Both Jesus and his apostles identified him as divine. The Apostle Peter described Jesus as “our God and Savior” (
2 Peter 1:1; cf.
Titus 2:13) and called on believers to “honor Christ the Lord as holy” (
1 Peter 3:15).
18 Jesus’ own half-brother James, who was an unbeliever at first (
John 7:5), described him as “the Lord of glory” (
James 2:1; cf.
1 Corinthians 2:8;
Psalm 24:7–8). What man or prophet could be described in this way? The Apostle John also attributed titles to Jesus that were used only of God by describing him as the “Alpha and Omega” and the “first and the last” (
Revelation 22:13;
1:8,
17–18; cf.
Isaiah 44:6). The writer of the book of Hebrews also has insight into the identity of Jesus In Hebrews 1, the author identifies Jesus (the Son) as superior to any prophet (
vv. 1–2), above the angels (
v. 5), worthy of our worship (
vv. 6–8; cf.
Psalm 45:6–7), and the creator of all things who is unchangeable (
vv. 2–3,
10; cf.
Psalm 102:25). The author of Hebrews further states that Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (
Hebrews 12:2; cf.
Acts 2:30).
The early believers were JEWISH, and Jewish prayer is something that should be addressed to God alone, but Jesus calls his disciples to pray to him (
John 14:13–14;
16:26). In the book of Acts when Stephen is being stoned to death, he calls out to the Lord Jesus to receive his sprit (
Acts 7:59). Interestingly, the term for “calling on” (
epikaloumenon) recalls the appeal of Peter to the people in
Acts 2:21 to “call on” (
epikaleshtai) the Lord to be saved. Paul also describes the Corinthians as those who “call upon [
epikaleo] the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (
1 Corinthians 1:2). In the Old Testament, people “called on” on the name of Yahweh (
Joel 2:32). The Corinthians were people who addressed Jesus as Lord in prayer.