The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
Psalm 110:1
Most scholars will not make this claim, but some lay Christians will argue that the passage says “Yahweh said to Yahweh” and use this as an argument for two Yahweh’s. Since the name of God is often replaced with “Lord” in the OT, they assume whenever they read the word “Lord” it must have originally been Yahweh. This is not the case here. In the original Hebrew it is “Yahweh said to my Lord.” Not only would one Yahweh speaking to another Yahweh result in 2 Yahweh’s, but as we will see, Peter makes this reading of the passage an impossibility.
Matthew 22:41-46 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ‘ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Trinitarians and Arians read this “riddle” of Jesus as if he’s expressing a paradox about his age. “If I am David’s son, how could I have been his lord? I must have been his lord then, and become his son now.” As if Jesus is both older and younger than David. The question is not about preexistence or age at all. The question isn’t “how could David have known me before if I am his son,” the question is: “David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?” How can his son be his Lord?
“Lord” simply means master. The lord over a piece of property is called a landlord. In Hebraic culture, a man’s child is never his lord over him. Even David gave birth to a son who was one of the greatest kings of all Israel, and yet David never called Solomon his “Lord.” The question is of power. How can the son of David be his master?
The simple answer is this: David knew that his descendant would sit on his throne and surpass his rule. He knew that through this seed, “all nations will be blessed.” David knew that even after he was dead, this future son of his would be lord over him, lord over the dead. This is not David looking into heaven and seeing two lord’s and seeing a prehuman Jesus lording over him. This is a prophetic vision of a future reality. How do we know this? Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 22. “David, speaking in the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord.'” What spirit? The spirit of prophecy. David spoke this as a prophetic message. How else can we be sure? Peter himself interprets this passage and tells us all we need to know.
Acts 2:29-36 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Peter tells us that this is a prophecy from David concerning a promise from God that his descendant would be elevated to his throne even after his death. This descendant is Jesus, who was “made Lord” (obviously, not made “Yahweh”) after his resurrection and placed at the right hand of God. Peter tells us that this passage is necessarily fulfilled, not in the past by a prehuman son of God, but in the present by a crucified Messiah who was made lord and ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father.
When was Jesus “made Lord?” After his death and resurrection (Philippians 2:8-11, Acts 2:34-36).
When did Jesus come into power and authority? After his resurrection and ascension (Matthew 28:18, Daniel 7:13-14).
When will Jesus reign for God’s enemies to be his footstool? When he has ascended from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).
David is not speaking of a son who existed in heaven at his time who ruled from God’s right hand. This was a future promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12-14) that his descendant would take the throne, become Lord, and be placed at the right hand of God. When Jesus asked “how can David’s son be his Lord?” how would you answer? Would you say “because he is David’s God?” Hopefully not. The answer is that Jesus is made Lord of both the living and the dead (Romans 14:8-9). David knew that his future son would far surpass his rule on the throne and be over all nations and all people whether living or dead, including David himself. He will be made Lord over all, even David “who has been dead and buried to this day.” How can David call his own son his Lord?