It is funny to hear many voices these days in the media and on You tube, some of whom has never read the Bible, saying that Jesus never claimed to be God, or that the trinity is not a teaching of the Bible.From a person who has read the Bible so many times to keep count, and especially studied the New testament, I am outraged by what these guys claim.
First, let us get some things straight:
1. Jesus did not come to testify to Himself, and on many instances He clearly told His disciples that he does not testify to Himself but His works does testify to who He was, (John 5: 36; John 10: 25), and the Scriptures does (John 5: 39), and the Disciples who lived with Jesus also testify (John 15: 27) because they have seen that He did only what God can do. It is not hidden for anybody who read the Bible at least once that Jesus always avoided declaring directly His true identity, because He focused on the mission He came to achieve, and knowing Him should be based on Divine revelation rather than on human intellect. . For this reason Jesus gave a special beatitude to Peter when he received and understood the revelation that He is the Son of God (Matthew 16: 17).
2. The standard Title of Divinity is not the issue, as there are a lot of words to be used for God, and using mainly one and occasionally the other does not mean that Jesus was not God. If you read the New Testament, you can find that the main title of the Father is God, while the main title of the Son, Jesus, is Lord. though you can find several times when Jesus was called God, and where the Father is called Lord.
Still, taking the above into consideration, is there a clear testimony in the Bible that Jesus is God?
Looking in the Greek New Testament, the original language in which the New Testament was written, we find that ALL titles of Divinity were used personally to Jesus and on several Occasions. For the sake of keeping this an article and not a book, I will only mention three titles briefly with the text of a few verses where these titles are used for Jesus.
1. The word God (Theos a translation of the Hebrew ELOHIM) was used to Jesus in the following passages:
(Joh 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Theos)
(Joh 1:18) No one has ever seen God; the only God (Ho Theos), who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
(Joh 20:28-29) Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God (Ho Theos)!" (29) Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
(Act 20:28) Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God (Theos), which he obtained with his own blood.
(Rom 9:5) To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God (Theos) over all, blessed forever. Amen.
(Tit 2:13) waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God (Ho Theos) and Savior Jesus Christ,
(Heb 1:8) But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God (Theos), is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
(2Pe 1:1) Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God (Ho Theos) and Savior Jesus Christ:
Being not his Major title, and using it around 10 times in the new testament about his, should be enough for all to understand that Jesus is God, Divine, and equal to the Father.
2. Lord (Greek Kurios, a translation of Both Yahweh and Adonai in Hebrew), this title was the major title of Jesus, and was used to him hundreds of times, and it in not practical to look at each and every one of them. Still I will quote a few remarkable verses, mainly related to quotes about Yahweh in the Old testament and used about Jesus in the New Testament.
Rom 10:9-13 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Kurios) and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord (Kurios) is Lord (Kurios) of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Kurios) will be saved."
(The last sentence is a direct quote from the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, and the Word translated Lord is in the original Hebrew "Yahweh" the most sacred title of God.)
(1Co 8:6) yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
(the last verse is noticeable as it identifies the titles of the father and the Son, but we have to understand that these titles are not exclusive to one member of the trinity, as the title God was used for Jesus and the title Lord was used of the father, again assuring the Unity between them, as well as with the Spirit, who is also called Lord and God in some other verses - Acts 5: 5 and 2 Corinthians 3: 18)
3. Son of God, a very common name for Jesus in the New Testament, and very controversial in the sight of Muslims, probably due to a history of misunderstanding and bad communication. But what does the title mean? The answer is clearly mirrored in the way the Jews understood it in the days of Jesus.
(Joh 5:18) This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The clear declaration of Jesus that He is the Son of God, meant to the Jesus that he is claiming equality in nature and value with the Father. This exactly what Christians mean when they say that Jesus is Son of God, not that God got married, has intercourse and brought Jesus.
It is Our faith, delivered to us in the Bible, through the messengers of the Spiritual Church over the centuries, those messengers who were willing to die for their faith and many of them actually did.
It is our everlasting confession:
Iesous Christos Theos Yous Soter (Jesus Christ, God's Son, Our Saviour)
Comments
Post a Comment