THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

How can we know for certain that Jesus really is God? He doesn’t say anywhere in Scripture “I am God,” and in fact Christians call Him the son of God. Why is that?

Well, this is a two part question, which will require thus a two part answer. First, the question of how we can be certain that Jesus is really God. It is correct that Jesus in Scripture did not say in so many words “I am God.” However, there are quite a few passages which I will show here that will show that Jesus is in fact God.

First let’s look in the book of John. John 8:58: “when quizzed about how he has special knowledge of Abraham, Jesus replies, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am" This passage is significant because Jesus is explaining how He has knowledge of people and events who lived before his earthly birth by calling Himself by the same title that God used to reveal Himself to Moses through a burning bush -- “I Am.” This brief two word title shows that time as humans know it cannot contain God, for God always was, always is, and always shall be.

Followers of Jesus recognized his equality with the Father, too. In John 20:28, Thomas falls at Jesus’ feet, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!", the Greek translation of which is literally “The Lord of me and the God of me!" By using both, we see that Thomas wasn’t just using Lord as a term of respect, but was meaning it in the sense of Lord God.

We are even told directly in Scripture why Jesus never said “I am God. Philippians 2:6 says of Jesus Christ "who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped" One’s nature cannot be the same as God’s without that one being God. This is because God created man in His image, but not with his nature. One’s nature is solely their own. This passage tells us that Jesus didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped. We must be careful here, because this doesn’t mean that He Himself didn’t grasp that He was God, but rather that He knew the human race could not wrap their brains around someone being both fully man and fully God

` There are two more areas of Scripture I’d like to look at on this first question of how we can know that Jesus is God. First, Isaiah 9:6. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." This passage speaks directly of Christ’s birth, prophesies what will happen to him in his trials against the government, and then calls him not only revered names such as Wonderful, Counsellor, and Prince of Peace, but also directly The Mighty God, and The Everlasting Father.

Lastly, we will turn to Revelation. In the series of passages I will show here we see that the Greek Title “Alpha and Omega,” meaning first and last, are applied not just to God the Father, who spoke through the burning bush, but also to Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:17 says “When I saw Him (Christ), I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying ‘Fear not, I am the First and the last

Then, in Revelation 2:8 we are told “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the First and the Last, who died and came to life.” Again, we see Christ being called the First and the Last, the same as God the Father called Himself.

In Revelation 22:12-13, Jesus says “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end.” Again here we see the same thing: the title God the father used for Himself being used by Jesus.

Now on to the second part of the question. Since it’s so clear that Jesus really is God, why is He called, not just in Scripture but throughout Christian tradition “the Son of God.” If He’s God’s son, doesn’t that make Him less?

It’s important to realize here that the term son as it is used is not meant in the same way we use the word son today; to describe the relationship between a person and the people that gave birth to Him. Calling Jesus the Son of God is not saying that God gave birth to or brought forth Jesus Christ. Rather, we are told in Hebrews 1: 1-6 exactly why Jesus is referred to as the Son of God.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my Son; today I have become your Father? Or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.

If we pay attention here to the terms used to describe Jesus, we see that He is called “ the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being.” In that sense, Jesus is in fact the son of the Father. He is a mirror image, hence the phrase “exact representation of his being.”

Many people who do not believe that Jesus is God will question two verses in particular. First, Hebrews 1:6 above, which refers to Jesus as the Father’s firstborn. Many take that reference to mean what firstborn means in common day usage today -- the first child born of God. However, the vast majority of Biblical scholars agree that the phrase “firstborn” in this passage is a parallel reference made by Paul in 1 Corinthians: 15. We are told that Christ is the second Adam. Adam was the firstborn into death (sin), and Christ was the firstborn into life -- the first to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

I’d like to clear up one other area of question often brought about when talking about the divinity of Christ. Matthew 24: 36 states "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” In this passage, Jesus is talking about the time of the end of the world. Now notice here that He makes a particular statement -- He says that not only the Son, which we know to be Him, knows when this will happen, but only the Father. If it is indeed true that Jesus is God, how can this be that He does not know this information?

I was amazed in my study of this passage to read a footnote at the bottom of two version of the Bible that said “some versions do not include ‘or the son’.” After some research, I learned that many scribes deleted the phrase from their manuscripts as a result of turmoil among early Christians questioning Christ’s divinity. While that made sense, though, it still didn’t explain why a few versions included the phrase.

There have been two particular takes on the reason for the inclusion of “nor the son” in this passage. Athanasius suggested from his study of the Bible that Jesus only feigned ignorance and really did know the date and time. Because of the fact that this would seem to almost portray Jesus as having lied, the teachings of the Cappadocians on this issue made much more sense to me. They taught that the Son did not know the date or time on His own, but only through the Father; a concept that makes sense since, though Jesus is indeed God, He is still a different person of the Trinity.

With many of these difficult passages cleared up it is hopefully easier to understand the divinity of Jesus Christ.