A Counterfeit Kingdom … or Not?
Is Jesus God?
Most critics assume that Jesus never claimed to be God.30 They also assume that the New Testament writers never claimed that Jesus is God. For accurate interpretation, a student of the Bible must look at the whole counsel of God—at Scripture in context of the whole. For example, the first words in Genesis state, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Since God was the Creator and since Colossians 1:15–17 presents that Christ created all things, the relationship between God and Jesus must be that of equality. Jesus Christ must be God.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
(Colossians 1:15–17)
What Different People and Books of the Bible Say
- Paul refers to Jesus as “God” and “Savior.”
“We wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13)
- Peter refers to Jesus as “God” and “Savior.”
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.” (2 Peter 1:1)
- Thomas refers to Jesus as “My Lord and my God.”
“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28)
- John refers to Jesus as “the Word” and as “God.”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
- Jesus even says that He and God the Father are one.
“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
- In Hebrews, Jesus is called “God.”
“But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’ ” (Hebrews 1:8)
- In the Epistle of 1 John, Jesus is called “the true God and eternal life.”
“We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
- In Philippians, Jesus is described as “in very nature God.”
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (Philippians 2:5–6)
- In Colossians, Jesus is fully God with “all the fullness of Diety.”
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Colossians 2:9–10)
- In the Gospel of John, Jesus is called the great “I AM.” (See Exodus 3:14.)