WAS JESUS GOD?

It is strange, but some among us are contending that while on earth Jesus was nothing more than a man. Is such an idea supported by the teaching of the Bible? Let us see.

The prophet Isaiah foretold that the Lord would give a sign in which "a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," Isa.7:14. Hundreds of years later this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. As Matthew wrote of the birth of our Lord, he stated, " Now, all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us," Mt.1:22-23. From this title "Immanuel" we understand that in Christ the Person of God is with us, among us.

While Jesus was on earth, often He did or said those things which others understood could be the work of God only. On one occasion Jesus said to the man sick of palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," Mk.2:5. The reaction of the scribes was, "Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" Mk.2;7. After Jesus had healed an infirm man on the sabbath and claimed God as His Father, "the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God," Jn.5:18. They understood that Jesus was claiming to be God. At a later time Jesus stated, "I and my Father are one," Jn.10:30. The Jews understood what Jesus was saying and took up stones to stone Him. When Jesus questioned their actions, the Jews answered, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God," Jn.10:33. On those three occasions, and others as well, Jesus purposely conducted Himself so as to impress others with the truth that, indeed, He is God. Did our Lord act to deceive on those occasions? Did He claim to be God when He was not? Those today who deny that Jesus was God while on the earth join forces with the unbelieving Jews who nailed our Lord to the cross.

Numerous inspired statements of the New Testament refer to Jesus as "God." Consider Acts 20:28 where we read about "the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." Every true student of the Bible knows this is a reference to Christ and the inspired writer speaks of Him as "God." The Hebrew writer, while showing the superiority of Jesus over the angels, wrote that God the Father said to the Son, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," Heb.1:8. Again, Jesus is spoken of as "God." We read, in Tit. 2:13, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." In this verse Paul refers to Jesus as "God." Col. 2:9 tells us, " For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." To refute the false ideas of the Gnostics of his day Paul wrote this statement about Jesus. While He was in the flesh, He had the fulness of the Godhead which He possessed in His prefleshly state. Everything, without a single exception, which goes to make up the Godhead, all that is included in the term "Godhead," dwelt in the Lord's fleshly body when He lived upon this earth.. To deny that Jesus was God in the flesh, God-Man, is to reject the inspired words of the New Testament..