Is Jesus Really God???
There is no question more crucial than “Who is Jesus? Is he, or is he not, God?” For two-thousand years Christians have proclaimed that Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Trinity. We believe that he came from heaven, lived on earth for about thirty-three years, died on the cross for our sins, was resurrected from the dead after three days, ascended into heaven to reign with the Father, and one day will return to judge the world. The New Testament declares this, the early creeds affirm this, and over two billion people around the world today claim to believe this.
Who or what people regard as “god” today may be completely different to what first-century Jews meant by “god.” The Jews believed in YHWH (or Yahweh), the Sovereign One, who “was not simply the objectification of forces and drives within the world, but was the maker of all that exists.” [1] We see the biblical portrait of YHWH come to life in Jesus. It is the Old Testament portrait of “god” that fits Jesus perfectly.
Despite flat denials of the deity of Christ, there are equally flat affirmations grounded in historical evidence. I will examine what Jesus claimed about himself, then, look at the credibility of these claims and their implications.
Christ’s Claims to Deity
Jesus said many things that would have been shocking to a first century Jew. However, it is not recorded in the teaching of Jesus that he ever went as far as to declare overtly “I am God.” The nearest explicit statements may be “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30), which his listeners considered blasphemous, and Thomas’ confession “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) which Jesus accepted.
Jesus made other unobtrusive and indirect claims to deity which are intricately woven into his teaching. For example, throughout Jesus’ earthly life he displayed a consciousness of his previous existence: “I came from the Father and have come in to the world” (John 16:28). He described himself as he who “descended from heaven” (John 3:13) and asked his disciples how they would respond if they were to see him “ascending to where he was before” (John 6:62). Jesus’ personal prayer further reflects this deep consciousness; “So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (John 17:5).
Jesus said “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He could have said “I was,” however his “I am” was the language of self-existence, a claim “to a continued ever-present existence before Abraham’s time to the moment he was speaking.” [2] Jesus’ claim to pre-existence was also a claim to deity. The Jews listening to Jesus’ statement understood “I am” to be God’s description of himself. They took his words as blasphemy and “they picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59). On another occasion, when the Jews were about to stone Jesus, he asked “Why are you going to stone me?” They replied that they were stoning him for blasphemy “because you, though only human being, are making yourself God” (John 10:33). The Jews clearly thought that this was what he was declaring.
Jesus claimed to enjoy intimacy with his Father shared by nobody else (Matt 11:27). He expressed this intimacy with the affectionate term “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36), a title which would have been considered improper, even scandalous, for a person to use for God in his day. In the Gospel of John Jesus says that “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9; cf. 10:30). In Revelation, Jesus claims the statement previously said in regards to the Father “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev 1:8; 22:13). Furthermore, Jesus spoke of the future church as “my church” (Matt 16:18) and said that he would send “his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and evildoers” (Matt 13:41; italics mine).
Jesus used the following images to describe himself; the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Light of the world, the Gate, the True Vine, and the Bread of Life. These all point to his divinity, especially when compared with Old Testament associations. In fact, Jesus claimed to be the fulfilment of the Scriptures; he claimed eyes and ears were actually seeing and hearing what had been foretold centuries before (Matt 13:16-7).
Although a human being himself, Jesus set himself apart and over other human beings. He declared that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Jesus claimed that it was only through him that eternal life can be obtained. He explained that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:15). Jesus also stated he always did what is pleasing to the Father (John 8:29), dared to ask “which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), cautioned that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and declared that the ruler of this world “has no power over me” (John 14:30).
There has never been anyone to make such claims as Jesus. It certainly follows that if Jesus is God there will be evidence to support his claims to deity; some of which I outline below.
Evidence Supporting Christ’s Claims to Deity
Christ’s identity was announced by an angel to the terrified shepherds; “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Prior to this the angel Gabriel had announced that the ministry of John the Baptist would be to “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16). When John was born his father announced that “you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:67-7). Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon and John the Baptist also testified to Jesus’ extraordinary nature before his ministry began. Others, such as the woman who anointed Jesus, woman at the well, the centurion at the crucifixion, and Nicodemus caught a glimpse of who Jesus was along the way.
The New Testament writers affirm Jesus’ claims to pre-existence; “before all things” (Col 1:17), “from the beginning” (1 John 1:1). While many are willing to accept Christ’s pre-existence, many have failed to see that pre-existence is eternal and implies deity. The Apostle John’s opening words of his Gospel (John 1:1-3) clearly link pre-existence with deity. He teaches that when things came into being Jesus already was; he was without beginning and unmade, eternally with God. “The Word was God” (John 1:1). Philippians 2:5-7 and Hebrews 1:1-3 also speak clearly of Jesus’ pre-existence as God.
Despite Jesus’ birth of a virgin not having received as much attention in the New Testament as his death and resurrection, it is taught plainly in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, was the fulfilment of a very specific prophecy (Isa 7:14), and has been the virtually unanimous belief of the Church ever since. “It is entirely congruous that a supernatural person (who was simultaneously God and man) should enter as well as leave the world in a supernatural way.” [3]
The events of Calvary and the forty days between his resurrection and triumphant ascension to heaven were vindication of all Jesus said about himself. The emergence of Christianity can be traced back to appearances of the resurrected Christ. The apostles declared the resurrection radically changed their past, present and future; it was “an objective, historical demonstration of God’s power, and they knew that the same power was available for them.” [4]
Against the background of monotheistic Israel, it would have been blasphemous for New Testament writers to describe anyone as “God.” Nevertheless there are three clear instances of Jesus being called “God” with considerable significance. These are found in the opening section of the Gospel of John “the Word was God” (John 1:1), Thomas’ confession “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28), and in the opening of the letter to the Hebrews in which a psalm is addressed to Jesus as God (Heb 1:8).
Moreover, the early Christians did not hesitate to call Jesus their “Lord” (Greek kyrios). They did this with the knowledge that “Lord” had powerful theological associations because of its use to translate “YHWH” which represented the sacred name of God in Hebrew. Jews reserved the Greek word kyrios for God, and thus refused to address the emperor as “lord” (kyrios) clearly because of their belief that this term was appropriate to God alone.
The early Christians not only gave Jesus this Old Testament God-title, they also transferred Old Testament texts about God to Jesus. For example, YHWH had sworn, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa 45:23); but Paul wrote that God highly exalted Jesus in order that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:9-11). The prophet Joel predicted that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:28), but in the books of Acts and Romans we find this promise of salvation applied to all who call on the name of Jesus (Acts 2:21, 38; Rom 10:9-13). The Old Testament affirmed that there was only one saviour of humanity: God. With knowledge that it was God alone who could save, the first Christians were affirming that Jesus was Saviour and therefore God.
In 1 Corinthians 8:6 we again find a mix of Jewish and Christic metaphors. The Shema (Deut 6:4), a specifically Jewish-style monotheistic argument, was adapted to place Jesus within it: “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” This transfer of ‘God-titles’ and ‘God-texts’ from YHWH to Jesus identifies Jesus as God, and as he who is able to save and he who is worthy of worship.
If the apostles ever doubted Jesus’ divinity they only had to cast their minds back to his words and works. He taught with divine authority. With the same authority he spoke to calm the wind and waves. He also healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the demon possessed with his word. Even the dead were raised! Yet, forgiving sins was the most God-like of all. Those who witnessed such miracles sensed they were in the presence of God.
Implications of the Deity of Christ
The deity of Christ is controversial and yet crucial to the heart of the Christian faith. Our faith lies on Jesus actually being God in human flesh and not simply an extraordinary man. As we have seen, the early church certainly considered him divine in both biblical time and into the first-second centuries; “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:19), “He is of one substance with God, begotten, no created, God of God, light of light” (Nicene Creed).
It is through Jesus that we are able to have real knowledge of God. We only need to look to Christ to know the love of God, the holiness of God, and the power of God. Through Jesus’ death redemption has been made available to us. It is because Jesus was not merely a human, but God who died, that his death was sufficient for all sinners. God, the Giver and Sustainer of life, who did not have to die, died in our place that we might be reconciled to him.
Each one of us is presented with the problem of whether we accept Jesus’ and the eye-witnesses’ claims to his deity. As C.S. Lewis says, “You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” [5] My conviction is that Jesus is God, worthy of our worship, adoration, and obedience.
[1] N.T. Wright, ‘Jesus and the Identity of God,’ Ex Auditu.1998:42-56.
[2] S. Olyott, Jesus is Both God and Man (England: Evangelical Press, 2000):23.
[3] J. Stott, The Authentic Jesus (UK: Marshalls, 1985):56.
[4] Eph 1:18-20; Phil 3:20; cf. Jer 32:17. Stott, The Authentic Jesus (UK: Marshalls, 1985):47.
[5] D. Tripp, Is Jesus Really God? (Governors Bay: Dick Tripp, 1996):15.
Who or what people regard as “god” today may be completely different to what first-century Jews meant by “god.” The Jews believed in YHWH (or Yahweh), the Sovereign One, who “was not simply the objectification of forces and drives within the world, but was the maker of all that exists.” [1] We see the biblical portrait of YHWH come to life in Jesus. It is the Old Testament portrait of “god” that fits Jesus perfectly.
Despite flat denials of the deity of Christ, there are equally flat affirmations grounded in historical evidence. I will examine what Jesus claimed about himself, then, look at the credibility of these claims and their implications.
Christ’s Claims to Deity
Jesus said many things that would have been shocking to a first century Jew. However, it is not recorded in the teaching of Jesus that he ever went as far as to declare overtly “I am God.” The nearest explicit statements may be “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30), which his listeners considered blasphemous, and Thomas’ confession “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) which Jesus accepted.
Jesus made other unobtrusive and indirect claims to deity which are intricately woven into his teaching. For example, throughout Jesus’ earthly life he displayed a consciousness of his previous existence: “I came from the Father and have come in to the world” (John 16:28). He described himself as he who “descended from heaven” (John 3:13) and asked his disciples how they would respond if they were to see him “ascending to where he was before” (John 6:62). Jesus’ personal prayer further reflects this deep consciousness; “So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (John 17:5).
Jesus said “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He could have said “I was,” however his “I am” was the language of self-existence, a claim “to a continued ever-present existence before Abraham’s time to the moment he was speaking.” [2] Jesus’ claim to pre-existence was also a claim to deity. The Jews listening to Jesus’ statement understood “I am” to be God’s description of himself. They took his words as blasphemy and “they picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59). On another occasion, when the Jews were about to stone Jesus, he asked “Why are you going to stone me?” They replied that they were stoning him for blasphemy “because you, though only human being, are making yourself God” (John 10:33). The Jews clearly thought that this was what he was declaring.
Jesus claimed to enjoy intimacy with his Father shared by nobody else (Matt 11:27). He expressed this intimacy with the affectionate term “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36), a title which would have been considered improper, even scandalous, for a person to use for God in his day. In the Gospel of John Jesus says that “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9; cf. 10:30). In Revelation, Jesus claims the statement previously said in regards to the Father “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev 1:8; 22:13). Furthermore, Jesus spoke of the future church as “my church” (Matt 16:18) and said that he would send “his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and evildoers” (Matt 13:41; italics mine).
Jesus used the following images to describe himself; the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Light of the world, the Gate, the True Vine, and the Bread of Life. These all point to his divinity, especially when compared with Old Testament associations. In fact, Jesus claimed to be the fulfilment of the Scriptures; he claimed eyes and ears were actually seeing and hearing what had been foretold centuries before (Matt 13:16-7).
Although a human being himself, Jesus set himself apart and over other human beings. He declared that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Jesus claimed that it was only through him that eternal life can be obtained. He explained that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:15). Jesus also stated he always did what is pleasing to the Father (John 8:29), dared to ask “which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), cautioned that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and declared that the ruler of this world “has no power over me” (John 14:30).
There has never been anyone to make such claims as Jesus. It certainly follows that if Jesus is God there will be evidence to support his claims to deity; some of which I outline below.
Evidence Supporting Christ’s Claims to Deity
Christ’s identity was announced by an angel to the terrified shepherds; “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Prior to this the angel Gabriel had announced that the ministry of John the Baptist would be to “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16). When John was born his father announced that “you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:67-7). Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon and John the Baptist also testified to Jesus’ extraordinary nature before his ministry began. Others, such as the woman who anointed Jesus, woman at the well, the centurion at the crucifixion, and Nicodemus caught a glimpse of who Jesus was along the way.
The New Testament writers affirm Jesus’ claims to pre-existence; “before all things” (Col 1:17), “from the beginning” (1 John 1:1). While many are willing to accept Christ’s pre-existence, many have failed to see that pre-existence is eternal and implies deity. The Apostle John’s opening words of his Gospel (John 1:1-3) clearly link pre-existence with deity. He teaches that when things came into being Jesus already was; he was without beginning and unmade, eternally with God. “The Word was God” (John 1:1). Philippians 2:5-7 and Hebrews 1:1-3 also speak clearly of Jesus’ pre-existence as God.
Despite Jesus’ birth of a virgin not having received as much attention in the New Testament as his death and resurrection, it is taught plainly in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, was the fulfilment of a very specific prophecy (Isa 7:14), and has been the virtually unanimous belief of the Church ever since. “It is entirely congruous that a supernatural person (who was simultaneously God and man) should enter as well as leave the world in a supernatural way.” [3]
The events of Calvary and the forty days between his resurrection and triumphant ascension to heaven were vindication of all Jesus said about himself. The emergence of Christianity can be traced back to appearances of the resurrected Christ. The apostles declared the resurrection radically changed their past, present and future; it was “an objective, historical demonstration of God’s power, and they knew that the same power was available for them.” [4]
Against the background of monotheistic Israel, it would have been blasphemous for New Testament writers to describe anyone as “God.” Nevertheless there are three clear instances of Jesus being called “God” with considerable significance. These are found in the opening section of the Gospel of John “the Word was God” (John 1:1), Thomas’ confession “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28), and in the opening of the letter to the Hebrews in which a psalm is addressed to Jesus as God (Heb 1:8).
Moreover, the early Christians did not hesitate to call Jesus their “Lord” (Greek kyrios). They did this with the knowledge that “Lord” had powerful theological associations because of its use to translate “YHWH” which represented the sacred name of God in Hebrew. Jews reserved the Greek word kyrios for God, and thus refused to address the emperor as “lord” (kyrios) clearly because of their belief that this term was appropriate to God alone.
The early Christians not only gave Jesus this Old Testament God-title, they also transferred Old Testament texts about God to Jesus. For example, YHWH had sworn, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa 45:23); but Paul wrote that God highly exalted Jesus in order that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:9-11). The prophet Joel predicted that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:28), but in the books of Acts and Romans we find this promise of salvation applied to all who call on the name of Jesus (Acts 2:21, 38; Rom 10:9-13). The Old Testament affirmed that there was only one saviour of humanity: God. With knowledge that it was God alone who could save, the first Christians were affirming that Jesus was Saviour and therefore God.
In 1 Corinthians 8:6 we again find a mix of Jewish and Christic metaphors. The Shema (Deut 6:4), a specifically Jewish-style monotheistic argument, was adapted to place Jesus within it: “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” This transfer of ‘God-titles’ and ‘God-texts’ from YHWH to Jesus identifies Jesus as God, and as he who is able to save and he who is worthy of worship.
If the apostles ever doubted Jesus’ divinity they only had to cast their minds back to his words and works. He taught with divine authority. With the same authority he spoke to calm the wind and waves. He also healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the demon possessed with his word. Even the dead were raised! Yet, forgiving sins was the most God-like of all. Those who witnessed such miracles sensed they were in the presence of God.
Implications of the Deity of Christ
The deity of Christ is controversial and yet crucial to the heart of the Christian faith. Our faith lies on Jesus actually being God in human flesh and not simply an extraordinary man. As we have seen, the early church certainly considered him divine in both biblical time and into the first-second centuries; “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:19), “He is of one substance with God, begotten, no created, God of God, light of light” (Nicene Creed).
It is through Jesus that we are able to have real knowledge of God. We only need to look to Christ to know the love of God, the holiness of God, and the power of God. Through Jesus’ death redemption has been made available to us. It is because Jesus was not merely a human, but God who died, that his death was sufficient for all sinners. God, the Giver and Sustainer of life, who did not have to die, died in our place that we might be reconciled to him.
Each one of us is presented with the problem of whether we accept Jesus’ and the eye-witnesses’ claims to his deity. As C.S. Lewis says, “You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” [5] My conviction is that Jesus is God, worthy of our worship, adoration, and obedience.
[1] N.T. Wright, ‘Jesus and the Identity of God,’ Ex Auditu.1998:42-56.
[2] S. Olyott, Jesus is Both God and Man (England: Evangelical Press, 2000):23.
[3] J. Stott, The Authentic Jesus (UK: Marshalls, 1985):56.
[4] Eph 1:18-20; Phil 3:20; cf. Jer 32:17. Stott, The Authentic Jesus (UK: Marshalls, 1985):47.
[5] D. Tripp, Is Jesus Really God? (Governors Bay: Dick Tripp, 1996):15.
posted by Carly and Wayne Mulqueen at
11:31 am
1 Comments:
Carly,
Great job! I had to provide similar biblical support when some Jehovah Witnesses kept knocking. After they saw this I asked them, "If what you are believing is false, would you want to know it." I was happy that they said, "Yes." Please pray that they would see from the Scripture, God's Holy Word inspired for mankind (1 Tim. 3:16), that Jesus is the mediator between God and man.
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M&M in Japan, at 5:36 pm
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