Is Jesus God? What the Bible—& the Church—Actually Say

The church has unanimously confessed, within the phrases of the Nicene Creed (325), that our Lord Jesus Christ is the one begotten (μονογενής, monogenēs) Son of God. To admit that Jesus is the Son of God means that he’s the everlasting Son of the Father who is actually God and never a created being. Because the divine Son, he totally shares the one divine nature with the Father and the Spirit. As such, the Son is of 1 nature (ὁμοούσιος, homoousios) with the Father and the Spirit, and thus totally and equally God.

However what’s the biblical foundation for the church’s confession? Is the Jesus of the Bible totally different from the Jesus confessed within the Nicene Creed? Does the creed distort the Bible’s instructing? Did Jesus see himself as God’s Son? Did the NT authors educate that Jesus is the divine Son of the Father who is actually God? And why is the reality that Jesus is God vital?

We’ll reply these questions in 4 steps.

1. We’ll outline some key phrases.
2. We’ll give the biblical warrant for the declare that Jesus is God, the divine Son.
3. We’ll think about whether or not Jesus himself ever claimed to be God.
4. We’ll observe that the church’s confession is strictly what Scripture teaches, because the church arrived at contemporary articulations in response to numerous denials of Jesus’s deity.
5. We’ll conclude with why this issues.

What phrases assist us perceive Jesus as God?

Let’s begin by defining key phrases and concepts, particularly that Jesus is the everlasting Son of God, the Second Particular person of the Trinity, and the divine Son who turned human with a purpose to save us.

We’ll accomplish that by permitting John 1:1–18 to border our dialogue.

1. Son of God

To say that Jesus is the Son of God is to admit that he’s the everlasting Son of the Father, who’s God.

This fact is taught explicitly within the prologue of John’s Gospel (John 1:1–18), in addition to in the whole NT. John teaches that Jesus is the divine Phrase, the everlasting Son of the Father, turn out to be human. In truth, as D. A. Carson reminds us, these verses summarize

how the “Phrase” which was with God within the very starting got here into the sphere of time, historical past, tangibility—in different phrases, how the Son of God was despatched into the world to turn out to be the Jesus of historical past, in order that the glory and style of God is likely to be uniquely and completely disclosed.

How does John determine Jesus because the divine Son who turned human? He does so by his use of “Phrase” and “God.” John is the one biblical creator to determine Christ by the title, “Phrase.” To ascertain its that means, we have to find it inside the OT, as a substitute of trying outdoors of Scripture (regardless of its widespread use in Greek thought). Within the OT, “Phrase” is intently related to the God who creates, reveals, and redeems—all by his Phrase (Gen 1:3–31, 3:8–19; 12:1; Ps 33:6, 9; 119:9, 25; Isa 55:11). By way of this title, John identifies Jesus, the Son, with God. Additionally, by John’s use of “God,” he not solely intently identifies the Phrase with God, he additionally teaches that the Phrase is God, but concurrently distinct from God (the Father).

John makes use of a triadic construction to show these factors in John 1:1. Every of the three clauses has the identical topic, “Phrase” (ὁ λόγος), and an an identical verb “was,” and every clause progresses to the following.

1. The primary clause, “At first was the Phrase” (John 1:1a), teaches that the Phrase is everlasting. Therefore, Jesus because the Son is everlasting.
2. The second clause, “the Phrase was with God” (John 1:1b), affirms that though the Phrase is everlasting, he’s additionally distinct from God (the Father). Therefore, the Father-Son relation is everlasting.
3. The final clause, “the Phrase was God” (John 1:1c), affirms that the Phrase shares the complete deity of God. Since there is just one God, this entails that inside God there’s a Father-Son relation that shares the one divine nature.

On this verse, John declares that the Phrase, the Son, has an everlasting existence in private intercommunion with God (the Father) and that each share the identical nature. And, as John will go on to clarify, it’s this Phrase, God’s personal self-expression—true God of God—who turns into human and is our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

2. Trinity

What John teaches here’s a foundational warrant for the doctrine of the Trinity, the Bible’s instructing that God is triune.

Scripture teaches that there’s just one, true, and residing God (Gen 1:1; Exod 3:13–15; Deut 6:4; 1 Cor 8:4–6; 1 Tim 2:5; Jas 2:19). However Scripture additionally teaches that there are three individuals who totally and equally share the one divine nature: Father, Son, and Spirit. These three individuals are the one God, though they’re distinguished by their everlasting private relations (Matt 28:18–20; 2 Cor 13:14; Eph 4:4–6). Thus, the Father shouldn’t be the Son for the reason that Son is from the Father (John 1:1; 5:26), whereas the Spirit shouldn’t be the Father or the Son, however from the Father and the Son (John 14:26; 15:26).

To say that Jesus is God, the divine Son, then, is to affirm that he’s the Second Particular person of the Trinity.

3. Incarnation

Constructing on the reality that Jesus is the divine Son, who shares the identical nature because the Father (and the Spirit), John additionally teaches that the everlasting Son turned actually human: “The Phrase turned flesh and made his dwelling amongst us” (John 1:14).

However who precisely turned flesh? John is emphatic: It’s the Phrase/Son who turned human, not the divine nature, nor even the Father or the Spirit. Thus, the particular person of the incarnation is the Phrase. It’s he who united himself to a human nature (“flesh”) and now subsists in two natures. Because the divine Son, he stays what he has at all times been in relation to the Father and the Spirit, totally and equally sharing the divine nature (John 1:1). However now, the Son has assumed a human nature to disclose the divine glory and obtain our redemption. In that human nature, the Son is now in a position to reside and expertise a completely human life, but with none change to his deity, since this may preclude him from displaying the fullness of the Father’s glory (John 1:14, 18) and carrying out his mission to avoid wasting.

What does it imply for God the Son to turn out to be human? Try Kirk E. Miller’s interview with Graham Cole.

This fact is strengthened by John 1:18 that concludes the prologue: “Nobody has ever seen God, however the one and solely Son, who’s himself God (μονογενὴς θεὸς, monogenēs theos), in closest relationship with the Father, has made him recognized.” Within the OT, some noticed visions of God (e.g., Exod 33–34; Isa 6), but they by no means actually noticed God apart from in theophany. However now, within the incarnate Son, the complete disclosure of God is now made seen.

John, together with everything of Scripture, teaches the unique, distinctive identification of Christ. Who’s Jesus? He’s God the Son, one with the Father and Spirit, who now in his incarnation has turn out to be human to disclose and to redeem.

Does the Bible testify that Jesus is God?

What John teaches relating to who Jesus is because the divine incarnate Son is likewise taught within the entirety of Scripture, first veiled within the OT after which specific within the NT as a result of Son’s incarnation.

The Outdated Testomony

Jesus’s divine Sonship is explicitly taught within the NT, however first it’s unveiled within the OT.

As Jesus’s everlasting Sonship is revealed to us, he’s first disclosed because the promised messiah, David’s larger Son, who inaugurates God’s saving rule and reign. Because the human son-king, he was first promised in Eden (Gen 3:15), given larger definition by means of the covenants, after which epitomized within the Davidic king (e.g., Isa 7:14; 9:6–7; 11:1–16; 52:13–53:12; Ezek 34). Because the human son, he fulfills the position of earlier sons (e.g., Adam, Israel, David).

However, because the OT unfolds, it turns into clear that this human son-king shouldn’t be merely human. He’s additionally the divine Son who alone does what God does (Ps 45:6; 110:1; Isa 9:6). This latter emphasis identifies the human messiah with God (Yahweh, Lord) in a novel Father-Son relation that transcends the human. This instructing not solely turns into the seedbed for the NT’s presentation of Jesus, but additionally for Scripture’s instructing of the Trinity.

Jesus, the Messiah, shouldn’t be merely human. He’s additionally one with Yahweh, the everlasting Son of the Father.

The New Testomony

Constructing on the Regulation and the Prophets, the NT opens by figuring out Jesus with Yahweh.

Jesus is the one who alone establishes God’s promised rule by inaugurating God’s kingdom by means of a brand new covenant in achievement of God’s covenant guarantees. In biblical thought, which means that Jesus is greater than a mere human, since he is ready to do what solely God can do (Isa 9:6–7; 11:1–10; Jer 31:31–34; Ezek 34:1–31).

In truth, the NT teaches that Jesus, the Son, together with the Father and the Spirit, totally and equally shares the one divine title and nature (Matt 28:18–20; John 8:58; Phil 2:9–11; Col 2:9), thus explicitly figuring out Jesus as God. Jesus shouldn’t be solely from the Father because the Son, but additionally equal to the Father because the Son (Matt 11:25–27; John 5:16–30; 10:14–30; 14:9–13).

Does Jesus himself declare to be God?

However did Jesus himself educate this? The reply is sure.

The place does Jesus declare to be the everlasting Son of the Father and thus God the Son? We are able to reply this query by occupied with Jesus’s implicit and specific witness to himself.

Implicit testimony

First, who does Jesus implicitly declare to be?

At his baptism, he is aware of himself to be the messiah, God’s Son (Matt 3:16–17) who has the fullness of the Spirit (Luke 4:16–21). In OT thought, to be the Spirit-anointed messiah is to be the one who’s recognized with Yahweh and who does what solely God can do (Ps 110; Isa 9:6–7).

Moreover, Jesus’s life and ministry is to do the desire of his Father (Luke 2:49–50) by inaugurating God’s kingdom (Matt 4:23), which locations him in a special class than a mere human. This is the reason Jesus claims to have God’s authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5), which the spiritual leaders rightly acknowledge (Mark 2:7).

Additionally, though God alone is worthy of our worship, Jesus views himself as God by receiving human worship (Matt 14:33; 21:15–16; 28:9, 17; John 20:28). In truth, Jesus claims to obtain equal worship because the Father, thus figuring out himself as equal with God (John 5:23).

Express testimony

Jesus additionally explicitly claims to be the divine Son.

Repeatedly, Jesus addresses God by the Aramaic time period, Abba (Matt 6:9; 11:25–26; John 5:19–30), which underscores the truth that he views himself as totally distinctive. Jesus even views himself as eternally present in relation to the Father (John 17:5; cf. John 1:1). Jesus additionally claims that he alone is aware of the Father exhaustively, which is a declare of omniscience (Matt 11:25–27).

Or consider Jesus’s “I’m” statements with out a predicate in John’s Gospel (John 6:20; 8:24, 58; 18:5–8). By such a utilization, Jesus identifies himself with the title of Yahweh (Exod 3:6, 14), thus figuring out himself because the divine Son.

Or consider Jesus explicitly making himself the item of saving religion that’s reserved for God alone (John 12:44; 14:1). Jesus shouldn’t be making himself a rival object of religion. As a substitute, he’s claiming to be the divine Son, who has been despatched from the Father to turn out to be human with a purpose to redeem us.

How does the New Testomony determine Jesus as God?

The NT proof for Jesus’s everlasting Sonship and deity is considerable. We are able to summarize it below three classes.

1. The divine standing of Jesus

Jesus’s divine standing is seen by analyzing his divine attributes, rule, and worthiness of worship.

First, the NT teaches that Jesus possesses all the divine attributes (Col 2:9). For instance, the Son shares within the Father’s eternity. He existed with the Father earlier than creation (John 1:1; cf. 12:41; 17:5; Heb 1:2). The Father despatched him and he got here into the world (Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 8:9; Gal 4:4; cf. John 1:9; 3:17; 1 John 4:9). He possesses omnipotence (Matt 8:26–27; 1 Cor 1:18, 23–25; Eph 1:19–20; Phil 3:21; Col 2:10), omnipresence (cf. 1 Kgs 8:27; Ps 139:7–10; Matt 18:20; 28:20; Eph 4:10), immutability (cf. Num 23:19; Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17; 2 Cor 1:20; Heb 1:10–12; 13:8), and omniscience (cf. Ps 139:1–3; Isa 46:8–13; 48:3–6; Mark 2:8; John 1:48; 2:25; 6:64; 21:17; Acts 1:24; 1 Cor 4:5; Col 2:3, 9; Rev 2:23).

Second, the NT additionally teaches that Jesus shares equally with God in his divine rule. The OT celebrates the common lordship of Yahweh (Ps 97:9), however the NT attributes this similar common supremacy to Jesus. Jesus workout routines unequalled dominion over “all issues” (Rom 14:9; 1 Cor 15:27–28; Eph 1:22; Phil 2:10; 3:21; Heb 1:2; 2:8; 1 Pet 3:22; Rev 1:5), together with all human and angelic authorities (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:10; Heb 1:4–6, 13). Because of his triumphant saving work, Jesus now sits on God’s throne (2 Cor 5:10; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 12:2; cf. Rev 22:1), “on the proper hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Heb 1:3; Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Heb 8:1; 10:12), sharing the common lordship of Yahweh over each created rule, authority, energy, and dominion (Rom 9:5; Eph 1:20–21; 4:10; Phil 2:9–11; Heb 1:3; 7:26).

Third, Jesus additionally receives the worship, devotion, confidence, and belief that Yahweh alone calls for and deserves. Jesus obtained the worship of his disciples in response to his works on earth, and he by no means rebuked them for it (Matt 14:33; 21:15–16; 28:9, 17; John 20:28; cf. 5:22–23). After Jesus ascended again to heaven because the exalted Lord, his worship intensified all through the church (Eph 5:19; Phil 2:9–11; Heb 1:6; cf. Rev 5:11–12). As John Stott rightly notes, “No person can name himself a Christian who doesn’t worship Jesus. To worship him, if he’s not God, is idolatry; to withhold worship from him, if he’s, is apostasy.”

Jesus can be the correct object of prayer and religion. Within the NT, all of the formal prayers recorded are addressed to God the Father. However this solely amplifies Jesus’s deity on these events when people and teams of believers prayed to him (Acts 1:24–25; 7:59–60; 9:10, 13; 22:17–19; 1 Cor 1:2; 16:22; 2 Cor 12:8; Rev 22:20). By praying to Jesus for salvation, forgiveness of sin, deliverance from evil, therapeutic for illness, providential safety, and safety after dying, these individuals recognized Jesus as God.

2. The divine works of Jesus

Additional proof for Jesus’s deity is that he does what solely God can do, specifically, divine works.

First, Jesus, because the divine Son, is the agent of creation and the Lord of windfall (Col 1:15–20; Heb 1:1–3). Jesus is the everlasting Son by means of whom God created all issues and the providential Lord who has and continues to maintain all issues. Thus, with the approaching of the divine Son in historical past, the NT brings larger readability to the OT: God’s work of creation and windfall is a triune act inseparably carried out by Father, Son, and Spirit (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:1–3; cf. Gen 1:2). Thus, the divine Son creates and guidelines, not as a definite God, however as a definite particular person in everlasting relation to the Father and the Spirit, who’re the one true God.

Second, Jesus can be the inaugurator of God’s kingdom and the age to return. Within the context of the OT, the one one who can usher in God’s kingdom is God himself. In spite of everything, the dominion of God is God’s, and solely God can deliver his rule to the world, command the obedience of his individuals, and execute judgment on his enemies. By definition, these three parts of God’s kingdom require the presence and energy of the divine king. So, when Jesus ascends to the throne of heaven, calls for and permits the obedience of the church, and triumphs over all of his enemies, together with Devil, sin, and dying, we should perceive that these are all divine works.

For instance, we see this in Jesus elevating the lifeless and executing ultimate judgment, that are all divine works (John 5:21–23, 28–29; cf. 6:39–44, 54; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom 14:10 with 2 Cor 5:10). Jesus has sole authority over the everlasting future of all of the residing and the lifeless, to “reward every in response to what he has carried out” (Matt 16:27; 2 Thess 1:8–9). This fact can be seen in Jesus forgiving our sins as God and Savior. For the reason that forgiveness of sins belongs to God alone, when the NT teaches that Jesus is the one with authority on earth to forgive our sins (Mark 2:10; Acts 5:31; Col 3:13), this can be a clear witness to Jesus’s deity.

3. The divine title & titles of Jesus

The NT attributes quite a few names and titles to Christ that additionally reveal his deity. Particularly, that is true of the title “Lord” and the title of “God.”

First, Jesus is “Lord.” The phrase “Lord” (κύριος) is utilized in alternative ways within the NT, even in reference to Jesus (Matt 8:8, 21; 15:27; 17:15; 18:21), which doesn’t indicate his deity. Nonetheless, the predominant use of “Lord” in reference to Jesus refers to God’s title. For instance, the Septuagint makes use of “Lord” in over six thousand situations as a linguistic substitute for “Yahweh.” Thus, when the NT authors confess “Jesus is Lord,” they’re making an unambiguous affirmation of deity (Phil 2:9–11; cf. John 8:58). This is the reason the NT can apply OT Yahweh texts to Jesus. For instance, see Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58; Isaiah 44:6 and Revelation 1:17; Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10–11; Psalm 102:26–27 (LXX) and Hebrews 1:11–12; Joel 2:32 and Romans 10:12–13; and so on. On the premise of this proof, David Wells concludes that

To talk of Christ as Lord, then, is to determine him ontologically with Yahweh, to ascribe to him the worship which rightly belongs solely to God, to acknowledge him as sovereign in his church and in his creation, and to see him because the vindicator of God’s character on the planet.

Second, Jesus can be “God.” A minimum of seven instances within the NT (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Pet 1:1; Heb 1:8), “God” is utilized to Jesus, which is an specific assertion that he is God. There isn’t a clearer testimony to the deity of Jesus than this.

How has the church confessed & defended that Jesus is God?

What Scripture teaches, the church confessed. Thus, it’s essential to notice that the Jesus of the Bible is not totally different than the Jesus confessed within the Nicene Creed, for the reason that church’s trinitarian and Christological confessions as outlined by the Nicene Creed (325, 381) and the later Chalcedonian Definition (451) is strictly what Scripture teaches, though a special vocabulary is used.

Because the church confessed Jesus as the one begotten Son of the Father, the church rightly defined all that Scripture taught, specifically, that Jesus is Lord and Savior as a result of he is the divine Son. In truth, the church was extraordinarily cautious in her trinitarian and Christological formulations as a result of she knew that what was in the end at stake was the glory of Christ and our salvation.

This is the reason the church rejected false teachings or heresies about Jesus. Not solely did these false teachings deny who Jesus is, in addition they robbed us of a Redeemer. For instance, Adoptionism denied Jesus’s deity and made him solely a uniquely empowered man. Arianism, which precipitated the Nicene Creed, and which is affirmed right now by Unitarians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, additionally denied Jesus’s deity, lowering him merely to the very best of creatures. However in the long run, except Jesus is each God and man, we’ve got no Redeemer, a fact Scripture teaches and which the church gladly articulates, defends, and confesses.

Why does it matter that Jesus is God?

Jesus is God, the divine Son who turned human.

However why does this matter? The reply is easy: Provided that Jesus is the divine Son, the everlasting Phrase made flesh (John 1:1, 14), in him alone is life and life everlasting (John 17:3).

Scripture teaches that in Christ alone, all God’s wonderful functions discover its achievement (Heb 1:1–3). As Paul superbly reminds us, in Jesus alone God’s everlasting plan is to deliver “all issues” below his headship (Eph 1:9–10), which has already begun in his first coming and which he’ll consummate in his return. Jesus, given who he’s and what he has carried out in his saving work, is central to God’s plan and new creation work. As such, he should be central in our lives because the one we alone belief, love, and obey.

This is the reason it’s so critical to misidentify who he’s. In truth, as Jeremy Jackson reminds us, on the coronary heart of all heresy and false understandings of Christian theology is a distortion or denial of Christ.Thus, it’s not an harmless matter to be fallacious about Jesus. Life and dying are at stake. The extra we misunderstand who Jesus is, particularly when it comes to his distinctive, unique identification and all-sufficient work, the additional we’re away from greedy the gospel. There are various beliefs that distinguish Christianity from different worldviews however none as central and vital as who Jesus is.

In each era, Christians must be reminded about who’s central, who’s worthy, who’s to be obeyed, and who’s our holy hope and salvation. Given who Jesus is, he should be our glory, command our obedience, and obtain our full belief and devotion. There are various good issues to be involved about in our lives, however none so central as realizing rightly our Lord Jesus Christ, each now and for eternity.

Stephen Wellum’s really useful assets

• Grillmeier, Aloys. Christ in Christian Custom, vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon. Second version. John Knox Press, 1975.

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