In the course of time, YHVH (Jehovah) Himself came into the world and demonstrated that even if man could not do so, then He at least, was able to keep His own commandments. In order to demonstrate this, it was necessary that He come as a servant, as though He were subject to God, just like everyone else. So when YHVH (Jehovah) came into the world, He came as the man Jesus Christ (John 1:10). In Jesus Christ we have an example of righteousness, and a role model.
For instance, in 1Timothy 3 (the entire chapter), the apostle Paul instructed the church about the proper way in which church officials (bishops, deacons, etc.) are to conduct themselves. While talking about good behavior and godliness, Paul wrote:
1 TIMOTHY 3:14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1 TIMOTHY 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
1 TIMOTHY 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Of course, it was Jesus Christ who was "preached unto the Gentiles" and "believed on in the world." Therefore, in 1Timothy 3:16 we see that "God was manifest in the flesh" as Jesus Christ.
Paul used Jesus Christ as model of righteousness elsewhere as well. At Philippians 2:9-11, Paul used the good example of Christ to teach the church to likewise walk in the commandments of God:
PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
PHILIPPIANS 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
PHILIPPIANS 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
PHILIPPIANS 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
PHILIPPIANS 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
PHILIPPIANS 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
PHILIPPIANS 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
It should be pointed out that in this scripture, Paul consistently refers to Jesus Christ as a servant of God, and not as the Almighty God Himself. It is for this reason that we see such phrases like "equal with God" (verse 6), "was made" (verse 7), "God hath...exalted him" (verse 9), and "God hath...given him a name (verse 9). It is not because they are two different people, because the Father (Jehovah) and the Son are in fact the same person, as we shall later see . . .
When asked what the name of the Father is, the rank-and-file trinitarian will typically answer either "Jehovah," or "Yahweh." It just so happens that in the Old Testament, the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) was brought into English as "Jehovah" on four occasions, and as the words "the LORD," at almost every other instance. (Note that when referring to YHVH, the word "LORD" is spelled using all capital letters.) In our English bibles, the words "the LORD" and "Jehovah" are the same word in the original Hebrew.
At the Burning Bush, God—here called the LORD—said to Moses:
EXODUS 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
If the LORD referred to the children of Israel as His son, then if two Jews were having a conversation with one another, the LORD could correctly be referred to as "Our heavenly Father," "Our Father," or simply as "the Father." By the time of Christ, the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) was no longer pronounced by the Jews. (Their intention was to sanctify the name of YHVH, and to give no occasion to "take the name of YHVH [their] God in vain, Exodus 20:7). For this reason, the "person" called the LORD (YHVH, or Jehovah) is referred to as "the Father" in the text of the New Testament (cf. John 8:41).
We have just seen that the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) has been brought into English either as "the LORD," or as "Jehovah," and that this Person is referred to as "the Father" in the New Testament.
With this in mind, the Father (Jehovah) said:
ISAIAH 45:21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
ISAIAH 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
ISAIAH 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
We see in Isaiah 45:21 that it is the LORD (i.e., Jehovah, the Father) who is speaking. In the next verse, He said "I (Jehovah) am God, and there is none else." The very idea that the Father and the Son are two different people plainly contradicts this statement made by the LORD at Isaiah 45:22. If however, the Father and the Son are two different manifestations if God (that is, two different manifestations of Jehovah), then there is no such contradiction.
The LORD (Jehovah) also said in Isaiah 45:21 that there is no God other than He. Furthermore, He said in Isaiah 45:23 above, that unto Him (Jehovah—the Father) every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. But as we have also seen in section 2, the apostle Paul wrote:
PHILIPPIANS 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him (i.e., Jesus), and given him a name which is above every name:
PHILIPPIANS 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
PHILIPPIANS 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Here, we read that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear—it does not say "at the name of Jehovah."
Compare Isaiah 45:22-23 with Philippians 2:9-11 again, and grasp the magnitude of what is being said! The LORD (YHVH), even Jehovah Himself, is Jesus Christ— they are in fact the same person. They are two different manifestations of God, but they are the same person nonetheless.
We see from Philippians 2:9-10 that the name of "Jesus" is to be regarded above every name every where—in Heaven, on the earth, and beneath the earth. Philippians 2:9 does not say that He was given a name which is above every other name. It says that He was given a name which is above every name . . . period. (cf. Zechariah 14:9, Colossians 3:17).
If the Father (YHVH, or Jehovah in the Old Testament) and the Son were actually two different people, then Philippians 2:9-10 contradicts Isaiah 45:22-23. If on the other hand, the Father and the Son are two different manifestations of the same person, then those two scriptures are not contradictory.
In the Old Testament, the LORD (YHVH, or Jehovah) is called "Holy" on a consistent basis. It is one thing to be called Holy, but it is quite another to actually be Holy. In the New Testament, the same LORD (Jehovah, in the form of the servant, Jesus Christ) actually demonstrated His righteousness by keeping the same commandments that He Himself issued in the first place. But He had to take upon Himself the role of a servant to do this. (And so, He hasn't asked us to do anything that He wasn't willing to do Himself.)
Understanding this goes a long way towards explaining numerous passages of the New Testament. Each of the verses listed below fall in this category in one way or another. Select one of the following links below in order to have that particular verse addressed: