The important issue of Jesus divinity is much bigger than can be examined in any worthy detail here. Viewers are encouraged to do further research including the resources offered on this page. This is time well spent for both those who are looking into the New Testament and for those who have already put their faith into Jesus.
This false doctrine supports the misconception that Jesus was not God. He may have been a Rabbi, a great teacher or prophet, even perhaps born of a virgin and have been responsible for many miracles...but still was not God.
The best way to approach this issue is by looking at what the Bible says. We cannot expect with our human minds to understand everything about God, but His word does help by being consistent. God asks us to completely trust Him (Proverbs 3:5-6), not to completely understand Him (Isaiah 55:8).
The Old Testament clearly states that it was God who is the creator. In fact, its the very first sentence in the Bible.
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. (Genesis 1:1)
Jesus was around at that time. It would still be thousands of years before he was born in Bethlehem but at the creation point in time He was there. He was the Word. You see God spoke the world into existence. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3). The words that God spoke to make creation happen was the form that Jesus was before he was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was literally the Word of God before He was born.
John in the New Testament Gospel says it this way.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)
It was later, thousands of years later, that Jesus was born. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us... (John 1:14).
The introduction of the compound unity of God is found beginning with the creation process.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2). Here we are introduced to two different components of the compound unity of God. The first, God (Elohim a plural noun) and then the second, the Spirit of God (v'Ruach Elohim).
Later in the creation process we read "Let US make man in OUR own image, and OUR own likeness" (Genesis 1:26).
Even the prayer that is central to Judaism..(the Shema - Deut. 6:4) uses the word (echad) that sometimes means compound unity instead of the word (yachid) that means single one. For more on this please read Lessons From The Shema.
Read more about The Compound Unity Of God.
Jesus made this powerful declaration during the holiday of The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). It is very clear that the crowd around Him understood this divine declaration because of their response. Three verses later Jesus is being told that they wanted to stone Him because "You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." (John 10:33).
Read more about Jesus Claimed To Be God.
These are just a few a few things to think about concerning Jesus and His divinity.(1)
Miscellaneous:
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of host: I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God (Isaiah 44:6).
I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore (Rev. 1:17-18).
Articles of interest on this website relating to the Divinity of Christ include:
Israel My Glory a Ministry of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministries, Inc. January/February 2014 pp.22-23 by Thomas C. Simcox.
1). Source: http://carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/if-jesus-were-not-god-then-explain
