Q&A Home > N > Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ

Why did our Lord Jesus Christ call God the Father "greater than Him"? Aren’t they united and equal? Doesn’t being on earth, and going again to His Father entail being in one place only rather than everywhere?

Our Lord Jesus Christ is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is God and God is Spirit and is omnipresent. God did not just live in flesh as a man, but the Word became flesh; (John 1:14). He did not cease being Spirit after the incarnation. God continues to exist as the transcendent, unlimited Spirit while also existing as a man. God did not become confined to a human existence. It was not as though the omnipresent Spirit of God transformed Himself into a man to the exclusion of His existence as Spirit. God became incarnate; He did not transform Himself into something new. "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh"(1 Tim 3:16). This phenomenon could be compared to a balloon and air. Air permeates our atmosphere. This is likened to the Spirit of God who is invisible and omnipresent. Jesus is likened to the balloon that is filled with air. The balloon is the incarnation of the air. Just as the air in the balloon is no different than the air that is outside of the balloon, even so the deity in the Man, Christ Jesus, is the same deity that exists as the omnipresent Spirit. Likewise, just as the air that is in the balloon continues to also exist outside of the balloon. Likewise, the Spirit of God continues to exist as the omnipresent Spirit apart from the incarnation.