The Deity of Christ: Is Jesus God?

Historic Christianity says Jesus is truly God and truly human: not a God wearing a costume, and not a remarkable man later promoted by rumor. Neighbors who deny that sentence are not all making the same objection.

Key points

• John 1:1–3^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. ^1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.King James Version says the Word, who was God, is the one through whom all things were made. John 20:28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.King James Version records Thomas: “My LORD and my God.”
• Colossians 1:19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;King James Version says it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. Colossians 1:16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:King James Version says all things were created by him.
• Hebrews 1:1–4^1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ^1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ^1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; ^1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.King James Version says the Son is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of his person.
• Philippians 2:6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:King James Version says he was “in the form of God” and thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The same paragraph says he took the form of a servant.
• Many atheists grant a historical Jesus and doubt that he claimed what the later church claimed. Muslims receive him as Messiah and prophet and refuse divine sonship. See Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses honor him as the greatest of God’s creatures and identify him with Michael. Their New World Translation of John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.New World Translation (2013)Open on jw.org ↗ reads “the Word was a god.” See John 1 and the Word.
• Latter-day Saints speak of Jesus as divine. Doctrine and Covenants 130:22The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.English, churchofjesuschrist.orgOpen on churchofjesuschrist.org ↗ says the Father and the Son have tangible bodies. That is not the Nicene phrase “of one being with the Father.” See the Godhead.

The question

Is Jesus God? Yes: truly God and truly human, not a God wearing a costume, and not a remarkable man later promoted by rumor. The passages, including John 8:58, John 10:30, Mark 2, Mark 14:62, John 20:28, and Philippians 2, are in Is Jesus God?. This page is the map of how Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, and atheists hear that confession. They are not making the same objection.

What the neighbors say

Many atheists grant a historical Jesus of some kind and doubt that he claimed what the later church claimed. On this telling, high language about divinity grew as the movement aged. The reply is the early texts, and which of them are doing the work. “Legend” is not an argument.

Muslims receive Jesus as messiah and prophet, born of Mary, and refuse divine sonship as an attack on God’s oneness. See Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels.

Jehovah’s Witnesses honor Jesus as the greatest of God’s creatures, identify him with Michael the archangel, and refuse to call him Almighty God. Their New World Translation of John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.New World Translation (2013)Open on jw.org ↗ renders the end of the verse as “the Word was a god.” See John 1 and the Word.

Latter-day Saints speak of Jesus as divine and as the Son, and they mean it. Their teaching of the Godhead does not match the Nicene phrase “of one being with the Father.” See Do Mormons believe in the Trinity?. They do confess Jesus.

The Christian claim

The confession is not that Christians found a verse with the word “God” next to the word “Jesus” and stopped. It is a pattern: the Word through whom all things were made (John 1:1–3^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. ^1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.King James Version), Thomas’s “My LORD and my God” (John 20:28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.King James Version), the Son as the one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;King James Version), the Son addressed as God in Hebrews 1, and the name above every name in Philippians 2.

Philippians 2 is also used by readers who stress that Jesus did not grasp at equality. The argument is about what “equality with God” and “the form of God” are doing in the paragraph.

The Trinity is how the church says this without saying there are three gods. “Being” is what is one. “Person” is Father, Son, and Spirit.

Passages

• John 1:1–18^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. ^1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ^1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ^1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ^1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ^1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ^1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ^1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ^1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ^1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ^1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ^1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ^1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ^1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. ^1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. ^1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. ^1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.King James Version and John 20:28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.King James Version.
• Colossians 1:15–20^1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: ^1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: ^1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. ^1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. ^1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; ^1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.King James Version. “Firstborn” is used by Witnesses and by others as “first created.” The same paragraph says all things were created in him. Nicene readers hear rank and source, not “first creature.” See What does “firstborn of all creation” mean?.
• Hebrews 1:1–4^1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ^1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ^1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; ^1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.King James Version.
• Philippians 2:5–11^2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ^2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ^2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ^2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ^2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: ^2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ^2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.King James Version. The Greek of verse 6 is on Philippians 2:6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:King James Version.
• Titus 2:13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;King James Version, 2 Peter 1:1Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:King James Version, Romans 9:5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.King James Version, and Hebrews 1:8But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.King James Version. Each page shows the Greek under the King James text and notes how the New World Translation renders that one verse.

Keep reading

• The Islamic dilemma
• The Trinity
• What do Catholics believe? and What do Protestants believe?, which quote the Nicene sentence that Jesus is true God from true God
• John 1 and the Word
• Does Jesus do what only God does?
• If Jesus is God, why did he pray?
• Why don’t Jews believe Jesus is the Messiah?
• What do Unitarians believe?