The objection
The Father gives the Son life, and Acts 2,36 says that God made Jesus Lord and Christ. What must be bestowed was apparently not present before. How, then, can Jesus be eternally God?
1. Appointment to an office is not creation of a nature
When Peter says that God made Jesus Lord and Christ, he explains immediately before this his resurrection, exaltation and pouring out of the Spirit. The verb “make” is determined by its complements. Here it does not mean producing a previously nonexistent Jesus but installing and demonstrating the crucified one in his messianic dominion.
Jesus already acts as Messiah before Easter. The statement therefore describes a new position in salvation history, not the first coming into being of his entire identity.[1]
2. Pentecost itself shows the scope of his dominion
Peter quotes God's promise to pour out his Spirit and then explains that the exalted Jesus poured this out. The context does not lead away from God to a mere helper. It shows how God's promised action is accomplished through the exalted Son.[1]
Romans 1,3–4, too, already speaks of God's Son before describing his resurrection and powerful position. He does not become a previously unknown divine being only through resurrection.
3. “Life in himself” is more than received creaturely life
John 5,26 says that as the Father has life in himself, so he gave the Son to have life in himself. The comparison designates no merely borrowed vital energy. In context, the Son gives life and calls out the dead. He possesses the power to give life.
Classically, this verse is related to the eternal communication of divine nature. Other Trinitarian interpreters emphasize the incarnate Messiah's equipping for his life-giving office. Reymond discusses these different placements.[1]
4. Neither reading means “created”
In the eternal reading, giving is no temporal transition from nonbeing to being. In the messianic reading, the already existing Son receives a position within his commission. In both cases, personal relationship must be distinguished from the coming into being of a created nature.
John 17,5 expressly attests Christ's glory before the world. Anyone making every expression of receiving a beginning of his existence disregards this statement. The Son receives as Son and as sent Messiah; this does not promote him from creature to God.
Biblical texts in context
Sources and further study
- Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian FaithActs 2 and Pentecost, pp. 286–288; John 5,26 in the dispute over eternal generation.