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Is Jesus God?

JesusIn theological review

The short answer

Yes. The New Testament calls Jesus God in plain words, shows him doing what only God does, and records him receiving the worship that belongs to God alone. That is why the church at Nicaea confessed him as very God of very God, of one substance with the Father, and why Chalcedon confessed him as truly God and truly man in one person.

The fuller answer

John opens his Gospel by identifying Jesus before he ever names him: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. A few verses later the Word became flesh. The same Gospel ends its main account with Thomas, who had doubted, looking at the risen Jesus and saying, My Lord and my God. Jesus does not correct him. He blesses those who will believe the same confession without seeing.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1 (BSB)

Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:28 (BSB)

Paul says the same in one dense sentence: in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily. Not a portion of God, not a godlike glow: the fullness. Jesus forgives sins, which the scribes rightly said God alone can do, he receives worship, he is named as Creator, and he carries the divine name, as the next answer on this site works through.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

Colossians 2:9 (BSB)

The church's creeds were written to keep this from being negotiated down. The Nicene Creed calls Jesus the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. The Definition of Chalcedon adds the other side: the same one is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man. Take away either side and you no longer have the Jesus of the New Testament.

Sources

  • Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
  • The Nicene Creed (AD 325, enlarged 381)
  • The Definition of Chalcedon (AD 451)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.

Dig deeper

No answer here is a dead end. Follow the question on, test it in practice, or work the method yourself on the Dig deeper page.

Did Jesus claim to be God?Yes, though usually in the language of his own Scriptures rather than in a slogan. He took God's own name, I AM, onto his lips, claimed oneness with the Father, forgave sins, and accepted worship. His hearers understood the claims clearly enough: the charge they brought against him, again and again, was blasphemy.What is the Trinity?The Trinity is the Christian confession that there is one God, and that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, each fully God, equal in power and glory. The word itself is not in the Bible. The reality is taught everywhere in it, and the church forged the word to protect what the Bible says from being flattened in either direction.Was Jesus born of a virgin?Yes, according to the Gospels and the prophecy they quote. Isaiah promised a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son called Immanuel, God with us. Matthew records that Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit before she and Joseph came together, and the church has confessed it ever since in both its great creeds.On the map: BethlehemFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.On the map: NazarethFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.Lesson: I believe in God, the Father almightyThe Creed opens by naming who God is before it says anything about us. Take the first line apart, word by word, with the Scripture under each word.