If Jesus Is God, Why Does He Say "My God"? John 20:17 Explained
Updated: 2 days ago
Introduction
John 20:17 Explained begins with a question Christians should take seriously: if Jesus is God, why does He call the Father "My God"? The words are real. Faithfulness to Scripture requires explaining them, not ignoring them.
Jehovah's Witnesses appeal to this verse against Christ's full deity. Muslim and LDS readers raise similar questions. The Christian answer is that the eternal Son became truly human. As the incarnate Son, He relates to the Father in a genuine human life of trust and obedience. His humanity does not cancel His deity.
Quick Summary
Jesus means what He says: The Father really is His God in His incarnate human relationship.
One person, two natures: The eternal Son is fully God and fully human.
Important comparison: Hebrews 1:8-9 calls the Son God and also speaks of His God.
Same chapter: Thomas addresses Jesus as his Lord and God in John 20:28.
The Objection
A Witness at the door may ask: If Jesus is God, who was He praying to? He said the Father was greater than He was (John 14:28). Even after rising from the dead, He called the Father "my God" (John 20:17). Surely someone who prays to God and has a God cannot be Almighty God Himself.
The Watchtower's John 20 study notes support this objection by distinguishing Jesus from Almighty God and explaining Thomas's confession in a subordinate sense.
That objection would be decisive if Christianity identified Jesus as the Father or denied His real humanity. It teaches neither.
The Direct Answer: John 20:17 Explained in Context
Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Jesus. He sends her to tell His brothers that He is ascending to His Father and their Father, His God and their God. The message announces resurrection and coming ascension. It does not define Jesus as a created angel.
The Son who speaks is the same Word John introduced as God and then described as becoming flesh (John 1:1, 14). Becoming flesh means taking genuine humanity, not appearing to be human. Human obedience, prayer, and worship belong to that real humanity. He prays to the Father, who is a distinct person; He is not praying to Himself.
Jeremiah 32:27 helps here. The LORD says, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh" (BSB). Every human being lives under God as His creature. When the Word became flesh, the Son stepped into that place with us. He did not stop being God. He added a true human life, and a true human life relates to God the way every human life should: with trust, prayer, obedience, and worship.
This does not mean there are two Gods, a higher God over a lower one. Scripture is clear that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are that one God of all flesh. In fact, all things came into being through the Son (John 1:3), so as God He is Lord over all flesh too. The difference in John 20:17 is not between two Gods. It is between two ways the one Son relates to the Father: as God, He shares the Father's glory (John 17:5); as a man, He calls the Father "My God." Jeremiah is not predicting John 20:17. It states a truth about every human being, and Jesus became fully one of us.
In John 14:28, Jesus says, "the Father is greater than I" (BSB), while telling His disciples He is returning to the Father. The incarnate Son occupies the humbled position of a servant described in Philippians 2:5-8; the Father does not. Greater in that relationship and position does not mean the Son has a lesser divine nature: John also affirms His deity and the glory He shared with the Father before the world existed (John 1:1; 17:5).
Christians are not dividing Jesus into two persons who take turns speaking. One person, the Son, lives and acts in two natures. This is called the Hypostatic Union: the one person of Jesus is fully God and fully man, with both natures united and never mixed or divided. We can therefore affirm both that He is eternally divine and that He truly worships the Father as man.
Philippians 2:5-8: He Took the Form of a Servant
Paul describes Christ as existing in God's form and then taking a servant's form, becoming human, and humbling Himself to death. The movement is the addition of a human life and the acceptance of servanthood.
It is not the subtraction of deity. Emptying Himself does not mean surrendering the divine nature or ceasing to possess divine attributes. Paul explains the emptying through taking and humbling. Colossians 2:9 likewise places the fullness of deity in Christ bodily.
Jesus' obedience is consequently real. He does not pretend dependence to create a theological illustration. He fulfills human obedience as our representative and Savior. Hebrews 2:17 says He was made like His brothers so that He could serve as their merciful and faithful High Priest.
Hebrews 1:8-9: God and Your God in One Passage
Hebrews addresses the Son as God in verse 8, then speaks of God, His God, anointing Him in verse 9. The passage itself holds together what the objection treats as incompatible.
A Jehovah's Witness may appeal to an alternative rendering of verse 8, God as the Son's throne. That proposal should be weighed against the chapter's entire argument. The Son is contrasted with angels, and verses 10-12 address Him as the Lord who founded earth and outlasts creation.
On the ordinary direct-address reading, verses 8-9 provide a particularly clear answer: possessing a human relationship to God does not exclude the Son's deity. His anointing and mediatorial kingship concern His messianic office, without making Him a lesser divine being.
John 20:28: Thomas Answers the Risen Jesus
Eleven verses after John 20:17, Thomas says to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28, BSB). John identifies Jesus as the person addressed. Jesus responds to Thomas's belief rather than correcting him for blasphemy.
Treating the words as a startled exclamation directed elsewhere ignores that explicit address. Treating Jesus as a lesser god conflicts with John's opening: the Word was God, and all things that came into being came through Him.
Another Watchtower explanation treats Jesus as God's representative, like an angelic messenger addressed with divine language. Representation alone, however, cannot explain John's universal claim about the Word's creative work. A messenger acts for the Creator; John describes the Word as the One through whom everything that came into being exists. Thomas's confession fits that opening revelation.
John 20:31 then invites belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so readers may have life in His name. Son of God is not a retreat from the preceding confession. It identifies the divine Son whose signs and resurrection the book has presented.
Does the Resurrection End Jesus' Humanity?
No. Luke 24:39 describes the risen Jesus with flesh and bones. First Timothy 2:5 identifies the mediator as the man Christ Jesus. His resurrection glorifies His humanity; it does not discard it.
That is why later references to His God, including Revelation 3:12, do not overturn the answer. The incarnate Son remains our mediator. We should not confine His human relationship with the Father to the days before the cross.
Apologetic Insight
Worldly Objection
A person who calls another His God cannot be God.
Why It Exists
The objection assumes that divine identity rules out genuine humanity, or that Christians identify the Father and Son as the same person.
Christian Response
Scripture distinguishes Father and Son, affirms the Son's deity, and presents His real humanity. Interpret John 20:17 in a way that accounts for all three truths.
Key Verses
John 1:1, 14 - The Word is God and becomes flesh.
Jeremiah 32:27 - The LORD is the God of all flesh, and the Son became flesh.
Philippians 2:5-8 - The Son takes a servant's form and obeys.
Hebrews 1:8-12 - The Son is addressed as God and enduring Creator.
John 20:17, 28 - Jesus speaks of His God, and Thomas calls Him God.
1 Timothy 2:5 - The incarnate Son remains our mediator.
Practical Takeaways
Accept Jesus' words as He intended without trying to explain away His humanity.
Read John 20:17 alongside 20:28 and John 1.
Explain one person with two natures plainly, without misleading analogies. Learn the term Hypostatic Union: Jesus is one person who is fully God and fully man.
Conclusion
John 20:17 reveals the risen Son's continuing human relationship with the Father. The One who shares our humanity is also our divine Lord, who died for sinners and rose bodily. Read John's testimony as a whole and examine whether your understanding of Jesus accounts for both His humanity and His deity.
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