WHY CHRISTIANS BELIEVE IN THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

Provided by Kurt Van Gorden of Jude 3 Missions
PO Box 780, Victorville, CA 92393-0780 

              The belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate is not new to the Christian faith.  This doctrine is deeply rooted in Scripture and spans both the Old and New Testament. 

            Our acceptance of the deity of Jesus Christ is based upon direct biblical statements that He possesses the unique attributes of God.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-equal in all the nature and attributes of God.

            When Christians speak of Jesus as God incarnate, we mean that God, the Creator of the universe, stepped into the human race and clothed Himself with a human body.  The Scriptures clearly teach us that the Son of God was sent into the world to become the Savior of mankind (John 3:16).  He came from above (Jn. 8:23), as our Creator (Jn. 1:3, 10), and entered the human race in a tabernacle of flesh (Jn. 1:14).  Faithful followers of Jesus Christ accept the teaching that He has two natures - the nature of God and the nature of man.

            To deny either aspect of Christ’s nature, that He is both God and man, is to commit the greatest sin in understanding God’s Word.  Denial of Jesus’ deity is a denial of His personal nature and preexistence, which would reduce Him to merely a man in need of salvation himself.  Denial of His human nature is just as detrimental, for it denies his mission, atonement, and resurrection.  The only correct understanding of Scripture is to accept all that it says about Jesus, that He is both God and man.

            Several biblical passages discuss the incarnation of Jesus at length (John 1:1-18; Phil. 2:6-8; Col. 1:16-18; Heb. 1:1-10; Rev. 1:1-17).  One passage that sets forth the two natures of Jesus Christ in unmistakable terms is Philippians 2:6-7. 

            “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.”

            These verses present us with the clear understanding that Jesus has two natures - the nature of God and man.  Let us closely look at these verses line by line.

            Verse 6:  Who, being in the form of God -- The word form here is the Greek word morphe, meaning form, nature, or attributes.  Jesus, in His pre-human nature was none other than God.  Thought it not robbery to be equal with God -- This says that He did not have to grasp for what was already His by nature, namely, equality with God.

            Verse 7: But made himself of no reputation -- This speaks of Christ’s humility.  When He came to earth, He emptied Himself by choosing to live and respond as a man while still possessing all the fullness of deity (Col. 2:9).  And took upon him the form of a servant -- This second occurrence of morphe, form, tells us that Jesus acquired manhood.  He is the form of God and took upon himself another form, that of man.  And was made in the likeness of men -- His nature as a man was not altered by the fact that his person was God, neither was his nature as God altered in any way when He became incarnate as man.

            THERE ARE A NUMBER OF DIRECT STATEMENT ATTESTING TO THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.

Isa. 7:14 - Immanuel means “God with us,” a name that describes His person.

Isa. 9:6 - He is the mighty God.  See 10:22, the mighty God is Israel’s God.

Zech. 12:10 - In this verse Jehovah is the speaker, yet He is pierced for our sins.

Matt. 1:23 - He is God with us.

Matt. 22:41-45 - Jesus is David’s Lord--but David lived 1,200 years before Christ said this!  David was monotheistic, believing in one Lord.  See Mk. 12:35-37 and Lk. 20:44.

Mk. 2:7-10 - Jesus forgave sins, which only God can do.  See Lk. 5:20 also.

Jn. 1:1, 14 - The eternal Word was God who became a man.

Jn. 1:18 - The Greek text says “Only begotten God,” instead of “Son.”  See the NASB or NIV.

Jn. 5:18 - Jesus made Himself equal with God by saying that God was His Father.

Jn. 8:58 - Jesus used the divine expression I AM of Himself, as also found in Ex. 3:14.

Jn. 10:30 - I and my Father are one.  The word one (hen) is neuter in Greek.  It means one in essence or nature.  In this He claims to be God.  See verse 33, where the Jews understood this claim.

Jn. 20:28 - Thomas said Jesus is his Lord and God.  Thomas was monotheistic, believing in one God.  Jesus accepted it and blessed him.

Acts 20:28 - The two oldest Greek manuscripts say that God purchased the Church with his own blood.  This could only happen when God was incarnate as Jesus.

Rom. 9:5 - The antecedent to the clause “God, blessed forever,” is Jesus.

Phil. 2:6-7 - Jesus has two natures, that of God and man.

Col. 2:9 - The fullness of deity dwelt bodily in Him.

Titus 2:13 - The Granville Sharp rule of Greek grammar says this should be translated as “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  When two nouns are joined by the word and (kai), whereas the first has the definite article but the second does not, then the second noun is only further description of the first.  See the NASB or NIV.

Heb. 1:8 - The Father called the Son God.

2 Pet. 1:1 - Jesus is “our God and Savior.”  The Granville Sharp rule of Greek grammar applies here.  See the NASB.

1 Jn. 5:20 - This verse says Jesus is the True God and eternal life.  For those who doubt, see 1 Jn. 1:2, where the Son is called the “eternal life” at the opening of this epistle.

Rev. 1:8 - Here, Jesus speaks of himself as God the almighty.

JESUS HOLDS ALL THE ATTRIBUTES THAT ARE UNIQUE TO GOD.

Eternal:  Micah 5:2; Jn. 1:1; Col. 1:17-19 (before all things); Heb. 1:8; 1 Jn. 1:1.

Omnipotent:  Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 1:16-18; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:8.

Omnipresent:  Matt. 18:20, 28:20.

Omniscient:  Jn. 2:24, 16:30; 1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3.

Immutable:  Heb. 1:8, 13:8.

Creator:  Jn. 1:3, 10; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2, 10.

JESUS IS JEHOVAH!

            New Testament writers referred to Jesus as Jehovah.  Those familiar with the Old Testament, as what the early Christians were, would quickly see this connection.  In some passages, New Testament writers simply replaced the name Jehovah with Jesus, showing His identity.  In other passages Jesus fulfills only what Jehovah was said to fulfill.

THE OLD TESTAMENT NAME JEHOVAH IS DELIBERATELY APPLIED TO JESUS.

Matt. 3:3 with Isa. 40:3

Matt. 11:5 with Isa. 35:4-6

Matt. 16:27 with Ps. 62:12

Jn. 19:37 with Zech. 12:10

Acts 2:20-21 with Joel 2:32

Rom. 10:9-13 with Joel 2:32

Phil. 2:10 with Isa. 45:23

Heb. 1:10 with Ps. 102:25-27

1 Pet. 2:8 with Isa. 8:13-14

Rev. 2:23 with Jer. 17:10

Rev. 22:12 with Isa. 40:10 and 62:11

APPEARANCES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

            The appearances of Christ in the Old Testament are called Theophanies (appearances of God) or Christophanies (appearances of Christ).  There are several times in the Old Testament where God appeared to men in a visible manifestation.  Sometimes the manifestation is as an angel, a man, or a burning bush.  The Gospel of John records that no man has seen the Father (Jn. 1:18, 6:46).  Since no one has seen the Father, who, then, did they see in the Old Testament?  We believe that the testimony of Scripture is that it was Jesus, before he was born unto Mary, who appeared.  The New Testament gives direct and indirect reference to this.  He was seen by Abraham (Jn. 8:56-58), and by Isaiah (Jn. 12:37-41), and Paul wrote about Theophanies (1 Cor. 10:4) as did Luke (Acts 7:4).

            For your personal Bible study on this, consult Gen. 12:7, 17:1, 18:1, 26:2, 26:24, 35:9; Ex. 3:2-6, 6;3, 24:9-11, 33:18; and Isa. 6:1-5.  Additional study can be found in good study Bibles or Bible encyclopedias.

OLD TESTAMENT ATTRIBUTES AND TITLES OF JEHOVAH APPLIED TO JESUS.

JESUS RESPONDED TO SITUATIONS AS ONLY GOD CAN.

Jesus forgave sins:  Mk. 2:7-10; Lk. 5:20

Jesus was worshipped:  Matt. 2:11 (by wise men), 8:3 (by the healed), 9:18 (by a ruler), 15:25 (by a Canaanite); Jn 9:38 (by the man born blind); Heb. 1:6 (by angels); Rev. 5:14 (by four heavenly creatures).

Jesus accepted prayer:  Jn. 14:14 (the Greek says, “If you as ME anything in My name,” see NASB); Acts 7:59-60 (Stephen prayed to Him); 1 Cor. 1:2 (the Church called upon Him); 2 Cor. 12:8-9 (Christ answered Paul’s prayer).

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

            In light of all the evidence concerning the deity of Jesus Christ there are some who still maintain that Jesus Christ is not God.  This is usually due to two misunderstandings in their thinking -- (1) they confuse the Persons of the Trinity, or, (2) they confuse the humanity and deity of Christ. 

            In the first situation the denial is usually stated as “the Father is not the Son, so Jesus cannot be God.”  The problem is in the statement.  No Christian says the Father is the Son.  What we state is that the Father is distinct from the Son in person, but they share the nature of the one true God.  We should always watch our terminology so that the Persons of the Trinity are not confused.

            In the second situation the denial centers on the apparent humiliation of Christ’s humanity, which is falsely interpreted as a denial of his deity.  These questions are best answered by always keeping in mind the biblical fact that Jesus is both God and man.  Let us look at some examples of these questions.

            (1)  Questions of omniscience:  Verses like Mark 13:32 are referred to in an effort to say that Christ did not know everything.  This confuses Christ’s will with His ability.  All knowledge was hidden in Him (Col. 2:3).  If Jesus willed not to reveal something, it does not mean He lacked the ability.  The will to do something is not the same as the ability, neither is the lack of will to be confused with the ability.

            (2)  Questions of omnipotence:  Verses that show an apparent lack of power in Jesus are used to say He has no power.  This is a misunderstanding of His mission.  One purpose of His mission was to let the Father work through Him instead of acting on His own accord (Jn. 5:19).  The Son was active in creation while the Father worked through Him (Heb. 1:2), yet nobody degrades the Father by claiming that the Father lacked the power on the basis that the Son did the work.  Likewise, when we encounter verses where there is an appearance of weakness in the Son, we are most likely confusing His willingness to do something with His power to accomplish it.         (3)  Questions of omnipresence:  This challenge is usually phrased, “How can the Son be everywhere when He is on the right hand of the Father?”  The answer is that his nature as God is everywhere present (Matt. 18:20, 28:20), while his resurrected body is on the right hand of the Father.

            (4)  Another question comes from Matthew 19:16-21, where Jesus said, “There is none good, but one, that is, God.”  Some people suppose that Jesus denied his deity here.  Just the opposite is true.  Jesus affirmed what the young ruler had already recognized in him, that He is the “good master.”  Jesus never said He was not good.  He called Himself the good Shepherd in Jn. 10:14.  He never rebuked the man for calling Him good.  Rather, He told the man to follow Him (vs. 21), which He would not have done were He not good enough to follow.  If Jesus is good, according to this verse, and He is also God, or Jesus is not good, and He is not God.  Nobody can settle for a Jesus who is not good, so this verse drives us to the conclusion that He is both Good and God.

CONCLUSION

The overwhelming testimony of the Bible is the Jesus is both God and man.  We must base our beliefs upon the truth of His Word.  There are over 100 verses in this study that attest to the deity of Jesus Christ.  In agreement with Thomas, we too must recognize Jesus as, “My Lord and My God.”

Compiled by Kurt Van Gorden, Copyright 1985, revised 2000, Kurt Van Gorden. This edition published by permission of Jude 3 Missions.

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