The DEITY of JESUS CHRIST
DIRECT EVIDENCE
The Bible directly states that Jesus is God in a number of passages
John 1:1,
John 20:28;
Romans 9:5;
Phil. 2:6;
Titus 2:13,
Hebrews 1:8;
1 John 5:20.
Other passages include …
John 13:3
John 17:5
Colossians 1:15-19
1 Timothy 3:16
Hebrews 1:3
Taken by themselves, these verses provide enough evidence for the church to believe in and teach the deity of Jesus Christ. But the indirect evidence of Scripture is equally compelling.
INDIRECT EVIDENCE
Jesus Christ Is God Incarnate
Quoting from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” According to both of these verses, Jesus was “God with us” when He walked upon this earth. He wasn’t merely “God’s chosen one with us” or “God’s Son with us.”
I Timothy 3:16 states, “God was manifest in the flesh.”
John 1:1,14 tells us that “the Word (who was God) was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”
Zechariah 12:10, GOD said that HE (God) would be “pierced” by sinners, and
Revelation 1:7 states that Jesus Christ Himself fulfilled this prophecy!
The Bible presents Jesus Christ as much more than a great prophet and teacher. God’s word presents Jesus Christ as God incarnate.
Jesus Christ Has Divine Names
Check these references for yourself:
Matthew 22:42-45, Jesus claims to be the “Lord” of Psalm 110:1. He allows Thomas to address Him as “My Lord and my God” in John 20:28.
the “everlasting Father” (Isaiah 7:14)
“The mighty God” of Isaiah 9:6.
John 10:11-14,
He is the “shepherd” of Psalm 23:1, Psalm 80:1, and Ezekiel 34:12.
God is the “saviour” in Isaiah 43:3, Isaiah 43:11, Isaiah 45:15, Isaiah 45:21, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, and I Timothy 4:10, yet this same title is given to Jesus Christ in Luke 2:11, Philippians 3:20, II Timothy 1:10, and II Peter 2:20.
God is the “Rock” of Deuteronomy 32:4,15,18,30-31, I Samuel 2:2, and Psalm 18:31, yet this title is given to the Lord Jesus Christ in I Corinthians 10:1-4, I Peter 2:7-8, and Romans 9:33.
God is “light” in Psalm 27:1 and Micah 7:8, and then Jesus is “light” in John 1:4-9 and in John 8:12.
In Isaiah 44:6 God says, “…I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
In Revelation 1:17 Jesus Christ says, “…Fear not; I am the first and the last.”
The Scriptures are clear: Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament.
Elsewhere Jesus is called “The Lord (Jehovah) our Righteousness,” “God” and “Son of God.”
Jeremiah 23:6
Isaiah 40:3
Hebrews 1:8
1 Timothy 3:16
John 10:36
JESUS MADE CLAIMS THAT SHOW HE IS GOD
Philippians 2:6 says that Jesus was in the “form of God”, and that he thought it not robbery to be “equal with God”!
It should not surprise us therefore to find that Jesus claimed equality with God.
Jesus Claimed That He and the Father Were One
In John 10:30, Jesus says, “I and my Father are one.”
John 10:36;
Isn’t that clear enough?
The Jesus Christ of the New Testament claimed to be “one” with God and “equal” with God.
Jesus Claimed That To Know Him Was To Know God
John 8:18;
John 14:7;
John 12:45;
Mark 9:37;
John 12:44;
John 14:1;
John 5:23;
John 15:23
John 14:9;
John 17:11
+Jesus Claimed That To Receive Him Was To Receive God
+Jesus Claimed That To Believe in Him Was to Believe In God
+Jesus Claimed That To Honour Him Was To Honour God
+Jesus Claimed That To Hate Him Was To Hate God
+Jesus Claimed That To See Him Was To See God
Jesus says in John 14:9, “…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”
Is the Father someone other than Jesus Christ? No, not according to Jesus Christ.
+Jesus Claimed That He was the Son of God
John 14:9;
John 10:30, 36;
John 17:11
+Jesus Included Himself (as the Son) in the Holy Trinity
Jesus says in Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
If Jesus Christ isn’t Deity, then why did He include Himself in the Holy Trinity?
+Jesus Claimed Deity
He taught His disciples to pray in His name.
John 16:23, 24
He allowed Himself to be worshiped as God
If we’re wrong in teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, then He must have been wrong in allowing people to worship him.
Jesus Himself said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew. 4:10)
Why would He say this at the beginning of His ministry and then spend His ministry allowing people to worship HIM?
In Acts 10:25-26, and in Revelation 19:10, worship of anyone other than God Himself is forbidden, yet Jesus willingly received worship throughout His public ministry (John 20:28; 8:2; Matthew 9:18; Matthew 15:25; Matthew 28:9; John 9:38).
If He isn’t Deity, then why didn’t He correct those who worshipped Him?
Jesus Christ is equal with God the Father. He is worshiped as God.
John 20:28;
Acts 7:59;
Hebrews 1:6;
Exodus 34:14 and
Matthew 4:10
Jesus Christ is equal with God the Father. He is worshiped as God.
John 20:28;
Acts 7:59;
Hebrews 1:6;
- Exodus 34:14 and
Matthew 4:10
It is obvious that the apostles believed Jesus was God, the Christ. His name is assigned equal standing with God the Father in the church’s baptismal formula and in the apostolic benediction.6
Matthew 28:19;
Acts 2:38;
2 Corinthians 13:14;
1 Corinthians 1:3,
Ephesians 1:2
Jesus Had Attributes of God
The Bible ascribes the characteristics of deity to Jesus Christ. He is described as eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and immutable.
+Jesus Christ is Omnipresent
Only God has the ability to be everywhere at once, yet Jesus Christ claims this ability.
In Matthew 18:20, He says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
How could this be possible if Jesus were not Deity? At any given moment there are literally thousands upon thousands of Bible studies, prayer meetings and church services being conducted around the earth. Jesus Christ says that He is present at each gathering. Only God can be at thousands of different places at the same time.
The same is true in Matthew 28:20 where Jesus says, “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
How could He be with each individual Christian always and be in Heaven at the same time? He is God, for only God has such attributes!
John 3:13
Romans 8:10 – “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness…. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
No created being, no matter how great, can dwell in the millions of Christians throughout the world; it is impossible. But it is not impossible for Jesus Christ who is God.
1 Corinthians 10:4 – “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”
Whenever believers partake of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus Christ is spiritually present.
Revelation 2:1 – “These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”
Jesus Christ is presented in Revelation as being present in the churches and being totally aware of each church’s deeds in minute detail.
Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Jesus Christ will personally fellowship with each repentant believer.
This would be impossible if He were merely human, for there are millions of Christians spread over the whole globe.
+Jesus Christ Is Omnipotent
That is, He is all powerful. He has all power.
Revelation 19:6 states, “…the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
I Timothy 6:15 says that Jesus Christ Himself is “…the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;”
If Jesus is the ONLY Potentate, then He must be the “Lord God” of Revelation 19:6.
Matthew 28:18.
Isaiah 9:6 h
Revelation 1:8 -“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
John 5:17
Philippians 3:20-21 -“…the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
Ephesians 3:20 – “Now unto him [Christ] that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Colossians 2:9-10 “Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
Hebrews 1:3 -“[Jesus Christ is] upholding all things by the word of his power.”
Revelation 2:26-27 -“He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations – ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces’ – as I also have received from My Father” (NKJV).
+Jesus Christ Is Omniscient
To be omniscient is to have all knowledge, unlike normal men. The Bible declares that Jesus was indeed omniscient.
Unlike normal men, Jesus Christ had knowledge of specific details about His own death.
Matthew 12:25 -“Jesus knew their thoughts.”
In Matthew 16:21, Jesus said that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the scribes and the elders, be killed, and then be resurrected the third day. He repeats this prophecy in Matthew 20:19.
Matthew 17:27 offers the account of Jesus knowing of a certain coin in a fish’s mouth before the fish is caught!
Matthew 27:18 -“For [Jesus] knew that for envy they had delivered Him.”
Luke 6:8 – “He knew their thoughts.”
John 2:24-25 -“But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”
John 4:16-19 He knew specific details about a woman’s life whom He had never met.
John 1:47-49 He also had all knowledge about Nathaniel in.
John 16:30
John 21:17 -“And [Peter] said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”
Revelation 2:23 -“All the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each of you according to your works” (NKJV).
Jesus Christ is Deity because He is omniscient.
+Jesus Christ Is Eternal
Micah 5:2 states that Jesus Christ is “from everlasting”, which is exactly what Psalm 93:2 and Isaiah 63:16 say about God!
Isaiah 9:6 -“For unto us a child is born,…and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father….”
John 1:1-3 -“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him….”
Jesus Christ existed with God prior to creation.
John 8:58(NKJV) Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’.
The term “I AM” is the exact term that God used in Exodus 3:14 in reference to Himself! Jesus professed to be the eternal God of the Bible.
- Jesus certainly did not mean He existed as the first created being, because the Jews wanted to stone Him. They wanted to stone Him for claiming to be the eternal God (the One who spoke to Moses).
John 10:28 Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
If Jesus Christ isn’t eternal, then how does He have the power to give “eternal life”?
John 17:5,24 ;
Colossians 1:15,17 ;
1 John 1:1 ;
Revelation 1:8 -“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (cf. Rev. 22:13).
+Jesus Christ Is Immutable
Hebrews 1:8-12 -“But unto the Son he saith…Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”
Hebrews 13:8 -“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (NKJV). This passage disproves the idea that Jesus is a created being. For if Jesus was created, He was not the same yesterday. “Yesterday” (past) is contrasted with “forever” (future), and obviously refers to eternity past.
Jesus Did Works That Only God Can Do
+Jesus Christ Has Creative Powers
John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
John 1:14 The “Word” is the Lord Jesus Christ
John 1:10
I John 1:1-3
John 5:7
John 1:3 says that all things were made by Him!
Colossians 1:16 says, “…by him were all things created…”
Hebrews 1:1-3 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
Hebrews 1:10
You see, by Jesus Christ the worlds were made, and by Jesus Christ all things are upheld. He has the power to create and sustain the universe.
+Jesus Christ Is The Upholder of All Things
Colossians 1:17;
Hebrews 1:3;
- Luke 10:22;
John 3:35;
John 17:2;
Ephesians 1:22
+Jesus Christ Will Raise The Dead and Execute Judgement
John 11:25;
John 5:25, 28-29;
John 6:39, 40, 54;
John 5:22
+Jesus Christ Displayed His Power Over the Elements of Nature
In Matthew 14:25, Jesus literally walks upon the sea,
In Luke 8:24, He rebukes the wind and it obeys Him. How could He perform such tasks if He weren’t God? It must be understood that Jesus didn’t pray for God to calm the sea; He calmed the sea Himself.
+Jesus Christ Claimed To Forgive Sins
“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) According to these words, it is GOD Who has the power and right to forgive sins. However, the New Testament says that Jesus Christ has this power.
Please notice Mark 2:5-11: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”
Jesus Christ is God, because only God can forgive sins.
It’s true that He took on the form of a man for thirty-three years on this earth, but He was still God. He was God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy. 3:16).
He forgives sin.9
Matthew 9:2-7;
- Mark 2:7;
Luke 7:47, 48;
Colossians 3:13
+Jesus Christ Had Power Over Life and Death
According to His own words in Revelation 1:18, Jesus Christ has “the keys of hell and of death.” How could He possibly have such power if He were not God?
His power over death by raising people from the dead.
- Jesus displayed Lazarus
- Jairus’ daughter
- The son of the widow of Nain
+Jesus Christ Had Power Over His Own Life and Death
How many people do you know who have the ability to lay down their own life and then take it up again? Jesus had this power.
Consider John 10:17-18: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
Jesus had the power over His own life and death!
Luke 23:46 When He died, He willingly gave up His own spirit.
Friend, make no mistake about it: the Lord Jesus Christ is Deity. He came to this earth and suffered in human flesh for thirty-three years. He lived a perfectly sinless life, and then laid that life down as an eternal payment for your sins. Mohammed didn’t pay for your sins, because Mohammed wasn’t God. Buddha didn’t pay for your sins, because Buddha wasn’t God. You can’t pay for your sins, because you aren’t God. Only Jesus Christ is sinless, because only Jesus Christ is God. He Alone can save your soul from the eternal fires of Hell.
Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Friend, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour? Have you been born again? If not, be sure and call or write today for your free copy of Understanding God’s Salvation Plan. Nothing in your life is more important than your eternal destiny, and no one can help you more than the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Deity of Jesus Christ
There is only one God. Jesus said in (John 10:30 KJV) I and my Father are one.
Trying to explain God in human terms is only possible through what we know from His Word, the Holy Bible.
The Bible gives us just what we need to know, and enough information to know that we can trust God with our lives, and believe His Word is true.
The Bible clearly teaches that God the Father, and the Son of God, Jesus Christ are one.
I believe that what unifies them is that they share the same Spirit, the Holy Spirit; making them always in agreement, making them one.
A crude human analogy would be man, being made in the image of God, has a spirit, a soul, and is in a physical body; but is still one person.
The deity of Jesus Christ is what separates true Christianity from the cults that hold to much of the other doctrine contained in the Bible.
These cults have one other thing in common they discourage their members from reading the Bible except through the interpretation of their headquarters.
Just reading the Holy Bible alone, the way God intends us to, sets people free from cults.
(Colossians 2:8-10 NKJV) Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. {9} For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; {10} and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
(1 John 5:20 NKJV) And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Below are some other scriptures that point to Jesus Christ being God.
Old Testament Passages
Isaiah 7:14-“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Immanuel literally means “God with us”).
Isaiah 9:6-“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end….”
Jeremiah 23:5-6-“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Christ’s name in Hebrew is YHWH Tsidkenu, Jehovah Our Righteousness.
Micah 5:2-“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Christ has always existed because He is not a created being; He is God Almighty who has existed from everlasting.
Malachi 3:1-2-“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.” God’s temple is Christ’s temple. Christ comes as an all-powerful judge.
Psalm 45:1, 6-7-“I speak of the things which I have made touching the king…. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee….” The Hebrew word translated “anointed” is the verb form of the noun “Messiah.”
Psalm 110:1-3-“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power….” The LORD (Jehovah) will subdue all Christ’s enemies. Yet Christ’s rod and Christ’s power will subdue all enemies. Christ’s rule and power are clearly equal to God’s. See Psalm 2 where a similar theme is discussed: “Serve the LORD [Jehovah] with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way…” (vv. 11-12). Note how “the Son” is set poetically in parallel with “Jehovah.”
New Testament Passages
Matthew 1:23 -“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
John 1:1-3, 14 -“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
“The late New Testament Greek scholar Colwell formulated a rule which clearly states that a definite predicate nominative (in this case theos meaning ‘God’) never takes an article when it precedes the verb (‘was’) as we find in John 1:1. It is therefore easy to see that no article is needed for theos (God), and to translate it ‘a god’ is both incorrect grammar and poor Greek, since theos is a predicate nominative of ‘was’ in the third sentence-clause of the verse and must refer back to the subject, ‘Word’ (logos). Christ, then, if He is the Word “made flesh” (Jn. 1:14), can be no one else except God, unless the Greek text, and consequently God’s Word, be denied.” [2]
John 1:18 -“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
John 20:27-28 -“Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
Romans 9:6 -“Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (NKJV).
Philippians 2:5-8 -“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
“‘Who was in the form of God’ are his [the Apostle Paul’s] words: and they are words than which no others could be chosen which would more explicitly or with more directness assert the deity of…Jesus Christ…. Let us remember that the phraseology which Paul here employs was the popular usage of his day, though first given general vogue by the Aristotelian philosophy: and that it was accordingly the most natural language for strongly asserting the deity of Christ which could suggest itself to him…. ‘Form,’ in a word, is equivalent to our phrase ‘specific character.’… With God…the ‘form’ is that body of qualities which distinguish Him from all other spiritual beings, which constitute Him God, and without which He would not be God. What Paul asserts, then, when he says that Christ Jesus existed in the ‘form of God,’ is that He had all those characterizing qualities which make God God, the presence of which constitutes God, and in the absence of which God does not exist. He who is ‘in the form of God’ is God.”
Colossians 1:15-16 -“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible….”
When the Apostle Paul says that Christ is the firstborn over all creation, he does not mean that Christ is the first created being. For he goes on to explain that Jesus Christ created everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Jesus Christ could not create Himself. The idea among various cults that Christ is the first created being is an impossible absurdity.
Colossians 2:8-10 -“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
1 Timothy 1:16-17 -“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
1 Timothy 2:3-4 -“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 3:16 -“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
1 Timothy 6:14-16 -“…the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”
Titus 1:3 -“But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.”
Titus 2:10 -“…showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”
Titus 2:13 -“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (NKJV).
Hebrews 1:1-3 -“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Hebrews 1:8 -“But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”
Jude 25 -“To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.”
Jesus Christ Clearly Taught His Own Divinity
Revelation 21:6-7 -“And he [Jesus Christ] said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
John 8:57-59 -“Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple…” (NKJV).
John 5:17-26 -“But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.’ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them,… ‘For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will…. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself'” (NKJV).
John 10:28-39 -“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them,… If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand.”
Mark 2:5-11 -“When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?… [Jesus] said unto them, But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house”
(cf. Lk. 5:20-24).
The scribes’ theology was correct: “Who can forgive sins but God only?” Jesus didn’t disagree with their conclusion; rather, through the miraculous healing He proved that He in fact was God and had the authority to forgive sins.
The Spirit-inspired writers of the New Testament applied Old Testament passages which specifically refer God-Jehovah to Jesus Christ; therefore, Jesus must be God-Jehovah.
| Old Testament | New Testament |
| “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). | “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). |
| “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children…” (Malachi 4:5-6). | “He [John the Baptist] will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord [Jesus Christ]’” (Luke 1:17, NKJV). |
| “…I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isaiah 45:22-23). | “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:10-11; cf. Philippians. 2:10). |
| “The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them” (Psalm 68:17-18). | “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:7-8). |
| “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psalm 45:6-7). | “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews 1:8-9). |
| “Hear my prayer, O LORD [Jehovah]…. The heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Psalm 102:1, 25-27). | “To the Son he saith,… Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail” (Hebrews 1:8-12). |
| “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6). | “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). |
The Bible Ascribes Attributes to Jesus Christ, Which Can Only be Predicated of God
Jesus Christ is the Creator
The Bible teaches that God created everything that exists, whether spiritual or material. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Ac. 17:24). “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). “[Him] that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein…” (Rev. 10:6). Yet the Bible also teaches that Jesus Christ created everything. This can only mean that Jesus Christ is God the second Person of the trinity, for only God who is uncreated has the power to create from nothing. The Bible teaches that creation from nothing was an act of the triune God. That explains why Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Following are some verses of Scripture which teach that Christ is the Creator.
John 1:2-3-“He [Jesus Christ] was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made” (NKJV).
John 1:10-“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”
1 Corinthians 8:6-“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”
Colossians 1:16-17-“For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Hebrews 1:2-3-“…his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power….”
Hebrews 2:10-“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things….”
Hebrews 3:3-4-“For this man [Jesus Christ] was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
7. Jesus Christ is the Judge of all mankind
The Bible teaches that on the last day of this age God will judge all men who ever lived. “Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth” (1 Chr. 16:33). “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened…and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev. 20:12). Only God is capable of judging all men. God is all-knowing and therefore knows every act. He is all-powerful, and therefore can carry out His punishments. He is perfectly holy and therefore can judge every sin without injustice. Only God who is moral and just in character has the authority to judge the human race. Yet the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ will judge the world. Christ Himself claimed the total authority and jurisdiction over mankind on the final day that can only belong to God. In fact, the judgment seat of God Almighty and the judgment seat of Jesus Christ are one and the same seat. Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord…. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Mt. 7:22-23). The fate of each and every person rests upon Christ’s decision; He has the power and authority to render sentence and to cast men into hell-an authority reserved exclusively to God. Following are some biblical references which unmistakably establish that Jesus Christ is the Judge of all mankind.
Matthew 25:31-33, 41-“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left…. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
John 12:48-“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
Acts 10:42-“It is He [Jesus Christ] who was ordained of God to be Judge of the living and the dead” (NKJV).
Acts 17:31-“He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man [Jesus Christ] whom he hath ordained.”
Romans 2:16-“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ….”
Romans 14:10-12-“For we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: ‘As I live, says the LORD [Jehovah], Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (NKJV). This passage of Scripture not only presents Christ as Judge, but clearly teaches that on the day of judgment everyone will bow to Christ; that is, everyone will acknowledge that Christ is the LORD God. By introducing his quotation of Isaiah 45:23 with the familiar prophetic formula, “As I live, saith the LORD” (cf. Num. 14:28, Isa. 49:18, Jer. 22:24, Ezek. 5:11, Zeph. 2:9, etc.), and applying it to Christ, the Apostle Paul self-consciously and deliberately calls Christ Jehovah. Note also that at the Judgment Seat of Christ, everyone will give account of himself to God. This passage is a powerful and unmistakable statement of Christ’s deity.
2 Corinthians 5:10-“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
2 Timothy 4:1, 8-“…the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom…. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Hebrews 10:30-“For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The LORD [Jehovah] will judge His people'” (NKJV).
The Bible Teaches That God the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, Proceeds From Both the Father and the Son (Spiration)
Matthew 3:11-“I [John the Baptist] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Jesus Christ not only has the authority to baptize believers with the Holy Spirit but also to baptize unbelievers into hell-fire. While this passage technically does not deal with spiration, it shows that Christ has the authority of God: only God can send the Holy Spirit to His church.
John 15:26-“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
Romans 8:9-“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Here Paul equates the Spirit of God with the Spirit of Christ.
Galatians 4:6-“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Revelation 5:6-“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Seven in Scripture often represents completion and perfection. The perfect Holy Spirit of God proceeds from Jesus Christ unto the whole earth.
Jesus Christ is Worshiped as God
There is probably no sin more condemned in the Bible than that of idolatry. The Bible teaches that we are to worship God alone. Why? Because only God is worthy to be worshiped.
God’s law says, “Thou shalt have none other gods before me…. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them” (Dt. 5:7-9).
When tempted by Satan, Christ said, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Lk. 4:8).
When the Apostle John fell in worship before one of God’s mighty angels, the angel rebuked him and told him to worship God. “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God” (Rev. 22:8-9).
When Cornelius the centurion fell in worship before the Apostle Peter, Peter clearly rejected the offer of worship: “And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man” (Ac. 10:25-26).
The contrast with the Lord Jesus Christ is startling: from His birth (Mt. 2:1-2) to His ascension (Lk. 24:51-52), Christ is openly and continuously worshiped by His disciples. Did Jesus reject this worship, as Peter and the angel did? No, Jesus openly accepted and even commended such activity. What could this mean except that “That same person who is known to history as Jesus of Nazareth existed, before He became man, from all eternity as infinite, eternal and unchangeable God, the second person of the holy Trinity” ?
Passages in Which Jesus is Worshiped
Matthew 2:1-2 -“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:10-11 -“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.”
Matthew 8:2 -“And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
Matthew 9:18 -“While [Jesus] spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.”
Matthew 14:33 -“Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”
Matthew 15:25 -“Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.”
Matthew 28:9 -“And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”
Mark 5:6 -“But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.”
Luke 24:51-52 -“And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”
John 9:35-38 -“…he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”
Hebrews 1:6 -“And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
Revelation 5:8-14 -“And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof…. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”
Revelation 15:3-4 -“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.”
In Revelation 5:8 the living creatures and elders worship the Lamb (Jesus Christ) and offer Him prayers. In verse 13 Christ is offered the same worship that is given to the Father.
In Revelation 15:3-4 the worship of the Lord God Almighty and Jesus Christ the King of the saints are indistinguishable.
All nations will come and worship before Jesus Christ (Ps. 22:27-28).
The fact that the apostles, and an angel of God, totally rejected worship, while Christ openly accepted it, indicates that the New Testament use of “to worship” (prosekun_san aut_-“worshiped Him”) is not mere homage to a king but the worship of God Himself.
No created being, no matter how great, is allowed to accept worship.
Jesus Christ is the Object of Saving Faith
John 14:1-6-“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me…. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” No angel, prophet or apostle could speak such words; only God can be the object of saving faith. Christ doesn’t just point to God, He points to Himself. When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He declares that He is the foundation of all truth and all life. He is God, who is absolute Truth personified.
There are Instances in the Bible Where the Names “Son of God” and “Lord” Indicate Christ’s Essential Deity
Jesus Christ the Son of God
Matthew 11:27-“All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” “Just think about what these words mean, my friends. They mean that there are mysteries in the person, Jesus, which none but the infinite and eternal God can know.”
Matthew 14:26, 33-33-“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear…. And when they [Peter and Jesus] were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”
Matthew 16:16-“Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” “Peter’s declaration that Jesus is ‘the Son of the living God’ can mean no less than that, in a unique way, a sense not applicable to any mortal, Jesus is, was and always will be the Son of that God who not only is Himself the only living One, over against all the dead so-called gods of the pagans (Isa. 40:18-31) but also is the only source of life for all that lives.”
Matthew 26:63-65-“But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.” When Jesus ascribed to Himself the title “Son of Man” and then openly claimed to be the fulfillment of Daniel 7:13-14-the One who is coming on the clouds of heaven who will judge the nations and have everlasting dominion-the high priest accused Him of blasphemy. Why? Because Christ was claiming for Himself things that the high priest knew could only be attributed to God. Christ claimed to be the divine Son of God. The high priest refused to accept this claim and therefore rejected Christ.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ
Luke 2:11 -“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed; he is the Lord, Lord of all; He is a sovereign prince; nay, He is God, for the Lord, in the Old Testament, answers to Jehovah.
He is a Savior, and He will be a Savior to those only that accept Him as their Lord.
Luke 3:4-6 -“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the LORD [Jehovah], make His paths straight…. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God'” (NKJV).
1 Corinthians 12:3-“No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
Philippians 2:11 -“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” “Jesus Christ, therefore, is Lord to Christians in the same sense that Jehovah was Lord to the Hebrews. The usage referred to is altogether peculiar; no man-not Moses, nor Abraham, nor David, nor any of the prophets or apostles-is ever thus prevailingly addressed or invoked as Lord. We have but one Lord; and Jesus Christ is Lord.”
The question that our Lord Jesus puts here to the Pharisees is the most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Himself is the center of Christianity, so the most fundamental questions of faith are those that concern the Person of Christ. If a man really holds to right views concerning the Person of Jesus Christ, he will sooner or later get right views on every other question. If he holds a wrong view concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later. “What think ye of Christ?” That is the great central question; that is the vital question. And the most fundamental question concerning the Person of Christ is, Is Jesus Christ really God? Not merely, Is He Divine, but, Is He actually God? When I was a boy, to say you believed in the Divinity of Christ meant that you believed in the real Deity of Christ, that you believed that Jesus was actually a Divine Person, that He was God. It no longer means that. The Devil is wise, shrewd, and subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instill error into the minds of the inexpert and unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new meaning into them. So when his messengers masquerading as “ministers of righteousness” seek to lead, if possible, the elect astray, they use the old precious words, but with an entirely new and entirely different and entirely false meaning. They talk about the Divinity of Christ, but they do not mean at all what intelligent Christians in former days meant by it. Likewise, they talk of the atonement, but they do not mean at all the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in our place by which eternal life is secured for us. And oftentimes when they talk about Christ, they do not mean at all our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus of the four gospels; they mean an ideal Christ, or a Christ principle.
So our subject is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity of Christ; and our question is not, Is Jesus Christ Divine, but rather, Is Jesus Christ God? Was that Person Who was born in Bethlehem nineteen hundred and twenty-one years ago, and Who lived thirty-three or thirty-four years hereupon earth as recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Who was crucified on Calvary’s cross, Who rose from the dead the third day, and was exalted from earth to heaven to the right hand of the Father-was He God manifest in the flesh, was He God embodied in a human being? Was He, and is He, a Being worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and our unhesitating obedience and our whole hearted worship, just as God the Father is worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and unhesitating obedience and our whole hearted worship? Should all men honour Jesus Christ even as they honour God the Father (John 5:23). Not merely is He an example that we can wisely follow, or a Master whom we can wisely serve, but is He a God Whom we can rightly worship? I presume that most of us do believe that He was God manifest in the flesh and that He is God today at the right hand of the Father, but why do you believe so? Are you so intelligent in your faith, and therefore, so well-grounded in your faith that no glib talker or reasoner, no Unitarian or Russellite(JW) or Christian Scientist or Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead you astray?
It is important that we be thoroughly sound in our faith at this point and thoroughly well-informed, wherever else we may be in ignorance or error, for we are distinctly told in John 20:31 that “these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” It is evident from these words of the inspired apostle John that this question is not merely a matter of theoretical opinion, but that it is a matter that concerns our salvation. It is to confirm and instruct you in your blessed faith, your saving faith in Jesus Christ as a Divine Person.
Divine Names
The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is that many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total number of passages reaching far into the hundreds. Of course, I can only give you a few illustrations at this time.
Turn with me first of all to Revelation 1:17, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last.” The text shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself “The First and the Last.” Now this, beyond a question, is a Divine name, for
in Isaiah 44:6 we read, “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
In Revelation 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha and Omega. His words are, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse the Lord God declared that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are, “I am Alpha, and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” In I Corinthians 2:8, the apostle Paul speaks of our crucified Lord Jesus as “The Lord of glory.” His exact words are, “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” There can be no question that “The Lord of glory” is Jehovah God, for we read in Psalm 24:8-10, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” And we are told in the passage already referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King of glory; therefore, He must be Jehovah.
In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God: “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” Unitarians have endeavored to get around the force of this utterance made by Thomas by saying that Thomas was excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying “my Lord and my God” as an ejaculation of astonishment, just the way that profane people sometimes use these exclamations today. But this interpretation is impossible and shows to what desperate straits the Unitarians are driven, for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus’ words immediately following those of Thomas are, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
In Titus 2:13 our Lord Jesus is spoken of as our “great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
In Romans 9:5 Paul tells us that “Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever.” The Unitarians have made desperate efforts to overcome the force of these words, but the only fair translation and interpretation of these words are found in our Authorized Version. There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to find out what It actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into It, that Jesus is spoken of by various names and titles that beyond a question imply deity, and that He in so many words is called God.
In Hebrews 1:8 it is said in so many words, of the Son, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”
If we should go no further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of the Bible that Jesus is really God.
Divine Attributes
But there is a second line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, a proof equally convincing, and that is, all the five distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ, and “all the fulness of the Godhead” is said to dwell in Him. There are five distinctively Divine attributes, that is, five attributes that God alone possesses. These are Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity and Immutability. Each one of these distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ.
- First of all, omnipotence is ascribed to Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:20-23 Not only are we taught that Jesus had power over diseases and death and winds and sea and demons, that they were all subject to His word, and that He is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come
Hebrews 1:3 it is said in so many words that He “[upholdeth] all things by the word of his power.”
- Omniscience is also ascribed to Him.
We are taught in the Bible that Jesus knew men’s lives, even their secret history (John4:16-19),
that He knew the secret thoughts of men, knew all men, knew what was in man (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24, 25), which knowledge we are distinctly told in 2 Chronicles 6:30 and Jeremiah 17:9-10, that God alone possesses.
John 16:30 Jesus knew “all things”
Colossians 2:3 in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- Omnipresence is also ascribed to Him.
Matthew 18:20 that where two or three are gathered together in His Name, that He is in the midst of them
Matthew 28:20 that wherever His obedient disciples should go, He would be with them, even unto the end of the age
John 14:20
2 Corinthians 13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer, in all the millions of believers scattered over the earth.
Ephesians 1:23 we are told that He “filleth all in all.”
- Eternity is also ascribed to Him.
John 1:1 that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 8:58 Jesus Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” Note that the Lord Jesus did not merely say that “before Abraham was I was,” but that “before Abraham was, I AM,” thus declaring Himself to be the eternal “I AM.”
Even in the Old Testament we have a declaration of the eternity of the Christ who was to be born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5:2 we read, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Isaiah 9:6 we are told of the child that is to be born, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Hebrews 13:8 we are told, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
- His immutability is also taught in the passage just quoted from Hebrews,
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus is the same (has not, will not change)
Hebrews 1:11-12 “They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as cloth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”
While even the heavens change, the Lord Jesus does not change.
Each one of the five distinctively Divine attributes were ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ because He was fully God.
Colossians 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily [in a bodily form].”
Here again we might rest our case, for what has been said under this heading, even if taken alone, clearly proves the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that He possesses every perfection of nature and character that God the Father possesses.
Divine Offices
But we do not need to rest the case here. There is a third unanswerable line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, namely, all the distinctively Divine offices are predicated of Jesus Christ. There are seven distinctively Divine offices. That is to say, there are seven things that God alone can do, and each one of these seven distinctively Divine offices is ascribed to Jesus Christ. The seven distinctively Divine offices are: Creation, Preservation, Forgiveness of Sin, the Raising of the Dead, the Transformation of Bodies, Judgment and the Bestowal of Eternal Life, and each of these is ascribed to Jesus Christ.
Creation is ascribed to Him. In Hebrews 1:10 these words are spoken of our Lord: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” The context clearly shows that the Lord addressed is the Lord Jesus. In John 1:3 we are told that “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Preservation of the universe and of everything is also ascribed to Him in Hebrews 1:3 where it is said of the Lord Jesus, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person [God’s], and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
The forgiveness of sin is ascribed to Him. He Himself says in Mark 2:5-10 when His power to forgive sins was questioned, because that was recognized as a Divine power, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
The future raising of the dead is distinctly ascribed to him in John 6:39, 44, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The transformation of our bodies is ascribed to Him in Philippians 3:21. In 2 Timothy
Judgment is ascribed to Him. We are told that He shall “judge the quick and the dead.” Jesus Himself declared that He would be the judge of all mankind and emphasized the fact of the Divine character of that office.
In John 5:22, 23 He said, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.”
The bestowal of eternal life is ascribed to Him time and time again. In John 10:28 He Himself says, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand,” and in John 17:1, 2, He says, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Here then, we have the seven distinctively Divine offices all predicated of Jesus Christ. This alone would prove that He is God, and we might rest the case here, but there are still other proofs of His absolute Deity.
Statements Which in the Old Testament Are Made Distinctly of Jehovah, God, Taken in the New Testament to Refer to the Lord Jesus Christ
The fourth line of proof of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ is found in the fact that over and over again statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the New Testament to refer to Jesus Christ. We have not time to illustrate this at length, but will give but one illustration where many might be given. In Jeremiah 11:20 the prophet says, “But, 0 Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.” Here the prophet distinctly says that it is Jehovah of Hosts Who judgest and triest the reins and the heart. And in the 17th chapter and the tenth verse Jeremiah represents Jehovah Himself as saying the same thing in these words, “I the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” But in the New Testament in Revelation 2:23 the Lord Jesus says, “…I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” We are distinctly told in the context that it is “The Son of God” who is speaking here. So Jesus claims for Himself in the New Testament what the Lord in the Old Testament says is true of Himself and of Himself alone. In very many other instances, statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of God the Father, are taken to refer to Jesus Christ. That is to say, in New Testament thought and doctrine, Jesus Christ occupies the place that God the Father occupies in Old Testament thought and doctrine.
The Way the Name of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son Are Coupled Together
The fifth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord is found in the way in which the name of Jesus Christ is coupled with that of God the Father. In numerous passages His name is coupled with the name of God the Father in a way in which it would be impossible to couple the name of any finite being with that of the Deity. We have time for but a few of the many illustrations that might be given. A striking instance is in the words of our Lord Himself in John 14:23 where we read, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Here our Lord Jesus does not hesitate to couple Himself with the Father in such a way as to say “We,” that is, God the Father and I, will come and make our abode with him. In John 14:1 He said, ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” If Jesus Christ was not God, this is shocking blasphemy. There is absolutely no middle ground between admitting the Deity of Jesus Christ and charging Christ with the most daring and appalling blasphemy of which any man was ever guilty.
Divine Worship to be Given to Jesus Christ
There is a sixth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus. Those already given have been decisive, each one of the five have been decisive, but this, if possible, is the most decisive of them all, and that is that we are taught in so many words that Jesus Christ should be worshipped as God, both by angels and men. In numerous places in the gospels we see Jesus Christ accepting without hesitation a worship which good men and angels declined with fear and which He Himself taught should be rendered only to God (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:52; Matt.14:33; Acts 10:25, 26; Rev. 22:8, 9; Matt. 4:9, 1 0). A curious and very misleading comment is made in the margin of the American Standard Revision upon the meaning of the word translated “worship” in these passages, and that is that “the Greek word translated worship denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to a ‘creature’ or to the ‘Creator.”‘ Now this is true, but it is utterly misleading; for while this word is used to denote “an act of reverence paid to a creature” by idolaters, our Lord Jesus Himself distinctly says, using exactly the same Greek word, “thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,” and on the other hand he says in John 5:23 that “all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the father.” And in Revelation 5:8-13 the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders are represented as falling down before the Lamb and offering worship to Him just as worship is offered to Him that sitteth upon the throne, that is, God the Father. In Hebrews 1:6 we are told in so many words, “And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
One night in the inquiry room in Chicago I stepped up to an intelligent- looking man at the back of the room and said to him, “Are you a Christian ?” He replied, “I do not suppose you would consider me a Christian.” I said, “Why not ?” He said, “I am a Unitarian.” I said, “What you mean then is that you do not think that Jesus Christ is a person that should be worshipped.” He replied, “‘That is exactly what I think,” and added, “the Bible nowhere says we ought to worship Him.” I said, “Who told you that?” He replied, “My pastor,” mentioning a prominent Unitarian minister in the city of Boston. I said, “Let me show you something,” and I opened my Bible to Hebrews 1:6 and read, “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” And he said, “Does it say that?” I handed him the Bible and said, “Read it for yourself,” and he read it and said, “I did not know that was in the Bible.” I said, “Well it is there, isn’t it?” “Yes it is there.” Language could not make it plainer. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, is to be worshipped as God by angels and men, even as God the Father is worshipped.
Incidental Proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ
The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped. But there are also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.
1. Our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Now any one that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic, or an impostor. No one can give rest to all who labor and are heavy laden who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it. If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He is either a lunatic or an impostor. If He actually does it, then beyond a question, He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it. Thousands and tens of thousands who have labored and were heavy laden and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus Christ and He actually has given them rest. Surely then He is not merely a great man, but He is in fact God.
2. Again in John 14:1 Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith in Him that we put in God the Father and promises that in such faith we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart. His words are, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” It is clear that He demands the same absolute faith to be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty. Now in Jeremiah 17:5, Scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly familiar, we read “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,” and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man, Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in God. It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when He makes this demand, must either be God or an impostor; but thousands and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.
3. Again, the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for Himself. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it. In Matthew 10:37 He said to His disciples, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,” and in Luke 14:26, 33, he says. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” There can be no question that this is a demand on Jesus’ part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus made it, and therefore, He must be God.
4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the Father. He said, “I and my Father are one.”
5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say, “…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He claims here to be so absolutely God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.
6. In John 17:3 He says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” In other words, He claims that the knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father.
Conclusion
There is no room left to doubt the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ. It is a glorious truth. The Saviour in Whom we believe is God, a Saviour for Whom nothing is too hard, a Saviour Who can save from the uttermost and save to the uttermost. Oh, how we should rejoice that we have no merely human Saviour, but a Saviour Who is absolutely God in all of His fulness and perfection. On the other hand, how black is the guilt of rejecting such a Saviour as this! Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Saviour and Lord is guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God. Many a man thinks he is good because he never stole, or committed murder, or cheated. “Of what great sin am I guilty?” he complacently asks. Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ? “No.” Well, then, you are guilty of the awful and damning sin of-rejecting a Saviour Who is God. “But,” you answer, ‘I do not believe that He is God.” That does not change the fact nor lessen your guilt before God. Questioning a fact or denying a fact never changes it, regard- less of what Mary Baker Eddy may say to the contrary. Suppose a man had a wife who was one of the noblest, purest, truest women that ever lived, would her husband’s questioning her purity and nobility change the fact? It would not. It would simply make that husband guilty of awful slander; it would simply prove that man to be a liar.. So, denying the Deity of Jesus Christ does not make His Deity any less a fact, but it does make the denier of His Deity guilty of awful, incredible blasphemous slander against the Lord God of Heaven. It also proves that you who deny His deity.
JESUS IS NOT THE FATHER … So how can he be God ?
The church and more importantly the Bible recognizes the deity of the Son. Most cults strip him of this making the Son only a man, an angel or at best a secondary divine being created by the Father. They ignore the fact that the son is called God just as the Father is. If one says the Son or Spirit are not called God then they would have to be consistent and say the Father is not either.The reason the Father is explicitly called God by Jesus is because he is honoring another instead of himself. Each person in the godhead does this, yet we find their is a hierachial structure (a successive order not in time but of position).
Jesus is called the Son over 200 times throughout the N.T. The Father is referred to as distinct from the Son over 200 times. Over 50 times Jesus the Son and the Father are mentioned in the same verse. Yet we find Paul’s greeting as grace and peace from both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God all throughout the Bible. He is always put on equal status with the Father being able to bestow grace to the believer. The only time he is not equal is by position, never in nature.
John 20:31 …That Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.” Jn.16:3 “And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me.” Here he is distinguishing himself as another from the Father. Jesus separates himself from the Father in person but not in nature.
Jn.10:30: ” I and my father are one” this is not a numerical one, Jesus is not saying he is the father. they are not one person but in nature they are a united one. It actually reads we are one in Greek the first person plural esmen . Examining his claim further “I and my Father are one.” The Jews pick up stones because they understood this as blasphemy in vs. 36 Jesus interprets what he meant by saying because I said, “I am the Son of God.” There is a very good reason for this because…. Contrary to those who claim the Son of God means less than God it actually affirmed his deity.
In Jn.20:17 Jesus said “I am ascending to my Father and your Father to my God and your God.” Anti-Trinitarians claim since Jesus had a God over him he could not also be God. What we are not saying is that he is the Father or the Spirit. Coming in the servant role and as a man he was submissive to the Father as a Son. Notice he makes a distinction from “my Father and your Father” not saying our Father. The same is applied to ” my God and your God.” As a man he acknowledged the Father as “my God” .We are unable to say this in the same manner as he did. God is his Father from eternity past, he being the Son of eternal generation. Thomas bowed before Jesus saying, he is his God and his Lord, Jesus could not say the Father was his Lord in the way man does.
Jn.11:41-43 Jesus lifts his eyes toward heaven and prays, ” I thank you that you heard me, and I know that you always hear me.” We see consistently he is praying toward heaven just like all the saints in the O.T.. So why pray if your God. Because he is dependent on God in his lowered state and he is giving us the perfect example of our having a relationship with the Father. The Son was instructed by the Father as his God, since he decided not to use his position independently. Jesus never referred to his Father as “our Father” in prayer together with others. Father was a term for the Jews who were in covenant with God . Jesus who being God in nature was divine and equal in all respects to God could not call God his Father as we do, being adopted children. God was his Father in a different sense than ours, in that they were united together from eternity. So he makes a distinction of “my” and “our”. ” “When Christ prayed to the Father, you have the Son on earth the Father in heaven. this is not separation but divine disposition. now we know that God is within the depth’s and exists everywhere, but in might and power, the Son being, indivisible from the Father is everywhere with him, yet in the economy, the Father willed that the Son should be found on the Earth, himself ( the Father ) in heaven.” (Tetullian.) What he is explaining is that the omni-presence of God is everywhere yet the location of his persons are in different areas. ( Jn.11:41-42,12:28, 17:1-26)
Mt. 26:39-42 In Gethsamane he prays three times to the Father in doing his will. Why does he ask for the Father to let this cup pass if he is God, Isn’t this like asking himself? Jesus’ ( 2nd person of God ) was God communing with God the Father (1st person of God ). Jesus is struggling over the soon and coming separation he will experience with the Father. He is asking if there be another way so he will not experience this. Otherwise he has his own human will that is not submitted to God and he is sinning. The concept the scriptures portray of the crucifixion is not that God died but that he was separated spiritually and died in the flesh . In Gethsamane it was the cup that Jesus asked to be removed. If he was praying that he would not have to experience physical death he would be rejecting the very reason he came. His obedience is shown as in Phil.2 says even to the death on the cross. He would not be praying for the very purpose of his coming to be removed.
This is why the cults deny the deity of Christ because they recognize that these are two different persons. It is because of their preconceived ideas and training that God is strictly singular. In their attempt to uphold Monotheism they cannot receive the teaching of his nature being triune, they then lose the Son of God as a distinct person.
PROOFS FOR JESUS BEING DEITY
The savior has the power to forgive sins.
Only God is able to forgive sins, Luke 7:48-50″And Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. “And those who sat atthe table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Mark 2:5-10 “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins“– First thing noticeable is that Jesus personally forgives the mans sins. He is also able perceive what they are thinking. He tells the man to rise up and walk after his sins are forgiven. Showing those around him that his statement of forgiveness is true by giving them a physical example of his power. Jesus points to himself as the source of forgiveness, this is why the Pharisee’s were so taken back, they were right, only God can forgive sins.
I King 8:39 “then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men),
“Luke 5:22: “But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he, answering, said unto them, why reason your in your hearts?’ John 2:24-25.”But Jesus did not commit himself unto them (believe in them) , because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in mans heart”. Mt. 9:4″And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why think you evil in your hearts .” Someone who can read others thoughts and the intents of others hearts like Jesus means he is more than just a prophet or representative. This is certainly not psychic powers but an ability only reserved for God. We find consistently Jesus exercising the same abilities as God.
CREATOR OR CREATED
Heb. 3:2-6 We find Christ is faithful to him who appointed him. As “Moses also was faithful in all his house.” That he is counted to have more glory than Moses and makes the distinction of ‘him who built the house has more honor than the house”. “For every house is built by someone but he who built all things is God“… vs.6 “But Christ as a Son over his own house whose house we are…” Christ is the head of the house which is the body of Christ. In Jn.14 we are told just as the earth was formed by his hands he went to heaven to prepare a place for all his household, that where he is we may be also. He is called the master craftsman in Prov.8:30 and is attributed to be co creator with the Father in Prov.30:4. The New Testament is not lacking in attributing divine creatorship to his hands in Jn.1:1-3 and Col.1:15-17. The Alpha and Omega, he is the architect of all things.
FIRSTBORN
The word firstborn is used by almost all anti trinitarian cults to disprove he being eternal, does this mean Christ is the firstborn in a family? There are numerous examples used to prove how this word is used. In Jer.31:9 God says he is a father to Israel and calls Ephraim the Son of Joseph his first born, yet Ephraim was Joseph’s second son born after Mannaseh. God asked Abraham to take his only Son Issac to the Altar on Mt. Moriah, yet we know he had Ishmael as his firstborn Son. Even in Ex.4:22 Israel the nation is called Gods firstborn Son. No one would consider God actually begot a nation in a literal sense as we do people ! Both Col.1:15 and Rev.1:5 both clarify the meaning of firstborn in its context to mean risen from the dead eternally. The Greek word Prototokos is found 7 times in the N.T. It means first in rank, a heir, to have preeminence in position not in his origin. The other Greek word for created is Protoktisis which is not used for Christ. Rev.1:5 “..and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the Kings of the earth.” Christ was not the first raised from the dead, but he was the the first raised to eternal life in the body which gives him headship over the human race, Since Christ is to have preeminence he is the heir of all things
Rev.3:15: “And these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God.”
the Greek word means he is the source and architect of creation, which actually proves the opposite. That he is God the master craftsman of Prov.8. the one who spoke and formed things to what they are today. Heb.1:3: “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ”
Christ is greater than the Angels
Col.2:9-10: “The fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ, the Colossians had previously come to a fullness of life in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. “Head” means supreme “authority,” “Principality and powers” is a reference to the highest rankings of angelic beings he Christ being over them all. Which means he is not in the same rank or species as an angel. Neither could he be the archangel which would still have him be in the order of a created being.
Christ is to be Worshipped
The scripture is clear only God is to be worshipped Ex.34:14″For thou shall worship no other God for the Lord (Jehovah), whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.” “O’ come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”Ps.95:6.
The Greek word proskeneo (worship) is used 22 times in the Bible showing that God the Father is to be worshipped.
In Psalm 2:12 it says, “Kiss the Son lest he be angry with you.” The word kiss is a term for worship. . (chashaq (khaw-shak’); a primitive root; to cling, i.e. join, (figuratively) to love, delight in;… Strongs #2836) This word for worship in Greek is proskeneo the same word used for worship for Jehovah God and for false Gods. One has to be consistent in the usage of the word, you can’t pick and choose when to or not to apply it.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was not only worshipped but also called God by Thomas in Jn.20:28 “My Lord my God”.(Gr. The Lord of me the God of me). Instead of being rebuked for this statement which would be blasphemy if false, he is commended and blessed, something no true prophet would do unless it was correct. We find the wise men worshipped Jesus as a child. Mt.2:11. The leper worshipped Jesus Mt.8. The ruler bowed and worshipped Mt.9:18 .The believer who was blind worshipped him Jn.9:38. The women worshipped him Mt. 15:25, Mary Magdalene worshipped him Mt.28:9, the disciples worshipped him Mt.28:17. This word for worship in Greek is proskeneo the same word used for worship for Jehovah God and for worship of false Gods. It is rendered 16 times to Jesus as a beneficent superior; at least 24 times to God or to Jesus as God. “The root idea of bodily prostration is much less prominent than in the Old Testament. It is always translated “worship.” (International Standard Bible Encylopaedia) Mt. 4:10 “When Jesus said to Satan `You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ He certainly wasn’t telling him to do reverence only. One has to be consistent in the usage of the word, you can’t pick and choose when to or not to apply it. Jesus is either a false God receiving undue worship or that all the creatures in heaven are not worshipping Jesus. Which means, they are also not worshipping Jehovah God, because the same word is applied to both.
THE EARLY CHURCH WAS OUTSPOKEN ON THE DEITY OF CHRIST
Ignatius Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, “Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible”. Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states “Jesus is God”, “God incarnate”
“Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin … truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin”… Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, “Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible”. Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states “Jesus is God”, “God incarnate.”
“Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin … truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin.”
Ignatius of Antioch “In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever” (n. 7; PG 5.988).
“We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For ‘the Word was made flesh.’ Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passible body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.” ( The ante-nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Vol. 1, p. 52 .)
“For our God Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:9)
“…God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:13)
“Continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians 2:4)
“For even our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is in the Father”.( Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans 1:13)
Clement of Rome (Philipians 4:3)”For Christ is with those who are humble, not with those exalt themselves over his flock. The majestic scepter of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not come with the pomp of arrogance or pride (though He could have done so), but in humility, just as the Holy Spirit spoke concerning Him.” (1 Clement 16:1-2)
“Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ as of God : as of the judge of the living and the dead”.(2nd Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 1:1)
Justin Martyr ( 140 A.D.) “the word of wisdom, who is himself God begotten of the Father of all things, and word, and wisdom, and power, and the glory of the begetter, will bear evidence to me”.(Dialogue with Tropho Ch.61)
“God speaks in the creation of man with the very same design, in the following words: ‘Let us make man after our image and likeness’ . . . I shall quote again the words narrated by Moses himself, from which we can indisputably learn that [God] conversed with someone numerically distinct from himself and also a rational being. . . . But this Offspring who was truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with him” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 62).
“For Christ is King, and Priest, and God and Lord…”(Dialogue With Trypho, 34)
“…He preexisted as the Son of theCreator of things, being God, and that He was born a man by the Virgin.” (Dialogue With Trypho, 48 )
“We will prove that we worship him reasonably; for we have learned that he is the Son of the true God Himself, that he holds a second place, and the Spirit of prophecy a third. For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things; but they are ignorant of the Mystery which lies therein” (First Apology 13:5-6).
Polycarp (70-160). Bishop of Smyrna.A disciple of John the Apostle. “O Lord God almighty…I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever”
“Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High Priest Himself, the God Jesus Christ, build you up in the faith…”( The Epistle of Polycarp to the Church at Philippi, 12
Iranaeus Iranaeus (120-202) “In order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King…”(Irenaeus Against Heresies, 1.10.1)
180 A.D. “But he Jesus is himself in his own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, Lord, and king eternal, and the incarnate word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles …The Scriptures would not have borne witness to these things concerning Him, if, like everyone else, He were mere man.” (Against Heresies 3:19.1-2)
“For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ‘Let us make man after our image and likeness'”.( Against Heresies, 4:10)
Iranaeus gave the Church two statements which have continued in its creeds: (1) Filius dei filius hominis factus, “The Son of God [has] become a son of man, (Earl Cairns Christianity Through the Centuries, Zondervan, 1981, pg.110) Jesus Christus vere homo, vere deus, “Jesus Christ, true man and true God.” (Harold Brown Heresies, Zondervan, 1989, pg.84)
Irenaeus gave three forms of the statement of faith in three different contexts in This is showing the variety of ways that the faith could be expressed in his day:)
Third Form: IN ONE GOD ALMIGHTY, from whom are all things; and IN THE SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, by whom are all things, and in his dispensations, through which the Son of God became man; the firm -persuasion also IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD, who furnishes us with a knowledge of the truth, and has set forth the dispensations of the Father and the Son, in virtue of which he dwells in every generation of men, according to the will of the Father (IV. xxiii. 7).(God in three persons C.Beisner) this is long before the council of Niacea.
Diogneteus Diogneteus to Mathetes (written 130 A.D.) “as a king sends his Son, who is also king, so sent he him, as God (1) he sent him; as men he sent him; as savior he sent him,…” Chpt.7 says “God” (1) which refers to the person sent.
Theophilus (115-181) Bishop of Antioch (To Autolycus 2:22 ,160 A.D.) “For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice but what else is this voice but the word of God, who is also his Son.”
Tatian the Syrian (170 AD ) “Our God has no introduction in time. He alone is without beginning, and is Himself the beginning of all things. God is a spirit, not attending upon matter, but the Maker of material spirits and of the appearances which are in matter. He is invisible and untouchable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. This we know by the evidence of what He has created; and we perceive His invisible power by His works”.(Tatian, Address to the Greeks , 4)
“We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man” (Address to the Greeks 21).
Melito of Sardis (177 AD )The activities of Christ after his baptism, and especially his miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the deity hidden in his flesh. Being God and likewise perfect man, he gave positive indications of his two natures: of his deity, by the miracles during the three years following after his baptism… he concealed the signs of his deity, although he was the true God existing before the ages” (Fragment in Anastasius of Sinai’s, The Guide 13).
Athenagoras (160 AD.) Speaks of “one God, the uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, uncontainable, comprehended only by mindand reason, clothed in light and beauty and spirit and powerindescribable, by whom the totality has come to be.”(suppl. 10.1)
…”the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of Spirit, the understanding, and reason of the Father is the Son of God.” (Ante Nicene Fathers vol.2 p.133 a plea for Christians)
“For Christ is the God over all”.(Refutation of All Heresies 10.34)
Athenagoras identifies the Word as the Son of God, says ‘although the word is God’s offspring, he never came into being. Rather, having been with God and in God eternally he issued forth at a point in time.”( A plea for the Christians 12.20) “God the Word came down from heaven…He came forth into the world and…showed Himself to be God”.( Against the Heresy of a Certain Noetus, 17)
speaking of what the church believes, “they hold the Father to be God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit, and declare their union and their distinction in order.”(A plea for the Christians.10.3)
“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear those called atheists who admit God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and who teach their unity in power and their distinction in rank?”( Intercession on Behalf of the Saints, 10)
Clement of Alexandria (190 AD) “The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning, for he was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone. is both God and man, and the source of all our good things” (Exhortation to the Greeks 1:7:1).
Tertullian (converted around 193 AD)(215 AD) “The origins of both his substances display him as man and as God: from the one, born, and from the other, not born” (The Flesh of Christ 5:6-7).
“God alone is without sin. The only man without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God.”(The Soul 41.3)
We find that it was the ones who did not understand the trinity that were looked upon as divisive. Tetullians theological writings consisted mostly in response to what the Oneness (modalists) believes. (God is singular in person) When he debated Praxeas of which he wrote. “thus the connection of the Father in the Son the Son in the paraclete, produces three coherent persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three are one essence, not one person, as it is said, “I and my Father are one,” in respect of unity of substance, not singularity of number.”( Ante-Nicene fathers vol.3,p.621, against Praxeas.) He went on to say “Yet we have never given vent to the phrases ‘two Gods’, or ‘two Lords’: not that it is untrue the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, each is God.” (ibid 13)
Tetullian developed his arguments and refined his belief of which the third form of his rule of faith became this. “We believe there is but one God, and no other besides the maker of the world, who produced the universe out of nothing, by his word sent forth first of all, that this word, called his Son, was seen in the name of God in various ways by the patriarchs, was always heard in the prophets, at last sent down, from the spirit and power of God the Father, into the virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and born of her, lived as Jesus Christ…”.
Not only is he careful in his explanation but throughout all his writings he defines three persons and one substance who are the one God. .”That this one and only God has a Son, his word, who proceeded from himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the virgin, and to have been born of her- being both man and God, the Son of man, and the Son of God, and to have been called the name of Jesus Christ;” (against Praxeas vol.3, p.598)
Novatian (235 AD. )”For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be God. Because it does not set forth Him to be the Son of God only, but also the Son of man; nor does it only say, the Son of man, but it has also been accustomed to speak of Him as the Son of God. So that being of both, He is both, lest if He should be one only, He could not be the other. For as nature itself has prescribed that he must be believed to be a man who is of man, so the same nature prescribes also that He must be believed to be God who is of God . . . Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is called also God and the Son of God” (Treatise on the Trinity 11).
Novatian “The rule of truth demands that, first of all, we believe in GOD THE FATHER and Almighty Lord, that is, the most perfect Maker of all things. . .’ The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also in the SON OF GOD, CHRIST JESUS, our Lord God, but the Son of God…. Moreover, the order of reason and the authority of faith, in due consideration of the words and Scriptures of the Lord ‘, admonishes us, after this, to believe also in the HOLY GHOST, promised of old to the Church, but granted in the appointed and fitting time.
The church did not have non-Trinitarians. The Gnostics, Arians, Oneness and others were considered to be praching heresy and were excluded from the church universal. (This is not my words but the Churches) This did not stop them from going out and starting their own movements and church’s. These were the first cultic movements and many today have aligned themselves with their teachings , some have synthesized several of them together to make something altogether new.
Hippolytus 190 A.D. (Against the heresy of one Noetus “a Oneness promoter” ch.14, ) After quoting part of Jn.1:1 “If then the word was with God and was also God what follows ? Would one say that he speaks of two God’s ? I shall not speak of two Gods but of one; of two persons however and of a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father is indeed one but there are two persons because there is also the son; and there is the third the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the word executes and the son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of the harmony is led back to the one God, for God is one. It is the father who commands and the son who obeys and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding; The Father is above all the son is through all and the holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot think of one God, but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit”.
“God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world….Beside Him there was nothing; but He, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality….And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another, I do not mean that there are two Gods….Thus, then, these too, though they wish it not, fall in with the truth, and admit that one God made all things….For Christ is the God above all.….He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, ‘All things are delivered unto me of my Father.’ He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever….And well has he named Christ the Almighty. “(Hippolytus ” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 227, 153, 225)
In another of his writings “This is the order of the rule of our faith…God the Father, not made, not material, invisible; One God, the creator of all things; this is the first point of our faith. the second point is this; the word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the fathers dispensation, through whom all things were made.”
Gregory the Wonder-worker (262 AD) “But some treat the Holy Trinity in an awful manner, when they confidently assert that there are not three persons, and introduce (the idea of) a person devoid of subsistence. Wherefore we clear ourselves of Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same [Person] . . . We forswear this, because we believe that three persons–namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–are declared to possess the one Godhead: for the one divinity showing itself forth according to nature in the Trinity establishes the oneness of the nature” (A Sectional Confession of Faith 8).
“But if they say, ‘How can there be three Persons, and how but one Divinity?’ we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as . . . there is one substance in the Trinity” (A Sectional Confession of Faith, 14)
Dionysius (262 AD )”Neither, then, may we divide into three godheads the wonderful and divine unity . . . Rather, we must believe in God, the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus, his Son; and in the Holy Spirit; and that the Word is united to the God of the Universe. `For,’ he says, ‘The Father and I are one,’ and `I am in the Father, and the Father in me'” (Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria, 3)
Methodius (305 AD) “For the kingdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one, even as their substance is one and their dominion one. Whence also, with one and the same adoration, we worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning, uncreated, without end, and to which there is no successor…. For nothing of the Trinity will suffer diminution, either in respect of eternity, or of communion, or of sovereignty” (Oration on the Psalms 5).
Arnobius (305 AD) “‘Well, then,’ some raging, angry, and excited man will say, ‘Is that Christ your God?’ ‘God indeed,’ we shall answer, ‘and God of the hidden powers'” (Against the Pagans 1:42).
Athanasius (290 -370) “[The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in actual existence. Just as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually exists and has true being.” (Letters to Serapion 1:28).
“United without confusion, distinguished without separation. Indivisible and without degrees.” (Sermon on Lk.10:22)
If One examines carefully the writings of the early church writers their language and theology reflects their understanding of the Trinity. They contended from Scripture not from Greek philosophy or paganism as is charged from anti-Trinitarian opponents. Trinitarianism certainly was not developed in the 4th century but was part of the theology of the early church. Those who oppose it today, are not part of the Church just as they were not part of the Church in the beginning.