Articles
The Deity Of Jesus
Jesus Was The Creative Force
Jesus was not only with the Father at the creation (John 1:1-3), but was an active participant in it. He was not a created being, as some have asserted falsely, but was a part of the creative force. “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26), says God prior to humanity’s first breath. From these verse it is clear that there was more than one voice saying, “Let it be so” on that day. Paul writes, furthermore, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by Him were all things created, all that is in heaven, and in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:14-17). For those who claim that Christ is a created being, these verses offer immediate correction. He is not the firstborn of the creation in the sense that He was the first man made by God. Jesus Christ is firstborn because He holds the authority, the rule, and the power. He has the distinction of being the only begotten Son of God before we even existed, and were called to God as sons through adoption (Galatians 4:4-5).
Jesus Worked As If He Was God
Christ and the Father are one in the works they accomplished. Consider John 5:17-19, which says, “‘My Father is working until now, and I myself am also working.’ For this cause 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. Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” There is perfect unity between Christ and the Father in carrying out the works planned from eternity. Nobody else can claim such things, for we have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). While we are expected to do the works of the Father, we have never attained to the perfection of always doing them.
Consider a few other verses which clearly equate the deeds of Christ with the deeds of the Father. “I must work the works of Him who sent Me” (John 9:4). “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though you believe not in Me, believe the works; the you may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:37-38). “But I have a greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given Me to do, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36).
Jesus Has The Power To Give Life
The Word can make something that was once dead be reborn into something living (John 3:5-7). We need to see that the Father and the Son are totally unified in their power to give life, for those who heed the message clearly revealed in the Bible. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21). If that is not a declaration of equal power to God, then what is? The really special idea that we need to take away from this is that when we have Christ, we have all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). Being a Christian is not a bane to the salvation-seeking soul, but the Way. Christ is sometimes seen as being baggage, and Christians viewed as encumbered with a religion of rules, regulations, and responsibilities. Yet this is not the promise made by Christ (John 5:24-25). It is not just a matter of Christ and the Father sharing the power to give life, either – it is that Christ is the only way to have life (John 14:6).
When we deny the deity of Jesus, we are essentially denying the open door of salvation. “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?... Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:22-23).
