Is Jesus God

Biblegems #111

Question: It is clear that Jesus was equal in position to God—but chose to be the lesser. Where do we get the concept that Jesus is God, in the personal sense? They rightly seem to be two different personal entities: What passages show that God and Jesus are “the same?”

This is a great question that gets at the very nature of the Trinity. At issue are two aspects of Jesus’ relationship to God: His personhood, and His nature.

God Is One

One of the most fundamental teachings of Scripture is that God is One:

         Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

         Rom. 3:30 …there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Jesus Is God

Even though God is one, the Gospel of John opens with a declaration that Jesus is God:

         John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Beauty of this passage is that Jesus, the Word, is declared to be God, and yet He is also declared to be with God.

In Revelation 1:8 and 21:6 God the Father calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end;” yet in Revelation 22:13 Jesus says of Himself that He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the First and the last the Beginning and the End.” In other words, He is God.

Three Persons—One God

The Bible teaches that God the Father, God the Spirit and God the Son are each distinct personalities within the one God. Consider the following passage:

         Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30). Here Jesus identifies Himself as God, but also as a distinct person (“I”) in relation to “the Father.” Jesus not only saw no contradiction here, but He emphasized the truth that God by His very nature is a plurality of persons. In His nature, Jesus is one with God. This is precisely what Paul teaches in Philippians:

         Phil. 2:5-7 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Notice that Jesus is described here as being one with God in His “nature,” while on the other hand He is described as acting as an individual person who “made himself nothing.”

God is a communal being. He has conversation, love and fellowship within Himself. We see this in action in passages like…

         Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…

         Who is God speaking to? God the Father is conversing with the other two persons of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit and the Son—who share His very nature as God.

God is unique. He is complete in Himself. There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 5:48, Matthew 28:19).

What Jesus Didn't Know

Biblegems #93

Question: If Jesus is God, why did Jesus not know the "day and the hour" of His Return, even though God did? Matt. 24:36

Why Jesus didn’t know the day or hour, even though God did, is a fair question. After all, God is omniscient (He knows all things), therefore Jesus—if He is God— would also be expected to be omniscient. Right?

No, not exactly.

The Scripture is clear that Jesus and God are one being:

         John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

         John 10:30 I and the Father are one.

         John 8:58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

The Scripture also makes it clear that within that unity God exists in three persons—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and that there is a one-another relationship, love and deference that goes on continually between these three persons in One God. The very verse in John that declares that Jesus (the Word) “was God” also says that “the Word was with God.” Likewise, when Jesus says in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one,” He is stating that the “One” being who is God is also a relationship between persons—the Father and Jesus.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is also portrayed by Jesus as sharing in this divine union. Notice in John 14:18, when Jesus speaks of the coming Holy Spirit, He claims to be that Spirit:

         John 14:16-18 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

When Jesus entered the human race He intentionally deprived Himself of certain divine attributes, such as omniscience and omnipresence. It was necessary that the Savior of mankind come in the sinless purity of His God nature, while at the same time be perfectly human, yet without sin.

         Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

Jesus did not know the day or the hour of His Return because He intentionally surrendered His ability to know all things in order to become like us and have to depend upon God for everything. He yielded His position of equality with God so that He could identify completely with us and offer His life in exchange for sinful mankind, a perfect sacrifice:

         Phil. 2:5b-8  …Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!