JESUS IS CALLED LORD (TUHAN)

Why is Jesus called "Lord"?

... maybe beacuse he was born without a father? No! Adam was also born without a father and even without a mother, and yet Adam was never called "Lord." Or, was it because had performed many miracles? No, this could also not be the answer. Moses had done many miracles too, yet he was never called God. Was it because Jesus could heal the lepers and raise people from the dead? No, because Elisha could heal lepers and raise people from the dead also, and yet he was not called God. Was it because Jesus ascended directly to heaven? No, Elija had the same experience and he was not called Lord. Then why Jesus called Lord?

Jesus is called Lord, as we read in John 1:1 and 14, because the "Word of God" became man in the birth of Jesus Christ. For the reason in 1 John 1:1 Jesus is called "The Living Word" or in other verses "God incarnate in man."

The word "incarnate" and similar terms in connection with "God" should never be translated or explained with its meaning in the dictionary or according to its secular meaning. For example: "God exist - Man also exist." The word "exist" in connection with God, has a different meaning from the word "exist" in connection with man. God exists by himself (zat wajib al-wujud). He existed from the very beginning, but men exist because they were made to exist - they are created.

For that reason the word "incarnate" for God should not be translated or used according to its secular meaning. According to the dictionary, if a cat incarnate into an elephant, the cat would disappear, and an elephant would appear. If a stone was transmitted (incarnate) into gold, then the stone would no longer exist, but the gold would. The word "incarnate"in connection with God, has a different meaning. The incarnation that is connected with God does not mean any change in the existence of God because God never changes (Malachi 3:6).

God incarnated as a human being. This does not mean that God no longer exist, and only the man would exist. This idea is wrong. God does not change. God incarnated into a man means that God continues to exist, and that the man exists too. So the word "incarnate" is used analogically, as a likeness for an act and fact exceeding logic, yet its meaning is not the same as in the language of man.

God incarnated into a man means that God has manifested himself, his full being into a man, and that he has revealed his will, power and love in the personality of that unique man, Jesus Christ. Now we can understand the statements of Jesus:

"The Father is in me and I in Him" (John 10:38b).

"I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).

"He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9b)

The Apostle Paul said:

"For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"(Collosians 2:9).

The second verse starting that Jesus is really God can be read in Matthew 28:18, where Jesus says:

"All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." Jesus is almighty, the controller of everything.

The Apostle Paul confessed:

"He (Jesus) is the head of all principality and power" (Collosians 2:10).

God himself is Lord as we read in the Quran:

"God is Lord of the Universe."

In the Gospel we read that God the Almighty has made Jesus "Lord" (Acts 2:36). Here we can distinguish the difference between God and Lord: God means "Theos" in Greek and "Allah" in Arabic, but Lord means "Kyrios" in Greek and "Rabb"in Arabic. The meaning of the letter words is always "authority" with the legislative and executive aspect of it. The authority of God reveals itself in Jesus Christ in many ways:

1). Creating

2). Lawgiving and Comanding

3). Guiding (with help and providence)

4). Forgiving and Saving

5). Renewing by his spirit

6). Judging

7). Glory.

The authority of God to command, to guide and to save is found in the personality of Jesus. For that reason Jesus is called "the Living Word of God" and "or Only Savior." As the Living Word, Jesus performs the divinity of God by preaching and forgiving. For that reason Jesus is made "Lord" by God (Acts 2:36; Colossians 2:10).

Jesus is Lord, in a sense that he has the auhority to save completely. Jesus is the Savior of us all, the Living Word. Jesus remind us: "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

It should be remembered that the obstacle which had made Muslim unable to say that Jesus os Lord was the Islamic testimony. Muslim was taught and had been teaching others:

"THERE IS NO GOD, EXCEPT ALLAH."

In Exodus 20:3 it is written: "Worship no god but me." For that reason we can see that the divinity of Jesus is even suggested in the words of Muhammad which confess that Jesus Christ is the spirit of God and his word, the acting authority of God:

"Jesus truly is the spirit of God and His Word."