Is Jesus Christ the Most High – A Look at This Divine Title

Let’s be honest. This is one of the biggest questions in all of Christianity. Isn’t it? You dig past the surface, and this one is sitting right there, waiting. It’s not some side-quest. It’s the main event. We hear “Son of God,” “Messiah,” “Lord.” All the time. But what about the big one? Is Jesus Christ the Most High?

That title… “Most High.” It just hits different. It feels singular. Final. It’s a title of complete, supreme sovereignty. That’s God’s title. The Father’s. The Almighty’s.

So, can it also belong to Jesus?

This isn’t just some dusty theological question for me. It’s personal. It’s a question that’s followed me from Sunday School to late-night arguments with skeptical friends. It’s a question that needs more than a quick “yes” or “no.” It demands that we actually dig in.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to look at this divine title, see what the Bible actually says, and wrestle with what it means for Jesus to be both “Son” and “Sovereign.”

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Key Takeaways

Before we jump in, here’s the game plan. This is what we’ll be exploring:

• What “Most High” Really Means: This title (Hebrew: Elyon) is ancient. It’s one of the oldest names for God, and it means supreme, unrivaled power. Period.
• The “Son of…” Title: The New Testament usually calls Jesus the “Son of the Most High.” We’ll dig into why this isn’t a demotion but actually a statement of shared nature.
• The Case from the New Testament: This is where it gets good. We’ll see how the apostles gave Jesus the jobs, titles, and worship that were only for the Most High God.
• The Trinity Puzzle: The Christian answer to this is all wrapped up in the Trinity—that God is one “what” (essence) but three “whos” (Persons).
• Why This Matters: We’ll talk about why this isn’t just a word game. Why the answer to “Is Jesus Christ the Most High?” changes absolutely everything.

What Does “Most High” Even Mean in the First Place?

Okay, first things first. Before we ask if the title fits Jesus, we have to know what it means. And for that, we’ve got to go way back.

Way, way back.

We first bump into this title, “Most High God” (in Hebrew, El Elyon), in Genesis 14. This is the famous story where Abraham meets a really mysterious king-priest named Melchizedek. This guy is the “priest of God Most High,” and he blesses Abraham in that name.

Right from its first appearance, the title screams total sovereignty. Elyon means “highest” or “uppermost.” When it’s used for God, it’s not just “kinda high.” It’s “the-highest-possible-and-no-one-else-is-even-in-the-same-league.”

The Psalms are just full of this. Psalm 83:18 lays it out: “that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.”

So, let’s be crystal clear. The “Most High” is the one, true, uncreated, all-powerful Creator God. He’s the only one you worship. No rivals. No equals. No partners.

This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

This makes our main question even heavier. How can anyone else, Jesus included, lay claim to a title that, by its very definition, means “one and only”?

So, Is This Exact Title Ever Used for Jesus?

This is where it gets really interesting.

Look, if you’re hunting for a verse that says, “Jesus is the Most High,” you’re going to be hunting for a long time. You won’t find it in those exact words.

What you do find is the title he gets in the Gospels. When the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he says, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). Later, a demon-possessed man doesn’t ask “Is Jesus Christ the Most High?” He just screams, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5:7).

For a lot of people, that’s case closed. “See?” they’ll say. “He’s the Son of the Most High, not the Most High himself. He’s separate. He’s a lesser being.”

Honestly? That’s a logical conclusion. It’s a reasonable takeaway. And, in my opinion, it’s completely wrong. It misses the entire point of what “son of” meant to a first-century Jew.

What Does “Son of the Most High” Actually Imply?

In our world, “son of” means biology. It means separation. I am my father’s son, but I am not my father. We’re two different guys.

But in the ancient Jewish mind, the phrase “son of…” went so much deeper. It meant “of the same nature as” or “sharing the essential qualities of.”

Think about it.

• When the Bible talks about “sons of belial” (a Hebrew idiom), it means “worthless men.” They share the nature of worthlessness.
• When Jesus calls himself the “Son of Man,” he’s not just saying he’s human. That’s a loaded title from Daniel 7, pointing to a divine figure who shares God’s own authority.

So, when that angel calls Jesus the “Son of the Most High,” he’s not saying Jesus is a lesser being. He’s making a stunning, world-changing claim: this baby will be of the very same nature as the Most High God.

He isn’t just from God; he is what God is.

The “Click” in the Pews

I can tell you the exact moment this stopped being just a theory for me.

I was in my early twenties. I was sitting alone in this old, quiet church on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Just needed a place to think. Light was pouring through a huge stained-glass window over the altar. It was one of those classic “Christ Pantocrator” images—Christ, Ruler of All.

I’d seen it a hundred times. But this time, I was stuck on this very question. How can he be “Son” and “God” at the same time?

I just sat there, staring at that window, at Christ with his hand raised. The quiet in that place was so total, it felt loud. And then, it just… clicked.

The “Son” part wasn’t his demotion. It was his revelation.

The title “Son” doesn’t describe his essence as being less. It describes his relationship to the Father. He is the one who, by his very nature, has always been the Son to the Father.

I realized, sitting in that pew, that the only way we could ever know the “Most High” God—the one who is invisible and unapproachable—is if He showed us who He was. And He did. He revealed himself as a Father, through his Son.

But Wait, Doesn’t Jesus Say the Father is “Greater”?

This is the big one. This is the go-to verse for anyone who argues Jesus isn’t equal to God.

John 14:28. Jesus tells his disciples, “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

There it is. In his own words. Case closed. Right?

Not so fast.

This verse is the absolute key to understanding the difference between nature and role. Christians have wrestled with this for centuries, and the classic understanding separates Jesus’s ontology (his essential being) from his function (his role in salvation).

In his essential being—his ontology—Jesus is fully God. Same divine nature as the Father. In his role on earth—his function—he willingly “emptied himself” (Philippians 2:7) and took on the role of a servant. In that role, he was subordinate to the Father. He submitted.

Think of it like this: The CEO of a company is “greater” in position than the company’s President. But they are both equally human.

When Jesus says “the Father is greater than I,” he’s speaking from his position of functional submission on earth. He’s not making a statement that his essential nature is “less than” the Father’s. He was a man on a mission, reporting to his commander. But they share the same divine DNA.

When a Skeptical Friend Pushes Back

That explanation is all well and good, but it can feel a little… sterile. It did to me, anyway. Until I had to actually defend it.

I have this friend—we’ll call him Mark. Super smart, and super skeptical. We’d grab coffee, and we’d always end up talking about faith.

One day, I was trying to explain that “click” moment I had in the church.

Mark just shook his head. “I’m sorry, man, I just don’t buy it. That sounds like a semantic trick. He said ‘the Father is greater.’ He’s the ‘Son of.’ He’s not the guy, he’s the guy sent by the guy. It’s plain as day.”

His pushback was a gift.

It forced me to realize that “church answers” weren’t enough. I couldn’t just feel it. I had to know why those first Christians—all of them fiercely monotheistic Jews—were so quick to worship this man. These are people who would have rather died than give worship to a “lesser” being.

So, what did they see? What did they hear that convinced them?

That conversation with Mark pushed me back to the scriptures. And what I found wasn’t one single verse. It was a tidal wave of evidence.

So, What Did the Scriptures Actually Say?

I realized I was looking for the wrong thing. I was obsessed with the one title (“Most High”), and I was missing the dozens of other ways the New Testament writers were basically shouting, “This man is God!”

Does the New Testament Give Jesus Other “Most High” Titles?

Yes. Absolutely. The apostles’ strategy wasn’t to replace the Father’s title. It was to show that Jesus shares the Father’s divine identity.

The “Kyrios” Connection: Why “Lord” Is a B-I-G Deal

This one is the most powerful, and it’s the one we miss all the time in English.

When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint), the translators had a problem. God’s sacred name, YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah), was too holy to write. So, they used a substitute: Kyrios.

Kyrios just means “Lord.”

So, for centuries, any Greek-speaking Jew knew: when you read Kyrios in the scriptures, that’s a stand-in for the sacred, unutterable name of the Most High God.

Fast forward. New Testament. What is the single most common, most central title given to Jesus? Kyrios. Lord.

When Thomas, after doubting, finally sees the risen Christ, he falls down and cries, “My Kyrios and my God!” (John 20:28). He’s not saying, “My teacher.” He’s saying, “You are YHWH.”

When Paul writes in Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Kyrios… you will be saved,” he’s not just saying, “Confess Jesus is your boss.” He is directly quoting the Old Testament (Joel 2:32, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD [YHWH] will be saved”) and swapping Jesus in for YHWH.

This wasn’t subtle. This was a theological atom bomb.

What About “Alpha and Omega”?

Here’s another one that’s plain as day. In the book of Revelation, a figure speaks: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Revelation 1:8).

Okay. Got it. That’s God the Father. The Almighty. The Most High.

But then, just a few pages later, at the very end of the book, Jesus starts talking: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end… I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you” (Revelation 22:13, 16).

Jesus takes the exact title of the “Almighty” and says, “That’s me.” He is the beginning and the end. The uncreated.

Can We Talk About Colossians 1?

If you need one chapter that just settles it, this is it. Paul, writing about Jesus, just goes for it:

“He is the image of the invisible God… For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17).

Let’s just break that down.

1. Who is the “Most High”? The Creator.
2. Paul says Jesus is the Creator.
3. Who holds the universe together? The Most High.
4. Paul says Jesus holds the universe together.
5. Who is the “invisible God”? The Most High.
6. Paul says Jesus is the image (the visible expression) of that invisible God.

Paul isn’t demoting Jesus. He’s saying that the one you call “Most High” has a face, and his name is Jesus.

Let’s Lay It Out: The Case for Divinity

The New Testament’s case is overwhelming. The writers apply attributes to Jesus that no Jew would ever apply to a mere man, an angel, or a prophet.

• He Receives Worship: The first commandment is simple: “You shall worship the LORD your God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). Yet, Jesus accepts worship. The disciples worship him (Matthew 28:17). The angels are commanded to worship him (Hebrews 1:6). This is pure blasphemy… unless he is God.
• He Forgives Sins: When Jesus tells a paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” the religious leaders rightly freak out (Mark 2:5-7). “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Their theology was 100% correct. Their only mistake was not realizing who they were talking to.
• He is the “I AM”: In John 8:58, Jesus gets into it with the religious leaders. He ends the debate by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” He didn’t just say “I existed.” The Greek “ego eimi” is the exact phrase from the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 3:14) where God reveals his divine name to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus was claiming to be the I AM. The crowd knew it, too. That’s why they immediately picked up stones to kill him.
• He is Co-Eternal: John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John doesn’t flinch. He just says it.

How Does the Trinity Fit Into All This?

This is the part that makes our brains hurt. And that’s okay.

If the Father is the Most High, and Jesus is also the Most High, does that mean there are two Most Highs? No. The Christian faith is, and has always been, monotheistic. One God.

The classic, historical answer is the doctrine of the Trinity. This idea, which was formalized after centuries of debate, basically says: God is one divine essence (or nature). But in that one essence, there are three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. But the Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God.

So, is Jesus Christ the Most High? Yes, in that the Son shares the one divine nature that is the Most High. Is the Father the Most High? Yes. It’s not a contradiction. It’s a paradox. It’s a truth that’s bigger than our 3-pound brains can fully wrap around.

I’ve heard the water analogy: H2O can be liquid (water), solid (ice), and gas (steam). Three forms, one substance. It’s helpful, but it’s also technically a heresy (called Modalism, if you’re curious).

The Trinity isn’t three modes of God. It’s three Persons in one God. The best we can say is that God, in his very nature, is a relationship. The “Most High” isn’t some lonely monolith; the “Most High” is love, which requires a lover (Father), a beloved (Son), and the love that flows between them (Spirit).

Why Does This Question Even Matter Today?

Okay, so who cares? Why spend all this time on an ancient title? Is this just a “how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin” argument?

No. This is everything.

The answer to this question is the dividing line between Christianity and every other religion on earth.

If Jesus is not the Most High—if he’s just a prophet, a good teacher, a created being, or an angel—then his death on the cross is a tragedy. It’s the sad end of a good man. It has no power to save anyone. A creature cannot atone for the sins of all creation.

But if Jesus is the Most High… If he is the very Creator who stepped into his own creation… If he is the Lawgiver who put himself under his own law… …then his death is not a tragedy. It’s a transaction.

It means the Most High God himself, in the person of the Son, absorbed the full, crushing cost of our rebellion. It means God didn’t just send a messenger; He came himself.

This is the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) of the faith. The authoritativeness comes from the scriptures. The expertise comes from 2,000 years of theological work (you can read a deep academic breakdown from sources like the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

But the trustworthiness? That’s personal. That’s the bedrock. If Jesus is God, he can be trusted with your life. If he’s not, he can’t.

My Final Thoughts on “Son” and “Sovereign”

I still talk to my friend Mark. He’s still a skeptic. I’m still a believer. Our conversations have sharpened me, and I hope they’ve given him a clearer picture of what I actually believe.

My answer to him, and to this question, has gotten simpler over time.

Here’s my answer: The New Testament claims that Jesus does everything the Most High does, has everything the Most High has, and is everything the Most High is.

The title “Son” isn’t a demotion. It’s the invitation. It’s the “express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). It’s the invisible God making himself known, touchable, and relatable.

For me, this isn’t just a doctrine. It’s the whole point.

• It means God wasn’t distant; He came near.
• It means God doesn’t just judge sin; He paid for it.
• It means God doesn’t just observe suffering; He experienced it.

FAQ – Is Jesus Christ the Most High