I know that most Christians think that Jesus is God. But can that really be true? Do those people consider every single verse in the Bible or are they just picking some out? Because I have seen that there are many verses in the Bible which say that Jesus is not God, as you can see in the following article:
Jesus is not God - Bible verses and proofs - Faith Catcher
What do you think?
The Christian confession that Jesus Christ is truly God is rooted in a plethora of statements found throughout the New Testament, and can be seen confessed consistently in the writings of the ancient fathers, including those who personally knew the Apostles.
Some of the more explicit statements come from John's Gospel and the Pauline letters. For example the Fourth Evangelist writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God, and through this one all things were made, and nothing that was made was made without Him." (John 1:1-3), the identity of this Logos ("Word") is made pretty explicit a bit later, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld this one's glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) and also "No one has at any time seen God, but God the only Son has made Him known" (John 1:18). A number of uniquely statements made by Jesus are found uniquely in John's Gospel, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father", "I and My Father are one", and then we have St. Thomas upon seeing the wounds of Christ declaring, "My Lord and my God".
In the Pauline epistles we find numerous statements, for example in Philippians ch. 2 St. Paul writes that though Jesus "was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be seized, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a slave and became in the likeness of human beings", in his letter to the Colossians the Apostle says of Jesus both that He is "the fullness of Deity in bodily form" and also "All things were made by Him and for Him", and in the letter to Titus writes, "the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ".
Further, the testimony of the ancient and historic Church:
"
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 Spirit." - St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, 18 (c. 107 AD)
"
Hence every kind of sorcery was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult, because He mediated the abolition of death." - ibid. 19
"
And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as Man, and Angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also was manifested at the judgment executed on Sodom, has been demonstrated fully by what has been said." - St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 128 (c. 140-150 AD)
Herein Justin has identified Jesus as He who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and who spoke the words "I AM that I AM".
"
As you wish, Trypho, I shall come to these proofs which you seek in the fitting place; but now you will permit me first to recount the prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts, and Jacob, in parable by the Holy Spirit; and your interpreters, as God says, are foolish, since they say that reference is made to Solomon and not to Christ, when he bore the ark of testimony into the temple which he built. The Psalm of David is this:
'The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. He has rounded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that is clean of hands and pure of heart: who has not received his soul in vain, and has not sworn guilefully to his neighbour: he shall receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the generation of them that seek the Lord, that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates, you rulers; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, you rulers; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.'" - ibid. 36
"
We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce that God was born in the form of a man." - Tatian, Address to the Greeks, 21 (c. 180 AD)
"
But he to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him, knows Him, so that he understands that He who 'was not born either by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man,' is the Son of Man, this is Christ, the son of the Living God. For I have shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth." - Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 3.19.2 (c. 190 AD)
That Jesus Christ is rightfully called "God" is effectively no where seriously ever in dispute in the ancient Church; what does become a matter of dispute is what is meant by calling Him "God". Adoptionists argued that Christ became God by adoption, the Sabellians argued that Christ was God the Father in a human mask, while the Arians would later say that the Son is God but another God other than God the Father (and that there were, then, two Gods). These matters came to a head during the Arian Controversy of the 4th century, wherein the Council of Nicea convened by order of Emperor Constantine to solve the raging debates on the matter, and hence the formula put forward by Nicea in 325 AD was as follows:
"
We believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being homoousios* with the Father."
The definitive Creed of 381 reaffirmed the formula of Nicea, saying,
"
We believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, homoousios* with the Father;"
*That is, "Of the same being" or "of the same substance"; in contrast to the Arians who either wanted heteroousios ("of another substance") or homoiousios ("of a similar substance").
-CryptoLutheran
