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.

---

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.

Jesus: God or prophet?

Below is footage of a debate I put together from yesterday between apologist Jon Rittenhouse and Dr. Jamal Badawi, concerning the diety of Christ. Rittenhouse makes some great points about the claims Jesus made, the worship He received, and what others around Him understood of His claims. A lot of Rittenhouse's arguments are steeped in his firm knowledge and study of the Greek language (which is the language of the New Testament). Badawi's expertise is in the Quran, not the New Testament. However, when Badawi opposes the validity of Rittenhouse's claims and Greek scholarship (which are so thouroughly supported, it's embarrassing), he uses "Christian sources" in order to rebut them. These Christian sources include literature by the Watchtower Society.

The Legitimacy of New Testament Canon

During my year and a half working at an art institute, I was often faced with direct accusation against my Christianity, and most of them were founded on supposed problems with the Bible. We as evangelical Christians hold the Bible in high regard, and it is important for us to know for ourselves why Scripture holds true. It is not simply literature for the soul, but it is the very written Word of God, living and active in its content. One of the things that is often assaulted is the canonicity of Scripture, or the collection of chosen books.

Canon: noun
1. A general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
2. A collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine: the formation of the biblical canon.

Canon comes from the Greek word for reed, which was used as a measuring rod, and came to mean “standard.”

---

The need for canonicity was significant in the face of false teachings facing the early church by heretics such as Marcion in A.D. 140, and further attempts to squeeze in spurious writings in some Eastern churches. In addition, an edict of Diocletian (A.D. 303) called for the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. Christians needed to know which books were worth dying for.

It is of utmost importance to regard canon as a tool ordained by God, and used by the church. We did not invent it, but rather, it has been there all along. We do not dictate the canon of scripture, it instructs us. We handle it.

Right now, we are looking at New Testament canon. As stated earlier, there was developing a dire need to separate the God-ordained Scripture from the imposters. The questions arise, “How was it determined which authors were legit?” “How do we know so-and-so writer was authoring Scripture but this one was not?”

The ultimate (and simple) answer lies in Jesus Christ. Because we know that Jesus is God, we know that what He says is truth. It was Jesus Himself that decided on the writers of the New Testament (the Bible is after all, a revelation of Him), and He gave us guidelines for determining the legitimacy of the authors:
-First of all, Jesus made it clear that the New Testament would only be authored by his chosen apostles, and that they would be equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit to do so. He did this when He instructed them saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
-He gave the apostles His stamp of approval when He told them “It is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” and that the “Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
-We know what the requirements are for being an apostle, because Jesus gives an examination by stating that it was those who walked with Him, and were witnesses to the things that He did, including especially the resurrection. Peter (Jesus’ right-hand man) put forth specific requirements, when Joseph and Matthias were considered for apostleship. They were to be men that had accompanied the twelve from Jesus’ baptism by John to when He was taken up from them. And they HAD to be witnesses to His resurrection. This was of utmost importance. We can see how imperative this was, as the resurrection of a dead man was a strong case to make to unbelievers, and needed to be attested to. As atheist Carl Sagan would declare, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Paul who saw the risen Lord, is one of these apostles, and here he also affirms the canonicity of the New Testament. He points out that the revelation and mystery of Christ, has been revealed to His holy apostles (of which Paul is one) and prophets in the Spirit. He also tells us that while Christ is the cornerstone of the church, it was the apostles that the church was built on. We can also see evidence of the Holy Spirit upon this, as people were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching.
I have heard leaders and teachers say that they are apostles of God, but this is contrary to Scripture. The Word of God tells us that He gave some as apostles, but not all are apostles. It is impossible for any today to become apostles, given the requirements of the first chapter of Acts. These are false apostles.

The Apocrypha is a collection of 14 books of Jewish history and tradition that the Roman Catholic church decided to include into their version of the Bible at the Council of Trent in 1545. Why don’t Christians consider it to be canon? Simple…
-The Jews never even considered it to be Scripture, and never included it in their bible
-The acceptance it did enjoy was only local and temporary
-No major church council included it Scripture
-It contains errors
-Neither Jesus nor the New Testament quoted it even thought they quoted the Old Testament hundreds of times.
-The Christian churches that eventually accepted it, did not until many centuries later.
-Many of the Apocryphal writings were written after the end of the first century, including the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (A.D. 108), the Didache (A.D. 100-120), the seven Epistles of Ignatius (A.D. 110), the Second Epistle of Clement (A.D. 120-140), the Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 115-140), the Apocalypse of Peter (A.D. 150), and the Epistle of the Laodiceans (4th century?).

The church preserved the whole New Testament
Luke refers to possibly Matthew and Mark.
Paul quotes the Gospel of Luke.
Peter refers to a collection of Paul’s letters.
Jude had access to Peter’s second letter.
John’s book of Revelation was circulated throughout Asia Minor.

The church fathers of the second to fourth century made some 36,289 citations from the New Testament, including every verse except for eleven of them!

Summary
And so we know that Jesus Christ limited the New Testament writings to A.D. 50 – 90 by the choosing of His apostles who walked with him during His ministry, and were all witnesses to His death and resurrection. New Testament writings HAD to have come from the first century, and by those with divine credentials. These were the disciples, including Paul.