The Nature of God and Christ - Members Site - United Church of God

THE NATURE OF GOD AND CHRISTDoctrinal Study Paperdilemma by changing YHWH in verse 5 to Adonai. This latter term could refer to a human lord inaddition to being a title for God. This would allow for an alternative explanation to the verse. Butin the New Testament, it is made clear that this is a reference to Jesus Christ and not to David orSaul as Adonai. Psalm 110 is the most often quoted Old Testament scripture in the NewTestament and in every instance it is applied to Christ. He is the Adonai of verse 1 and theYHWH of verse 5.The argument is made that the Hebrew in verse 1 is Adon and not Adonai. This assertionis somehow supposed to prove that the reference in verse 1 is to a human being—and thatreferences to Deity are always Adonai. This is a contrived argument. In ancient Hebrew therewere no vowel points, thus Adonai and Adon are exactly the same in ancient Hebrew. Whenvowel points were added much later by the same Masoretes, they arbitrarily chose which word touse in this verse. Since the Jews feel that this is only referring to a human being they chose Adonand not Adonai, but there is no basis in fact for this choice, outside of their own interpretation ofthe verse.But no matter how one views verse 1, the original text in verse 5 cannot be refuted sinceit is clear that YHWH is at the right hand of someone. In verse 1, YHWH is seated with someoneat His right hand. Hence the dilemma that the Masoretes tried to fix by changing YHWH toAdonai in verse 5. However every New Testament reference to Psalm 110 identifies Jesus Christas the second Lord of verse 1. If He is the “Lord” on the right hand of the Father, then He isclearly called YHWH in verse 5.In Acts 2:32-36 Peter interprets the Lord (Greek Kurios) on the right hand of the LORD tobe Christ. He clearly shows that David was not speaking of himself, which is the most commonJewish interpretation today. And Hebrews 1:1-13 also identifies this being on the right hand ofYHWH, who is called YHWH in Psalm 110:5, as Christ and not David.Preexistence of Christ Confirmed by the Priesthood of MelchizedekThe apostle Paul clearly states in Hebrews 5:4-6 that Christ was divinely appointed to theoffice of Melchizedek, just as Aaron was divinely appointed to the office of high priest (Exodus28:1). The divine appointment of Christ as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek datesback to the Old Testament as recorded in Psalm 110:4, “You are a priest forever according to theorder of Melchizedek.”What is meant by “order of Melchizedek”? The word “order” does not occur often in theOld Testament. The usual meaning given is position or rank, although it is used also in the senseof “for the sake of” (“in regard of,” KJV) in Ecclesiastes 8:2 and “so that” (“to the end that,”KJV) in Ecclesiastes 7:14. In New Testament Greek it appears to be best reflected by “accordingto the nature of,” or “just like,” with reference not only to the higher rank, but also to the entirelydifferent nature of Melchizedek’s priesthood. 3838 Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon, p. 811.Page 29September 2005© 2005 United Church of God, an International Association