The God-man (The Deity of Jesus Christ)

Christianity teaches that Jesus is God. There are several objections to this claim; we will deal with four of those objections here

Objection 1: Jesus was a prophet or good teacher.

Objection 2: Orthodox Christianity sprang "from the Nicene conference in 325 A.D., when it was decided by vote of the bishops that Jesus was God."

Objection 3: Verses speaking of Christ submitting to the Father, praying to the Father, and attributing to the Father more greatness seem to nullify His deity.

Objection 4: Jesus seems reluctant to be called God.

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These first two objection must maintain three presuppositions:

1. Jesus never claimed He was God
2. None of His followers ever claimed He was God
3. None of His enemies thought He was claiming to be God

Let’s address each of these assumptions…

JESUS DID CLAIM HIS OWN DEITY:

• He tells the Jews in defense of His authority, that "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working" (John 5:17-18).

The proper study of any literature tells us to exegete the meaning based off what the hearers in that culture understood Him to say…

It says very clearly in the next verse that "For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

• In John 8:58, Jesus says to the Jews, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."


Here, Jesus applies the Old Testament name of God that Yahweh used of Himself when Moses asked Him for His Name, to Himself (Ex 3:14). If there was any doubt of this, we but need to look to the listeners of that time to make note of their reaction. Remember, these were adult religious Jews who by the time they turned 13, memorized all of the Old Testament, and would have heard and discerned clearly what Jesus was implying if He claimed deity.

There reaction: "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple." Jews often stoned those accused of blasphemy. Why would they stone Him for this statement?

• A clearer example of this is in John 10:30-33, when He tells the Jews, "I and the Father are one."

This is a blatant claim to deity

Their response: They "picked up stones again to stone Him..." They stated, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
 The Jews also accuse Jesus of claiming to be God, as well as fully man. It wasn't unclear to them though they might disagree, in fact, they were going to murder Him for it, and eventually did.



• Jesus states in John's vision, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).

Interestingly, God the Father makes this claim several times:

• "I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He" (Is. 41:4).
• "I am the first and I am the last, and THERE IS NO GOD BESIDES ME" (Is. 44:6).
• "I am He, I am the first, I am also the last" (Is. 48:12).


JESUS WAS CALLED GOD OR WORSHIPED AS GOD BY:

• Isaiah (Is 9:6) His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

• Thomas (John 20:28) Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

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

• Peter (2 Peter 1:1) ...by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ

• John (John 1:1-2, 14) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

Who was the Word? Look at vs.14 --> And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

• The angels (Heb 1:6) He says, "AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM."

…Though it is strictly demanded by Jesus Himself "to worship the Lord Your God only"

 (Matt 4:10).

• God the Father! (Heb. 1:8) But of the Son {He says,} "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

Objection 3: Verses that speak of Christ submitting to the Father, praying to Him, or verses that speak of Him attributing the Father to be greater than Him nullify His deity.
For example:
• “And He went a little beyond {them,} and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” –Matt. 26:39
• "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” –John 14:28

But consider this:
This word [greater] is what is called a quantitative term,
not a qualitative term.

A quantitative term describes quantities, levels, positions, etc.

A qualitative term describes qualities, character, nature.

--If I was to say that there is a great amount of water in this cup,

....I would be speaking quantitatively.

--If I was to say that the water in this cup is great,

...I’m speaking qualitatively (because I’m describing the nature,
the quality of the drink...“it is great.”)

In other words, Jesus was NOT speaking about the nature of the Father being greater or better.

He was referring to His humanity, which carries along with it, some limitations. 

That's also a reason Jesus prayed to the Father.

Think about this:

If Jesus was God, why did He...

• Sleep? (Matt. 8:24)
• Eat? (Mark 2:15)
• Drink? (John 4:7)
• Battle anxiety? (Luke 22:44)
• DIE?? (Luke 23:46)

None of these things are needs or limitations that God the Father has, but remember that Jesus (while %100 God) was also %100 human too. And because of His human limitations, He needed to sleep, eat, drink, suffer, and die.

And because He was made in the likeness of men, He needed to pray too (Phil. 2:6-7).


Objection 4: Jesus seems reluctant to be called God.
For example: “As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”
–Mark 10:17-18

But Jesus IS good!

Consider His claim:
• "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
–John 10:11

Actually, He's a little more than good. He's perfect:

• “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” –Heb. 7:26

Jesus wasn't rebuking the young man for calling Him good. He was making sure that the kid new the connotations and truthfulness of the apparent flattery. He was implying Hid Godhood!

MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT…
Jesus is described as God by the testimony of Scripture:
• The very exact representation of the nature of God (Heb 1:3).
• The image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15)
• The maker of all things (Col. 1:16)
• Before all things (Col. 1:17)
• The beginning, itself (Col. 1:18)
• The sustainer of all things (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3)
• Unchangeable (Heb. 1:12)
• Eternal (Heb. 1:12)
• The first place in everything (Col. 1:18)
• The fullness of deity (Col. 2:9)
• The head over all rule and authority (Col. 2:10)
• The head of the church (Col. 1:18)
• The mystery (Col. 2:2)
• The treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3)
• The author and perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2)
• The One who makes holy (Heb. 2:11)
• He is the substance, or the reality (Col. 2:17)


Listen to this description by the Apostle John who saw Jesus in a vision:
{I saw} one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet {were} like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice {was} like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. (Rev. 1:13-16)

It’s no wonder that men who encountered Him fell down like dead men. 

John was in the presence of the powerful Son of God, and he attempts to stretch the limitations of his language to describe what Jesus was like. He basically states that Jesus' face was like a solar flare, the strength of the sun.

The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time!
http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/flare.htm

John uses a dramatic figure of speech to tell the Church that Jesus' is indescribably glorious!

Indeed, it's no wonder that John tells us later that Heaven "has no need for the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and it's lamp is the Lamb." 

(Rev. 22:5)

Christ is the center of Christianity, all else is circumference. –John Stott

Long live the King.

ad hominem

(Latin, “to the man”)
An argumentative tactic where a person fails to engage the substance of an argument, choosing instead to opt for a personal attack on the character of the one making the argument. A popular and humorous extreme of this would be to respond to someone by saying “Your a monkey’s uncle.” Another example might be saying “Your just a right-winged fundamentalist. How could you know what you are talking about?”1

This is a popular tactic you should be aware of when discussing an imperative issue. Sometimes someone with an opposing viewpoint will use an ad hominem argument. I was recently discussing a theological issue with someone who had strayed far from the truth of Scripture. This particular person's reaction to a very solid case of evidence was to point out my spelling mistakes!

While this is humorous, it is also important to remember that when you are wanting to help another person get back on track (theologically), you might have to remind them of what the issue is at hand.

For example, the validity of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When you are presenting evidence for the resurrection of Jesus for that person to observe, he/she may want to go on a tangent about how much trouble Christians have brought onto the world, or question the reliability of Scripture. These are UNRELATED to the issue! Gently and respectfully set aside a later time to discuss these issues, so that the evidence for the issue at hand (resurrection) can be reasoned with.

Stay on topic!!

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1.http://wordoftheday.reclaimingthemind.org/blogs/2008/06/24/ad-hominem/

The word "Trinity" is nowhere mentioned in the Bible...

One of the first objections I hear to the doctrine of the Trinity, by everyone from Bart Erhman to the Jehovah's Witnesses, is that the word Trinity isn't even spoken of in the Bible.

They're right.

And neither is the word Bible anywhere in the Bible.

Or omniscience.

Or the Incarnation (meaning God in the flesh).

And yet we teach all of these things, because the word form of these concepts do not need to be present in order for the truth of the concept to be clearly implied or spoken of in Scripture.

And it follows logically from the substantiated claims Jesus made about Himself, and the claims God makes about Himself, that the concept of Trinity is taught in the Bible.

Polygamy and the Bible

Does the Old Testament condone polygamy through instances of it in the lives of men like Abraham, Solomon, and David?

The answer is: "No," it does not.
The Old Testament and the New Testament are pretty straight forward on the structure of a relationship; it needs to be a covenantal marriage between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31). The Old Testament is even more direct with Solomon, when God previously prohibits the kings of Israel from "multiplying wives" for themselves (Deut. 17:17). We can also follow along the story of Abraham to see that he indeed departed from the will of God's plan when he disregarded the promise of a future Isaac, and took up Hagar as his wife to birth Ishmael. Even further, the New Testament not only reiterates this, but it reinforces this truth through Jesus' own words (see past NT references), and through the requirements of a church pastor, who must be the husband of "one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2).

Concerning the acts of polygamy in the OT, this is actually a beautiful thing about the Bible: it doesn't embellish or exaggerate the accounts of holy men of God. Rather, it shows them as the sinners they are. Even Abraham sinned. The Old Testament only record these sins without ever condoning them. In actually, it blatantly opposes them, and shows the characters as they really are: humans in need of a Savior.