The Messiah as God

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Hi, I’m doing a research project and I have chosen the topic “The legitimacy of Jesus as God”. I have come across the argument that Jesus is the messiah as, arguably, he has fulfilled most of the criteria for becoming the messiah, how ever, the Bible and or the Tenakh does not explicitly say that the '‘Messiah’ would be God. Does anybody know a counter to that argument?
 
“Messiah” just means “anointed one”. King David among others were also God’s Messiah. The title says nothing of divinity.
 
Rj-Pena said:
Hi, I’m doing a research project and I have chosen the topic “The legitimacy of Jesus as God”. I have come across the argument that Jesus is the messiah as, arguably, he has fulfilled most of the criteria for becoming the messiah, how ever, the Bible and or the Tenakh does not explicitly say that the '‘Messiah’ would be God. Does anybody know a counter to that argument?
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Jews and Muslims do not believe in original sin or in atonement, nor the Holy Trinity. The divine plan was not revealed until Jesus Christ.

Catechism
65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son."26 Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father’s one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2:
In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.
27
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Exactly. I agree. Does that mean; the point that Jesus is the Messiah may not necessarily mean that he is God? What is the Christian belief behind it?
 
For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Is 9:6-7, DRV)
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Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord our just one. (Jer 23:5-6)
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Psalm 24 refers to the Messiah returning triumphantly to Heaven as the angels lift the eternal gates:
Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in. Who is this King of Glory? the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory. (Ps 24:9-10)
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If the “King of Glory” is not the Messiah, the second person of the Holy Trinity, this passage would mean that God himself completely vacated Heaven at some point.
 
Is not Jesus God? Who did Jesus say his father is?

Did not our Lord say that the father is in heaven and that he and the Father are one?

Are we questioning Christ’s divinity?
 
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shom-bms said:
If the “King of Glory” is not the Messiah, the second person of the Holy Trinity, this passage would mean that God himself completely vacated Heaven at some point.
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Or, as the footnote in the NAB suggests, perhaps this is a reference to God entering the temple (as the ark enters the temple).
Rj-Pena said:
Does that mean; the point that Jesus is the Messiah may not necessarily mean that he is God?
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The fact that the Messiah isn’t prophesied to be divine doesn’t imply that Jesus isn’t divine. It just means that the prophecies didn’t address it. (By your logic, the fact that the prophecies didn’t mention that the Messiah had 10 fingers and 10 toes implies that he didn’t. 😉 )
 
The over all argument I attempted to make was to prove the divinity of Christ, but my question, fundamentally, was : does being the Messiah qualify one to be God according to Christian and Hebrew text?
As answered, there are no reference of Biblical text that God (Jesus, The Son) would be the Messiah nor the Messiah being God. However even if God was not the messiah, this would not question the divinity of Christ as being God and the Messiah are both two separate identities.
 
See the subsection “Old Testament proofs” in the article on the Incarnation in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07706b.htm#I1a

It’s broken down into three sections: proofs in the Psalms, proofs in the sapiential books (or books of wisdom), and proofs in the prophetic books.
 
if he is not God, then he is a liar.

If you believe he is the messiah, but not God, then you believe the devil placed him there. Which of course is contrary to Jewish expectations and hence contrary to the proper argument.
 
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It was only meant to be 5000 words. Sadly I think I had underestimated this project and may need to write over 5000😔
 
I would back the truck up a little earlier and research the cafeteria nature of the OT prophecies used by Christians to objectively identify the Messiah in the first place. The people who wrote the OT scratch their heads at the smorgasboard chosen…and those left out.
 
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