The Deity of Christ

Basic Christian Doctrines 27

 

1.   Jesus Christ is Explicitly Called God.

 

There are over 100 proofs of the deity of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Several verses explicitly call Him “God”. John 1:1, "The Word was God." John 20:28, “My Lord and my God.” I Tim. 3:16, “God was manifested in the flesh.” 2 Pet. 1:1, “our God and Savior Jesus Christ”. Titus 2:13, “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”. Matt. 1:22, “God with us.” 1 John 5:20, “He is the true God.” Heb. 1:8, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Isa .9:6, "the mighty God." Jesus Christ is 100% God. He is not part God, a lesser god, one of many gods, etc. He is God.

 

2.   Jesus Said that He Was God.

 

Each of the four Gospels records Christ's assertions of deity, but especially the Gospel of John. Note how often Jesus used the special name of Jehovah “I Am” of Himself. Sometimes it was “I AM the Bread of Life", the Light of the World, the Way, the Truth and the Life, etc.  Sometimes it was simply “I AM” (John 8:24, 58). The Jews knew that He claimed to be God (John 5:18, 10:33). In the last book of the Bible, Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, First and the Last” (Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13). He was either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. The truth is that He was exactly what He said He was.

 

3.   Jesus Did Not Become God.

 

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus did not become God at a certain time, but was God from all eternity. He is eternal and divine, for God alone is truly eternal (John 1:1, 15, 8:58, 17:5, Col. 1:17, Isa. 9:6). He was not a man who somehow became God, as the Mormons and others teach. Rather, He was God who became a Man.

 

4.   Jesus is Equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

John 1:1 says that Jesus was “God and with God.” This is the Trinity. He was God and with the other two members of the Trinity. All three are equally divine. His equality with them is taught in John 5:18, 10:33, and especially Phil. 2:6. Only God could be equal to God. Since there is only one God, this means the Trinity. Jesus has the same nature as the Father and the Spirit, not merely a similar nature, let alone a different nature. When He became a Man, He humbled Himself, and in that state He could say that the Father was greater than Himself.  But that referred to the Incarnation and the state of humiliation, not to His eternal essence as deity.

 

5.   Jesus is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient.

 

Jesus possessed the unique qualities of deity, such as these three attributes of God. No mere man or angel has ever or could ever possess any of them, and Jesus has all of them. He is omnipotent and can do all things, for He is “God Almighty” (Rev. 1:8, 5:12. Cf. Isa. 9:6, “the mighty God”). His omnipotence is also taught in 2 Pet. 1:16, Phil. 3:21, and Matt. 8:27. Second, Jesus is omnipresent. He fills all things and is with His people everywhere (Eph. 1:23, 4:10, Matt. 18:20, 28:20). Thirdly, He is omniscient. He knows everything, even the secret thoughts of men (John 2:24-25, 4:29, 6:64, 16:30, 21:17). Furthermore, Jesus is also immutable, or unchangeable, in His deity (Heb. 1:12, 13:8). He did not cease to be God when He became a man, and His humanity does not possess these attributes of deity. But that He has them proves that He is also God.

 

6.   Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God.

 

Nobody has ever seen God, who is invisible. God became visible by becoming a human. Therefore, to see Jesus is to see God (John 14:9). Jesus has revealed God (John 1:18). He is the visible image, or means of revelation, not merely a reflection (Col. 1:15, 2 Cor. 4:4). He is the perfect full revelation of God in all His nature and attributes (Heb. 1:3). He veiled His glory for most of the time He was on Earth, except for the brief moment on the Mount of Transfiguration. But He revealed God in other ways by what He did and said. And He continues to do this today, primarily in salvation.

 

7.   Jesus is Not a Created Being.

 

Contrary to what the Jehovah's Witnesses say, Jesus was not a created being, but the Creator Himself (John 1:2-3, 10, Col. 1:16, 1 Cor. 8:6, Heb. 1:2, Rev. 3:14). Nor was He an angel, which are created beings. Heb. 1:4-14 explicitly says that Jesus was not an angel. Angels worship Christ. Heb. 2:7-16 denies that Jesus became an angel to save angels. He was God who became a man to save men. Jesus created the angels (Col. 1:16). The human nature of Christ was created, but not His divine nature.

 

8.   Jesus Worked Miracles.

 

While prophets and apostles worked miracles by the power of God and not their own power, Jesus worked miracles by His own divine power. He healed sicknesses, raised people from  the dead, cast out demons, stopped storms. The theme of Mark's Gospel is, “Who is Jesus?” He gave them clues in His miracles, until finally people realized by faith that this one was God. He did what only God could do. They responded like the magicians in Egypt who said, “This is the finger of God.” Jesus worked miracles in conjunction with the Father and the Spirit, but not in the way that the apostles did. Jesus frequently claimed to do them by His own power and that they were “signs” that proved just who He is.

 

9.   There is No Salvation for Those Who Deny the Deity of Christ.

 

According to the Bible, we are saved by believing the Gospel of who Jesus is and what He did. He died and rose for us. Who is He? God and Man. To be saved, one must believe that Jesus Christ is God. Therefore, those who deny His deity are not saved, and they will never become saved until they acknowledge that He is God. John 8:24, “You will die in your sins unless you believe that I AM”. The deity of Christ is no secondary doctrine; it is of the very essence of Christianity and salvation.

 

10. Jesus Deserves Our Worship.

 

Being God, Jesus deserves our faith. Dying for us, He deserves our love. And He also deserves our worship, which is reserved for God alone. He deserves more than our respect and admiration; He deserves worship. He demands it and His people willingly give it to Him, The angels worship Him. All sinners will bow the knee to Him at the Last Judgement and confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2). People came in faith to Christ on Earth and worshipped Him, starting with the Wise Men (Matt. 2:2,8,11). We find example after example of this in the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 8:2, 9:18, 15:25, 20:20, 28:9, Mark 5:6). They did this in His very presence and He did not stop them - indeed, He was pleased with it (Matt. 14:33, 28:17). Peter (Acts 10:25-26), Paul (Acts 14:11-18) and angels (Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9) strictly refused such worship. Spurgeon said, "You will never be ready for Heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God.”  We begin to worship Him as God now, and will worship Him as God forever and ever in Heaven.