The Deity of Christ
PROOFS FOR JESUS BEING DEITY
The savior has the power to forgive sins.
Only God is able to forgive sins, Luke 7:48-50"And Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven. "And those who sat atthe table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."
Mark 2:5-10 "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"-- First thing noticeable is that Jesus personally forgives the mans sins. He is also able perceive what they are thinking. He tells the man to rise up and walk after his sins are forgiven. Showing those around him that his statement of forgiveness is true by giving them a physical example of his power. Jesus points to himself as the source of forgiveness, this is why the Pharisee’s were so taken back, they were right, only God can forgive sins.
I King 8:39 "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men),
"Luke 5:22: "But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he, answering, said unto them, why reason your in your hearts?' John 2:24-25."But Jesus did not commit himself unto them (believe in them) , because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in mans heart". Mt. 9:4"And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why think you evil in your hearts ." Someone who can read others thoughts and the intents of others hearts like Jesus means he is more than just a prophet or representative. This is certainly not psychic powers but an ability only reserved for God. We find consistently Jesus exercising the same abilities as God.
CREATOR OR CREATED
Heb. 3:2-6 We find Christ is faithful to him who appointed him. As "Moses also was faithful in all his house." That he is counted to have more glory than Moses and makes the distinction of ‘him who built the house has more honor than the house". "For every house is built by someone but he who built all things is God"… vs.6 "But Christ as a Son over his own house whose house we are…" Christ is the head of the house which is the body of Christ. In Jn.14 we are told just as the earth was formed by his hands he went to heaven to prepare a place for all his household, that where he is we may be also. He is called the master craftsman in Prov.8:30 and is attributed to be co creator with the Father in Prov.30:4. The New Testament is not lacking in attributing divine creatorship to his hands in Jn.1:1-3 and Col.1:15-17. The Alpha and Omega, he is the architect of all things.
FIRSTBORN
The word firstborn is used by almost all anti trinitarian cults to disprove he being eternal, does this mean Christ is the firstborn in a family? There are numerous examples used to prove how this word is used. In Jer.31:9 God says he is a father to Israel and calls Ephraim the Son of Joseph his first born, yet Ephraim was Joseph’s second son born after Mannaseh. God asked Abraham to take his only Son Issac to the Altar on Mt. Moriah, yet we know he had Ishmael as his firstborn Son. Even in Ex.4:22 Israel the nation is called Gods firstborn Son. No one would consider God actually begot a nation in a literal sense as we do people ! Both Col.1:15 and Rev.1:5 both clarify the meaning of firstborn in its context to mean risen from the dead eternally. The Greek word Prototokos is found 7 times in the N.T. It means first in rank, a heir, to have preeminence in position not in his origin. The other Greek word for created is Protoktisis which is not used for Christ. Rev.1:5 "..and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the Kings of the earth." Christ was not the first raised from the dead, but he was the the first raised to eternal life in the body which gives him headship over the human race, Since Christ is to have preeminence he is the heir of all things
Rev.3:15: "And these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God."
the Greek word means he is the source and architect of creation, which actually proves the opposite. That he is God the master craftsman of Prov.8. the one who spoke and formed things to what they are today. Heb.1:3: "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. "
Christ is greater than the Angels
Col.2:9-10: "The fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ, the Colossians had previously come to a fullness of life in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. "Head" means supreme "authority," "Principality and powers" is a reference to the highest rankings of angelic beings he Christ being over them all. Which means he is not in the same rank or species as an angel. Neither could he be the archangel which would still have him be in the order of a created being.
Christ is to be Worshipped
The scripture is clear only God is to be worshipped Ex.34:14"For thou shall worship no other God for the Lord (Jehovah), whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." "O’ come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker."Ps.95:6.
The Greek word proskeneo (worship) is used 22 times in the Bible showing that God the Father is to be worshipped.
In Psalm 2:12 it says, "Kiss the Son lest he be angry with you." The word kiss is a term for worship. . (chashaq (khaw-shak'); a primitive root; to cling, i.e. join, (figuratively) to love, delight in;... Strongs #2836) This word for worship in Greek is proskeneo the same word used for worship for Jehovah God and for false Gods. One has to be consistent in the usage of the word, you can’t pick and choose when to or not to apply it.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was not only worshipped but also called God by Thomas in Jn.20:28 "My Lord my God".(Gr. The Lord of me the God of me) Instead of being rebuked for this statement which would be blasphemy if false, he is commended and blessed, something no true prophet would do unless it was correct. We find the wise men worshipped Jesus as a child. Mt.2:11.The leper worshipped Jesus Mt.8. The ruler bowed and worshipped Mt.9:18 .The believer who was blind worshipped him Jn.9:38. The women worshipped him Mt. 15:25, Mary Magdalene worshipped him Mt.28:9, the disciples worshipped him Mt.28:17. This word for worship in Greek is proskeneo the same word used for worship for Jehovah God and for worship of false Gods. It is rendered 16 times to Jesus as a beneficent superior; at least 24 times to God or to Jesus as God. "The root idea of bodily prostration is much less prominent than in the Old Testament. It is always translated "worship." (International Standard Bible Encylopaedia) Mt. 4:10 "When Jesus said to Satan `You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' He certainly wasn’t telling him to do reverence only. One has to be consistent in the usage of the word, you can’t pick and choose when to or not to apply it. Jesus is either a false God receiving undue worship or that all the creatures in heaven are not worshipping Jesus. Which means, they are also not worshipping Jehovah God, because the same word is applied to both.
As the
following quotes show, the early Church Fathers also recognized that Jesus
Christ is God and were adamant in maintaining this precious truth.
THE EARLY CHURCH WAS OUTSPOKEN ON
THE DEITY OF CHRIST
Ignatius Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, "Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible". Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states "Jesus is God", "God incarnate"
"Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin ... truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin"… Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, "Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible". Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states "Jesus is God", "God incarnate."
"Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin ... truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin."
Ignatius of Antioch "In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever" (n. 7; PG 5.988).
"We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For ‘the Word was made flesh.' Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passible body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts." ( The ante-nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Vol. 1, p. 52 .)
"For our God Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost."( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:9)
"...God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life."( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:13)
"Continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God."( Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians 2:4)
"For even our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is in the Father".( Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans 1:13)
Clement of Rome (Philipians 4:3)"For Christ is with those who are humble, not with those exalt themselves over his flock. The majestic scepter of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not come with the pomp of arrogance or pride (though He could have done so), but in humility, just as the Holy Spirit spoke concerning Him." (1 Clement 16:1-2)
"Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ as of God : as of the judge of the living and the dead".(2nd Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 1:1)
Justin Martyr ( 140 A.D.) "the word of wisdom, who is himself God begotten of the Father of all things, and word, and wisdom, and power, and the glory of the begetter, will bear evidence to me".(Dialogue with Tropho Ch.61)
"God speaks in the creation of man with the very same design, in the following words: 'Let us make man after our image and likeness' . . . I shall quote again the words narrated by Moses himself, from which we can indisputably learn that [God] conversed with someone numerically distinct from himself and also a rational being. . . . But this Offspring who was truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with him" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 62).
"For Christ is King, and Priest, and God and Lord..."(Dialogue With Trypho, 34)
"...He preexisted as the Son of theCreator of things, being God, and that He was born a man by the Virgin." (Dialogue With Trypho, 48 )
"We will prove that we worship him reasonably; for we have learned that he is the Son of the true God Himself, that he holds a second place, and the Spirit of prophecy a third. For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things; but they are ignorant of the Mystery which lies therein" (First Apology 13:5-6).
Polycarp (70-160). Bishop of Smyrna.A disciple of John the Apostle. "O Lord God almighty...I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever"
"Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High Priest Himself, the God Jesus Christ, build you up in the faith..."( The Epistle of Polycarp to the Church at Philippi, 12
Iranaeus Iranaeus (120-202) "In order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King..."(Irenaeus Against Heresies, 1.10.1)
180 A.D. "But he Jesus is himself in his own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, Lord, and king eternal, and the incarnate word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles …The Scriptures would not have borne witness to these things concerning Him, if, like everyone else, He were mere man." (Against Heresies 3:19.1-2)
"For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, 'Let us make man after our image and likeness'".( Against Heresies, 4:10)
Iranaeus gave the Church two statements which have continued in its creeds: (1) Filius dei filius hominis factus, "The Son of God [has] become a son of man, (Earl Cairns Christianity Through the Centuries, Zondervan, 1981, pg.110) Jesus Christus vere homo, vere deus, "Jesus Christ, true man and true God." (Harold Brown Heresies, Zondervan, 1989, pg.84)
Irenaeus gave three forms of the statement of faith in three different contexts in This is showing the variety of ways that the faith could be expressed in his day:)
Third Form: IN ONE GOD ALMIGHTY, from whom are all things; and IN THE SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, by whom are all things, and in his dispensations, through which the Son of God became man; the firm -persuasion also IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD, who furnishes us with a knowledge of the truth, and has set forth the dispensations of the Father and the Son, in virtue of which he dwells in every generation of men, according to the will of the Father (IV. xxiii. 7).(God in three persons C.Beisner) this is long before the council of Niacea.
Diogneteus Diogneteus to Mathetes (written 130 A.D.) "as a king sends his Son, who is also king, so sent he him, as God (1) he sent him; as men he sent him; as savior he sent him,…" Chpt.7 says "God" (1) which refers to the person sent.
Theophilus (115-181) Bishop of Antioch (To Autolycus 2:22 ,160 A.D.) "For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice but what else is this voice but the word of God, who is also his Son."
Tatian the Syrian (170 AD ) "Our God has no introduction in time. He alone is without beginning, and is Himself the beginning of all things. God is a spirit, not attending upon matter, but the Maker of material spirits and of the appearances which are in matter. He is invisible and untouchable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. This we know by the evidence of what He has created; and we perceive His invisible power by His works".(Tatian, Address to the Greeks , 4)
"We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man" (Address to the Greeks 21).
Melito of Sardis (177 AD )The activities of Christ after his baptism, and especially his miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the deity hidden in his flesh. Being God and likewise perfect man, he gave positive indications of his two natures: of his deity, by the miracles during the three years following after his baptism… he concealed the signs of his deity, although he was the true God existing before the ages" (Fragment in Anastasius of Sinai's, The Guide 13).
Athenagoras (160 AD.) Speaks of "one God, the uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, uncontainable, comprehended only by mindand reason, clothed in light and beauty and spirit and powerindescribable, by whom the totality has come to be."(suppl. 10.1)
…"the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of Spirit, the understanding, and reason of the Father is the Son of God." (Ante Nicene Fathers vol.2 p.133 a plea for Christians)
"For Christ is the God over all".(Refutation of All Heresies 10.34)
Athenagoras identifies the Word as the Son of God, says 'although the word is God’s offspring, he never came into being. Rather, having been with God and in God eternally he issued forth at a point in time."( A plea for the Christians 12.20) "God the Word came down from heaven...He came forth into the world and...showed Himself to be God".( Against the Heresy of a Certain Noetus, 17)
speaking of what the church believes, "they hold the Father to be God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit, and declare their union and their distinction in order."(A plea for the Christians.10.3)
"Who, then, would not be astonished to hear those called atheists who admit God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and who teach their unity in power and their distinction in rank?"( Intercession on Behalf of the Saints, 10)
Clement of Alexandria (190 AD) "The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning, for he was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone. is both God and man, and the source of all our good things" (Exhortation to the Greeks 1:7:1).
Tertullian (converted around 193 AD)(215 AD) "The origins of both his substances display him as man and as God: from the one, born, and from the other, not born" (The Flesh of Christ 5:6-7).
"God alone is without sin. The only man without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God."(The Soul 41.3)
We find that it was the ones who did not understand the trinity that were looked upon as divisive. Tetullians theological writings consisted mostly in response to what the Oneness (modalists) believes. (God is singular in person) When he debated Praxeas of which he wrote. "thus the connection of the Father in the Son the Son in the paraclete, produces three coherent persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three are one essence, not one person, as it is said, "I and my Father are one," in respect of unity of substance, not singularity of number."( Ante-Nicene fathers vol.3,p.621, against Praxeas.) He went on to say "Yet we have never given vent to the phrases ‘two Gods’, or ‘two Lords’: not that it is untrue the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, each is God." (ibid 13)
Tetullian developed his arguments and refined his belief of which the third form of his rule of faith became this. "We believe there is but one God, and no other besides the maker of the world, who produced the universe out of nothing, by his word sent forth first of all, that this word, called his Son, was seen in the name of God in various ways by the patriarchs, was always heard in the prophets, at last sent down, from the spirit and power of God the Father, into the virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and born of her, lived as Jesus Christ...".
Not only is he careful in his explanation but throughout all his writings he defines three persons and one substance who are the one God. ."That this one and only God has a Son, his word, who proceeded from himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the virgin, and to have been born of her- being both man and God, the Son of man, and the Son of God, and to have been called the name of Jesus Christ;" (against Praxeas vol.3, p.598)
Novatian (235 AD. )"For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be God. Because it does not set forth Him to be the Son of God only, but also the Son of man; nor does it only say, the Son of man, but it has also been accustomed to speak of Him as the Son of God. So that being of both, He is both, lest if He should be one only, He could not be the other. For as nature itself has prescribed that he must be believed to be a man who is of man, so the same nature prescribes also that He must be believed to be God who is of God . . . Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is called also God and the Son of God" (Treatise on the Trinity 11).
Novatian "The rule of truth demands that, first of all, we believe in GOD THE FATHER and Almighty Lord, that is, the most perfect Maker of all things. . .' The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also in the SON OF GOD, CHRIST JESUS, our Lord God, but the Son of God.... Moreover, the order of reason and the authority of faith, in due consideration of the words and Scriptures of the Lord ', admonishes us, after this, to believe also in the HOLY GHOST, promised of old to the Church, but granted in the appointed and fitting time.
The church did not have non-Trinitarians. The Gnostics, Arians, Oneness and others were considered to be praching heresy and were excluded from the church universal. (This is not my words but the Churches) This did not stop them from going out and starting their own movements and church’s. These were the first cultic movements and many today have aligned themselves with their teachings , some have synthesized several of them together to make something altogether new.
Hippolytus 190 A.D. (Against the heresy of one Noetus "a Oneness promoter" ch.14, ) After quoting part of Jn.1:1 "If then the word was with God and was also God what follows ? Would one say that he speaks of two God’s ? I shall not speak of two Gods but of one; of two persons however and of a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father is indeed one but there are two persons because there is also the son; and there is the third the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the word executes and the son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of the harmony is led back to the one God, for God is one. It is the father who commands and the son who obeys and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding; The Father is above all the son is through all and the holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot think of one God, but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit".
"God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world....Beside Him there was nothing; but He, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality....And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another, I do not mean that there are two Gods....Thus, then, these too, though they wish it not, fall in with the truth, and admit that one God made all things....For Christ is the God above all.....He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, 'All things are delivered unto me of my Father.' He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever....And well has he named Christ the Almighty. "(Hippolytus " The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 227, 153, 225)
In another of his writings "This is the order of the rule of our faith...God the Father, not made, not material, invisible; One God, the creator of all things; this is the first point of our faith. the second point is this; the word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the fathers dispensation, through whom all things were made."
Gregory the Wonder-worker (262 AD) "But some treat the Holy Trinity in an awful manner, when they confidently assert that there are not three persons, and introduce (the idea of) a person devoid of subsistence. Wherefore we clear ourselves of Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same [Person] . . . We forswear this, because we believe that three persons--namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--are declared to possess the one Godhead: for the one divinity showing itself forth according to nature in the Trinity establishes the oneness of the nature" (A Sectional Confession of Faith 8).
"But if they say, 'How can there be three Persons, and how but one Divinity?' we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as . . . there is one substance in the Trinity" (A Sectional Confession of Faith, 14)
Dionysius (262 AD )"Neither, then, may we divide into three godheads the wonderful and divine unity . . . Rather, we must believe in God, the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus, his Son; and in the Holy Spirit; and that the Word is united to the God of the Universe. `For,' he says, 'The Father and I are one,' and `I am in the Father, and the Father in me'" (Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria, 3)
Methodius (305 AD) "For the kingdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one, even as their substance is one and their dominion one. Whence also, with one and the same adoration, we worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning, uncreated, without end, and to which there is no successor…. For nothing of the Trinity will suffer diminution, either in respect of eternity, or of communion, or of sovereignty" (Oration on the Psalms 5).
Arnobius (305 AD) "'Well, then,' some raging, angry, and excited man will say, 'Is that Christ your God?' 'God indeed,' we shall answer, 'and God of the hidden powers'" (Against the Pagans 1:42).
Athanasius (290 -370) "[The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in actual existence. Just as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually exists and has true being." (Letters to Serapion 1:28).
"United without confusion, distinguished without separation. Indivisible and without degrees." (Sermon on Lk.10:22)
If One examines carefully the writings of the early church writers their language and theology reflects their understanding of the Trinity. They contended from Scripture not from Greek philosophy or paganism as is charged from anti-Trinitarian opponents. Trinitarianism certainly was not developed in the 4th century but was part of the theology of the early church. Those who oppose it today, are not part of the Church just as they were not part of the Church in the beginning.
MORE QUOTES FROM EARLY CHURCH FATHERS ON THE DEITY OF CHRIST
Ignatius of Antioch
Aristides
Tatian the Syrian
Melito of Sardis
Irenaeus
Clement of Alexandria
Tertullian
Origen
Hippolytus
Hippolytus of Rome
Novatian
Cyprian of Carthage
Gregory the Wonderworker
Arnobius
Lactantius
Council of Nicaea I
Patrick of Ireland
MORE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DEITY OF CHRIST
Jesus own claim to be the Messiah
(John 4:25-26) The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." {26} Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
(Mat 26:63-64) But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." {64} "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." (cf. Dan 7:13)
He forgave sins
(Luke 5:20-24) When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." {21} The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" {22} Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? {23} Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? {24} But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." See also Mat 9:2-7, Mk 2:10.
His miracles
(John 10:25) Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,
(John 10:36-38) what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? {37} Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. {38} But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
(John 14:9-11) Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? {10} Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. {11} Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
(Mat 8:27) The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
He accepts worship
(Mat 14:33) Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
(Mat 28:9) Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
(John 9:38) Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
Thomas calls Jesus God, he is not rebuked by Jesus
(John 20:28-29) Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" {29} Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
His pre-existance
(John 17:20-24) "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, {21} that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. {22} I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: {23} I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. {24} "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
(John 8:58) "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
(John 1:1-3) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was with God in the beginning. {3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
(John 1:10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
(John 3:13) No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.
Old testament quoted in the New Testament
In John 1:23 John the Baptist quotes Isa 40:3 when he says that he has come to 'Make straight the way for the Lord' clearly this refers to Jesus and yet Isa 40:3 uses the term God instead of Lord.
(John 1:23) John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"
(Isa 40:3) A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
When the children shout 'Hosanna to the Son of David' which refers to Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus applies this to himself and quotes Psalm 8:2 which clearly refers to the Creator God.
(Mat 21:15-16) But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. {16} "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"
(Psa 8:1-4) For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. {2} From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. {3} When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, {4} what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
In the Old Testament it is the Lord who heals you, in the New Testament Jesus healed them.
(Exo 15:26) He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD , who heals you."
(Mat 4:24) News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.
John 12:41 says that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory, if we read Isaiah, we find that he saw the glory of the King, the LORD Almighty (Isa 6:5).
(John 12:37-41) Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. {38} This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" {39} For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: {40} "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them." {41} Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
(Isa 6:5) "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
In Zec 12:10 God says 'They will look upon me, the one they have pierced' this was fulfilled by Jesus when the soldier pierced Jesus body on the cross, see John 19:34-37 and Rev 1:7.
(Zec 12:10) "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
(John 19:34-37) Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. {35} The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. {36} These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," {37} and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."
(Rev 1:7) Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
In Isa 45:22-23 God says that 'Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear', Paul quotes this in Rom 14:11 where it refers to God and in Phil 2:9-11 we find that every knee bows to Jesus and every tougue confesses Jesus - has God changed his mind or is Jesus really God.
(Isa 45:22-23) "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. {23} By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.
(Rom 14:11) It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"
(Phil 2:9-11) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Joel 2:32 says 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved' the Hebrew name 'Lord ' is that of the eternal God and yet Paul applies this verse to Jesus in Rom 10:13, see also Peters use of it in Acts 2:21.
(Joel 2:32) And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD (yehovah) will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
(Rom 10:9-13) That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. {11} As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." {12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, {13} for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Alpha and Omega
In Rev 22:13 Jesus designates himself as the Alpha and the Omega, a term clearly also used of God in Rev 1:8 and 21:6.
(Rev 22:12-13) "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. {13} I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
(Rev 1:8) "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
(Rev 21:5-6) He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." {6} He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
First and the Last
The title 'First and the Last' is used of Jesus in Rev 1:17 (and 2:8, 22:13) and is used of God in Isa 44:6 (and 48:12)
(Rev 1:17) When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
(Isa 44:6) "This is what the LORD says-- Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
His participation in the creation:
(Col 1:15-19) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. {16} For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. {17} He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. {18} And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. {19} For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
(John 1:1-3) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was with God in the beginning. {3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Jesus who existed in the form of God, became man.
(Phil 2:5-11) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, {6} who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, {7} but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. {8} And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. {9} Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, {11} and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus died on the cross, yet this verse says that God bought the church with his own blood, this implies that Jesus is God.
(Acts 20:28) Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
This verse spells out the Deity of Jesus Christ.
(Titus 2:13) while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
In Hebrews, talking about the Son, he says 'Your throne, O God....'
(Heb 1:8) But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
(Psa 45:6) Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
The Father
(Rom 6:4) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
The Son
(John 2:19-22) Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." {20} The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" {21} But the temple he had spoken of was his body. {22} After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
The Holy Spirit
(Rom 8:11) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
God
(Acts 13:30) But God raised him from the dead,
The Father
(Eph 4:6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The Son
(Titus 2:13) while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
The Holy Spirit
(Acts 5:3-4) Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? {4} Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
One God
(Deu 4:35) You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.
There are many more proofs from scripture, but these can be found in the link pages below as well as a discussion of the Trinity.
The phrase 'firstborn over all creation' found in Col 1:15 is sometimes used to imply that Jesus is a created being, although created before anything else was created since everything was created by him (Col 1:16). The word firstbornin Greek is prototokos:G4416 and is used again in Col 1:17 where is is used in the sense that he is the first to rise from the dead (permanently) see also its use in Rom 8:29, Heb 1:6, Rev 1:5. The word prototokos can also mean preeminant and that He is the first cause of creation not the first created being.
(Col 1:15-19 NIV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. {16} For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. {17} He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. {18} And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. {19} For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
That He is not the first created being is demonstrated in Heb 7:1-3; Melchizedek is compared to Jesus, and Melchizedek is described as the king of Salem who is like the Son of God: 'Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life' Heb 7:3. We should note that Melchizedek is described like the Son of God, not as the Son of God. In other words the writer has taken the lack of a recorded geneology and death of Melchizedek to illustrate a spiritual truth about the Son. That is, he is without beginning of days or end of life.
(Heb 7:1-3 NIV) This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, {2} and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." {3} Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
We cannot see God but we can see him in Jesus Christ
(Heb 1:1-3) In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, {2} but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. {3} The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
(Col 1:15-20) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. {16} For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. {17} He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. {18} And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. {19} For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, {20} and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
(2 Cor 4:4) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
(John 1:18) No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
(John 14:9-11) Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? {10} Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. {11} Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
(2 Cor 4:6) For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Cor 5:18-19) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: {19} that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Jesus speaks the words of God
(John 3:34) For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
When we believe in Jesus we are also believing in God, when we see Jesus we also see God
(John 12:44-45) Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. {45} When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.
If we reject Jesus we also reject God
(Luke 10:16) "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
In believing in Jesus we receive eternal life
(John 6:40) For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
The works that God requires of us is to believe in His Son
(John 6:28-29) Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" {29} Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
God commands us to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ
(1 John 3:23) And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
Jesus does the things that he sees his Father doing
(John 5:19) Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
We will die in our sins if we do not believe in Jesus claims about himself
(John 8:23-24) But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. {24} I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
The testimony of Moses about Jesus - Listen to him
(Acts 3:22-23) For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. {23} Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.' (cf. Deu 18:15)
The testimony of God about Jesus - Listen to him!
(Mat 17:5) While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
God has already testified that Jesus is the Christ
(1 John 5:9-13) We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. {10} Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. {11} And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. {12} He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. {13} I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
(John 5:36-40) "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. {37} And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, {38} nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. {39} You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, {40} yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
It is God Himself who attaches great importance to his Son as some of the verses above illustrate. It is God who has decreed that men and woman come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. God Himself has testified that we should listen to His Son.
(John 3:16-18) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. {17} For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. {18} Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
(John 14:6) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 10:7-11) Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. {8} All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. {9} I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. {10} The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. {11} "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
(1 Tim 2:3-6) This is good, and pleases God our Savior, {4} who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. {5} For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, {6} who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time.
Our public response to Jesus determines our eternal destiny.
(Luke 12:8-9) "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. {9} But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
Jesus will be our Judge
(Acts 17:31) For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
(Acts 10:42-43) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. {43} All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
He is the only one who can save us and forgive us
(Acts 4:12) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
(Acts 13:38-39) "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. {39} Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
(Luke 24:46-48) He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, {47} and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. {48} You are witnesses of these things.
(Rom 10:12-13) For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, {13} for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
(Acts 16:30-31) He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" {31} They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."
(Acts 2:38) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
