Jesus is God

Biblical evidence proves Jesus is God. Examine scriptural claims of His divine names, attributes, offices, and worship.

The Divinity of Jesus Christ

1. Direct Statements Calling Jesus God

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

Proposition: The Eternal Word, who became flesh as Jesus Christ, is explicitly called God.

The plain statement of Scripture leaves no room for doubt. The Word is not merely a creation of God, nor just a reflection of God, but is Himself God.

Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus accepted the direct title of God from His disciple without correction.

If Jesus were not God, it would have been awful blasphemy for Him to accept this worship and title. Good men and angels in Scripture always recoil in horror when people try to worship them. Yet, Jesus gently rebuked Thomas only for being slow to believe the truth of who He was.

waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ is explicitly named our great God and Savior.

Paul does not separate God and the Savior here; he identifies Jesus Christ as the manifestation of the glory of our great God.

But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom." (Hebrews 1:8, ESV)

Proposition: God the Father directly addresses the Son as God.

Here we have the testimony of God the Father concerning the identity of the Son. The Father calls the Son, "God." There can be no higher authority than this.

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 9:5, ESV)

Proposition: Christ is declared to be God over all, blessed forever.

2. Divine Attributes Belonging to Jesus Christ

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Matthew 18:20, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ is omnipresent.

Only God can be present everywhere at once. Jesus promises to be personally present wherever His people gather across the entire earth simultaneously.

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ is omniscient.

The Scriptures teach elsewhere that God alone knows the hearts of all the children of mankind. Yet, the plain text states that Jesus possessed this complete, innate knowledge of the inner hearts of all men.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ is omnipotent.

The Son of God sustains the entire physical universe by His own powerful word. Such infinite, sustaining power belongs exclusively to Deity.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ is immutable and eternal.

Created beings change and age. Only God is eternal and unchangeable. Jesus Christ is declared to be exactly the same throughout all eternity.

3. Divine Offices Predicated of Jesus Christ

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16, ESV)

Proposition: The Son of God is the Creator of all things.

Jesus is not a part of the created order; He is the one who made all things visible and invisible. He cannot be a creature if He created all things.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ... "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:5, 7, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ exercises the sole prerogative of God to forgive sins.

The scribes were entirely correct in their theology that God alone can forgive sins. Their error was failing to recognize that God in the flesh was standing right in front of them.

4. Old Testament Statements About Jehovah Applied to Jesus Christ

A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3, ESV)

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" (Mark 1:2-3, ESV)

Proposition: The messenger was sent to prepare the way for Jehovah God, and the New Testament writers plainly declare this was fulfilled in John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the way is prepared for Jehovah. In the New Testament, it is Jesus who arrives in fulfillment of that exact prophecy.

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god." (Isaiah 44:6, ESV)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 22:13, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ claims the exact, exclusive title of Jehovah.

Jehovah declares there is no God besides Him, and that He alone is the first and the last. Jesus confidently takes this exact, exclusive title for Himself.

But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Isaiah 8:13-14, ESV)

and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. (1 Peter 2:8, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus is the Lord of Hosts who became a stone of stumbling.

The Old Testament explicitly identifies Jehovah of Hosts as the stone of stumbling. The New Testament apostles clearly and without hesitation identify Jesus Christ as that very stone.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. (Joel 2:32, ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ... For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9, 13, ESV)

Proposition: To call upon the name of Jehovah for salvation is to call upon Jesus Christ as Lord.

Paul directly applies the Old Testament promise of salvation through calling upon Jehovah to the specific act of confessing Jesus Christ as Lord.

5. Divine Worship Given to Jesus Christ

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." (Hebrews 1:6, ESV)

Proposition: God the Father commands the angels to worship the Son.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13, ESV)

Proposition: Jesus Christ receives the exact same universal worship as God the Father.

Every created thing in the universe is seen offering the exact same degree of worship, blessing, and honor to the Lamb as they do to Him who sits on the throne.

Summary Proposition:

By the direct application of Divine names, the manifestation of Divine attributes, the performance of Divine offices, the direct fulfillment of Jehovah's Old Testament descriptions, and the reception of Divine worship, the plain text of Scripture proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is God.

To deny the Deity of Jesus Christ is to reject the overwhelming, straightforward testimony of God's Word. When confronted with these plain statements, the only proper, biblical response is to bow with Thomas and confess Him as, "My Lord and my God!"