The Divinity of Jesus Christ
by Kim LintonPosted in Apologetics 9 Comments
People who call themselves Christian are basically proclaiming they believe God exists. Not only do they believe God exists, they also believe the Bible accurately reveals who God is. Unfortunately, some people who claim to be a Christian don’t understand the significance of their proclamation, and as a result are easy targets for individuals and groups who misrepresent Christianity and the divinity of Jesus. Regardless of religious affiliation, personal convictions or denomination, those of us who claim to be Christians must agree on a few things.
Was Jesus God, an angel or just a man?
I’m going to make a statement that may offend some of you, but this is the foundation of our faith as Christians. If any person, group or church tells you that Jesus was not God, that he was only a man, an angel, Lucifer’s spirit brother, or anything other than God – they are false teachers concerning Christianity. Also, if any group or person claims that we too can become a god someday, they are false teachers as well.
As Christians, the divinity of Jesus is one point we cannot disagree on. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was and is God. Unfortunately, most Christians drawn in by deceptive teaching are well-meaning folks just looking for answers. They are usually people who tend to “ride the fence” when it comes to their faith. They wait for someone else to tell them what to think, and instead of studying and learning for themselves they end up knowing just enough to be dangerous.
Who did Jesus claim to be?
People who deny the divinity of Jesus often use clever scriptural distortions to back up their claims. Even with the multitude of scriptures that undeniably support Jesus’ divinity, they somehow “work them out” until they no longer resemble the actual text or intended meaning (regardless of version, original Greek or otherwise). For me, the most convincing proof that Jesus is God came when I decided to study who he claimed to be.
Most will agree Jesus was a good teacher, philosopher and prophet. After examining the Bible and writings of other groups/cults who claim to be Christian (but deny the divinity of Jesus), there was only one conclusion to make. C.S. Lewis, author of Mere Christianity and one of the most admired Christian apologists of the twentieth century, said from Jesus’ own claims he must either be God or is a “lunatic on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg or a devilish liar.”
Here are a few Bible verses that defend the divinity of Jesus. Keep in mind there are many, many more. I could spend days discussing the topic, but let’s just deal with a few major passages.
What God said about Jesus
Matthew 1:22-23: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.” So, Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Some groups attempt to explain this one by saying God is with us all (in a generic sort of way). When you take this verse at face value, while also considering related passages, it’s pretty difficult to tweak it to mean anything other than what it says.
Hebrews 1:7-8: In speaking of the angels he (God) says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.” In all my years as a Christian I have yet to hear one person or cult be able to explain this passage away – and many have tried. God the Father is clearly calling the Son (Jesus) God. Also, God makes a very clear distinction between his angels, servants and the Son.
Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” In this passage, Isaiah (a monotheistic Jewish prophet) is calling a human “Mighty God” which was a controversial statement to say the least. God obviously fulfilled his prophecy centuries later through Jesus Christ.
What Jesus said about himself
John 8:56-58: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham?” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am.” Compare this verse to Exodus
3:14 which reads, God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Obviously, Jesus was claiming to be the same “I AM” (God) who spoke to Moses.
John 10:30-33: Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Many who deny the divinity of Jesus point to “I and the Father are one” to say we are all one in purpose with God. What they are unable to explain is why Jesus did not deny he was claiming to be God. Why do you think Jesus was crucified? It was because the Jews knew Jesus was claiming to be their messiah (also see Matthew 14:32-33 where Jesus accepted worship from the disciples).
John 14:6-9: Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Here again, Jesus is saying he and God the Father are one. I’ve heard folks use the same argument about everyone being “one with God,” but I really don’t see how this bold statement by the Son can be twisted. In all these passages Jesus is clearly claiming to be God.
Learn more about the divinity of Jesus
You alone are responsible for your spiritual journey, and as followers of Jesus Christ it’s imperative that we be grounded in the foundational principles of Christianity. Study the Bible for yourself. Understanding Christianity is not that difficult – and anyone who tells you otherwise is turning the Gospel into something that God never intended.
For example, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Pretty simple, right?
Resources:
BibleGateway: Passage Lookup, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/
American Chronicle: A Review Of Mere Christianity By C.S. Lewis, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/11467
About Kim Linton
Kim Linton began her writing career in 2001 as a contributor for Ministrymaker Magazine. Kim's work has since been published on a variety of websites including Woman's Day and Intel, and featured on several news sites including USA Today, Yahoo! News and The Wall Street Journal.9 responses to “The Divinity of Jesus Christ”
Hi dear beloved in Jesus Christ. I am writing from Namibia, this is really the message the world need to hear before Jesus returns. The eyes of the world has been blind to see the truth. Jesus said in the book of John 8v24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. The world is perishing because of ignorance. Let us spread this true gospel.
May the good Lord bless you as you are alerting the world
I found your article a bit helpful. The most useful passage was the one in which the Jews wanted to stone Jesus for claiming to be God. What bothers me most about your article is your highly condescending tone, example: “Study the Bible for yourself. Understanding Christianity is not that difficult – and anyone who tells you otherwise is turning the Gospel into something that God never intended.” – presuming that we are capable of fully understanding the will of God.
Likewise, understanding the complexities around the divinity of Jesus isn’t as simple as you make it out to be, so when I see articles like yours, I worry that it isn’t OTHER people who are neglecting to do research, but you.
Finding proof for the divinity of Jesus is not so simple as finding a corroborating verse in the Bible. The Gospel, like it or not, is an anthology of a number of authors perspectives, translated and revised over thousands of years, and the composition was decided by the Romans over the course of several councils (including the Council in Constantinople in 381 in which it was finally agreed that Jesus was both human and God).
Because of this, passages that rely on implication, allusion, or metaphor to reach the conclusion that Jesus is God are not so helpful. Coming back to where I began, passages like the one I mentioned are the most helpful, as they are near-explicit.
My point is, I see too many Christians today that are too eager to try and exert some kind of sense of superiority over others, despite not really knowing enough to fully defend their arguments, when really we should be focusing on Jesus’ message of love. People shouldn’t get into these kinds of debates with such a condescending/presumptuous attitude, since most of the time, we can all benefit from an open mind and even more open hearts.
please share the argument that Jesus is God and Not man for the Muslim…my daughter has since converted to Islam through the help of her Saudi boyfriend. This is her greatest argument: I worship God not man.
Please help me with this.
first of all ur daughter does not understand very well who is God and who is man
Dear Kim Linton
Forgive me for i must apologize for stealing your thoughts ideas and work and claiming it as my own.I do this apology of my own free will and not that it is because of that it is why i am writing this.I stole your work because i felt cornered and unsure what to do i had initially missed a Essay dead line date and panicked. in my panic at around 3 AM I came across your work. it was Truly Inspiring. I Read it and felt a sense of awe and came to the realization of Jesus and his Divinnity. I saw what you had written an looked at what i had done so far and copied and pasted it. I Truly nope you can forgive me when i Say Sorry for stealing and when i say i will never steal again. I also write to tell you that you were fully accredited for your work and i was found out. Please accept my apology i did end writing my Essay and would like you personally to read it and give me feed back upon it. Accept my poor atempt for reparation
I’m currently in an argument on youtube with a man who is clailing that Jesus is not God. No matter what I say, this smart butt has an “answer” It’s getting frustrating. I wish some one here would jump in and help me.
The God is The One
The God is The Greatest
The God is The All-powerful
No burden anymore, you can live normally now!
i like the way and manner the topic has been handled
I once had to deal with a contrasting belief in the divinity of Jesus. My wife and I had attended a certain church for 4 years and, during an evening bible study there one night, we found out that the elders in this church held that Jesus was not God in the flesh. Red flags flew up everywhere for me. I searched the scriptures and found MANY evidences that he was, in fact, God manifest in the flesh. In addition to the scriptures you have pointed out, I found a few that caused any Bible believer who argued against the deity of Christ to give in as soon as they studied it out at all. Just thought I’d pass them along in case you ever deal with this again…
Zech 12:10:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”
Notice how the prophecy, being delivered from the LORD (Old Testament all-caps=THE LORD GOD) says that they will look upon “Me whom they have pierced.” and then they will mourn for “Him” … As if God is saying here that it will be HIM in the flesh hanging on that cross. Then, in context, reading from Revelation 1:7-8 – “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.””
Then, the same One Who is speaking in verses 7 and 8 of Rev 1 continues in verses 17 and 18, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
So, in Rev1:8, He refers to Himself as The Almighty….then the same One speaking refers to Himself saying, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” When did God die? In context, it was when He was on the cross.
The fact that Jesus is God in the flesh is an imperative as a Christian. The book of Revelation isn’t meant to be a futuristic weird book of analogy. It is meant to be exactly what it claims to be… The “revelation” of Jesus Christ. It’s a descriptive of Who He really is. When He is Revealed in His true glory in the end, we will all will know that He is Lord, the Great I AM. That’s the only futuristic part of the book of Revelation.