How could Jesus do the works of God and teach with the authority of God and yet not be God? The answer: the principle of agency, a concept theologians and academicians understand, but one that is relatively unknown by laity.
In The Principle of Agency in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we learned that an agent is one who has been “authorized to act for or in the place of another,”[1] In Hebraic terms, the agent or the “one sent” is called the shaliah.[2] The term comes from the verb shelach which means to send.[3] The New Testament equivalent is apostle or apostolos in the Greek, and it means: a messenger, one sent on a mission.[4] According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, the one sent was considered to be the legal representative of the sender. To interact with the agent (shaliah) was tantamount to interacting face-to-face with the sender. [5] The “face-to-face” aspect is one of the features of Jewish agency that is particularly foreign to our Western thinking. Professor Marianne Thompson explains the unique correlation between the agent and the sender:
A common saying in the rabbis was “the one who is sent is like the one who sent him” or “a man’s agent is equivalent to himself. Because the saliah [shaliah] may act on behalf of the one who sent him, when one deals with the saliah it is as if one is dealing with the one who sent that person.[6] (emphasis added)
For example, in previous posts we saw where Moses was called “God” because he was God’s agent.[7] In addition, we learned that Joseph was seen as Pharaoh’s equal because he was the king’s agent.[8] We also discovered that the actions of Jesus’ disciples were portrayed as being his, a claim that was acceptable in that culture because the disciples had been appointed by him.[9] Knowing about the precept of agency and being able to recognize it will help us better comprehend Scripture. As pastor and author, David Burge, says, agency “is the key to understanding the relationship between the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.”[10] With this in mind, let’s examine the New Testament as it relates to Jesus, the human agent of God.
Jesus was sent by God.
The language of agency is used in conjunction with Jesus throughout Scripture. More than thirty times, the New Testament speaks of Jesus being sent by God, the vast majority of which occur in John’s writings. According to these passages, the overarching purpose for which Jesus was sent was to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and to be the Savior of the world.
Luke 4:43 (NASB) But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” (emphasis added)
1 John 4:10 and 14 (NASB) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins… 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.[11] (emphasis added)
Those who believe Jesus is God, think it was his idea to save the world, or that he at least played an equal role as a member of the triune team that implemented the plan. However, Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that it was God the Father’s doing and not his own:
John 8:42 (NASB) Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. (emphasis added)
An agent who comes on behalf of the sender is by definition, not the sender. Jesus says at least six times in the gospel of John alone, that he does not speak or act on his own initiative. Even the laying down of his own life was done at the Father’s command.[12] This is all in keeping with the principle of agency.
As God’s agent, Jesus did only the will of the One who sent him.
That God sent Jesus to accomplish His will is an important theme in the New Testament. Jesus repeatedly stated that he did only the Father’s will and not his own. For example:
John 5:30 (NASB) “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (emphasis added)
If Jesus is God we would expect that his will would be the same as that of God the Father’s, and that by doing God’s will, he would be accomplishing his own. However, several times Scripture reveals that Jesus and God had differing wills. As such, Jesus chose to do only the will of God who sent him. This is in perfect keeping with the law of agency. According to one source, a shaliah or agent “performs an act of legal significance for the benefit of the sender as opposed to him or herself.”[13] (emphasis added)
As God’s agent, Jesus spoke only the words given to him.
Those who believe Jesus is deity contend that he pre-existed in heaven as the Word of God. Thus, as the Word of God, we would expect him to speak his own words and deliver his own teachings. What we discover, however, is that Jesus did no such thing. At least nine times, Jesus said the words he spoke came, not from himself, but from God the Father who sent him. For instance:
John 7:15-17 (NASB) The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (emphasis added)
John 8:28 (NASB) So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. (emphasis added)
Incredibly, the Great Teacher, as Jesus is often called, had a Teacher! The “red letter” words in our Bibles actually came from God and not from Jesus. Just as God taught His agent Moses what to say, so God taught Jesus what to say.[14] In addition, Jesus repeatedly states that the source of his words, which we call the gospel message, did not originate with him, but were given to him by God:
John 12:49-50 (NASB) “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. 50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” (emphasis added)
John 14:24 (NASB) “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. (emphasis added)
Jesus was God’s human agent whom He commissioned to speak divine truth to the world. Jesus said:
John 8:40 (NASB) “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. (emphasis added)
Jesus did only the works of the One who sent him.
In addition to speaking only the words of God, as His agent, Jesus did only the works God gave him to do:
John 4:34 (NASB) Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. (emphasis added)
If Jesus was God we would expect him to say “our work” or at the least, “my work,” but instead he says he accomplished the work of the only true God, whom he identifies as the Father:
John 17:1 and 3-4 (NASB) Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come…3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. (emphasis added)
Indeed, the works themselves were to serve as proof, not that he was God, but that he was God’s human agent. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached:
Acts 2:22 (NASB) “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— (emphasis added)
Moreover, Jesus himself testified to this:
John 5:36 (NASB) “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. (emphasis added)
Many Christians believe the reason Jesus was able to perform miracles is because he is deity. But this is not the case. Jesus credited God with doing the miracles:
John 14:10 (NASB)10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. (emphasis added)
Acts 10:38 (NASB) “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (emphasis added)
As God’s Agent, Jesus was fully vested with God’s authority.
As God’s agent, Jesus was given authority to accomplish his mission. Jesus did not come in his own authority, as we would expect if he was God, but in the authority of the One who sent him:
John 5:43 (NASB) “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. (emphasis added)
John 10:25 (NASB) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. (emphasis added)
To come in someone’s name means you have come in their authority. Jesus accomplished his agency in the authority God gave him. If Jesus is God, he would not need to be given authority, he would innately posses it. But if Jesus is God’s human agent, he would need God’s divine power and authority to accomplish his mission.
The agent is regarded as the sender.
Professor Thompson explains one of the most important aspects of the principle of agency as it relates to Jesus and God: the agent is regarded as the sender.
Jesus is presented in the Gospel [of John] against the backdrop of the Jewish concept of agency, and furthermore, against the understanding that there is one chief agent through whom God acts…Because Jesus is the chief agent of God, when one confronts him, one confronts God.”[15]
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion puts it this way:
The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, “a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself.” Therefore any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal…[16]
Therefore, the principle of agency helps us understand and properly interpret certain passages that appear to say Jesus is God. For example,
John 5:18 (NASB) For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. (emphasis added)
John 10:30 (NASB) “I and the Father are one.” (emphasis added)
John 12:44-45 (NASB) And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. (emphasis added)
John 20:28 (NASB) Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (emphasis added)
These passages and others like them are often used to “prove” Jesus’ deity. But when Scripture is read with the traditional Hebraic mindset common to the first century, we see Jesus is simply communicating his agency. James McGrath, professor and New Testament scholar, addresses Jesus’ agency when he writes:
And the key idea regarding agency in the ancient world appears to be summarized in the phrase from rabbinic literature so often quoted in these contexts: ‘The one sent is like the one who sent him.’ The result is that the agent can not only carry out divine functions but also be depicted in divine language, sit on God’s throne or alongside God, and even bear the Divine name.[17] (emphasis added)
This is why Jesus said that whoever receives him, receives the One who sent him:
Matthew 10:40 (NASB) “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. (emphasis added)
Conversely, to reject or dishonor Jesus is to reject and dishonor God because he was sent on God’s behalf. If you reject the agent, by default you have rejected the sender.
John 5:23 (NASB) so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (emphasis added)
Luke 10:16 (NASB) “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” (emphasis added)
Jesus, the Ultimate Agent
The law of agency helps us understand passages that previously have been used to support the fourth century doctrine that Jesus is fully God. It gives clarity to who Jesus is, his ministry and his relationship to God the Father. Although there have been countless faithful agents, both past and present, Jesus surpasses them all as the ultimate agent of the Most High God. Even demons recognize him as such:
Luke 8:28 (NASB) Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.” (emphasis added)
Surely, demons know who Jesus is. This demon identified Jesus, not as the Most High God, but as His son, a term designating him as the Messiah or Christ.
As the only begotten Son of God, Jesus’ agency is unique in that he was sent by God to reconcile all things unto God through his sacrificial death.[18] Furthermore, he is the only one who has been exalted to God’s right hand for his obedience, and given the authority to rule the world on God’s behalf.[19] It’s no wonder that Paul refers to Jesus as the last Adam.[20] It should also not surprise us to find that Jesus’ desire to glorify the God who sent him was the motivation for carrying out his agency. Speaking of himself, Jesus said:
John 7:18 (NASB) “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. (emphasis added)
How then should we respond to Jesus the Christ, God’s human agent? We’ll allow Jesus to answer the question in his own words:
John 6:29 (NASB) Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (emphasis added)
[1] “agent,” Merriam Webster Dictionary, accessed 06-16-19, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agent
[2] also spelled: shaliach, saliah, salah
[3] “shalach,” #7971, New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
[4] “apostolos,” #652, New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
[5] Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 1, Geoffery W. Bromiley, ed., (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1964), p. 417.
[6] Marianne Meye Thompson, “Gospel of John,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Joel B. Green, ed. 1992 (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1992), p. 377
[7] Exodus 3:10; 4:16; 7:1-2.
[8] Genesis 41:40-44, 55; 44:18.
[9] John 3:22-36; 4:1-3.
[10] David Burge, Divine Agency in the Scriptures, 8-10-15, https://sandrahopper.blogspot.com/2015/ accessed 7-5-19
[11] See also John 3:17
[12] John 10:18 Jesus said he laid down his life on his own initiative having received the command from his Father. See “Who Raised Jesus From the Dead” for a more thorough explanation of this passage. Also, see John 5:30 where Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own initiative.”
[13] Shaliah, Wikipedia, accessed 6-30-19, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaliah#Biblical_sources
[14] Exodus 4:12-15. Also, the author of Hebrews compares the agency of Jesus and that of Moses: Hebrews 3:1-6
[15] Thompson, Ibid.
[16] Agent (Heb. Shaliah), The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion, R.J.Z. Werblowsky, G. Wigoder, (New York: Adama Books, 1986), p. 15.
[17] James F. McGrath, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in its Jewish Context, (University of Illinois Press, 2009) p. 14.
[18] Colossians 1:19-23
[19] Philippians 2:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:23-28.
[20] 1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 5:14ff.
