READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
February 4, 2020
Could you please give me an overview of the biblical teaching of Jesus’s Deity that I can use when I speak to Jehovah’s Witnesses who come to my door?
Christ’s Deity, Part 1
Look back at pp. 184-185 in the Ask Pastor Dave e-blasts document at my Crucial Questions regarding Christ’s Deity.
The following are direct references to Christ’s Deity
• John 1:1 (1:14 — the Word is Jesus) – Jesus is eternal, separate from the Father, and fully God.
• John 5:17-18 – Son of God equals God; His relations to the Law was the same as the Father’s relationship. The Jewish people knew He was claiming to be God. In 5:19-29 He clarifies His relationship with His Father.
• John 8:58 – it is clear from 8:59 that the Jewish people knew that He was claiming to be God.
• John 10:30 (see also 10:33); 14:23 – is one in action with His Father (Constable). It is obvious from 10:31 that the Jewish people knew that He was claiming to be God.
• John 20:28 – Jesus never corrected Thomas when he called Him God and worshiped Him.
• Romans 9:5 – Christ is God over all.
• Phil 2:6 – Jesus existed eternally in God’s form. Here, the term “form” indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus, the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God. In the context this phrase “existed in the form of God” refers to His deity because of the parallel with the phrase “equality of God.”
• Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 – According to the “Granville Sharp” rule (first articulated in 1798) in NT Greek, both “God” and “Saviour” refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. The King James Version translation “our great God and our Saviour” is incorrect. Fortunately, the New King James Translation corrected this error.
• Heb 1:3 – God the Father made the world through the Son, the Son radiates the divine glory, possesses the same nature as does God, and upholds and preserves the material universe.
• Hebrews 1:8 – Christ’s throne is eternal and immutable (cf. Psalm 45:6-7). He is superior to the angels because He is God.
In tomorrow’s post, I’ll list indirect references to Christ’s Deity.
