Devotion 14. Jesus: Fully God

Although Jesus was fully man, he remained fully God. Here are some reasons we know this.

The angel told Mary her child would be from the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:35). He would be called the son of the Most High (Luke 1:32).

Long before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied concerning him. He said “…his name shall be called…Mighty God…” (Isaiah 9:6).

Many modern theologians and philosophers have tried to maintain that the Bible does not claim Jesus was God and neither did Jesu. But that is not correct.

Jesus said “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) and “the Father is in me and I am in the Father (John 10:38).

John 1:1 says “the Word (Jesus) was God”. That is pretty clear.

The Jews understood it and opposed him. For example, John 5:18 tells us the Jews sought to kill him because he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

When the apostle Thomas saw Jesus resurrected, he declared "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Jesus did not correct him.

Titus 2:13 says we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."

We also know Jesus is God because he manifests the attributes of God:
1. He knows everything (Mt 16:21; Luke 11:17; John 4:29),
2. He has all power (Mt 8:26, 27; 28:18; Jn 11:38-44; Lk 7:14-15; Revelation 1:8),
3. He has life in himself (Jn 1:4; 14:6; 8:58),
4. He reigns or rules over everything (Mt 28:18; Rev 19:16; 1:5),
5. He is eternal, not beginning or ending (John 1:1; 8:58), and
6. He created in the world, or it was created through him, (John 1:3).

The divinity of Christ has been challenged many times. It was an issue all the way back in the 400s. The Council of Chalcedon considered the issue and upheld his divinity. The statement of the council says:

"Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us."

Jesus is God who became a man, born as a baby, who lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death, rose from the grave and sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is not just a good teacher or a nice man. To receive eternal life, salvation, you must receive him for who he is. John 1:12 tells us that those who receive him receive the right to become children of God. Receive him as God and King and receive eternal life in God’s family.