“Like Father, Like Son”

Thursday, January 23, 2020

If God and Jesus are the same, how did He really suffer?  He already knew He would be okay, and the man on the cross beside Him didn't.  How is that fair?  And if They are one in the same, why do we have to go through Jesus to talk to God?  If God is Jesus, then They are the same; why can't we just talk to God?

Sincerely,
One And The Same

Dear One And The Same,

As far as the Father and Jesus being the same...  they are both deity, but they are also unique beings.  There are three parts to the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This is most easily seen in Matt 3:16-17.  When Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove.  Each of them is eternal (they were all at the creation – Gen. 1:1, Gen. 1:2, Col 1:15-17).  John 1:1 specifically says that Jesus is Deity.  Jesus is different than the Father, but He is part of the Godhead.  Jesus even said that He had always existed (Jhn 8:58).  The apostles worshipped Jesus as God (Jhn 20:28).

When Jesus died on the cross, He really felt the pain, and He really had to trust that the Father would raise Him from the dead in the end.  His faith was strong, but it was still something that took great strength of character and it still hurt – faith in the outcome didn't remove the pain.  After all, Jesus was completely human just like everyone else; the only difference was that He had the strength of character to not sin (Heb 4:15).

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