A Short Essay on the Deity of Christ
Jesus Who?
Jesus Christ, whose mother was named Mary, step-son to a carpenter named Joseph, and from an unpopular and unappreciated town called Nazareth. This was not only a real person who lived two thousand years ago; he is the eternal God. The main thing we must understand about Jesus is that he did not become alive when he was born. He has always existed; no one created him because he is the creator. John 1:14 (ESV) says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. The Word, also known as Jesus, became flesh. He existed as God the Son, but he took on flesh so that he could become like mankind. Paul explains to the church in Rome, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). The Bible does not say anywhere that Jesus was created, rather, the Father begat the Son. Or as my brother Daniel Garcia commented, Jesus became like man and lived with us so that he could die as us and conquer our sins forever. Robert Letham (2004) writes, “The Resurrection discloses that Jesus is Lord, and from there the deity of Christ becomes the supreme truth of the Gospel” (p.35). In Christ’s death, his deity is confirmed. The Father raised the Son from the dead in approval and declaration. Paul writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15;14). It all boils down to the reality of whether or not Christ is who he says he is and did what he said he did. If not, we believe a lie that will secure our eternal damnation. However, if Jesus really is God, we need to trust in him, which will secure our eternal life.
The Claims of Christ Critiqued
Robert Bowman (2015) comments on Bart Ehrman’s book How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, “Ehrman's thesis is that Jesus was not viewed, by himself or his disciples, as in any sense divine during his lifetime, but that belief in his divinity arose almost immediately after his disciples had visions of Jesus that they interpreted as meaning that God had raised him bodily from the dead. According to Ehrman, the earliest Christians thought Jesus had been exalted by God to a divine status at his resurrection” (para. 2). This essay will give substantial biblical evidence that Jesus Christ not only claimed to be God but that He is the God of all eternity who was God before he was born and remains God after his death and resurrection. Supplementing Christ’s own claims of deity, the biblical authors like John, Paul, and the author of Hebrews spoke of Jesus’ divinity. And to add to an already impressive list, God the Father affirms Christ’s deity.
The Father and His Son
The first example that is rather convincing of the deity of Christ is the unique relationship Jesus had with the Father. Luke records a story of Jesus, as a young boy, at the Temple in Jerusalem. “After three days they found [Jesus] in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). When his parents addressed this, Jesus responded by saying, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Even as a young boy, he was aware that God the Father in heaven, is also the eternal Father of the Son. That would have been wonderful by itself, however the real power comes when the Father reciprocates. He said, “Behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” (Matthew 3:17). When Jesus was getting baptized, the Holy Spirit and the Father testified through showing up and the Father spoke audibly and directly. The deity of Christ is affirmed by God the Father through their eternal relationship as God.
The Claims of Christ
Another persuasive point regarding the deity of Christ is that he claimed to be God. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The scandal of this claim is seen a little clearer under the Greek of “I am” which originally is ἐγὼ εἰμί, or ego eimi. The late great theologian and pastor R.C. Sproul (2009) comments, “Here perhaps nowhere else in Scripture Jesus claimed for Himself equality with the Father by clearly using the divine name that God revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:14). Jesus identified Himself as eternal deity, declaring that He was alive as the second person of the Trinity before Abraham was born” (p. 155). When Jesus said this, the meaning was not lost on the Jews. They clearly understood what he was saying. This can be gathered from their response. John 8:59 says, “They picked up stones to throw at him”. After hearing Jesus claim to be God, the God who revealed Himself to Moses by saying “I AM WHO I AM” in Exodus 3:14, they were ready to execute Jesus by stoning for blasphemy. However, the Son of God cannot be charged with blasphemy if indeed his claims are true.
Thomas the Blasphemer?
A third support for Jesus’ deity would be the response of one of his most skeptical disciples, Thomas. When the disciples were together, in awe of their Savior’s resurrection, Thomas, who earned the epithet Doubting Thomas, said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). It seems as though his mind was made up. However, when Jesus reveals himself to Thomas, exposes his pierced wrists and side, and commands him to believe, Thomas cries out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). This is remarkable, especially when considering that these Jewish men would have been well aware of such a blasphemous claim. However, Thomas realized in that moment that it would have been blasphemy to not call Jesus God, as he truly is.
It’s in the Bible
Finally, a fourth and most explicit reason for Christ’s deity is that the Bible says it plainly. John begins his gospel account saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Before the beginning began, the Word, who we will later discover is Jesus in John 1:14, existed. He existed with God and existed as God. The Bible calls Jesus God, plain and simple. Evidence of Christ’s deity and the community of the Trinity. The author of Hebrews writes, “[Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). The Bible says that Jesus is the exact imprint of his nature. How could this be? Later in the same chapter, it says, “But of the Son [God the Father] says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8). Not only does some man claim Jesus to be God, but God the Father calls His Son God. Furthermore, Paul writes clearly, “For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus Christ is God, has always been God, and remains God now and forever.