Is Jesus God?
First Things First
Is Jesus God?
This question lies at the heart of the Christian faith. Its answer distinguishes true Christians from all other religious devotees on earth and in the history of the earth.
A genuine Christian does not answer this question flippantly. A sincere Christian will face it down, stare it in the eyes, and probe it deeply through meditation, study, and relentless pursuit of Truth. One cannot claim Christ’s name without coming to terms with this most essential question.
Follower or opponent, there is nothing casual about one’s position with Christ. There is no middle ground. The question pierces a dark world of injustice, war, and corruption with words written in flame.
Is Jesus God?
Anyone who carries shame knows that it will take much more than the power of a mere mortal to set her free. Self-help programs are temporary at best. Good friends offer support but they don’t have the power to change a heart that believes she is intrinsically bad. Someone greater, someone higher, someone with authority and superior knowledge of who we were made to be, what we are truly worth, must step in to abolish shame. But who is equal to this task?
Is Jesus God?
If He is, the world of shame tilts on its axle and with all the thunder of heaven what shame has built begins to crumble, to disintegrate, to disappear before the might and power of the Savior. Captives walk free, alert, awakened from their shame slumber, fully seeing who they are for the first time. Who God is.
See For Yourself
Is Jesus God?
If you consider yourself a Christian but are not sure about the Biblical answer to this question, read on and examine the evidence. Make your answer certain and sure. Never doubt again. Rise up strong and armed with what the Bible says, not merely what you’ve heard, experienced, or believed in a moment of exultant revelation. We are meant to not only experience God’s love and power but also to equip our minds with knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 1:7). Together, His power, love, and truth serve as spiritual triage, revealing our urgent need for redemption.
If you are not a Christian, read on and understand the heart of the matter in Christianity. Lay aside your presuppositions, investigate what the Bible says for itself, then take your position. Follower or opponent, examine the claims firsthand.
When we take time to look deeply at the Bible, it will speak for itself into our inmost parts (Psalm 51:6). The Bible commends itself to every person’s conscience (Hebrews 4:12). Its readers are faced with the crucial question: Is Jesus God?
Other questions are secondary. Can Jesus remove our shame? Can He forgive our sin? Can He establish justice? Can He bring peace?
All these hinge on whether or not He is God. If He is not, then Jesus is no more than another good man with nice teaching that we can add to the mix of all our other efforts to overcome sin and handle our shame. This self-help Jesus cannot save.
If He is God, on the other hand, there is hope after all.
The Word of God
In John 1:1-5 we find an intriguing statement about who Jesus is.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5, NIV)
Muslims and Christians agree that Jesus is called the Word of God. Both the Bible and the Qur’an call Him the Word. (See Qur’an 3:45, 4:171).
What does it mean to be the Word of God?
In John 1, Jesus is called logos, “word”, the term used by Greeks to refer to the governing power behind all things. Jews used logos to refer to God.
John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the one who reclined against Him at the table, the one whom Jesus asked from the cross to take over the care of His mother (which from that day forward he did), begins his account of the Messiah by establishing His eternal state of being. John is saying in essence: In the beginning, Jesus was the governing power of all things; from the beginning, He was with God; He was God. He was not created; He is the creator of all things.
To Be and To Become
There are two main Greek verbs used in John 1 to describe Jesus’s being. They compare and contrast what Jesus had always been and what He became at his incarnation.
The first, ēn is the imperfect of emir, “to be”. Ēn can be translated as “had been.” John uses ēn every time he refers to Jesus’s eternal state of being (vv. 1,2,4,9,10,15). John 1:1 literally states, “God was the Word”: “theos (God) ēn ho logos”.
The second verb John uses to describe Jesus’s being is egeneto, meaning to become. Egeneto refers specifically to becoming something that one was not before. Jesus became a physical being, that which He was not before.
Jesus had been, and also became.
According to John, Jesus was God. He had always been God, and God became man.
The theme of John’s gospel is belief: belief that Jesus is, indeed, God.
Before You Leap
In the Qur’an, Jesus alone is called the “Word of God”. This common fact between Islam and Christianity can lead to powerful interfaith conversations about our key question.
Is Jesus God?
But before we jump ahead and discuss this with others, we must examine it for ourselves.
Elisabeth Elliot famously said, “Don’t go out carrying your Bible if you haven’t cleaned under your bed.” In other words, before we rush forth to urge our Muslim friends to examine who Jesus is, let us examine well for ourselves. Know what the Bible says.
Is Jesus God?
We will find in our quest that Jesus is, indeed, God. And like a girl in love for the first time, our souls will long for more of Him.
Once we settle this issue, we can move on to secondary, burning questions. It might surprise us to find they are not as urgent as they once seemed before we firmed up our understanding of Jesus’ deity.
Because if He is God, then all things are possible. Nothing is impossible.
Shame can be abolished. Sin can be forgiven. We are saved. We are loved!
Read Part Two, which examines Jesus’s authority to remove shame ›