John 20:17 (KJV):
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
This passage often raises a challenge: If Jesus is truly God, how can He speak of “my God”? Is Jesus His own God? Or does God have a God? The answer becomes entirely clear once the biblical categories of “God,” “nature,” and the Incarnation are carefully understood.
1. The Word “God” Is Not Used in Only One Way
In Scripture, “God” does not function univocally—meaning it is not always used in the exact same sense. One term can carry different nuances depending on context.
A helpful analogy comes from Genesis.
Genesis 5:1–2 (KJV):
“…In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam…”
Both the man and the woman are called Adam in the singular. They are 1 Adam. This is strange because Adam is a man, not a woman, right? “Adam” can be in reference to 2 things: “the first male” or “human”. Anyone who is human is Adam because that’s what “Adam” means. The first male has the identity of Adam because he is the first, or the source, of all human beings. Yet, Eve is called Adam not by identity, that’s not her name, her name is Eve, not Adam, but by predication, meaning it’s describing her nature, she is “Adam” meaning “human”. Seeing this, no one would question if Eve was “married to herself” or whether she was the male Adam. The term functions both as a personal identity and as a predicate of nature.
Likewise, the Father is God as a personal identity, that’s His name, while the Son is also God but by predication of His divine nature. This is not always the case in every context of Trinitarian disscussions (see my other articles) but its the primary.
2. The Incarnation: The Key to Understanding Why Jesus Has a God
The Son, eternally God by nature, took on human nature in the Incarnation. Once the Son “became flesh,” He truly became man—and thus subject to God in the same way all flesh is subject to its Creator.
Jeremiah 32:27 (KJV):
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh…”
Anyone who has “flesh” has God as their God. Therefore, when Christ took on flesh (John 1:14), it follows naturally that God would be His God according to His human nature.
This is exactly what Scripture teaches.
Psalm 22:10 (KJV):
“I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.”
This prophetic text shows that the Messiah has God as His God from birth—not prior to His Incarnation. Any argument claiming that the Father is the Son’s God apart from the Incarnation must demonstrate such a passage, but none exists.
Micah 5:4–5 does not qualify, since it refers to the Messiah in His incarnate, messianic role (see Micah 5:1–3).
3. What About Revelation 3:2 and 3:12?
Some point to these passages to argue that Jesus still has a God even after His resurrection and ascension:
Revelation 3:2 (KJV):
“…I have not found thy works perfect before God.”
Revelation 3:12 (KJV):
“…I will write upon him the name of my God…”
But this ignores the central truth: Jesus did not cease to be human after His resurrection. A resurrected body is still a human body. The New Testament repeatedly affirms this.
The Risen Christ Still Possesses a Human Body
Peter declares that the promise to David required the Messiah to remain physically descended from David:
Acts 2:30–33 (KJV excerpted):
“…God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ… His flesh did not see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up… being exalted at the right hand of God…”
If Jesus no longer possessed His human body, He could no longer be the Davidic Messiah. Physical genealogy is traced through physical descent, not through spiritual identity.
Jesus Himself predicted He would raise His literal body:
John 2:19–22 (KJV):
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up… he spake of the temple of his body.”
After the resurrection, Jesus presents His physical wounds:
John 20:24–29:
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
These passages collectively show that Jesus retains His physical, though glorified, human nature. Therefore, the Father remains His God according to that nature.
Revelation reaffirms that Jesus is still the physical descendant of David:
Revelation 5:5 (KJV):
“…the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David…”
Revelation 22:16 (KJV):
“I am the root and the offspring of David…”
These titles would be meaningless if Jesus no longer possessed His human body.
Objections:
Does “Flesh and Blood Cannot Inherit the Kingdom” Refute This?
Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 15:50 (KJV):
“…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”
Paul is not denying physicality. He is contrasting mortal, corruptible flesh with glorified, imperishable flesh. He immediately explains:
1 Corinthians 15:51–53 (KJV):
“…we shall all be changed… the corruptible must put on incorruption, and the mortal must put on immortality.”
The body is transformed—not abandoned. Jesus’ risen body is still a true human body, but now glorified and imperishable.
1 Peter 3:18 (KJV):
“…being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit…”
This does not mean Jesus became a non-physical spirit being. “Made alive in the Spirit” refers to the mode of His resurrection—He was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, not transformed into a spirit without a body. This matches Paul’s teaching that the resurrection body is a physical body empowered by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:44).
John 3:3–5 (KJV):
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicomemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:3–5 is often misunderstood. Jesus teaches that sinful, corruptible flesh cannot inherit the kingdom, but He nowhere denies the existence of glorified human flesh. This distinction mirrors the transformation described in 1 Corinthians 15.
4. Is the Holy Spirit Christ’s God?
Some argue that since Christ lived by the Spirit’s power, the Spirit must be “His God.” This does not follow.
- The Father—not the Spirit—sent the Son into the world (John 3:16; Galatians 4:4).
- Christ became flesh specifically to fulfill the Father’s will (John 6:38). The scripture nowhere says that He came to do the will of the Spirit because the Spirit is not His Monarch and Head.
- The Spirit was sent to empower the incarnate Son as part of the Father’s plan (Acts 10:36–38).
- Jesus exercises authority over the Spirit—even during His earthly ministry (John 15:26; Acts 2:33).
- Scripture identifies the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9–11).
Thus, the Spirit’s empowering role does not make Him Christ’s God because Jesus still has authority over the Spirit, even as a man.
Conclusion
Jesus calls the Father “my God” because, in the Incarnation, He truly took on human nature—flesh created by God and therefore subject to God. This relationship continues after the resurrection, since the risen Christ still possesses a glorified human body, remains the offspring of David, and functions as the eternal God-man.
John 20:17, then, is not a denial of Christ’s deity but a powerful affirmation of the mystery of the Incarnation: the eternal Son, remaining fully God, became fully human for our salvation. The God of all flesh is therefore, according to His humanity, His God as well.