Over the past few years I’ve included some information about the deity of Christ in various posts as a part of another subject like the Trinity or the incarnation. I realized this week that I had never addressed directly the fact Jesus is God the Son, second Person of the trinity.
In my discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’m often asked to show anywhere in Scripture where Jesus claimed to be God. You may have faced this same challenge. In John 5:18, John tells us the act of calling Himself the Son of God was claiming to be equal with the Father.
John 5:18 (ESV) 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
There are a lot of passages pointing to Jesus’ deity. In Titus 2:13, Paul calls Jesus our God and Savior. In Hebrews 1:8, God Himself calls Jesus “God,” and there are many more places in Scripture where Jesus is identified as God.
Titus 2:13 (ESV) 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Hebrews 1:8 (ESV) 8 But of the Son he [the Father] says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Jesus accepted worship without rebuking the worshipers (Matt. 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52, etc.)
Matthew 14:33 (ESV) 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Even the angels were instructed by God to worship Jesus:
Hebrews 1:6 (ESV) 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
“But,” say some, “He is the Son of God, not God Himself.” The answer to that is in my posts on the trinity and the incarnation, but briefly, Jesus voluntarily emptied Himself of the use of His divine attributes and became submissive to the Father (Phil. 2:5-11).
So, Jesus is equal in nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Why is this important?
As Christians, it’s important for us to know exactly Who our God is. If we’re not worshiping the true God of the Bible, we’re worshiping a false God. Jesus is God the Son, second Person of the trinity. When we pray, we need to know Who we’re praying to. Jesus told us to pray to Him:
John 14:14 (ESV) 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
2,000 years ago, the God of the universe took on human form and walked the earth. He walked and talked with men and women. He taught them and us by word and by example exactly Who God is.
John 14:9 (ESV) 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
In reading about Jesus life, His love for others, His willingness to sacrifice for the good of others, His patience with people like Peter and Nicodemus, we see the character of God the Father as well. This same Jesus that John looked at face to face, Whom he touched, and learned from daily, who washed John’s feet and suffered death in front of John, this same Jesus is the God who spoke all that exists in the physical universe into existence.
1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Jesus isn’t just a sacrificial Lamb. He is the Holy One of Israel, the Great “I Am!”
Believers Armed and Dangerous 