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Is Jesus God?

It has been said that no individual in the history of mankind has affected more lives and changed the world more then that of Jesus, the Jewish prophet and martyr who was hailed as the long promised Messiah, the Christ. Ever since his life, the identity of Jesus has been hotly debated. Was he just a heretical upstart, as the Jews believe? Was he a great prophet, but still no more than a prophet, as the Muslims believe? Was he the archangel Michael in human form as the Jehovah's Witnesses believe? Or was he God and Man in One, the second person of the Trinity, as Christians have held throughout the centuries?

My own conviction is that Jesus was and still is God. Do we Christians just believe that because we were brought up to believe it? Or is there any real evidence to support Jesus' divinity? Whatever your position is, my aim is to present you with the most convincing arguments that I could find, using the Bible as the ultimate authority. You can decide for yourself what Jesus' real identity was.

Firstly, the source for a lot of people's objections to Jesus being God is that, as well as actually being a human, he doesn't act like we would expect God to. In some situations, he asks questions which God would know the answer to. He calls Judas to follow him, even though Judas will betray him; he lets people mistreat and eventually kill him; and he talks about 'obeying' God and serving him as his 'Father'. To ignore these facts would make the argument one-sided. However, there are perfectly reasonable explanations for each of these.

God needed to appear in human form to save us humans, as well as to experience our temptations (Hebrews 2:14-18). Jesus may have asked questions to which he knew the answers, in order to get his hearers to think or acknowledge something important. Jesus already knew that Judas would betray him (John 13:21), and that he had to die and rise again (Mark 9:31) - but he chose to let it happen, to save 'the sheep' (John 10:14-18). Jesus had to be obedient to the Father to fulfill Adam's role and restore humanity (Romans 5:18-19, Philippians 2:5-11). I'm sure there are more objections, but I hope at least you see that there are some good arguments to counter them.

So now, here are the best (but by no means the only) arguments for Jesus' divinity:

  1. Jesus claimed to be God. He used the title "I am" (John 8:58), which as the Jews knew, was the name God used to identify himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14). For this blasphemy, the Jews tried to stone Jesus.

  2. Jesus was acknowledged as Lord by Elizabeth (Luke 1:43), John the Baptist (Luke 3:4-6, which is quoted from Isaiah 40:3-5 where 'Lord' refers to 'Yaweh'), king David (Luke 20:41-44), Mary and Martha (John 11:34), and Stephen (Acts 7:59-60). Peter called him the "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:13-16) and "our God and Saviour" (2 Peter 1:1). Thomas called him "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), and he was called "the Holy One of God" by an evil spirit (Mark 1:24), a name used of God (Isaiah 54:5). John the Baptist said he was not even worthy enough to untie Jesus' sandals (Luke 3:16). At the end of time, every knee will bow before Jesus (Philippians 2:10) just as every knee will bow before God (Isaiah 45:23).

  3. Jesus accepted worship from his disciples (Matthew 14:33, 28:9, 17), and from children (Matthew 21:15-16), a thing which even angels would not do (Revelation 19:10). In Revelation 5:12, the Lamb (Jesus) receives worship, and in Hebrews 1:6, God commands angels to worship Jesus, even though God's name alone is exalted (Deuteronomy 6:13, Psalm 148:13).

  4. Jesus was both sinless (John 8:46, 1 Peter 2:22), and he had authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12, John 8:7-9), something only God can do (Mark 2:7, Psalm 130), because God is the one we have sinned against.

  5. During his time on earth, Jesus displayed unsurpassed authority over the physical and spiritual realms. He cast out demons with the utmost ease (Luke 4:33-37), and demons were bound to do only what Jesus gave them persmission to do (Mark 5:1-13). He also rebuked Satan (Mark 8:33), something which even the archangel Michael would not dare to do (Jude 9). Jesus healed the sick (Matthew 4:23-25), multiplied food for the starving crowds (Matthew 14:15-21), calmed storms (Matthew 8:23-27), and raised the dead (John 11:32-44, Matthew 9:23-25, Luke 7:11-15). Unlike raisings of the dead performed by others like Ezekiel or Peter, who rely on God's power to raise people, Jesus "gives life to whom he is pleased to give it" (John 5:21).

  6. Jesus was pre-existent. John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was God." He existed before the creation of the world (John 17:5, 24, 1 Peter 1:20), and he is called "the First and the Last" (Revelation 2:8), "him who is from the beginning" (1 John 2:13). "As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:26). Some people believe Jesus was still created, because the Bible calls him the firstborn Son, but the term 'Son' is used only because it is the best description for the relationship Jesus was with the 'Father'. He is 'firstborn' because he was the first to rise from the dead into his immortal body (Colossians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 15:20).

  7. Jesus claims to be omnipresent when he says "For where two or more come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20), because he must be in multiple places at the same time to listen to everyone's prayers (see also John 14:13). Likewise when Jesus says in Matthew 28:20 that "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age", he is claiming omnipresence. One of Jesus' names, 'Immanuel', means 'God with us' (Matthew 1:23). Not even Satan can be in more than one place at a time.

  8. Jesus will judge mankind at the end of the world (John 5:27, Romans 8:34), which is also the role of God (Luke 18:7, Hebrews 10:30, Joel 3:12). God will judge between the sheep and the goats (Ezekiel 34:17). But Jesus says that he will do this (Matthew 25:31-46).

  9. Both Jesus and God are said to be the Creator of the universe (Jesus in John 1:10, God in Psalm 33:6 and Revelation 4:11) and they are both said to sustain creation (Jesus in Colossians 1:17, God in Psalms 104 and 147). In Acts 3:15, Jesus is called the author of life.

  10. The Holy Spirit, called the "Spirit of God" in hundreds of verses, is also referred to as "the Spirit of the Son" in Galatians 4:6 and "the Spirit of Jesus" (Philippians 1:19, 2 Corinthians 3:13-18, and 1 Peter 1:11). Likewise in Hebrews 10:29, Jesus is called "the Spirit of Grace", and in Acts 5:1-11, Paul refers to the Holy Spirit and God interchangably. In Romans 8:9, the Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of God" and "the Spirit of Christ" in the same verse! Yet God is One (James 2:19), and there is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4). How can this be? The concept of the Trinity was made to explain this paradox.

  11. Jesus came to cleanse the sins of mankind (Matthew 20:28, John 1:29, Isaiah 53:5-12, Luke 2:11, 1 Peter 2:24), something which God said he would do himself (Isaiah 43:25, 46:25, Psalm 18:46,49:7-15, Jonah 2:9, Hosea 13:14).

  12. Jesus taught his followers, in no unclear terms, that his name was the only name by which people can be saved (Acts 4:12, Phil 2:9-11, John 14:6). Yet God claimed in the Old Testament that his name was the only name which could save (Isaiah 43:11, Zecariah 14:9, Joel 2:32, Hosea 13:4).

    13. Perhaps the most convincing evidence is that many Old Testament passages, talking about Yaweh (God), are interpreted by the New Testament authors as being about Jesus! Compare the following passages, and decide for yourself:

    And that is just the tip of the iceberg. As Jesus demonstrated to his own disciples, all of Scripture, New and Old Testament, points to Jesus as the fulfillment of God's masterplan to save his people (see Luke 24:25-27 and John 5:39-47). But I'm not finished yet. The New Testament authors not only demonstrate that the Old Testament speaks about Jesus, they also assert that Old Testament passages were inspired by Jesus! Take a look at Hebrews 2:12-13, Hebrews 10:5-7, and 1 Peter 1:11. Jesus is the author, the one speaking through these passages - despite the fact that he wasn't even born when they were written! This clashes directly with the idea that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), unless we acknowledge that Jesus is, in some unfathomable sense, God himself. Note that authorship of Scripture is also attributed to the Holy Spirit in - Mark 12:26, 1 Peter 1:11-12, Acts 28:26.

    1 John ? says that "God is love", describing the fact that love is an intrinsic characteristic of God, something that defines his very nature. In fact, love is defined by God, not the other way around! So consider this: if God is not a Trinity, if he is just a singular person, then how can love be intrinsic to his nature? Before God created the world, and before he created heaven and the angels, he was love. He was love before anything else existed. But how can love have any meaning unless there is someone to love? Love is not self-centred, it is other-person centred. So unless there was another eternal being present who could receive God's love, the statement "God is love" makes no sense. But John 1:1-3 gives us the answer: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." From the very start of time (see v3 - 'beginning' here means before any created things had been made. This includes the angels.), Jesus was with God and God was loving Jesus, thus allowing John to declare "God is love"!

    And last of all, I want to highlight the central tenant of Jesus and his disciple's teaching - that we must follow, serve, and obey Jesus as our Lord, in order to be saved and counted as children of God. Unlike other prophets who always pointed away from themselves, and told people to follow God, Jesus instead told us to follow him. No matter how little we understand the Trinity (I certainly don't), it is crystal clear from the Scriptures that we are to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), just as the apostles did. When we do this, we are also glorifying God at the same time! (John 15:7-8)

    If we are to truly believe the Scriptures as God's revelation to us, then we must be prepared to believe what they say about him, no matter how difficult or confusing. If it is true, then it's worth believing. I sincerely hope I have helped you to not only draw nearer to the truth, but also to have an ongoing committment to seeking out the truth no matter what the cost. "If you are really my disciples", says Jesus, "you will hold to my teaching. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

    These are just some of many reasons why Jesus must be God, even though we will never understand exactly how or why. The best way for you to make up your own mind about Jesus is to explore the Bible for yourself, and see whether or not Jesus displayed the characteristics of God, cloaked behind his humanity. The place to start is with the four gospel accounts of Jesus' life. When Thomas saw Jesus risen, he could only respond "my Lord and my God". Who do you say he is?

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