For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
Trinitarians often claim that this is a prophetic verse about the birth of baby Jesus, who will be called “mighty God,” which proves that Jesus is God.
There are several problems with this interpretation.
Trinitarian Problem 1
First, if you read Isaiah 9, there’s nothing in this passage about a future prophecy regarding the coming Messiah. There are passages that are directly and explicitly about the future Messiah, for example, Genesis 3:15 or Micah 5:2-5. Isaiah 9 is about king Hezekiah in that time period (see 2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 29-32).
Trinitarian Problem 2
Second, this passage is never directly attributed to Jesus in the NT. Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:1 in Matthew 4:15-16. It is assumed that Matthew is applying the entire passage to Jesus and Jesus’ time, but this is only an assumption. While I do not deny that there is a secondary fulfillment of this verse in Jesus, we can’t ignore its initial fulfillment. If this were a prophecy specifically about the coming Messiah and announcing that he would be God, the Trinitarian argument would have more credibility. Considering that it is a prophecy that was to be fulfilled in Isaiah’s time, we have to synthesize it accordingly. If this passage is about a coming king who is God, how is it applied to Isaiah in his time? What does this say about king Hezekiah?
Trinitarian Problem 3
Third, there’s a problem with the phrase “mighty God.” The two Hebrew words used, “el” “gibbohr” do not really mean this. Both words mean something to the degree of “powerful.” Martin Luther translated this passage as “mighty hero.” The same phrase is used (in the plural rather than singular) in Ezekiel 32:21. “The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol” (ESV). This phrase is not an explicit claim that someone is the one true God of Israel. It is rather a simple statement that someone is very mighty and powerful in some respect. The very name of the archangel Gabriel (gibbohr-el) comes from this same phrase. Does this mean the archangel is God, too?
Trinitarian Problem 4
Fourth, it may be worth noting that in some of the LXX manuscripts, this phrase does not even appear. It reads: “For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him” (Brenton Septuagint Translation). Eusebius noted varied readings among manuscripts in his time, and Codex Vaticanus omits the phrase “mighty god.” It is also possibly noteworthy that in Greek, the definite article is lacking, which has led some to translate this as “a strong god.” Similarly, in the Hebrew, the word is not “Elohim,” the typical word for “God,” but rather “el” which gives a similar reading to how the Greek has been translated above.
Trinitarian Problem 5
Fifth, the following phrase “everlasting Father.” Jesus is never said to be our Father. He is our brother, and we share the same Father (John 20:17). If Isaiah 9:6 is listing the names of Jesus, and he is the everlasting Father, then we must question what he’s the Father of. We must also ask if the “child to be born to us,” is really their father. This child is their father? “Have we not all one Father?” (Malachi 2:10). Is Jesus everlasting or eternally anyone’s father? Who is his son? As discussed in the article on Jude 5 it is impossible for a Trinitarian to say that both Jesus and the Father are our father’s. The modalists generally love to quote this scripture, thinking that it is calling Jesus our Father, and Trinitarians have not had a very good record at responding to them.
Hezekiah and past tense
We will not be descending into a deep debate on this issue. However, some have argued against Hezekiah being the referent of Isaiah 9. If they argue that Hezekiah was not the original fulfillment of the prophecy, then this is a prophecy without a fulfillment in anyone other than Jesus. This fact is very heavily debated between Jewish and Christian scholars, with the Jews highly favouring the Hezekiah interpretation. Benson’s Commentary states: “For so the ancient Hebrew doctors understood the place, and particularly the Chaldee paraphrast; although the later Jews have laboured, out of opposition to the Lord Jesus, to apply it to Hezekiah. Which extravagant notion, as it hath no foundation at all in this or any other text of Scripture, and therefore may be rejected without any further reason; so it is fully confuted by the following titles, which are such as cannot, without blasphemy and nonsense, be ascribed to Hezekiah, nor indeed to any mere man or mere creature.” Yet, the very text itself begins with, “a child born.” Would this not necessarily be of a human being? A “mere human”? The Christian counterargument to this being about king Hezekiah is that Hezekiah may have already been born, a child of about 10 or 11 years old by the time this was written (Gill’s Exposition on the Entire Bible). However, the Hebrew text literally uses the past perfect passive. That is to say, it quite literally reads: “A child has been born, a son has been given.” Though many English translations use the future tense or sometimes the present tense (see the opening ESV translation), the reasoning is circular. It is assumed that this is a future prophecy and, therefore, is not about something that has already happened. This is to allow an interpretation to change the reading of the text. If Hezekiah were 10 or 11 by the time this was written (debatably), it would not negate this prophecy for being about his future activities when he became king at age 25 (2 Kings 18:1-2). Yes, this child has been born,” and the prophecy is of his future reign.
What Isaiah 9:6 is about
The fact of the matter is very simple. These four names are the names of God, the Father. Prince of peace, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father. When a king of Israel sits down on the throne, they sit on the throne of Yahweh (1 Chronicles 29:23). Saul, David, and Solomon all sit down on the throne of God (Psalm 45:6). The king of Israel acts as both a representative of God to the nation, and the nation of Israel to God. They are the mediators. Isaiah 9 is about king Hezekiah. When this child is given these names, he’s being given the names of Yahweh, the Father, because he sits on God’s throne and exercises God’s authority and power. Jesus is the king of Israel. When the easterners came to see Jesus, they asked, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2) Jesus was a child to be born king of the Jews, sit on the throne of David his father (Luke 1:32), and thus, this passage can be said to have a secondary fulfillment in Jesus as well as its primary fulfillment in king Hezekiah. Jesus will be given these names because he comes in the name of his Father (Micah 5:4, John 5:43, 17:11). To apply the names of the Father to Jesus no more makes Jesus “God” than it makes him “the Father.” It no more makes Jesus God than it does Hezekiah.
Typology Counterargument
A counterargument someone may give to this interpretation is that an antitype’s fulfillment is always greater than the original type. So if Jesus is the antitype, then he must be greater in some way than Hezekiah was. This is true of Biblical typology. It is also true that Jesus must be a greater fulfillment of the prophecy if he is indeed the antitype, which I do not deny. However, Jesus must fulfill this type. If Jesus is eternally God (or “eternal father”), then he is not “fulfilling” this prophecy. He also can’t be said to fulfill this when he is born. “Unto us a child is born.” Was Jesus only God when he was born as a child? Did Jesus become God when he was born as a human? No.
When Jesus fulfills Isaiah 9:6
So, how is Jesus a greater fulfillment of the prophecy? Hezekiah was only granted authority over God’s nation of Israel. Jesus was granted authority over all the works of God’s hands (Hebrews 2:7, KJV textual variant). God placed all things under Jesus’ feet, not just the enemies of Israel. Jesus is king over the Jews and the Gentiles. In this way, he is a greater fulfillment. When did Jesus become king of all things?
“This Jesus God has raised up, to which we all are witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted at the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you are both seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I place Your enemies as a footstool of Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.
Acts 2:32-36
Jesus was made Lord over all things when he was raised from the dead. When he was raised up, he sat down at the Father’s right hand on his throne. Not the throne in Israel but the throne of God in heaven (Ephesians 1:20-23). This is how Jesus fulfills this in a greater sense than Hezekiah. He’s placed on God’s throne in heaven far above all rule and authority to reign over not only Jews but Gentiles. All nations have been placed under his feet. But doesn’t Isaiah 9:6 say that this is about “a child to be born?” If this glorification occurs at Jesus’ resurrection, then why does it speak about birth?
But God raised Him out from the dead, who appeared for many days to those having come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people. And we preach the gospel to you, the promise having been made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also it has been written in the second psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten you.’
Acts 13:30-33
When Jesus is raised from the dead, he is born of God again. “Today I have begotten you.” Jesus was a child of God raised up for us from among the dead. Compare this to:
through having made the purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become by so much superior to the angels, as much as He has inherited a name more excellent beyond theirs. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are my Son; today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him for a Father, and He will be to Me for a Son”? And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: “And let all God’s angels worship Him…. For not to angels did He subject the world that is coming, of which we are speaking.”
Hebrews 1:3b-6, 2:5
Link to Hebrews 1:6 article for more details here
When God brings his firstborn son “into the world.” This passage is also not about baby Jesus being born in a manger. This is about the Jesus “in these last days” (Hebrews 1:2), who has made purification for sins on the cross (Hebrews 1:3), who has inherited a more excellent name than the angels (Hebrews 1:4), who was begotten and made son of God (Hebrews 1:5). That is, begotten from the dead. This is why Jesus is called “the firstborn from among the dead” (see Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5).
Jesus himself says, “I came not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus was the king of Israel in his ministry. Yet, he did not rule from a throne. He had no place to lay his head, and he ate with sinners and tax collectors. The child born to us is Jesus, who was born from the dead and sits at the Father’s right hand in heaven.