The divinity of Jesus. Is Jesus truly divine? Or something less?
After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples went to Galilee as He had instructed them to do. There Jesus appeared to them again. “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17).
Even the disciples who had been with Jesus for so long, were unsure about His identity. Some willingly worshiped Him, others doubted. This uncertainty and doubt remain to this day. Some accept Jesus as fully divine. Others doubt and consider Him a created being.
In this short study we will explore Biblical evidence that testifies to the divinity of Jesus.
Absolutely!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
“Word,” is one of the titles of Jesus. Jesus was with God from the beginning.
Absolutely!
Notice how in the following texts Jesus is called God repeatedly.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The title "Word" is one of the titles of Jesus. John tells us that "the Word was God."
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Isaiah 9:6 is a prophecy about the birth of Jesus written about 700 years before it happened. Jesus is here called "Mighty God."
“And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28).
In this verse Thomas addresses Jesus as "my God."
“I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus said these words. Would a created being dare make such a statement?
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:5-6).
For Jesus equality with God was not robbery; it was His right!
These texts and many more where Jesus is referred to as "God" prove the divinity of Jesus.
Absolutely!
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3).
Both the Father and the Son (and the Spirit) worked together in creating the earth. But the Divine creative power was channeled to the earth through the Son. All things were made “through Him.” He was the active agent who spoke things into existence and stooped low to form Adam from the dust of the earth.
Absolutely!
“Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Hebrews 1:6).
Worship belongs only to God (Matthew 4:10). Since Jesus accepts worship, He must be Divine.
Absolutely!
“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?’” (Mark 2:5-7).
The scribes were right. Only God can forgive sins. I can forgive you for something you have done against me, but ultimately every sin is a sin against God because it violates His laws. Therefore, only He can forgive sins.
Jesus forgave sins. Therefore, He is God.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’” (John 8:11).
Only God has the power to condemn or acquit, since every sin is a sin against God. Jesus declares the woman acquitted. Therefore, Jesus is God.
The authority of Jesus to forgive sins highlights the divinity of Jesus.
Absolutely! Many times. Let us explore.
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18).
Here John declares that no human has
seen God the Father (angels see His face every day – Matthew 18:10). Which means that when humans saw God, they did not see the Father but Jesus the Son.
We will now look at a small sampling of Old Testament texts where Jehovah is mentioned and try to determine whether it refers to the Father or the Son.
“And the LORD [Jehovah] God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
Who is this text talking about, the Father or the Son? The Son! First, the Son was the active agent in Creation as we already saw above. He is the one who formed Adam out of clay. Second, as the Son breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and Adam opened his eyes, the first thing he would have seen was the beautiful face of the Son! What an amazing experience! Hallelujah!
“And they heard the sound of the LORD [Jehovah] God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence [literally – “from the face”] of the LORD [Jehovah] God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).
Father or Son? Son. They hid from His face, but eventually appeared before Him and conversed with Him. So, they must have seen Him.
“Then the LORD [Jehovah] appeared to him [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1).
Father or Son? Son, since He “appeared” to Abraham and the two conversed face to face.
“Then the LORD [Jehovah] said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow… For on the third day the LORD [Jehovah] will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” (Exodus 19:10-11).
Father or Son? If Jehovah appeared in any way (“in the sight”) then it must be the Son. Compare with the confirmation of the covenant in Exodus 24, below.
“Now He said to Moses, ‘Come up to the LORD [Jehovah], you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar… Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel” (Exodus 24:1, 9-10).
Who is Jehovah God of Israel whom Moses and the others “saw” on the mountain? Father or Son? It must be the Son since they “saw” Him!
Based on Exodus 19 and 24 then, Jehovah God who made the covenant with Israel was the Son.
“Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD [Jehovah] God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD [Jehovah] our God, the LORD [Jehovah] is one! You shall love the LORD [Jehovah] your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:3-4).
Who is this Jehovah God of Israel mentioned four times in these two verses? Father or Son? Are you ready for it? It must be the Son, since it is the Son who made the covenant with Israel in Exodus 24 and gave the Ten Commandments (see above), the Son who appeared to the Fathers Adam, Abraham.
Isn’t it amazing? The one text that those who reject the divinity of Jesus use against Him is the one text that confirms His divinity more than any other!
Absolutely not! Jesus is Creator, not created.
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3).
John 1:3 declares one thing in two clear statements. First, all things were made through Him, Jesus. Second, nothing created was made without Him. The original Greek text is even more emphatic: “without Him not even one thing that was made was made.”
In other words, every single thing that was ever created, was created through Jesus.
Those who believe that Jesus is a created being, suggest that God first created Jesus, and then Jesus created everything else.
But here the apostle John states that there is not even one thing that Jesus did not create. This means that if Jesus is a created being, He created Himself! Obviously impossible.
Yes and no. Let us see the relevant text.
“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God’” (Revelation 3:14).
The word “Beginning” translates the Greek archȇ, which can mean either “beginning” or “authority.” Note this text:
“So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority [archȇ] of the governor” (Luke 20:20).
Archȇ can also carry the idea of origin or source.
Jesus, by virtue of the fact that He created everything, is the Ruler or Authority (archȇ) of all Creation, as well as the Source.
This is why the NKJ translation cited above has the word Beginning with a capital B. Jesus is the Source of all Creation, the Originator.
No.
Some argue that the Father was first, and then Jesus was “born” of the Father. So, at some point in the very distant past, Jesus didn’t exist as a separate person. But this is wrong.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
Here Jesus (the Word) appears as a distinct person next to God, in “the beginning.”
If we start to speculate that before the beginning something else happened, then this something else becomes the actual beginning. And “the beginning” John mentions ceases to be the beginning, and becomes a subsequent stage.
Here is another related text.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22:13).
Here Jesus refers to Himself as “the Alpha.” Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Omega is the last). If at some point only the Father existed without Jesus, then Jesus cannot be the Alpha. The Father is the Alpha. Jesus would have to be the Beta (the second letter of the Greek alphabet). But no, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha;” He doesn’t say, “I am the Beta.” He is the First (together with the Father). He is not a second stage development.
He also says, “I am… the First.” If the Father existed before Jesus, then Jesus is not the First, He is the Second!
We conclude that the phrases, “in the beginning,” “Alpha,” “First,” all indicate that Jesus was with the Father co-eternal from the very beginning. There never was a time that Jesus was not with the Father.
10. But doesn’t the Bible say the Father gave birth to the Son/Jesus?
Not really. Let us see the relevant text.
“For to which of the angels did He ever say: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’?” (Hebrews 1:5).
There! The Father biologically begat Jesus. Right? No!
This text is a quotation from Psalm 2:7. Psalm 2, though a messianic psalm, originally addressed the kings of Israel. In what way were the kings of Israel begotten of God? Certainly not by biological birth!
Notice another text:
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn’” (Exodus 4:22).
Was Israel God’s biological son? Did God give biological birth to Israel? No, of course not.
Jesus is repeatedly called “Son of God.” And we are happy with this title. In what sense He is Son we do not know and should not speculate. John’s statement that Jesus was with the Father “in the beginning,” coupled with Jesus’ own words that He is the “Alpha” and the “First” are evidence enough that as far back in time as the Bible takes us, Jesus was there next to the Father as a distinct Divine Person. Anything beyond that is speculation and not a safe path to tread.
Jesus is fully Divine, equal to and sitting next to the Father in heaven. The divinity of Jesus is important. When it came to our salvation, heaven did not send a second-class person, an angel or a created being. The very Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, left heaven voluntarily and came to this earth, to the world He created, to rescue us from the mess we got ourselves into. What an amazing Creator and Savior Jesus is!
This is a person I can worship and follow without any hesitation! How about you?
Yes, I believe in the divinity of Jesus. Jesus is the Divine Son, equal to the Father. I accept Him as Lord and Savior and will willingly follow Him!
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