The Uniqueness and Deity of Jesus Christ—God Incarnate

I have corrected some of my language in this (to make it more understandable and in agreement with traditional orthodox language) and I have even added some new material that I have learned since the first time I posted this. So even if you have read this before, it would probably be beneficial for you to read it again.

Creed of Nicaea/Apostle’s Creed (as it is commonly known)

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father (the only-begotten; that is of the essence of the Father, God of God), begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousion) with the Father; by whom all things were made (both in heaven and on earth); who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the Holy Ghost.

Though the Bible is clear and Jesus Himself is clear as to who He is, still many people, usually liberal theologians who do not believe the Bible to be inerrant and infallible, do not take Scripture literally, and do not believe in the redemptive work of Jesus, do not believe Jesus is God. They do not believe that Jesus and God are one in essence: the same Being but distinct from each other in person. Many neo-Christian movements do not believe Jesus is God (liberal theologians, for example). Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe Jesus is God, but rather that He is a first-created being (subordinationism). Mormons believe Jesus is one of a plethora of Gods. They believe Jesus and the Father are different Gods (some Mormons believe Jesus has always existed, others believe He was created) who have the same purpose but are different Beings (I doubt this is held by all Mormons, but all whom I have dealt with have stated it this way).

In this short synopsis on the Deity of Christ, I hope to debunk any doubt as to who Jesus claimed to be and whom the disciples and the Bible claim Him to be. I will try to keep it as short and straight to the point as possible while still utilizing every bit of information that I can. I will attempt to be concise and yet thorough. I will attempt to let the Scripture speak for itself while just adding remarks and commentary for clarification and proper understanding. I will only use references to commentaries and books when I feel it is necessary to cite those who have studied the material to further understanding. I do not have an understanding of Hebrew but I have had enough Greek to use it for some assistance. When necessary, I will site scholars for an understanding in these areas when necessary. I will use all of my resources to the best of my ability in hopes of showing that Jesus Christ is the First and Last, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, and the Great I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and of the world. I will be using the NASB unless otherwise stated, but remember, this is meant for college students; do not expect a scholarly approach.

This is a list of 20 passages and verses and explanations from Scripture as to Jesus being God the Son. As you read, feel free to reflect and praise the Lord (and hopefully He will give you more insight as you meditate on His Word than I could dream to give.)

1. Let us start in the Beginning. God existed before the foundations of the earth and He is the creator of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1:1). God is eternal and infinite. He is outside of all of time and space.

In verse 26 of Genesis one, during the creation of the Earth and all that inhabits it, God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (emphasis mine).” The writer of Genesis goes on to record “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him (27).” God here uses a plural pronoun in referring to Himself. Many people have tried to cast this aside by saying that God would speak in plural because He is a king, and kings of that time spoke that way (Like I said above, I’m not going to site where I received all of my information from, I can’t always remember from where I got my information, like in this case). However, God later refers to Himself not in the plural (cf. Genesis 15:7, Genesis 28:13, Exodus 12:17, Isaiah 43:7). The writers of the Bible kept the differences in plural and singular pronouns in tact—they were not added in or removed as they desired to add them in or take them out.

So it is clear in Genesis 1:26 that God is more than One single reality (or person). However, in verse 27, we see that God created man in “His own image, in the image of God He created him.” God here uses a singular pronoun. So God is a Being that is more than one part and yet is one Being. Just as it says in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” There is only one God, that is the truth God was revealing to the Israelites, and He is that God.

So God is a single Being and yet He is multiple persons. Many of you might be thinking, that does not prove that Jesus is God or that Jesus was even sent by God. So where do Christians come up with saying that Jesus is God?

2. John 1:1-5 is a great place to start the discussion of Jesus as God. The apostle John writes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Lately I have been studying the book of John and I have come to some great understandings of what this text is saying.

First is that in the beginning is a clear reference to Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” John is saying that this ‘Word,’ the Word of God, was in the beginning. However, in the English, to keep it simple and understandable, we do not see the full essence of what is being said in Greek. The Word is more than just a spoken word, but the expression of God, His reason. The word that we translate as ‘was’ actually shows that the Word was existing eternally (continuous action). This word in Greek is in the imperfect indicative active tense. So a better translation (it seems to me) is the Word, ‘was existing.’ This tense shows that the Word existed before the beginning, “In the beginning the Word ‘was existing.” This is continuing action as well, in that the Word continues to exist.

We also see that the Word is distinct from God in that the Word “was with God.” So the Word was there with God the Father at the creation of the world. We also see that the Word was God. So the Word has always existed and continues to exist as God. The word in Greek used here is Theos, which was the word used for any of the main pluralistic gods recognized by the Greeks. This is the word used all three times the word ‘God’ is mentioned in verse one. However, John is assuming that the readers believe in the singular God of Judaism. Starting from their monotheistic views, John shows that the Word is this God, though He is distinct from this God as well (same essence, different person).

The Word is the creative agent. He has created all things that exist, and nothing that does exist, does exist except that He made it (or that He was the creative agent of God.) Thus, when in Genesis it says “God created the heavens and the earth,” it can be read in “[the Word] created the heavens and the earth” for the exact same meaning.

Furthermore, the Word was not some sort of inferior god, or God Jr. or something. The Greek does not allow this. Some have, “but in the Greek it reads “and God was the Word” in sentence order. First, in Greek sentence order is often not very important. This is a predicate nominative “God was Word”/”Word was God”, it works either way, you just need to determine which makes more sense in English. Second, the writer probably did put this in the order he did for one reason: he wanted to highlight the deity of the Word. We could understand it like this: “the Word was God, seriously God!” He is emphasizing the divinity of the Word by putting the word Theos first in the sentence.

Others may notice that there is no definite article in front of Theos in the Greek, meaning the Word is just “a” god. This does not work, however. Not only is the definite article not necessary here, it would actually skew the meaning. If there was a definite article in front of the word “theos,” then the reader would take this to mean, God was the Word, or in other words, God exists and has always existed merely as the Word. This would be false. God exists as Father, Son (or Word), and Holy Spirit. If the definite article was there, Trinitarians would be wrong, since God would have always been the Word, and not a Triunity (in other words, the word with the definite article is the subject of the verb, the other is its modifier. If it were God was the Word, then God would necessarily be only the Word, which would be like saying a rectangle is necessarily a square. This is not true nor the case, as The Word is God, or the Word is necessarily God, like a square is necessarily a rectangle (but not vice versa, as a rectangle does not have to be a square, so God does not have to be the Word, but can be the Father, or the Spirit). God is Triune, and John 1:1 clearly upholds ONLY the Trinitarian understanding of God.

3. In verse 18 of John chapter one, the apostle records that, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Jesus here is referred to as the ‘only begotten,’ or another translation is the ‘unique’ God. Jesus had a distinct fellowship with the Father, and He was therefore a revelator of the Father to mankind. John specifically says here that Jesus is God. Jesus is begotten of the Father, not created. One that is begotten is of the same substance as that which has begotten it. So Jesus is of the same substance/essence as the Father and yet He is distinct from the Father.

In verses 14 and 16, John tells that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt upon the earth with men. Jesus was seen in His glory as the Son of God by man. This is important because there are some, specifically the Gnostics of the first century who claim that the Christ, the Son of God, did not come in the flesh. We will get to that later. However, Jesus here is shown to have the glory of God as the unique One from the Father. The fullness of God is revealed in Jesus for men to see and believe in Him.

4. Colossians 1:13-20 speaks of Christ as the creator:

[God] rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Jesus is the image, or the portrait or the likeness of God. He is the complete picture of God in visible form. He is the firstborn of all creation. While all those who come through Christ are heirs of God because they are sons (Galatians 4:4-7), Jesus is the firstborn, He has special rights. He is given priority, preeminence, and sovereignty. The word “firstborn” here does not mean, first created, as the Arians believed, and as many believe today (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and all subordinationists). “Firstborn” means the one with preeminence over all others in the family. Paul clarifies this term for us by stating Christ that “He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” In other words, all things are second to Christ.

Paul goes on to say that all things have come into being through Him, or by means of Him. He is the creator and the ruler over all—thrones, powers, principalities, everything. And it all exists and continues to exist only through Christ: all things hold together in Him. Jesus is the creative agent and the sustaining agent of God. Because He is creator, sustainer, and redeemer, Christ is the preeminent One, the “firstborn” of all of creation—or over everything. He is not part of creation, but the One with the rights over it.

Christ held/holds/will hold the totality of the power and attributes of God: the fullness of God. Christ was the total picture and the totality of all that God is. Colossians 2:9-10 says, “For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” Jesus is the head, the sustainer over all rule and authority and He is the fullness of God—just in physical/visible form. Paul is using this to support Christ’s preeminence here.

5. Paul says in Philippians 2:5-11:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is clearly an early Church hymn that had to have predated Philippians; so it was written between the early 30s AD and the middle 50s AD.

God the Father is glorified when Jesus Christ is praised and glorified. God says: “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images (Isaiah 42:8).” “My glory I will not give to another (Isaiah 48:11),” God says. If Christ is being given glory and praise that God deserves, then God would not allow it and would dethrone Christ. However, since Jesus is God, God the Father is praised when Jesus is praised. Jesus says when praying to the Father in John 17:4-5, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Jesus claims to have had glory with the Father even before the world existed. He also asks to be glorified along with the Father. God will not allow His glory to go to any other. For Jesus to ask to be glorified along with the Father, one of two things must be true: Either Jesus is sinning in asking God to glorify Himself with the same glory that God the Father is to receive, and the Bible specifically claims Jesus to be sinless (Hebrews 4:15 says He was tempted just as we are and yet without sin); or else Jesus is God the Son, equal to God in every way.

Paul claims that we should be humble as Christ. Jesus was pretty inflated if He desired to be glorified with God the Father and if He Himself is not God. However, Paul says that Jesus humbled Himself and became a man; He was found as a man. It was humbling for Christ to be found as a man because He is God. Jesus was in the same form as God, He was of the same essence of God, and yet He humbled Himself in order to take away the sins of the world through death; for the immortal God cannot die, but Christ came as a man that through His death He could accomplish His work. In this God highly exalted and gave Him (not adopted Him as, but bestowed upon Him rightfully) the greatest name in existence: The Lord, the Son of God. When all bow to Jesus as such God the Father is glorified.

6. In John chapter five, when questioned and persecuted by the religious leaders as to why He was healing on the Sabbath, Jesus replied, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working (v. 17).” John then records in verse eighteen, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” In the Jewish culture of the time, a son and a father had a very close and unique relationship. This relationship made the two so close that a father and son were seen as equal, although the son was always subject to the will of the father. Jesus was claiming equality to God and to be the heir of God by claiming God to be His Father; the Jews believed He was blaspheming because they did not recognize who He was (or is).

7. When tempted by Satan in the wilderness that “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship Me,” Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord Your God, and serve Him only (Matthew 4:9-10).’” But Jesus clearly accepts worship from His followers (cf. Matthew 28:16-17). Either Jesus has double standards and is thus committing an evil deed by allowing others to worship Him (but the Bible is clear that Jesus is without sin even though tempted (see Hebrews 4:15)), or else He is God, and that is why His followers can worship Him.

8. Peter calls Jesus, “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” in 2 Peter 2:1, and Paul does likewise in Titus 2:13 when He calls Jesus, “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

9. John 8:23-24: Jesus, in speaking to the religious leaders of the Jews says to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” This is an explicit claim by Jesus to be the same Being that had appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:14, “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”) The He that appears in this verse in the NASB is not in the original Greek according to pastor/teacher John MacArthur. The verse should read, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” And this clearly ties with verses 58, which we will look at later.

Jesus also claimed to be “from above” while the people he was talking to were “from below.” Jesus is asserting here that He has come from heaven, while the people had come from the earth. Jesus was in the world but not of it, while those to whom He spoke were of the world (they were of the dominion of Satan).

In verse 58 of John 8, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am [or I AM, emphasis mine.]” Jesus here was saying that He existed before Abraham had existed, (that’s over 1500 years!) and thus He was greater than Abraham. But He was clearly saying that He is God, the One who IS! The Jews immediately tried to stone Him for saying this for it was a clear assertion by Jesus to be God. The people knew it. John the Baptist affirms Jesus’ preexistence when he testified, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’” (John 1:15 and again in v. 30).

10. In Revelation 1:8, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” In Revelation 21:6, The One who sits on the throne says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Then in Revelation 22:12-13, Jesus again speaking says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” So Jesus here clearly asserts Himself the same way that God (He who sits on the throne, i.e. the Father) asserts Himself to John in the vision. This is clearly the same statement as was made in Isaiah 44:6 when God says, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”

11. Thomas, after claiming that he would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw “in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side (John 20:25),” when Jesus came through a shut (locked) door and proclaimed to His disciples, “Peace be with you,” and said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing (26, 27),” Thomas exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas makes a clear distinction here. Jesus is His Lord/Master/Savior, and He is also His God. And in fact, John wrote His version of the gospel so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31, emphasis mine).” Obviously Jesus’ name is all that He is, His complete self—not just by speaking His name or something like that.

12. “Of the Son He [God] says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions (Hebrews 1:8-9).” This is quoting Psalm 45:6-7 in which the Psalmist says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows.”

The writer of Hebrews, when quoting Psalm 45:6-7, makes God the Father the first person speaking to the second person, who is clearly God as well. The writer of Hebrews identifies the person in second person as the Son, Jesus. So in speaking with Jesus, God the Father calls Him God. In the Psalm the Psalmist is speaking and tells this God that His God has anointed Him. So the Psalmist in speaking to this God is saying that there exists at least a dual God (head). So this God, who is distinct from the other God, is being anointed by His God. Are you confused? If you are, just read the passages of Hebrews 1 and Psalm 45. My basic point here is that God the Son is addressed as God by God the Father; making them equal to one another.

13. Luke records Jesus and the thieves on the cross and Jesus’ acceptance of the repentant thief. “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’ And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:39-43).’”

Jesus here promises that the repentant thief will enjoy paradise with Jesus that day while the other thief would receive the damnation that he deserved. Here Jesus is showing that He has the power to forgive sins and to make promises that could only be fulfilled by God.

“Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5:21-23).”

Jesus was here saying that He does the same works as the Father has done. For John, these works or miracles are signs of who Jesus is (see John 2:11). So just as the Father could even raise the dead (and had through Elijah and Elisha), so Jesus could and would do so (such as Lazarus). And Jesus even had the power to give eternal life, and He was the only source of it (John 14:6). Jesus goes on to say that the Father has reserved judgment for the Son. Jesus would judge the world of its deeds—the Jews of His time clearly understood that only God could rightfully judge.

Finally, Jesus says that God does this so that His people would honor Jesus just as they honored Him. Jesus is to receive the same honor/worship as the Father since He is equal to the Father (John 5:18). This is the way that the Father intended for it to be. And anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, and therefore God—since He fails to honor two heads of the triune God.

“And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home (Mark 2:3-11).”

Jesus shows that He has the power and right to forgive people of their sins. In Jewish thinking, nobody but God could forgive sins (which is correct by the way)—however, they would have believed that not even the Messiah could forgive sins, since this would be judging. However, if they truly understood who the Messiah was: “A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6,” they would have realized that the Messiah was to be God Himself! So Jesus thus shows that He has the ability to do that which God the Father does: whether in work, deed, or judgment.

14. John 10:24 starts out with the Jews gathering around Jesus in the portico of Solomon and asking Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” To this Jesus replies, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one (10:25-30).” The Jews again attempted to stone Jesus for what they considered complete blasphemy: they recognized that Jesus was “making [Himself] out to be God (10:33).”

Jesus, rather than attempting to persuade the people by telling them again and again that He is the Christ and that He is God, appeals to the works He does. He does them in His Father’s name (if they hadn’t caught on yet, Jesus was claiming that God is His Father). Jesus’ authority and works testify that He is God—and on these Jesus was willing to rely for a testimony; He needed nothing else.

It is clear that there is a distinction between the Father and the Son and that they exist simultaneously here, for the Father has “given them to [Jesus],” and yet the Father is “greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” This is an active present tense verb—in essence Jesus is saying, “I am in control, and My Father is in control.” And in case His audience did not understand, Jesus affirms to them, “I and the Father are one.” Jesus and the Father are one in being and in essence—they are not the same in person: the Father does not become the Son. For them to be one, there has to be a distinction; otherwise the Father would be the Son and the Son would be the Father. However, they are also not merely one in purpose. The word purpose cannot just be added here, for it would contradict how they are one as Jesus explains it in verse 38: “The Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” There is no reason and as always, it is wrong to add to the Word of God (see Proverbs 30:5-6, Revelation 22:18-19).

15. At the Last Supper Jesus said to His disciples, “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.’ 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 can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves (John 14:6-11).”

Jesus tells His disciples that through Him they have seen the Father and they know the Father. He is the radiance of the Father’s glory (see John 1:14) and all that they could hope to see of the Father they had seen in Jesus. He was all that they needed. Philip’s response to Jesus is one of a lack of understanding and belief, but a heart-felt and genuine desire to experience God. He wanted to see and behold the Father; He wanted to experience God on a personal level as Moses and Jacob and Abraham had.

Jesus is saddened at Philip’s request—for it showed that Philip did not see Jesus for whom He claimed to be. Philip had walked, talked, and had intimate fellowship with Jesus, and he had no doubt heard Jesus tell the religious leaders and others that He was one in essence with the Father. However, Philip had not come to the clear understanding Jesus had hoped for. By now he and the other disciples should have clearly understood that God was standing physically in their midst!

Jesus tells Philip, and the other disciples, that they had seen the Father, for they had seen the Son. They had seen the fullness of God more clearly than any of the patriarchs or any of the prophets. So Jesus’ question to them (or him) is, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” The Father was dwelling in Jesus just as Jesus remained in the Father—there was no disconnection, the Son was still fully God. Everything Jesus was doing was from the Father and by the Father’s will; it was not the flesh of Jesus that was acting and speaking, but rather God according to His own will and purpose.

In verse eleven Jesus shows the inseparable connection between knowledge/understanding and belief. Wrong understanding brings wrong beliefs. So thus it was necessary for them to believe that Jesus and the Father are inseparable. If nothing else, they should have seen that He was doing the works of God, and believed Him because of what they had seen.

16. “The eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:16-20).”

After He ascended from the grave, Jesus appears to His disciples in Galilee before He is to be taken up to heaven. This is the only appearance to His disciples that Matthew records. To show the joy and belief that the disciples now possessed, Matthew records that they “worshiped Him.” While I have heard some say that they honored Him, as in gave Him a similar honor as one would give to the governor or to a respected person, I think that Matthew’s recording of “some were doubtful,” shows that they were scared to worship Him because they doubted that it was really Him and possibly that He was deserving of worship (faithful Jews would never worship any God by YHWH, the God of the Old Testament that appeared to Moses, for this would cancel them out of the Jewish community and even worse, they would be breaking the most central commandment to the Jews, to love and worship God alone.)

No matter why they were doubtful in worshiping Him, Jesus clearly asserts His divinity when He says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Jesus was now in charge. He also tells promises to be with them always (all the time and no matter what). He was revealing to His disciples that He would be omnipresent (everywhere at once)—a characteristic that only God possesses. And further He confirms what He is saying and the existence of God in triune form when He tells them to make followers of Him, “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

17. Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (Matthew 11:25-27).”

We see that Jesus here honors/glorifies, or “praises” God the Father. The Father is the Master and Ruler of all, heaven and earth. Paul says of Jesus that He is “Lord both of the dead and of the living (Romans 14:9).” So Jesus is the Master and Ruler of all that are dead and all that are living. This shows the Father and the Son are both Lord of all. However, an even clearer assertion of Jesus deity is made when He says that the Father is the only one who knows Him and He is the only one who knows the Father. This similarly parallels the language of John 1:18 when John says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” This also ties with Jesus’ statement that nobody knows the Father except the Son “and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” So it is the role of the Son to reveal the Father—so the Son has an intimate relationship with the Father. And we know that “the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).” So for Jesus to know the Father, He had to know the thoughts of the Father. For Jesus to do this, He had to be one with the Spirit of God; and anyone who is one with the Spirit of God (not somebody who has received the Spirit, but someone who is one with the Spirit) is then God; for God and His Spirit are one. And because the Father and the Son have the intimate relationship that they do, Jesus can make the assertion that He makes in Matthew 11:27.

Finally, this again shows that the Son and the Father are distinct—they have distinct roles and are distinct persons of the Trinity; and yet one God. Jesus is speaking to the Father and praising Him; He would not do this if He was the Father—or say if the Father had become the Son. Jesus knows the Father and the Father knows Him; this relationship cannot work if they are one in person. However, there is complete agreement between the Father and the Son as to the plans and will of God.

18. “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:1-5).”

Clearly there is a distinction in the persons of God as is seen here—the Father and the Son are different in person and they both coexist simultaneously. Jesus would not just pray to the Father if the Father was not in existence at this time; this and every other time Jesus does so would be ridiculously redundant and without purpose. (I say this to refute the argument that God the Father becomes God the Son and God the Son becomes God the Spirit and so on—the heresy known as modalism.) It is impossible to say that Jesus is praying to some sort of “Divine aspect of God” or something. Jesus clearly invokes the One to whom He speaks as “Father,” a personal name of One who is clearly distinct from the “Son.”

If the Father glorifies the Son, in turn the Son will glorify the Father. It is the goal of God to give God glory in all that He does. The different member-heads of the Triune God all purpose to give glory to the other members of the Trinity. Jesus was sent by God to give eternal life to all who believe so that God would receive glory. So after He glorified God in what He did while on earth, Jesus desired to once again receive the glory that He had with the Father before the “world was,” before the world was created. Here Jesus is clearly stating that He had a relationship with the Father of mutual glorification before anything existed. So from eternity, the Father and the Son (and the Spirit too) were giving glory to one another.

19. “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him (Matthew 17:1-5)!’”

Peter was correct, it was good for them (and for us) for he, James, and John to be there with Jesus on top of the mountain when Jesus was shown in glorious wonder. He was changed from His normal appearance as a regular man into a glorified state. There He met with the two best-known prophets of the Old Testament. But this was only the start of the revelatory experience for the three disciples. Soon a “bright cloud,” which was clearly to signify the presence of God, as God had appeared in the cloud to Israel, overshadowed Moses, Jesus, and Elijah. The three disciples knew this was God for “when the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified (Matthew 17:6).” This revelation from God was to confirm to the three disciples that Jesus was truly the Son of God, and that they were to believe Him when He said that He must suffer and die (Matthew 16:21-23). And as the Son, the Father gave Jesus authority over the earth, and thus commanded His followers to, “listen to Him.” For Jesus had come to reveal the Father to mankind (see John 1:18).

20. “On that day, when evening came, He said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him (Mark 4:35-41)?’”

This one really excited me when I fully understood exactly what was going on. The first part is pretty obvious. The disciples, having little faith in God, wish to make it through the storm but are not sure whether or not God will keep them through the storm, even though they should have understood that God had plans for Jesus and would thus not allow the ship to perish. So they wake Jesus up, and this is where the story turns interesting.

Jesus rebukes the storm and tells the sea to be still. When He does this, the storm and the sea became perfectly calm. After this the disciples “became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” This is not anything special unless you realize what the disciples knew and meant. This takes us back to Jonah. When Jonah had fallen asleep in the boat (much as Jesus had), God sent a storm against the boat he was in. The pagan sailors he was with each cried to his god to save him. When this and throwing the cargo overboard did not save them, the captain went and told Jonah, “Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish (Jonah 1:6).” After casting lots and finding out Jonah was to blame for the storm the sailors asked him why this calamity had struck. To this Jonah replied, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD (YHWH) God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land (1:9).” The men became fearful and wondered how Jonah could have done such a thing. It was understood by the pagans of the Near East that the supreme god was the god who had charge over the sea. And even in Greek mythology, Poseidon, the god of the sea, was very powerful. It was understood that only this most powerful god could tame and upset the sea. So when the disciples saw Jesus able to tame the sea, their thoughts probably raced back to the story of Jonah—and they realized that it was only the LORD Himself who could calm the sea; no other. This would have made them realize that Jesus was not just an extraordinary prophet—He was God! He is God!

This was written to help those who follow and love Christ to defend their faith in Him and the truth about His deity. By no means is what I have said above question, though Scripture is. I hope this helps if any of you are confronted by anyone of another religion that claims to be followers of Jesus but claims other things about Him and the Godhead (such as that neither Jesus nor His disciples claimed Him to be God, Jesus and the Father are different beings, Jesus is a lesser God, or that God the Father became God the Son and so on.) If you have any questions or comments on what I have written, please email me at ltservingHim@hotmail.com.

More Support for the Deity of Jesus Christ

In light of recent developments, I have decided to add ten more passages of Scripture that show Jesus Christ’s uniqueness in the godhead and His deity. Just like the previous 20, these 10 points show the Godhead to be triune, yet distinct in personage.

When Jesus says, “I and the Father are one,” in John 10:30, He is clearly bringing to the remembrance of his Jewish listeners the Shema prayer of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” His statement is to show that He is claiming to be one—united in Elohim, with YHWH, the God of the Jewish people.

21. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’”(2 Corinthians 3:17-4:6)

Christ, Jesus Christ, is the image of God: the exact likeness or portrait of God. Jesus tells His disciples, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” He goes on, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:7, 9). Knowing Jesus is knowing the Father. And seeing Jesus is seeing the Father. Jesus was telling His disciples that they need not be looking for the Father to manifest Himself, because Jesus was the complete manifestation of the glory of God (c.f. John 1:14). And this gospel is the “gospel of the glory of Christ.” Though it is also the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), and the “glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11). The gospel itself belongs to the Father and Son (and Holy Spirit as well).

The glory of Christ mentioned parallels the “glory of God” in verse 6. The gospel is the light that God shines into our hearts. And the “glory of God” is “in the face of Christ.” Jesus is the exact representation of God and therefore is God—the Son. And the gospel that is preached is that Jesus is the Lord. But now, since the Son has gone to sit at the right hand of the Father (c.f. Hebrews 1:3; 13, 8:1, 10:12), where He remains, the Lord is the Spirit (or the Spirit is the Lord). With His redemptive work upon the cross finished, Christ remains seated on high, for the Father has sent a new Comforter (c.f. John 14:16-17), the Spirit, and the Spirit abides in believers and regenerates the ungodly. So in this passage we see the fullness of the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; distinct, yet equal.

22. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

This text is clearly speaking of the coming Messiah, the anointed One of God. The Messiah had to be of the line of David; this criterion Jesus met (c.f. Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-28). When the Messiah establishes the throne of David and His government, (whether that occurred at Jesus’ first coming or if it will occur at His second coming,) justice and righteousness will be established forevermore. This will be accomplished by none other than God the Father, the LORD of hosts. He will accomplish this out of zeal for His glory.

For this purpose the Messiah comes into the world, to bring glory to the name of God; and that is why Jesus came into the world (c.f. John 17:4-5). Thus the Messiah does the work of God in every way; and the Messiah never fails to give glory to God, for He is sinless (cf. Hebrews 4:15). This Messiah, the child who is born to Israel, takes the government, the Theocracy of Israel, upon His shoulders, as its rightful king. The name of this One, His character, His nature, and that which He is properly called, is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” He is the greatest counselor, counseling His people as their king in joyful manners, and He is the author and heir of peace. He is also the Mighty God—He is the great and sovereign warrior/protector God over His people. He is also the Eternal Father—the eternally existing creator, protector, provider, and caregiver for His people. He is enduring; He is from eternity to eternity. This does not mean that He is the Father, but that He is one with the Father. He rules compassionately and forever in the manner and way of the Father.

23. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3), “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”” (John 11:25-26)

John’s first major point in this passage is to combat the belief that the Christ had only come in the spirit, not in the flesh. The destructive heresy that taught the Spirit of the Christ had not come in the flesh but only appeared to have a body, either denied that Jesus was actually the Christ (they may have believed the Spirit of the Christ had rested on Jesus and left Him) or that Jesus only appeared to be human. John’s initial argument is that the Christ has come in the flesh, literally as a physical human, namely Jesus the Nazarene. And this Christ that has come is “from the beginning.” John is clearly making reference to both the opening of the gospel of John and the Genesis story. He is reminding them of the deity/divinity of the Christ. And this Christ is the “Word of Life;” God’s divine life-giving Word through which He created the universe when He spoke it into existence. Jesus Himself claimed to be this life (John 11:25).

This life, Jesus, was manifested, or made known, to Jesus’ close followers through His signs and miracles (cf. Acts 2:22). He is the life, the eternal life that was with the Father. Jesus has sovereign power over life, for He is the life. And He, as the Son and Eternal Word, was with the Father from the beginning, before the foundation of the world. And so having experienced physically this One who is life, John and the other apostles proclaim Him to their hearers that they may have fellowship with both God the Father and God the Son. And fellowship with the Son is fellowship with the Father (cf. John 14:8-11, 20-21, 23).

Jesus is the eternal life in that He is sovereign over the resurrection of the dead and over eternal life. These two can be found only in Him. Those who believe in Him will have eternal life even if they die before His return. And those who die before His return will live eternally because He is their life-force. Jesus is the life that God gives, He is the Spirit given to His followers that gives them the breath of eternal life.

24. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18), “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” (Acts 4:10)

Acts 2:24 agrees that “God raised Him [Christ] up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” Jesus was also killed by God, in that He was “delivered over [to godless men] by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So God killed Jesus, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He raised Christ from the dead. But clearly in John 10:17-18, we see that Jesus Himself lays down His life, and He in fact has the authority to lay it down and to take it up again. And Jesus uses this authority and does die on His own timing and power (Jesus said, “‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit—Jesus gave it up, it was not taken from Him), and Jesus takes His life back on the third day and rises from the dead. Jesus was doing what we today would call, “playing God.” He takes His own life in death, and He retakes it again unto life. How can He do this? He has the authority, or the “power” and the right to do so (literally “power over” in Greek). And for this reason, because He lays His life down and takes it again, the Father loves Him.

So Jesus dies on His own authority and comes back to life on His own authority. And God the Father takes Jesus’ life and raises Him from the dead. Jesus and God have the same power here. Thus, the only logical conclusion that can be made from this observation is that Jesus Christ is God. Yet the Father and the Son are clearly shown to be distinct. “This commandment I received from the Father.” The Father commanded the Son to give His life and take it again. The Son willingly obeys the Father, for God is One. In some way God the Father raises Jesus from the dead and so does God the Son in cooperation.

I make one last point from Acts 2:24. Peter says, “It was impossible for Him to be held in [death’s] power.” Clearly this means Jesus is more powerful than death. But not only that, it means the very essence of Jesus is life; Jesus is pure existence. Such a claim was made only one other time in the Bible, in Exodus 3:14: “I AM WHO I AM,” God said to Moses from the burning bush. In other words, God exists, and He exists as He exists—as the immutable God.

25. “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:7-10); “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (2:8-10)

Paul makes it clear that He who ascended (into heaven), Christ, first descended from heaven. Christ “descended” to earth in human flesh, and further into the grave (Sheol) at His death. After His descent into the grave, Christ was raised from the dead and He ascended into heaven to the hand of the Father once again. He ascended so that He may fill all things—through His ascension, the Holy Spirit comes to Earth so that those who belong to Christ are filled with His Spirit—thus He fills all things; for believers have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

Yet the part of this verse that brings much attention in this discussion is the relationship between those who give the gift of grace. In Ephesians 4:7, Christ gives to each of His own grace (a measure of it), and in 2:8 God (clearly signifying the Father) gives the gift of grace (and faith as well, but our discussion concerns the giving of the gift of grace.) Both Christ and the Father give the gift of grace. In 1 Peter 5:10, God is called the “God of all grace.” All grace clearly comes from the God the Father; since He is the God of all grace. Yet Christ Jesus has a relationship with the Father in which He can give this grace, which belongs only to God, to people. This is the same thing that the Father does with grace. Thus it is seen that the Father (God) and the Son (Christ) share in this task (and so does the Spirit, effectually applying it).

26. “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:13-16)

From John 1:18, we see that “no one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Jesus has seen the Father in all of His glory (yet not in physical flesh, but in Spirit, as the eternal Word, the Christ). If Jesus has seen the Father, then He has entered, or dwelt in the “unapproachable light,” and He was obviously more than a man, since “no man has seen or can see” God. Moses could not see the face of God (c.f. Exodus 33:12-34:9). Neither could Seraphim, for in Isaiah’s vision, “Seraphim stood above [God], each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew” (Isaiah 6:2). These majestic beings, though in the presence of God, could not behold God’s face, so they covered their faces.

In Daniel 7, the prophet sees “the hair of His head like pure wool,” and God’s clothing and throne, yet he does not describe God’s face; since he obviously did not see it. Yet “One like a Son of Man was coming, [clearly the Messiah], and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). The “One like a Son of Man,” like the Lamb of Revelation 5 (who are the same), is the only One able to approach the throne of God. The Lamb is clearly a divine being, as it has “seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 5:6). The Lamb is able to approach the light in which God dwells in a way that no other being can. This Lamb has the Spirit of God within Him in a way that no other does. Clearly this Lamb is a manifestation of God. Thus, we are to conclude, He is the “only begotten God.”

We also see that the “One like a Son of Man” is given complete authority and sovereignty; and yet Paul says God is the “only Sovereign,” and the “King of kings and Lords of Lords,” two terms applied to Jesus as well (c.f. Revelation 17:14, 19:16). Also, the Father has eternal dominion, according to Paul in 1 Timothy, and yet according to Daniel, the Son of Man is given “everlasting dominion which will not pass away.” And God clearly says in Isaiah 42:8 that He will not give His glory to another. Clearly we are to conclude from this that the “One like a Son of Man” is God. Yet we see a clear distinction between the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. The Father is not the Son, for He is on the throne, while the Lamb, or the Son of Man, approaches the throne (Revelation 5:5-7, Daniel 7:13).

Finally, Paul says that God gives life to all things, clearly meaning the Father (for He right after that mentions Christ Jesus separately), yet John says “In Him [the Word] was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:4), and again, Jesus confesses to be “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, emphasis mine). Jesus is the life; the Father gives the life from Himself. Though they have distinct roles and personage, yet Jesus and the Father are one in essence (c.f. John 10:31).

27. “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9-11)

Here we see the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ used interchangeably; in other words, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ—It is the same Spirit—the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in those who are not in the flesh. But if a person does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. This is a contrast. If they have the Spirit of God, they are not in the flesh. The assumption for the contrast would be that if they do not have the Spirit of God, they do not belong to God. However, this is not what is seen. Rather we see that if they do not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Him (Christ). So they can either have the Spirit of God (a.k.a. the Spirit of Christ) or they can not have the Spirit of Christ (a.k.a. the Spirit of God).

We see another contrast here as well. If Christ (the Spirit of Christ) is in someone, their spirit is alive though their body is dead in sin. So Christ can dwell within someone (as the Holy Spirit). The complementing sentence says that if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead—the Spirit of God—dwells within a person, He who raised Jesus from the dead—God the Father—will also give life to those in which His Spirit dwells. So the same Spirit is the Spirit who dwells within a person—The Spirit of God/Christ. This is the only possible logical conclusion, since Christ Jesus has to be God, otherwise His Spirit could not be omnipresent, and so dwell in all believers. So the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God.

However, this also shows that there is a distinction between the Christ and the Father. The Son is not the Father and vice-versa. This would also make it clear that the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son is a unique entity from them both, since it is the Spirit of both (the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son—the filoque clause). Thus we see the Triunity of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

28. “Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel [Jerusalem] on the cheek. But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity. There He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace.” (Micah 5:1-5)

Bethlehem is the true city of David, for it is the city from which he came. Unlike Jerusalem, which would be destroyed, Bethlehem would not be destroyed by the invaders of Israel, due to its size. From this small town would come God’s chosen ruler for Israel. Using Bethlehem, the city of David, shows the Ruler’s Davidic lineage and His rightful claim to the throne over Israel. He would be the “righteous Branch” raised up by God to David’s kingship (c.f. Jeremiah 23:5). This One would fulfill all the prophecies in verses 3-5 of the restoration of Israel.

Yet this is not the only clue in this passage about the character of the Messiah, the anointed One of God. This One was known “from long ago,” and He was “from the days of eternity.” So although this is a prophecy of a future event, the One who will be the Davidic ruler is to be a figure who has been known since the distant past. Even if this verse is rendered “His appearances are from long ago, from days of old,” this Person would be extremely old, thousands of years old, for this prophecy to be fulfilled. Yet we will take this verse as quoted above from the New American Standard Bible. And so this Messiah figure has been known since long ago, indicating He had origins before His birth—the time when the woman gives birth. In fact, He is from eternity. And there is clearly only One who can claim to be from eternity: God. So the logical conclusion from this passage is that the Messiah is the eternal God—uncreated and eternally existing.

29. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me”? And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.” And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” But to which of the angles has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1)

The key to understanding this passage of Scripture is to take it altogether, in context. This will keep us from misunderstanding one part of it and making a false assumption/theology.

Before the coming of Jesus, circa 6 BC to 30 AD, God spoke to the fathers (i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the kings, etc) at different/fragmented times and places and in various ways—by various prophets. Yet the coming of the Christ marked what is known as the “last days,” in which God has spoken (with finality) in His Son (the writer of Hebrews is a third generation Christian, men who have heard from the apostles (cf. Hebrews 2:3-4). The “last days” indicates that Jesus is not just another prophet, but the Messiah who brings about the “last days.” This Son, the Messiah, is clearly not merely a prophet, for He is differentiated from the prophets. The communication through the Son is far better, for the Son is a far greater revelator.

We next see that this Son has been appointed by God (the Father) as the heir of all things: the Son owns and controls all things. But what about the word “appointed” here? Does this not mean that Jesus was just a man whom God adopted as a Son in a special relationship and made Him heir? It most certainly does not mean this. That is why the writer of Hebrews says “through whom also He made the world.” He is not only the heir of all things, He is also the One through whom God (the Father) made the world. This should draw our attention to Colossians 2:16-17, where Christ is said to be the creator of all things and the sustainer of all things. In other words, Jesus was present at creation. And we shall speak further on this later in this passage. The word “appointed” means that all things which were against Him through sin have been reappointed to Jesus through His death. He is the heir through being the creator, and the heir through His death and resurrection. They belong to Him two times over.

In verse 3 the writer expounds upon the deity of the Son, the Christ. He says, “He is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature.” Jesus shows the glory of God, and yet is not separate from God, just as the radiance of the sun is not separate from the sun, but the observable inseparable attribute of the sun. And not only that, the Son exactly and completely shows the nature of God. We are unable to see God the Father for He dwells in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). Not even Moses was able to see the fullness of God’s glory (see Exodus 33:18-23). Isaiah says “woe is me, for I am ruined!...For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah knew that if a man were to see God, he would surely die! (cf. Exodus 19:21) Man needs a mediator between he and God; Jesus Christ is that mediator. He radiates the glory of God which man cannot look upon.

And not only this, but we see that He “upholds all things by the word of His power.” In other words, Jesus says something, therefore it exists. If Jesus does not keep something in existence by His word, it ceases to exist. He is the absolute sustainer of all things. And like the apostle John says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart form Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3). It is the same way with Jesus’ sustaining word: if He does not sustain it, it does not exist, it does not possess being.

Then when He had made purification (He made purification once and for all and He will not do it again, it is a one time occurrence), He sat down at the right hand of the Father, the Majesty on high (in other words He has been enthroned), because He has finished His redemptive work. And through this work He has become much better than the angels because He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For angels are mere messengers, they are merely ministers to the saints of God (see v 7, 14). What does this mean? Jesus is better than angels. He is not merely an angel or even an archangel, for He is “much better than the angels.” For God has not said to any angel, period, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” This declaration by God was made to a newly enthroned king (as in Psalm 2:7). God is now declaring this upon Jesus as He inherits God’s kingdom just as a Davidic king would inherit the Davidic kingdom. God is His Father. He is the “firstborn” Son of God: the greatest heir (firstborn does not mean Jesus was created, but that He has preeminence, “first place” as Colossians 1:18 says). The resurrection from the dead declared Jesus, or showed Him to be, “the Son of God with power” (Romans 1:4).

And God says “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” Unless Jesus is God, the writer of Hebrews is a false prophet, or God is a liar! For God said in Isaiah “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praises to graven images” (42:8), and “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice. The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods” (2 Kings 17:35-38). The NIV reads, “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them” (35). If God commands His angels to worship Jesus, then God must be telling His angels to worship God when He is telling them to worship Jesus. In other words, God is declaring Jesus to be God.

Unlike the angels who are a mere “wind,” the throne of Jesus, whom God calls, “O God,” according to the interpretation by the writer of Hebrews, is forever and ever. He is anointed by God! (I covered verses 8-9 more thoroughly in point 12 above).

Then the writer of Hebrews quotes God, YHWH, as telling the Son, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the Earth, and the Heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” The Earth and the heavens were created by Jesus. They exist because He, as the Word of God, speaks them into existence. They were created by Him, through Him, and for Him! God the Father says this to the Son, according to the writer of Hebrews! The current heavens will fade away, they will cease to exist, and Jesus, the Son, will roll them up and change them. But Jesus is the same. He is unchanging. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Like the Father, the Son does not change at all, ever!

And to seal the case, the writer of Hebrews quotes God the Father as telling the Son to “sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Son is granted to sit in the presence of the Father and await the subduing of His enemies. The angels, on the other hand, are to minister and render service to God’s elect saints. The Son is clearly far above any of the angles; infinitely in fact. So the reader of Hebrews 1 has three possible options: Either to conclude that the writer of Hebrews is illegitimate and the book of Hebrews should not be in the Biblical canon, that God is a liar (and might I remind you of 1 Samuel 15:29 and Titus 1:2), or that Jesus Christ is indeed God, YHWH, Jehovah.

30. “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-25)

To keep Joseph from dismissing his wife Mary, God sent an angel to tell him why Mary was pregnant outside of their marriage. Because he was a righteous man, Joseph did not want to disgrace Mary even though he knew that she was with child, and it was not his. The angel’s first words of encouragement are that the Child was not conceived in an affair with another man, but asexually with God, the Holy Spirit. If Jesus had not been conceived of the Holy Spirit, He would have been fully human and therefore sinful like all of the rest of mankind through Adam (see Romans 5:12-14). Thus Jesus would not have been sinless and could not have atoned for the sins of mankind, for He Himself would have been sinful and would have needed a sacrifice on His own behalf (cf. Hebrews 5:1-3, 9:7). His role was to save His people from their sins, something no one else had been able to do.

Why could nobody else atone for sins? The problem of sin is an infinite one. Just one sin against an infinite God would be an infinite sin (cf. Exodus 21:24). Yet people are desperately sinful, utterly sinful. James tells us that by breaking one commandment a person is actually breaking every commandment (James 2:9-10). And Jesus says that the greatest commandment is for a person to love God with all of his/her heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is to love one’s neighbor as one loves him/herself (Mark 12:30-31). Outside of Jesus, no one can love God (cf. John 14:6, 28). A person who is not in Jesus is in the flesh, and therefore cannot please God, nor can such a person obey the Law of God (Romans 8:6-8). This sinfulness is infinite, for man has committed infinite sin against an infinite God, because his nature is sinful (cf. Romans 6:6). This means that the only sufficient sacrifice would have to be greater than man’s sin. The only sacrifice that could possibly be greater than infinite sin is an infinite sacrifice. Only God is infinite, and therefore only God could offer Himself as a sufficiently infinite sacrifice!

Because Jesus is God, it is fitting that His name should be “Immanuel,” or “God with us.” Jesus is God come in human flesh to dwell among mankind and to face the same trials as every man faces, and yet to be sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Through His temptation, Jesus learned to be perfected in obedience to God, making Him a worthy sacrifice since He had faced the temptation and resisted it, undoing the curse of Adam, namely death. It is not that Jesus was ever imperfect, but He had to learn obedience to God just as any other man would; yet Jesus did it never falling into sin. (see Genesis 3:17-19 and Hebrews 4:15; 5:8-10)

Joseph obeyed the command given through the angel and did not “know” Mary until after the birth of Jesus; thus it could not be construed in any way that Joseph was actually the father of Jesus.

There is one more thing that we see here. The Holy Spirit is the One who conceives of Jesus in the womb of Mary; thus the Holy Spirit and Jesus are existent but separate at the same time. Yet Jesus, the Christ, had the Spirit of God upon Him, for He was the anointed of God (cf. Isaiah 61:1-3). The Spirit of the Lord was with Christ from birth, and yet came upon Him with power at His baptism, when the Father proclaimed Christ to be His Son and the Spirit descended upon Jesus (Mark 1:9-11) (this passage clearly shows that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are separate in personhood and coexist equally as God at the same time). This distinction is clearly visible in Acts. In Acts 2, which took place ten days after Christ ascended into heaven, the Spirit came upon the disciples and filled them. Now Jesus promised His disciples that the Spirit would abide with them forever (cf. John 14:16-17). But then we see in Acts 9 that Jesus appears to Paul on the road to Damascus (we know it is Jesus because He says, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting”). My point is that Jesus appeared to Paul after the Spirit had come and entered the hearts of the apostles and early converts. So Jesus and the Spirit had to be operating distinctly from one another at this time, or else the Spirit would have had to leave the disciples (and Scripture promises that the Spirit will not leave Christ’s followers). Therefore, this shows the uniqueness that is between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not the Holy Spirit and vice-versa. Rather they are distinct persons of the Godhead.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from examining all of these passages together is that Jesus is God. Taking the holistic view of the Bible that we gain from looking at all of these passages, we can only conclude that God is one, yet three. In other words, God is eternally one in essence and eternally three in personhood.