Foundation Topic

Is Jesus God?

The Bible’s answer is “yes.” The reason that’s hard for us to grasp is we know him as a historical man. The Bible says “yes” to this reality too. But why is it so important for the biblical story and for your life today that Jesus is both God and man? The Bible doesn't offer Jesus' simultaneous deity and humanity as a concept to grasp, but as a comfort—as the foundation of our hope.

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How Do We Know Jesus Is God?

Have you ever been in this situation—your friends are sharing opinions about a person you’ve never met, or a movie you’ve never seen, or book you’ve never read? You might feel left out. You hear snippets of what they say and want to form opinions, but you get frustrated not knowing whose judgment to trust, and you wish to break out of your ignorance.

We don’t want you to have this experience with Jesus. Tons of smart people, skeptical people, and religious people talk on and on and on about the question, is Jesus God?

We suspect that you sincerely want to know whether Jesus is God—that’s why you’re reading this.

You won’t find the answer to that question from Christian apologists (not people who say sorry but people who defend our faith). You won’t find it in tweets or long debates on YouTube. You won’t even find it entirely on this page. You have to open the Bible for yourself because that’s where we find Jesus’ own claims to be God. Otherwise, you’ll just be overhearing conversation about Jesus without encountering him for yourself.

It’s one thing to hear someone else answer a question. It’s another thing to make those conclusions yourself.

Where Do I Find the Answer?  

If you really want to know about someone these days, you research it or you “Facebook stalk” that person. Our guess is you wouldn’t go asking other people what they think about that person. Instead, you would take a look at that person’s own self-disclosure, whether on social media, their resume, or at their workplace.

No reasonable person debates that Jesus actually lived. He existed, historically. The self-disclosure we have of him are four first-century biographies written by his followers. Fascinatingly, they’re the most accurate ancient historical documents of all time—they’re more reliable than the stuff you read about Caesar in grade school.

The first book for you to read about Jesus would be John. It’s one of these biographies or “gospels.” Know what’s awesome? Two thousand years ago, John anticipated your question. In his account about Jesus, John wrote, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31 NIV).

Read John, then Matthew, Mark, and Luke—they are all in the Bible. Ask yourself as you read, “Is Jesus God?” How does he go about claiming to be God? Does his life match up with his claim? And if he really is God, what are the implications? How would that reality affect your life?

Why Would I Want the Answer?

Maybe that seems like a lot of unnecessary work to do if we could just give you “our reasons” for why Jesus is God. We could do that and answer the question for you, but that won’t do you any good. Here’s why. At the end of the day, you have to answer that question.

We often hear in society that truth doesn’t matter or doesn’t exist, but let’s be real here. One day we’re going to die (100% of people die!) and something is going to be true. Everyone can’t be right. There can’t be the God of the Bible and reincarnation and nihilism… someone’s got to be right. The task is seeing which worldview fits best with reality. If Jesus is God it’s a game changer for life.

And we care about your life! We know that you reading this are a real person, with meaningful life on earth ordained by God, and an eternity ahead of you.

Jesus is not only God to us, he’s everything the Bible says that he is. We have come to know him in our experience to be the same man the Bible reveals him to be. And we want you to know him too.

This question is actually one of the most important questions in the whole Bible, because our worldview hinges on that question. It’s also the most important question in your life—Is Jesus God?

"This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy." (1 John 1:2-4 NLT)

by Bibles.net 

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

Theme Verse

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

JOHN 1:14 ESV

How Do We Know Jesus is God?
Article: 6 Min

Where Does the Bible Say that Jesus Is God?

by Bibles.net
Infographic

Who Says That 
Jesus Is God?

Here is a list of people in the Bible who identify Jesus, the Messiah, as God, pointing us to where in the Bible we learn that Jesus is God. Feel free to download or share this graphic!

Verse
Colossians 1:15-20 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Definition

Incarnation

While “incarnation” (a term of Latin origin, meaning “becoming-in-flesh”) is not itself a biblical word, it conveys a biblical truth—the truth which finds classic expression in John 1:14, “the Word became flesh.”

by F.F. Bruce

Image

in Christ
all the
fullness of
the Deity
lives in bodily form.

Colossians 2:9 NIV
Quote

If God Really Became a Man...

If God became incarnate, what kind of man would he be?
If God became a man we would expect his human life to be sinless. Jesus was.
If God were to become a man we would expect him to be a model of purity. Jesus was.
If God were a man we would expect his words to be the greatest ever spoken. Jesus' words were.
If God were to become a man we would expect him to exert a profound power over human personality. Jesus did.
If God were to become a man we would expect some supernatural acts. And Jesus did them.
If God were to become a man we would expect him to manifest the love of God. And Jesus did in dying on the cross.

by Bernard Ramm | Source
Quote

Although the word
does not explicitly
occur in Scripture,
the church has used
the term incarnation
to refer to the fact
that Jesus was God
in human flesh.

Infographic

The Athanasian Creed

The Athanasian Creed summarizes what the Bible teaches about Jesus being both fully God and fully man. We have made a graphic so you can keep a portion of the Athanasian Creed on your phone as your wallpaper or screensaver!

Quote

The doctrine of
the incarnation
is beyond human
understanding
but it is not beyond

human acceptance.

John Lennox
Quote

Five Ways the New Testament Says that Jesus Is God

Let me suggest five ways in which the New Testament confirms the deity of Christ, so that you can check it out for yourself.

  1. First, the New Testament, on at least nine occasions, directly and explicitly asserts the divinity of Jesus Christ.
  2. Second, the New Testament teaches that Jesus is Christ, by ascribing the attributes of God to Jesus.
  3. Third, the New Testament argues for the deity of Christ by applying the names of God in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ. 
  4. Fourth, the New Testament shows that Jesus is divine by applying to Jesus Christ the works and activities that the Old Testament says are only the works and activities of God. 
  5. Finally, the New Testament shows us that Jesus is God by showing, over and over, that nice Jewish boys who knew that you didn't worship anything that wasn't God, fell down on their faces and worshiped Jesus Christ--John and Peter and Paul--who had been reared on the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” and never did it enter their minds that they were in the slightest way breaking the first commandment, but rather fulfilling it to its fullness. 

In all these ways the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is divine.

by Ligon Duncan | Source
Verse
1 Corinthians 15:13-14 ESV

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Why Did God Become Man?
Messages: 40 Min

The Case for Christ

by Lee Strobel

Image

For there is
one God,
and there is
one mediator
between God and men,
the man
Christ Jesus

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV
Verse
Hebrews 2:17 ESV

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Verse
Hebrews 4:15 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Messages: 36 Min

Why God Became a Man

by Mark Dever

Article: 3 Min

The Significance
of the Sinlessness of Jesus

Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus is sinless, and meditated on what that looked like in Jesus' life or what that means for you?

by Nicholas Batzig at Ligonier Ministries

Image

God made
him who had no sin
to be sin for us,
so that in him
we might
become
the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
Verse
Romans 8:3 NIV

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

Books
Books