Many biblical texts portray Jesus being
subordinate to the Father, even after his ascension and exaltation (e.g., 1 Cor
15:20-28; Heb 1:3). Another powerful example of Jesus' subordination to the
Father, post-ascension/exaltation is that of Rev 1:1, which reads:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his
servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his
angel to his servant. (ESV)
The text is rather clear that God (θεος) is the
person of the Father in this verse (note the differentiation, not just between
the persons of the Father and the Son, but God
[θεος] and Jesus), but that the Father gave this revelation to Jesus; Jesus did not simply give this to an
angel who mediated it to the author of Revelation.
The
Greek underlying the phrase, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave him" is Αποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἣν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς. The term
"gave" (εδωκεν) is the aorist indicative active of διδωμι which means
"to give" or "to pass/hand down." The text is crystal clear—God
the Father gave this revelation (i.e., the book of Revelation) to Jesus; it did
not originate with Jesus Himself or from Jesus ex nihilo, if you will.
Even
in his highly exalted station, Jesus is subordinate to the Father, something
which is part-and-parcel of the entirety of New Testament Christology, though
such is at odds with so-called "Orthodox" formulations of
Christology.
