Is Jesus God?
As perplexing and confounding as it may seem, there are those that profess Christ as their Savior while denying He is God incarnate. I have seen it on the internet and I have even heard those who proclaim Jesus as their savior, assert that Jesus is a great man but not God incarnate. The question that needs to be answered is can a person be saved and escape damnation while claiming Him as their savior yet deny Him His deity? Is Jesus God? Must we believe that He is God?
A more appropriate question should be “who has the authority to forgive sin against God?”
Those that sought to kill Jesus sought to kill Him because Jesus claimed to be God.
Mark 2:7 states what all Jews knew, only God can forgive sin. It is for that reason that they sought to kill Jesus.
“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (ESV)
They were simply restating a theological fact from their scriptures
“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isa 43:25 ESV)
Jesus did exactly that.
And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” (Mat 9:2-3 ESV)
He forgave sins throughout the four Gospels. He did what scripture says only God can do. In fact, scripture states that the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus because He claimed to be God, and therefore, His claims of deity was deserving of death. And they were correct, to claim one is God is deserving of death. Yet, Jesus was not deserving of death – He was innocent of all crimes yet was put to death.
Jesus also accepted worship.
“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Mat 2:2)
And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Mat 14:33)
Jesus did not rebuke those that called Him God.
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (Joh 20:28)
Jesus confirmed Thomas’s declaration.
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Joh 20:29)Scripture is clear that we are to worship God alone, our trust is in God alone and He alone can forgive sin.
Those that believe Jesus is not God, I would ask to whom are they putting their faith in to forgive sin? The implication is that other than God accepted worship and forgave sin. They are worshiping one that they do not believe is God even though God commanded “’YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”
The question “can a person be saved and deny Jesus is God incarnate?” be saved? Indeed, a frightening position to take.
You make some very valid points, good post.
I have asked some people who maintain that Jesus is their Savior, yet they do not believe that He IS God, how they would reconcile these two passages of Scripture:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me…Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:3,5)
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil. 2:9-10)
If Jesus Christ is NOT the same God of Exodus 20, then would God not be contradicting Himself? These two passages can only work together if we understand that Jesus Christ is God, the Son:
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
Thanks for the insightful post, God bless you.
In Christ,
Loren
Actually, those are excellent scriptures that I should have included and I may go back into my post and include those. Excellent point and thanks.
Just curious, what’s the common response you get when bringing up those two scriptures?
God bless,
Whoops! I made a crucial typo, it should read: “I have asked some people who maintain that Jesus is their Savior, yet they do not believe that He IS God,”…..sorry!
I made the correction for you
just in case someone reads your comment and not your second comment (that way, they don’t wonder what you mean). Hope you don’t mind. I just cut and pasted your correction into the first comment.
Thanks for fixing my typo
Well, as you might guess, I get the usual responses when bringing these verses up:
LDS have no problem with conceding that Jesus is “A” god (that is, little “g” god); after all, they believe that the most devout Mormons will someday be exalted to such a position (“That exaltation which the saints of all ages have so devoutly sought is Godhood itself.” and, “You have got to learn how to be gods yourselves…the same as all gods have done before you.” (quoting Joseph Smith); both quotes are taken from “Mormon Doctrine” p.321).
For Jehovah’s Witnesses, their version of the Bible (New World Translation) records Philippians 2:9-10 as: “For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground,” (The word “other” does not appear in the original Greek, it’s been inserted for no other reason than to support the Watchtower’s false doctrines.)
As for other non-Trinitarians, a lot of them seem to like to change the focus and talk about how the word “Trinity” does not appear in Scripture, or assert that the concept was invented by early Church leaders, etc.
In short, those that I have talked with don’t really seem to have a valid explanation that would reconcile the two passages. It is my prayer that by referring them to sound Scriptural evidence for Who Jesus Christ really is, the seeds will be planted that God can use to bring them to a saving knowledge of Him. I pray that He uses your excellent post in the same way. May God bless you in your service of Him.
In Christ,
Loren
Jesus Christ is the son of God. I even read your comments that Jesus done what scripture says only God can forgive sin. This is where no man recogonized the Prophetic gift in Jesus, which a Prophet role is a spokesperson for God not Jesus as trying to be God. Jesus operated in every gift that’s why it stated that he left gifts among all men. Jesus taught every believer how to operate in there spiritual gifts and callings. He was unique, peculiar, the only difference is, He was God’s Only Begotten Son, the first to walk the new testament, and finish it as laying a foundation. He was made a little lower than the angels but chief cornerstone of the new modern day Church. Jesus even told his critics when performing miracles “Marvel not as if I have done something, for my Father in Heaven gets the Glory.” He found it not robbery to make himself equal with God as a union, as a team, not divided but on the same page, standards, statues, and commandments that was laid in the beginning. You may read Hebrews, and the Gospel is where these revelations come from besides the Holy Spirit. May we all grow in the grace of God.
Please read 1John, it tells us the spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ does not have the Father or the Son, but he that confess Jesus has the Father and the Son. It also shows us, that Jesus was our propriation for sin offerings to God, and some do not believe that Jesus was a flesh man just like you and I. If we fail to ignore this we have denied the report that God has given of His only begotten Son that sits onthe right hand of God making intercession for us now.
To God Be The Glory and our Lord Jesus Christ…
Love,
Lisa
Hi Lisa, thanks for your comments.
I completely agree that Jesus is the Son of God. And you’re correct, if we confess Jesus, we are saved and that Jesus is the propriation for sin. Amen!
I second your statement: To God Be The Glory and our Lord Jesus Christ…
Amen!!
Hi Tish,
God Bless You and May you continue to walk in light…
Blessings~
Lisa Fikes~
Hi Lisa, thank you.
May God bless you.
I was just over at your blog. Looks like it’s brand new. I look foward to reading it when you have it up and running
Tishrei,
FYI, Yes, true to what is written that “ONLY GOD CAN FORGIVE SIN”.
Question: who is that God?
Answer : God The Father
Jesus Christ is not the one who spoke that “your sin is forgiven”, but God the Father.
You people must understand that there are many Gods, but to the Christians there is only one God The Father, and one God The Son. These two are separate and distinct from each other.They are not the same person, as you may think.
This is the reason why Paul prohibited women to teach,because of your ignorance of the words of God in the bible .
Loren,
In Exodus 20:3,5, It is God The Father who through an Angel spoke to Moses.
In Phi. 2:9-10 It is God The Father that highly exalted Jesus Christ, His Son.
Hi Dove124,
Yes, only God can forgive sin. Jesus is God.
I would like to direct you to just one of MANY scriptures where Jesus forgives sin:
(Mat 9:2) And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
I would like to suggest that before you say that I am ignorant in my understanding of scripture, please read the MANY passages where Jesus forgave sin directly as well as understanding that He is, indeed, the “I AM” of the Old Testament — He is God.
Take care,
p.s. Loren has a blog where you can read a lot of posts on theology. Click on Answers from the Book to be directed to his site.
Dove124,
All right. So, how would you reconcile the two passages? I understand that it is God the Father referred to in both cases, but how is it that He tells Moses to instruct the Israelites to not bow their knee to any other “god”, and yet Paul tells us that the Father will compel everyone to bow their knee to Jesus Christ? He is either contradicting Himself…….or the Father and Jesus are One and the same.
As far as there being “many” gods, consider these verses:
“Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6)
“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:” (Isaiah 45:5)
Notice that Isaiah 44:6 literally reads: “Thus saith JEHOVAH the King of Israel, and His Redeemer JEHOVAH of hosts…” How can they BOTH be called JEHOVAH and then implicitly say that there is but One JEHOVAH? (Unless they are the same God.)
Or, if Jesus Christ is not the same God as the Father, then what does Deuteronomy 6:4 mean when it says:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.”
or, to put it literally:
“Hear, O Israel: JEHOVAH our ELOHIM (lit. “gods”, plural) is One JEHOVAH.”
If Jesus and the Father are two separate “gods”, wouldn’t this statement be patently untrue?
I would be most interested in how you would reconcile these verses. As Tishrei mentioned, feel free to visit my site, as well. I invite you to discuss these most important issues further.
In Christ,
Loren
Dove: “You people must understand that there are many Gods, but to the Christians there is only one God The Father, and one God The Son. These two are separate and distinct from each other.They are not the same person, as you may think”
Who thinks that and why would you project that on anybody? The Christian teaching is that each of the members of the Godhead have distinct Personhood. This looks very much like a strawman here.
Loren,
You have to consider “TIME”. In the old testament Jesus Christ was not yet introduce, but to be introduce later on. That is why there are so many passages from the book of Moses, Psalms, Isaiah and from the books of minor prophets concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why they are called “OLD “.
Now, when the right time had come, GOD The Father, introduce to us HIS SON.
Understand these verse:
“Unto us a SON is given”(Isaiah 9:6)
As to the name ” Jehovah”. The name Jehovah, was the product of ignorance of the people who ran the Watchtower society. Even though they knew it that Yahweh is more correct, they insist of the name “Jehovah”, because of peoples familiarity on it. So what they spreading around the world is a lie from the very beginning of their existence.They even admitted it that the name Jehovah is not known by 1st century Christians.
Study the teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses so you will not be mislead.Also, READ OTHER BIBLE NOT PUBLISHED BY WATCHTOWER SOCIETY.
You people are trying to read a “SEALED BOOK”(Daniel 12:4). The Bible is a SEALED BOOK. That is why you find it hard to understand it. Because you dared to read it.
You think you done good by spreading the Word of God, what you don’t know is , you’re doing more harm than good. So please, HEED to the advice of Paul : LET A WOMAN LEARN IN SILENCE with all submissiveness. I PERMIT NO WOMAN TO TEACH, OR TO HAVE AUTHORITY OVER MEN; she is to KEEP SILENT.(I Tim. 2:11-12)
Repent Harliquen,
READ THE BIBLE! Understand it very carefully. Do not be lazy.
Dove124,
I’m thinking, after reading your comments to people, you might want to try a different approach. Arrogance doesn’t usually work well.
You might want to take your own bible reading advice.
p.s. Loren is a guy so your directive to remain silent is not applicable.
Dove124,
I wanted to point out a couple of things that I forgot.
First, since Loren is a guy and you’re more comfortable reading posts from a guy, you might be interested in reading one of his posts on how to read the bible. Click Keys to avoiding bible mininterpretation to read his EXCELLENT post.
Also, as to your several comments about women teachers or women having authority over men, please note that I have no authority over anyone on this blog whether it is a man or a woman. Nor am I in a teaching role but am simply blogging my thoughts. Here are a couple of posts where I addressed that issue.
Women Bloggers and Christian Authority
Spiritual Authority versus Natural Authority