Jesus is God
Anyone interested in learning more about the historical Person, Jesus, ought to turn first to the direct information about Him found in Sacred Scripture. The New Testament was composed by men who either directly knew Him, or who were discipled by those who directly knew Him. So it only makes sense to go there first.
Every major religion tries to fit Jesus somehow into their worldview, because His impact in human history and in the hearts and consciences of men is so evident and obvious. However, Jesus only founded one Church. He taught one Religion. And so, again, we should go to the Bible first to see what it says about Him. And to see what He Himself directly had to say. What a Muslim or a Hindu or a New Ager or a Mormon thinks is irrelevant. What matters is what Jesus had to say, and what His own disciples said about Him.
With that in mind, let us turn to some relevant passages where we learn that Jesus is truly God.
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us).
Taken at face value, the passage reveals, from Heaven's perspective (since this is a direct quote from the Archangel Gabriel) that Jesus shall be called God With Us. Not God's representative, or merely God's prophet, but literally God With Us. Because Jesus truly is "God with us."
Matthew 13:15 "For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them."
The interesting thing with citations like this is that Jesus is taking a passage from the Old Testament (Isaiah 6:9-10) which is speaking about God, and He applies it directly to Himself. This demonstrates the truth concerning His equality with God the Father. There is an even more fascinating application from Isaiah 6.
In Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah writes, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple." Notice how he says he "saw the Lord." Now, compare this passage side by side with John 1:18 which states, "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known."
Did you catch that? Isaiah says he saw God. John says, "No one has ever seen God." Is this a contradiction? Far from it. This is a powerful revelation right before our eyes. When Isaiah saw God in all His glory, he was seeing the pre-incarnate Jesus, God the Son. We know this because John says, "the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him [the Father] known." So in other words, no one has ever seen God the Father. However, God the Son, who is Jesus Christ, has revealed the Father. This means that when Isaiah saw God, he was not seeing God the Father; rather, he was seeing God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Of course, right in that same chapter of John, in the very first verse of the first chapter of his Gospel, John 1:1, we get the most explicit proof in all of Scripture: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word became flesh (John 1:14), so of course the Word is Jesus Christ. This means that Jesus was in the beginning, He was with God the Father, and He was truly God.
In John 5:17, Our Lord says, "My Father is working still, and I am working." In verse 18, we are told, "This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God."
This is also telling. The Jews were aware that Jesus was making Himself equal to God. Of course, He does not correct them, because He is truly God. The reason why they made this connection is because essentially what Jesus is saying is that the Father is working through Him. The phrasing Jesus uses here was understood immediately by His hearers. He was essentially saying that His work and the Father's work are identical because they are both one. This is why the Jews accuse Him (correctly) of claiming equality with the Father.
This backs up Our Lord's statement in John 10:30 where He clearly said, "I and the Father are one." And again, the Jews catch this immediately. In verse 33, "You, being a man, make yourself God."
Twice in John 8, we get another clear and explicit admission concerning Jesus' identity. In verse 24, "You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he." And then in verse 58, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." This hearkens back to Exodus 3:14, where God tells Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you." In Greek, "I am" from John's account is egō eimi. In Exodus 3:14, in the Hebrew, it is rendered as ’eh-yeh. In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, God's name in Exodus 3:14 is rendered ego eimi ho on. Thus, Jesus is taking the Divine Name and applying it to Himself.
The rest of the biblical testimony confirms this divine revelation of Jesus. St. Thomas calls Him, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). St. Paul says, "Our great God and Savior" (Titus 2:13). St. Peter writes, "Our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:1). St. John makes this bold statement: "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." Grammatically, John is naming "his Son Jesus Christ" as the "true God and eternal life."
An even more stunning admission comes from God the Father Himself in Hebrews 1:8: But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom.” This is fascinating. God the Father's own assessment of the identity of the Son is "O God." This means that the Father names Jesus as God.
St. Paul writes in Colossians 2:9, "For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily." Can Sacred Scripture be any more clear? The whole fulness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. This statement makes absolutely no sense if Jesus is just a mere man or prophet or wise sage. If the fulness of deity dwells in Him bodily, that literally only means one thing. Jesus is God.
We now delve a step further and note that God alone is named as the creator of Heaven and Earth. Isaiah 44:24 says: Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth — Who was with me?” And yet, Jesus is also named as the creator in Colossians 1:16, "For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities — all things were created through him and for him."
We see in Apocalypse 5:13 that both the Father and the Lamb receive worship in Heaven. "And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!"
This is further echoed in Apocalypse 7:10-11, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.
The Apocalypse names Jesus as "the first and the last" (1:17), "the Alpha and Omega... the beginning and the end" (22:13). Now listen to what God says in Isaiah 44:6, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." So what does this tell us about Jesus? Jesus is God. Of course, passages like this can only be harmonized in Trinitiarian theology, which is why so many get this wrong, because they do not understand the dogma of the Trinity. Three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) that are co-equal and co-eternal, with one substance (God).
Isaiah again spoke of this when he prophecied, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given... and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). The child being spoken of is the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior, who is Jesus. And He will be called Mighty God and even Everlasting Father, showing His equality with God the Father.
Of course, this also carries over into the Patristic era. St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, writes, "Believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead." Another disciple of St. John, St. Ignatius of Antioch, also writes, "By the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God." He further notes, "There is only one physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, God in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then beyond it, Jesus Christ our Lord." St. Justin Martyr writes, "The Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God."
On and on it goes. There is much more that could be written, but this suffices to show the truth about the identity of Jesus Christ. The evidence is clear and overwhelming: Jesus is God.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.
