Was Jesus God? Surely the deity of Jesus Christ is one of the essential beliefs of the historic Christian faith. Yet many people who claim to be Christians boldly deny that Jesus was truly God in flesh.I continue to be shocked and saddened by the rampant unbelief of professing followers of Jesus. Not only is Christ’s deity questioned but the resurrection of Christ is debunked by some of these same people.
In the next few post I will present a biblical case for the deity of Jesus Christ. I will not give you my opinion but rather the clear unvarnished testimony of the Word of God. Do I expect everyone to believe what the Bible says? Absolutely not. Perhaps somebody you will see the truth and abandon your unbelief.
Jesus when speaking to unbelieving Jews made this statement. “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:42-47 NIV)
How you respond to God’s truth was the acid test in the first century and it is the same today. Those who do not belong to God reject truth and those who do belong to God accept it. Like those Jews of Jesus’ day who rejected His words, those today who reject His words have a father but it is not God.
Jesus claimed to be God, the prophets said he would be God, His mastery over nature proved He was God, His supernatural knowledge proved He was God, and His resurrection from the dead proved He was God.
If Jesus was God He necessarily then would have to possess the eternal attributes of God. The first of those is His eternal existence. Jesus did not have His beginning in the cradle of Bethlehem. Far from it. What is the record of the Word of God? I will mention a few verses.
The fist and perhaps the most obvious one is in John 1. “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 were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5 NKJV) Verse 14 makes it clear who is being spoken of in verses 1- 5, “And the Word became flesh and we beheld His glory…”
Not only did Christ precede creation but was also the Creator. For Jesus to be God He could not be “a god” as some of the cults teach, He could not be “created”. No He had to exist outside of time, outside of creation. These words in John 1 leave no doubt to those who are willing to accept truth. Jesus existed before the world was created. The prophet Micah in Micah 5:2 said of Him “… Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting”. Jesus said to the Jews “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58 NKJV) Then in Jesus great prayer in John 17 He said these words of Himself claiming His eternal existence, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5 NKJV)
There are other verses that make the same point. I believe it should be clear to any honest seeker of truth that according to the Bible Jesus existed in eternity before the creation of planet earth and teaches clearly that He lives forever, His life has no end.
Only God is separate from creation, separate from time, not bound by natural law, and has the ability to create by His spoken word. Next time we will examine other texts that show indeed that Christ was in fact God in human form.
His peace,
Royce Ogle
Grace Digest 
Great post, Royce. Truth is truth whether it’s believed or not.
God’s blessings to you and your study on the Deity of Jesus.
Tim
Thanks for the good message.
Laymond,
You are in interesting fellow. Obviously this thought never crossed your mind before since you have given your opinion on many of my posts in the past. You know that comments are welcome on all the blogs I am familiar with including mine.
This blog is mine and I suppose you could say it is my “interpretation”. However, not much interpretation is needed for the clear verses I use in my posts.
So, comment away. Just remember that this is not a private conversation between you and me, others are reading what you say as well.
His peace,
Royce
My friend Laymond left another comment and I deleted it by mistake. I quote it here and then will respond to it.
Comment:
“Thanks Royce, I don’t believe I have ever said anything that would be offensive to anyone reading your posts, anyway I hope not. What I try to do is place before you and others, scripture which seems to disagree with your interpretation of the bible, and try to get you to comment on it. (debate/discussion)
if there is no discussion then it is a sermon. When I bring up scripture such as this.
1Cor:15:22: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Cor:15:45: And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
which in my mind seems to be a comparison between two of God’s creations, I can quote a few places where Paul seems to me, to say Jesus was a creation, from the beginning of the spirit later to be called Jesus Christ.
You wrote and I quote; “Jesus claimed to be God, the prophets said he would be God, His mastery over nature proved He was God, His supernatural knowledge proved He was God, and His resurrection from the dead proved He was God.”
If we take this as proof that Jesus was and is God, then we must call Moses God also. parting the sea, bringing the plagues, turning water into blood, many thing that were just as miraculous as the things God did through Jesus, God used both servants in a similar way. for the same reason, to bring his children out of bondage. The Lord God called Moses, god over Pharaoh.
Now this could be a great debate.”
Laymond,
For you to arrive at some of the odd positions you espouse it is necessary to violate the laws of logic, the simple grammatical structure of a sentence, and Bible interpretation.
Following the order of your comment, first the verse you quoted, 1Cor:15:45: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
The emphasis of this verse is not when or if Adam or Christ were created, but rather the contrast between the two. Adam was only a “living being” (KNJV) but Christ was a “life giving spirit”(KNJV). To try to make the stretch that the verse teaches Christ was created is foolish. Using that junk logic you could also say he was not a human but only a spirit. The clear message is not the origin of either Adam or Christ but rather what they were after they came to exist (after Christ came in human form).
You have said on more than one occasion that there is only “one God”. You made that correct statement while objecting to the doctrine of the Trinity. If you believe there is only one God, is Moses that God?
Can you see how foolish your propositions are? Perhaps you can’t.
Interestingly you didn’t address my post or the passages I quoted in it. I would like to hear your intrepetation of those.
His peace,
Royce
Royce since you lied to me about posting my comments here on your post, I would appreciate it if you deleted the ones you did post. but when one gets used to lying it comes natural.
I wonder if you are speaking from experience. I will not post any more of your comments. I am finally tired of your immature and unChristian name calling. But that is between you and your God, whoever that is..
Royce
Royce,
Great post.
We must hold to the diety of Jesus.
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word and word was with God and word was God…The word became flesh…” John 3:16-17. I think speaks volumes on the diety of Jesus and the love that God has for man. The extreme love.
Great post and great discussion guys. Keep blessing us!