Is Jesus God?

By Carole

I can't tell you how much, I've struggled with this very basic concept. How is Jesus God, when God is God? I'm choosing to post this study first because I think it is the primary aspect of Christianity that is under attack, and one that many of us (like me) have trouble accurately defending.


God is Creator and Redeemer. There is only one true God. But God has a triune nature- meaning three Persons (mind, will, emotion) in one Being. This is a doctrine that is easy to gloss over because it is so hard to explain. But let's discover how Jesus is God in Scripture:

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26)

“Us” is plural, while “image” and “likeness” is singular. The phrasing God uses here suggests there is one image and one likeness- ONE essence, but a “we” relationship.

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“I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone who spreads abroad the earth by Myself” (Isaiah 44:24)

Compare this verse to the above verse in Genesis. If God is referring to more than one (separate beings), then He would not be able to say this.

“For by Him (Jesus) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible…” (Colossians 1:16)

“All things were made through Him (Jesus), and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3)

“… His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” (Hebrews 1:2)

Here we clearly see that Jesus made the worlds, if He were not God the verse in Isaiah would again be a contradiction. Also, if Jesus were a created being, then all things could not have been made through Him- He could not have created Himself.

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“And God said to Moses: ‘I AM WHO I AM’” (Exodus 3:13-14)

“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)

Jesus is taking the proper name of God, Yahweh, and using it to describe Himself. This is why the Jews want to kill Him. They recognize that He is calling Himself God.

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“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6)

“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” (Revelation 1:18)- Jesus speaking.

The First and the Last is a claim that only ONE God can make. Jesus cannot be separate from God and also be the First and the Last. The article "the" signifies unique and only in this case.

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But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…” (Hebrews 1:8)

Here the Son is called God directly.

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“Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matt 4:10)

“And Thomas answered and said to Him (Jesus), ‘My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

If Jesus is not God, Thomas is directly disobeying Him in worshiping Him and calling Him God. Jesus does not scold Him for this as He did Satan. This is how Jesus responds to Thomas:

“Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:28

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[Jesus] said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him [the Messiah] ‘Lord,’ saying: The Lord said to my Lord ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’?” If David calls Him ‘Lord’ how is He his Son?” (Matthew 22:43-45)

Jesus has many titles: Son of God, Son of David, Son of Man- these are all representing His unique role in relation to the Father in the Trinity, and how He fulfills the Jewish prophecies. (If we take son of God literally to mean God birthed a son, then what does “Son of Man” mean? Jesus used this title for Himself most often.)

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[When accused of working on the Sabbath] Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

When Jesus suggests God is His father, this does not mean that God literally birthed a child and reared him as a son (you would also have to assume that there is a mother- such blasphemy should be avoided). The Jews recognized that this is a title (see above) referring to His role in the Trinity, His role as God. (Critical Thinking: a son is not his father’s equal, so how do the Jews suggest that this claim should make Jesus equal with God?)

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The Jews answered Him saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You being a Man, make Yourself God.” John 10:33

The Jews recognized that Jesus was calling Himself God. Here’s how Christ responds:

Jesus answered them, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me, but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 10:37)

The Father is God. The Son is God. Therefore, the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, for they are one God.

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“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”(John 1:1)

God here is Theos in Greek. The Strongs concordence definition: Theos is God, usually refers to the one true God; in very few contexts it refers to a pagan god or goddess.

The translation of Theos as “a god” suggests that Jesus is a pagan god, or a false god. This is not true.

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“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim… and one cried to another and said: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” … So I said “Woe is me for I am undone! …For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:1-3, 5)

Isaiah says “I saw the LORD” - LORD (donay) in Hebrew means: “A title of the one true God, with a focus on His majesty and authority .”

“But although He (Jesus) had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed?”… these things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” (John 12:41)

John tells us that Isaiah saw Jesus in this vision. This is what it means in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is “The image of the invisible God” and in Hebrews 1:3 “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”

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"Behold , the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, "God with us." (Matt 1:23)

Jesus is God.