Jesus the Lord God in Revelation

 The Greek word proskuneo is translated into English as worship in verse 14, which means to genuflect, bow down, that even human kings receive. Proskuneo is not the only word for worship or the only word related to the act of worship. The word sacrifice is also a word used for religious worship and Jesus is a recipient of sacrifice in the NT. In fact, prayers and singing a new song are all worship offered to God too. 

Jesus is already worshiped via offering incense (prayers) to him, and via singing a new song to him, in verse 8.

and then Jesus is worshiped together with the Father in verse 13 wherein all creatures in every place worship both the Father and the Son as having the exact same blessing, honour, glory and might for ever and ever:

Revelation 5:8 

when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

Revelation 5:13 

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Jesus is the one who shows his revelation (which God gave him) to his (Jesus') servants and he did it so by sending his angel. This is parallel to Revelation 22:6. The Father is probably the referent due to parallel in 22:6 but in the same text (22:16), it was explicitly Jesus , the only Lord in the NT, which means that to be consistent, he's the same Lord mentioned in 22:6. Now the context of Revelation 1:1 strongly supports Jesus as the referent. Ergo, all 3 verses have only one angel-sender and he's Jesus, the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets.

Revelation 1:1

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Revelation 22:6

And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His servants the things that must come to pass in quickness.”

Revelation 22:16

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

In Revelation 1:8, Jesus speaks here because in immediate context (just one verse earlier), the one coming is Jesus and also in its parallel it is Jesus who speaks:

Revelation 1:8

7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 22:12-13, 22:20-21 New Revised Standard Version

12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen.Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

Revelation 1:7-8 New Revised Standard Version 7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

The one who is to coming or is coming in the immediate context is pierced (v. 7) and he refers to Jesus. The Father is also the one ''who is and who was and who is to come'' in verse 5. This shows that both Jesus and the Father are described as the one ''who is and who was and who is to come''. Jesus is the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega in Revelation 1:8. Jesus is also Alpha and Omega in Revelation 22:13: 

Revelation 22:12-13, 22:20-21 New Revised Standard Version

12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

It's highly likely that Jesus was the person speaking in Revelation 22:12 because he's the One to repay each one for what they've done in Revelation 2:23 and also because of the prayer offered to him as Lord in v. 20. The prayer in v. 20 ("Come, Lord Jesus!") allude to the earliest prayer known to the earliest churches (from the Aramaic speaking Jews/ the primitive Palestinian Jews) which is Maranatha ("Our Lord, come!"). This is evidence from earliest NT texts (the Pauline corpus) that Jesus is Lord God because everyone of them in every place were calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2). In the OT, everyone's calling on the name of the Lord (Adonay).   

Jesus is called Almighty in the Bible (Revelation 1:8). That doesn't mean Jesus is the Father. In Revelation 20:6, every priest is offering to both God the Father and Jesus as a unit/jointly. They are considered one even when they are distinguished. Jesus is the one who's together with the Father is being served by priests (Rev 20:6), the very hallmark of what worship means in the OT as only deities are being served by priests.

Revelation 14:4 New Revised Standard Version 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,   

Revelation 20:6 New Revised Standard Version

6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.

The Sonship of Jesus in the Gospel of John

Jesus talked more about his equality with God in other areas in the subsequent verses (5:19-30). 

Not only did Jesus doing the same thing with God (i.e. healing the sick on sabbath) in 5:1-7, 5:19 but he also will be doing the same thing (i.e. greater works, raising the dead and judging all men ) with God in 5:19-30.

In verse 20, Jesus Christ said that God the Father shows the Son everything he is doing which logically entails that the Son does everything in the same way (Grk. homoios) God the Father does everything, based on verse 19.

In verse 20, Jesus also said that God the Father will show greater works than these (i.e. the healing of the sick man sabbath). In the context, the greater works refers to the (i) raising the dead, (5:21, 5:25, 5:26, 5:28) and (ii) judging all men (5:22, 5:23, 5:27, 5:30). And both are equally mentioned in 5:29.

Equality with God (in raising the dead)

Jesus will resurrect the dead just as (i.e. equally as/ precisely the same way as) God will do it (5:21).** ''

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.'' (John 5:21 ESV) 

Equality with God (in receiving honor from everyone)

''All'' (Grk. pantes) will honor the Son ''just as'' (Grk. kathos, meaning, ''equally as/ precisely the same way as'') they honor the Father (v. 23). Verse 23 uses the phrase "for this reason" (Grk. hina), showing the reason why everyone will honor the Son and that's because the Son has been given ''all judgment'' (i.e. all of what the Father himself opined in righteousness) according to verse 22. The Father himself ''judges no one'' (v. 22a). Jesus is also the "the Son of Man" (Grk. huios anthropou) (v. 27b) in addition to being "the Son" (Grk. ho huios) (v. 19) of his "own father" (Grk. patera idion) (v. 18). The reason why the Father gave to the Son the authority to ''execute judgment'' (5:27a) is because Jesus is the Son of Man (v. 27b). In judging all men, Jesus does the judging by means of reporting what God the Father himself had told him (''As I hear, I judge'', v. 30). This is similar to what a prophet does. A prophet reports what God has told him.

''For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.'' (John 5:22-23, 5:27, 5:30 ESV)

In ancient Jewish literature, ''the son of man'' (Aramaic: bar enosh) refers to one who is a human being.

A “son of man” is, of course, an idiomatic way of designating a human being in ancient Semitic languages (Hebrew & Aramaic), and “sons of man” the plural equivalent. [1]. 

In Daniel 7:13-14, a divine figure (a celestial being, not a human being) was described as ''One Like a Son of Man''. Some ancient Jews deemed this divine figure as the translated patriarch, Enoch. They had this speculation that the Enoch had been transformed into an angel, was named ''The Lesser YHWH'', sat on the throne of God in heaven, and became the one who will execute all judgment in behalf of God [2].

Another ancient Jewish tradition was preserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew bible (in the Old Greek (OG), not the Septuagint (LXX) that the divine Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14 was God's very own theophany ('' the one like the Son of Man, coming ''as the Ancient of Days''). [3] 

Another Jewish traditon was contemporary to the apostles and that's Philo's the concept of the Logos [4]. Philo followed an ancient tradition of God having two divine powers: (1) the creative power, and the (2) ruling power. For the former, Philo refers to as ''God'' (Grk. theos) and for the latter, Philo referred to as ''Lord'' (Grk. Kyrios) which was both exemplified by the Logos of God. This Logos was the ''second God'' and as such its associated with the other Jewish tradition of the ''second Power'' ( = ''the second Yahweh'') which was referring to the divine Son of Man. Under the concept of the Logos, Yahweh is seen as totally transcended and does not do things directly but does everything through the Logos. This concept was also found in John. The prologue of John introduced Jesus as the Logos through whom God does everything. In John 5, God the Father judges ''no one'' ( recall that under the Logos concept, Yahweh is seen as totally transcended and does not do things directly) but gave it all to the Son, the Son himself will execute the judgment (here the Son was seen as the Logos through whom the Father had given the activity of judging).

In the Hebrew bible and other ancient Jewish texts, the term ''son of God'' was used both to angels and humans. The Qumran Jews who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls (circa 300 B.C.E. - 1st century C.E.) believed that that Yahweh is the father of all gods. This posits that all gods were the ''sons of God'', God being the ''Most High'' (Deuteronomy 32:8 , Psalm 82:6 DSS). These gods were the angels as seen in the Septuagint (Deuteronomy 32:8 LXX). The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint were both very ancient, older than the Masoretic text but the latter agreed with the former in Psalm 82:1, 82:6 in having the ''gods'' as the ''sons of the Most High'. This shows that the original Israelites believed in lesser gods with Yahweh being the high god. The concept of the high god and lesser gods were ubiquitous in the Ancient Near East (ANE) where Israel also existed [5]. 

The other Jewish meaning of ''son of God'' refers to a human being. To call a man God's son is to believe that he's ''righteous'' [6].  In John 8:42, the Jews said they had one father who was God and that they were not illegitimate children. The same concept was applicable to John 5:18 because based on the context, Jesus was claiming to be the ''son of man'' (Greek: bar enosh) in the sense of ''human being'' who was 'God's son'' (i.e. righteous) imitating what his own father (i.e. God) was doing i.e. good works (v. 19). However, Jesus used the articular huios (Grk. ho huios) which meant that Jesus was not merely speaking of himself as one of the sons of God (one of the righteous people) but specifically as ''the Righteous One'' (cf. 1 John 2:1). This showed that Jesus was claiming to be the Anointed One (''The Messiah'') in John 5:18. 

The other meaning of ''son of God'' (its meaning in association with being a divine being) is also applicable in John 5:18 because ''the son of man'' being linked to ''the Logos was God'' in John's prologue (1:1-3). Recall that in ancient Jewish understanding, being the Son of Man was also referring to a divine being: 'The Second YHWH'', which was in turn related to the Jewish Logos concept, the Logos being ''the Second God'' and being ''God'' in Philo. Scholars call the unifying concepts of the Son of Man being the Lesser Yahweh/Second Yahweh and the Logos being the Second God as ''Second Power'' [7]. The Gospel of John seemed to adopt the other variant of Jewish tradition about the Son of Man (identifying him *as the Ancient of Days* i.e. God himself, not *as Enoch*) since a totally divine Logos in John 1:1-3  required a consistent identification of a totally divine Son of Man in 5:17-30.  

In John 5, Jesus was equal with God in all these areas because of his unique sonship:

(1) Jesus was a human Messiah (''The Son'') who imitates the good things God the Father does (v. 19).

(2) Jesus was a divine Messiah (''The Son of Man'') whose function as judge (vv. 22, 27, 30) reflect also his identity as the totally divine Logos (John 1:1-3, 1:17-18). This showed us that in the latter part of the first century C.E., Jesus was already deemed as eternally divine. 

In John 5,  Jesus is seen as divine based on his being ''the Son of Man''. The term ''Son of God'' in reference to Jesus was used in its purely Jewish sense (which refers to a man who is 'righteous'). Jesus, by being both Son of God and Son of Man simultaneously, is truly the ''only son of his kind'' (Grk. monogenes huios John 3:16, 18). 

References

[1] https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/the-son-of-man-an-obsolete-phantom/

[2] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Metatron 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2013/09/the-mystery-of-enoch/

[3]  https://www.jstor.org/stable/26424522

https://www.duq.edu/assets/Documents/theology/_pdf/faculty-publications/The_Son_of_Man_and_the_Ancient_of_Days_O.pdf

https://brill.com/view/book/9789004386112/BP000018.xml

[4] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philo/

[5] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1278&context=lts_fac_pubs

[6] https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259680

[7] https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1111&context=facsch_papers 

The Meaning of εἷς κύριος (one Lord) in 1 Corinthians 8:6

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

I noticed that through Jesus all things came to be and through whom we live

I notice that the phrase ''one lord'' in relation with the creation of all things recalls the ''one lord'' of the Old Testament (''the lord is one'', Deut. 6:4, and ''you are the only lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, with all the stars. You made the earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; you give life to everything. The heavenly army worships you.'', Nehemiah 9:6). Paul's applying to Jesus the exact same description of ''one lord'' which belongs to the only the true god.

This is all true,

• Jesus is not the Father, the Father is not Jesus
• Jesus, as the one lord, is god, because based on context, Paul relates Jesus with the ''many lords'' who are ''the so-called gods...on earth'' in verse 5. Paul is consistent that the many lords are gods and that his one lord is god.
• The Father, as the one god, is lord, specifically the one lord of the Shema.
• In this verse, Paul equally applies to both the Father and Jesus the 2 exact same prepositional phrases (''from him are all things'') and (''through him are all things'') from Romans 11:36, a doxology praising the lord god as Creator, which means that Paul regarded the Father (one god) and Jesus (one lord) as Creator in the text in question.

This is precisely an equality relationship as the very definition of ''one god'' and ''one lord'' features monotheism ( recalling the Shema: ''the lord our god, the lord is one'') in contrast to the polytheism of the many gods and many lords, the lords being gods on earth, based on context (vv. 4-6). Based on their contexts, both Acts 2:36 and Philippians 2:9-11 show that the risen Jesus was ''made lord'' by god (the father). 1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us that Jesus is already lord in the creation of all things, before he became in the likeness of humans (Philippians 2:6-7) so that Jesus and the Father are both ''uncreated'' in contrast to ''all created things''.

Notes

both Jesus, and Paul are right. ​​​​

Mark 12

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

1 Corinthians 8:6

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

1 Corinthians 16:22

If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha!

In Hebrew, Adonai (my Lord/Lord) is the oral/written substitute of the Tetragrammaton. In Greek, it's kyrios (Lord).

The Shema Yisrael in Hebrew has the Tetragrammaton ( = YHWH). When a Jew prays the Shema, he does not utter the Tetragrammaton but rather, he utters Adonai instead. And a Greek speaking Jew utters Kyrios instead.

Adonai literally means ''my lords'' but when used to the God of Israel, it's used in the singular (''my Lord'' or ''the Lord''). When the Greek speaking Jews translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek around the 3rd century B.C.E, they did not transliterate the divine name but rather, they wrote its substitute kyrios instead. Kyrios means a lot of things (''sir'', ''lord'', ''master'', ''owner'' etc.) and its exact meaning can be determined only by its context. Kyrios, corresponding to Adonai (''my Lord/ Lord''), means ''Lord''.

In the Bible, Yahweh is called ''Lord'' because (i) he is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.) and because (ii) he created all things.

Why did God's people chose ''Lord'' as the oral/written substitute for the divine name?

In Deuteronomy 10:17, Yahweh was called ''Lord of lords''. This means that Yahweh is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.). Yahweh was also called ''Lord'' because he created all things. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus says to the Father: “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth … ” and in Acts 17:24, Paul says: “The God who made the world and everything in it, he is the Lord of heaven and earth … ”.

 kurios heis estin ([the] lord is one) in the Shema Yisrael in Greek is semantically the same with eis kurios (one lord) in 1 Corinthians 8:6. 

Paul applies the Shema to Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6. In the Septuagint, the Shema reads: (akoue, Israel, kyrios o theos hemon, kurios heis estin) (Listen, Israel, [the] Lord our God, [the] Lord is one). It's now widely accepted among scholars that the phrase ''heis kyrios'' (one Lord) is derived from and alluded to the Shema' clause ''kurios heis estin'' ([the] Lord is one).

In the LXX Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), the adjective heis (one) is a predicate conjoined to the noun kurios (lord) by the copula estin (is), In 1 Corinthians 8:6, heis (one) now modifies kurios (lord). Only the grammatical syntax changed.The clause ''the Lord is one'' is semantically identical to the phrase ''one Lord''. In other words, ''The Lord is one'' means that there is ''one Lord''.

The Greek speaking Jews applied the title kyrios (Lord) to Yahweh in the Shema. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul applied to Jesus Yahweh's own identity as kyrios (Lord). In this case, the generic sense of  ''Lord'' ( = ruler) was applied to Jesus Christ but his dominion encompasses ''all created things''. In other words, the lordship of Jesus Christ is precisely the kind which Yahweh himself possesses. 

In Romans 15:6, Paul spoke of the ''Father'' as the ''God'' of our ''Lord'' Jesus Christ. In this text, we can see that Jesus is ''Lord'' of every creature except the Father. (This is congruent with 1 Corinthians 15:27 wherein Paul says that ''everything'' -- except God -- was put under Jesus' feet). Jesus Christ is deemed as ''uncreated'' (not part of ''all created things'' which are subjected to his (Jesus') lordship) in his lordship. Jesus Christ, as the uncreated Lord, has the Father as his own God which only shows functional, not ontological, subordination between them. 

In the Bible, Jesus Christ is identified as the ''one Lord'' of the Shema because (i) he is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.) and because (ii) he created ''all created things''.

1. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul applies to the Father and Jesus two prepositional phrases from Romans 11:36.
2. Paul did not apply ‘’ex’’ and ‘’eis’’ to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 8:6 like he did to God in Romans 11. 
3. It is also equally true that Paul did not apply ‘’di’ and ‘’eis’’ to the Father in 1 Corinthians 8:6 like he did to God in Romans 11. 
4. What Paul did is apply only one prepositional phrase for each. Paul applied ‘’ex’’ to the Father and ‘’di’’ to Jesus like he did to God in Romans 11. This means that Paul was identifying the Father and Jesus as Creator like he did to God in Romans 11.

Paul is relating the ''many lords'' (the so-called gods on earth, Gaius, Caesar Augustus, etc.) with the ''one Lord'' (the God of Israel, Yahweh) whom he identifies to be Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 8:5 (NRSV)

Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords

Paul tells his readers about ‘’the so-called gods…on earth’’ in 1 Corinthians 8:5. Who are these so-called gods on earth? In the same verse, they refer to the many lords. The so-called gods on earth were the many lords on earth. In the days of Jesus (AD 27) and of Paul (AD 30-50), the emperors were the many lords on earth, the gods on earth. The emperors were called Dominus (lord) and Deus (god).

 Paul put the Emperors (e.g. Nero, Ceasar, Gaius etc) and Jesus into the same category of κυριος ("lord"). In 1 Cor 8:5-6, Paul relates the many lords being gods on earth to Jesus Christ, who is also lord and hence, a god on earth. But Paul had in mind a specific lord, the lord mentioned in Shema Yisrael in Greek (i.e. the god of Israel, "God") and he identified Jesus Christ as that lord. Ergo, 1 Cor 8:5-6 is about many lords (Greco-Roman gods) contrasted against the one Lord (the God of Israel). This is a statement about polytheism (the many lords = "gods" on earth) and monotheism (one Lord = "God", based on the Shema: lord our God, lord is one).

The phrase "one Lord" (heis kyrios) is semantically the same as "the Lord is one" (kyrios estin heis) which is precisely what the Shema is saying. By identifying Jesus as the one Lord of the Shema, Paul is identifying Jesus as God, specifically as the God of Israel, Yahweh. Paul identifies the many lords as the so-called gods on earth. Examples of these divine lords were Gaius, Caesar Augustus and more in the first century A.D. but for Paul and his brethren, there's only one divine Lord and he's Jesus Christ. 

Paul conflated these two figures: ''the Father'' and ''Jesus Christ'' to the one figure (the one ''Lord God'') mentioned by the Shema Yisrael. In my analysis, Paul's beliefs can be described as semi-modalistic/proto-orthodoxy.

In the very same letter, Paul regarded the Holy Spirit as one Spirit whom Paul deemed to be responsible for people confessing Jesus as one Lord and the Father as one God.  

The absence of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 8:6 does not mean that the Holy Spirit does not feature in Paul's theological beliefs. In the very same letter, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as ''one Spirit'' (1 Corinthians 12:13) who causes one to confess ''Jesus is Lord'' (1 Corinthians 12:3). Paul shows his readers that in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 12:13, the one Spirit is integral to knowing the one God and one Lord in 1 Corinthians 8:6.