If I were sitting across from someone seeking proof that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God I would offer them the following three points. This is obviously not an exhaustive outline of all the Bible has to say about the deity of Jesus Christ, but a good place to start. I hope you find the following outline beneficial in your understanding of this important doctrine.
#1 Passages that unequivocally teach that Jesus is God
John 1:1
Colwell’s rule shows that John 1:1 is correctly translated “The word was God (Not the Word was A God).” Colwell’s rule simply states that in the event where the predicate noun precedes the copulative verb (the verb “to be”) then the predicate noun will drop the article. The reason the Jehovah Witness’ translation reads “the word was A god” is because in the Greek the definite article is absent before “God.” But they simply are incorrect about Greek grammar as the above rule specifies.
John 5:18 and 19:7
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 (John 5:18)
The Pharisees claimed Jesus being equal to God and Jesus never denied there claim.
John 5:19-24
John 5:17-24 is basically saying –“Like Father , Like Son.”
Mark Moore metaphorically speaks of Jesus pointing to his sameness to God as having the
- Same power
- Same hands
- Same eyes
- Same breath
- Same tongue
- Same honor
Same Power
The issue is raised when Jesus says what he says in verse 17—“may father is working and so I am working…”
“My Father-“—first shocker! He makes God his personal father—points to the nature of his relationship with God
“I am working…” Points to his eternal omnipotent power with the father!
So Jesus first points to the fact that he is one with the father in eternal power!
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.(Colossians 1:17)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.(Hebrews 1:3)
Same Hands (5:19)
Everything the father does the son does
Same eyes (5:20)
“father Shows him all he himself is doing…”
Same breath (5:21)
Raises the dead and gives life…
Same tongue (5:22)
Judges the world
Same Honor (5:23)
The most radical statement! He is saying that you are to worship the son just as you worship God the father!
Application—the real Jesus is first God in flesh! The eternal begotten son!
That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
Athanasius Creed (4th Century)
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal
What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.
The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable
The Father is eternal,
the Son is eternal,
the Holy Spirit is eternal.
And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.
So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.
John 8:58
“I Am” is the same name God gives himself in Exodus when speaking to Moses—see Exodus 3:14
John 20:28
Here Thomas explicitly calls Jesus Lord (kyrios) and God (theos). Those who claim that Thomas was involuntarily speaking to God about Jesus’ appearance miss the emphatic phrase “Thomas answered and said to him.” That is, Thomas directed his comment to Jesus himself. He was not merely speaking abstractly into the Heavens.
Acts 3:15
Jesus is called the “Author of life.” The word “author” is the Greek word “archegos.” Zodhiates defines this word as “originator, founder, leader, chief, first, prince, as distinguished from simply being the cause.”
Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
- “Form”- the nature or character of something, with emphasis upon both the internal and external form—‘nature, character (Louw-Nida)
- “Equality”- pertaining to that which is equal, either in number, size, quality, or characteristics—‘equal, equivalent, same (Louw-Nida)
- “Emptied Himself”- The incarnation.
- Verses 9-10- Quoted from Isaiah 45:23 about God.
Colossians 2:9
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1
Both these passages fall into the category of the Granville sharp rule, which states “when two nouns of the same case are connected by kai, a single article before the first noun denotes conceptual unity, whereas the repetition of the article denotes particularity. In these two passages “God” and “Savior” are governed by one article. Thus, God and savior refer to Jesus. It is wrong to render the passage “of our God and of our savior Jesus Christ,” distinguishing between God and Jesus. The proper understanding is that Jesus is both God and savior.
Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the member of the Godhead chosen to be the exegete (the revealer) of God’s glory and it is only through His revelation that God can be known, Matt. 11:27; John 1:18; 12:45; 14:9. The Son is “the brightness” (the effulgence, the radiation, the outshining, the out-raying) of God’s glory (we do not see the sun itself but its being and its glory are revealed to us by its rays, its outshining). Christ is the member of the Trinity who out-rays the otherwise inscrutable God.[1]
He is stated to be the expresser of God’s person (essence). He is the precise expression, the perfect resembler, the exact reproduction, the accurate counterpart, the express image, of God (because He is God and possesses the same nature as God). Christ is the only image of God that we are permitted to worship for He is the only perfect image of God. All other images of God are caricatures of God and so tell lies about God.[2]
1 John 5:20
Here Jesus is clearly called the true God. He in the latter part of the verse clearly fits the antecedent “Jesus Christ.”
#2 The New Testament quotes Old Testament Passages that in their original context referred to God, but in the New Testament they apply them to Jesus.
Texts:
- Psalm 45:6-7……………………………….Hebrews 1:8-10
- Psalm 110:1…………………………………Matthew 22:41-46
- Isaiah 6…………………………………………John 12:39-41
- Isaiah 9:6………………………………………Luke 2:11
- Isaiah 40:3…………………………………….Matthew 3:3
Comments:
- Psalm 45:6-7
This quotation from Psalm 45:6-7 is a description of Jehovah God. The Hebrew writer applies the meaning to Jesus Christ.
- Psalm 110:1
The most quoted OT passage in the NT.
Jesus uses this passage in Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, and Luke 20:41-44 to prove his messiahship and deity. The verse implies that the Lord (Jehovah) said to my Lord (Jesus the son) sit at my right hand. How can Jehovah speak to himself? He must have been referring to another person.
- Isaiah 6
After quoting Isaiah 6:10 John (12:39-41) refers to Jesus as the one he saw in the vision recorded in Isaiah 6:1-6.
- Isaiah 9:6
This messianic passage explicitly calls Jesus “mighty God.”
Some state that the term mighty God is different than almighty God. They point out the fact that only the term almighty God is a reference to Jehovah whereas “mighty God can refer to anyone. This is simply not true. In Isaiah 10:21 and Jeremiah 32:18 both refer to Jehovah as “mighty God”
- Isaiah 40:3
Prophetic text referring to the messiah. Used by John the Baptist in Matthew 2 as he prepared the way for Christ. In this passage the terms Lord and God are both used to describe Jesus.
#3 If God is the only one worthy of worship (Matthew 4:10) why then is Jesus worshipped?
- Matthew 2:2,11
- John 20:28
- Hebrews 1:6
- Revelation 5:14
- Revelation 22:3
Note: In Rev. 22:9-10 John falls down and begins to worship the angel who had been speaking to him in the vision. But the angel stops John, and tells him not to worship him, but to worship God. It is only fitting then that if both the son and the father are worshipped in Revelation then both are in fact God. If not, then John contradicts his own message when he pictures Jesus as being worshipped.
[1] Roy E. Gingrich, The Book of Hebrews (Memphis, TN: Riverside Printing, 2004), 11.
[2] Roy E. Gingrich, The Book of Hebrews (Memphis, TN: Riverside Printing, 2004), 11–12.
From Genesis to the Maps 