“THE DEITY OF CHRIST”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES
What about The Deity of Christ? Is Jesus God? Well, what do men say?
Judaism says, “No! He is not God.” He was just a false messiah.
Islam says, “No! He is not God.” He was merely one of at least 124,000 prophets
of Allah of whom Muhammad was the greatest.
Hinduism says, “No! He is not God.” He is a reincarnation of the Hindu god
Vishnu.
Buddhism says, “No! He is not God.” He was just “an enlightened man.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses say, “No! He is not God.” He is Michael the archangel.
Christian Science says, “No! He is not God.” He can’t be God because God can’t
take on human flesh. Jesus died, He’s still dead, and He isn’t coming back.
The Church of Scientology says, “No! He is not God.” He was not the Creator
and did not die for anyone’s sins.
The Unification Church says, “No! He is not God.” He is actually the son of
Zechariah. He has already come back in the person of the Reverend Moon.
The Unity School of Christianity says, “No! He is not God!” He has been reincar-
nated many times and is still seeking after His own salvation. He has never been
resurrected and He isn’t coming back.
Spiritualism says, “No! He is not God.” When He was alive He was “an
advanced medium.”
The New Age Movement says, “No! He is not God.” He’s a guru and “an
ascended master.”
Hare Krishna says, “No! He is not God.” He was just an enlightened vegetarian
teacher.
Transcendental Meditation says, “No! He is not God.” He was a man who dis-
covered the “divine essence.”
The Baha’i’s say, “No! He is not God.” He is only one of many manifestations of
God, who has since been superseded by Muhammad.
The Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) are real tricky. Be
careful of these people. They say that Jesus is a God, but He is not the God. That
is because the God created Him separate from Himself. Thus, Jesus is the “elder
brother” of all men and all angels (Satan and the demons included).
That’s some of what men say. But at Lighthouse Bible Church we do not look to men to
answer the question, “Is Jesus God?” We look to the Bible and ask, “But what does the
Scripture say?”
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The Deity of Christ is the single most fundamental doctrine of Christianity. The doctrine
clearly states that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Of course, the lost world denies it.
So why does every man-made religion deny Christ’s deity? They do so because they
must! They must deny His deity because to acknowledge The Deity of Christ is to admit
that the religion to which they cling is invalid, a lie, and is in fact, a false religion.
On the other hand, if all the other religions of the world were correct in their assessment –
that Jesus Christ is not God in human flesh – then Christianity would be the single most
monumental fraud ever perpetrated upon humankind. And all of us here this morning,
along with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, would be nothing
more than blind fools. We would be pitiful. In fact, the Apostle Paul actually says that
would be the case. Speaking of belief in Christ and His resurrection, he says…
1 Corinthians 15:17-20
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…and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in
your sins.
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Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
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If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be
pitied.
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But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who
are asleep.
So the lost world and the vast majority of the human race insist that Jesus Christ is not
God. But we ask, “But what does the Scripture say?” The Scripture tells us, in no
uncertain terms, that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. It tells us that Jesus Christ is
eternal. It tells us that Jesus Christ is not only the Creator of all life – of all that there is,
ever was, or ever will be – but He sustains all life by His eternal power. Thus, the Scrip-
ture says that Jesus Christ is not only God in human flesh, but that He can be no one and
nothing else. (repeat)
*John 1:1-5
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. (This speaks to Jesus’ eternality. As the Second Person of the Holy Trinity
He has existed since before creation. This is to say, He is from eternity past.)
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He was in the beginning with God.
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All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into
being that has come into being. (This speaks of Jesus Himself as the Creator.)
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In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend
it.
*Colossians 1:15-19; 2:8-9
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And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (preeminent) of all
creation.
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For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities –
all things have been created by Him and for Him.
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And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.
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He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-
born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in
everything.
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For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him.
2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty de-
ception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary prin-
ciples of the world, rather than according to Christ.
2:9
For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form.
*Hebrews 1:1-12
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God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many por-
tions and in many ways (the OT),
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in these last days (the NT) has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed
heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (Jesus is the
Creator.)
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And He (God the Son) is the radiance of His (God the Father’s) glory and the
exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His
power. When He (God the Son) had made purification of sins, He sat down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high;
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having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more
excellent name than they.
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For to which of the angels did He (God the Father) ever say, “You are My
Son, today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him,
and He shall be a Son to Me”?
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And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He (God the Father)
says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”
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And of the angels He (God the Father) says, “Who makes His angels winds,
and ministers a flame of fire.”
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But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the
righteous scepter is the scepter of His (God the Son’s) kingdom. (God the
Father calls God the Son, “God.”) (Jesus is eternal.)
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“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your
God has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
(Once again, God the Father calls God the Son, “God.”)
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And, “You, Lord, in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth, and
the heavens are the works of Your hands; (Now God the Father calls God the
Son, “Lord.”)
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they (this creation) will perish, but You will remain; and they all will become
old as a garment,
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and as a mantle You will roll them up; as a garment they will also be
changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.”
Is all of this about The Deity of Christ an invention of the NT? Absolutely not! The first
hint that there is someone with God the Father comes all the way back in Genesis 1.
*Genesis 1:1-2
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“In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.
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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.”
“Elohim” is the plural form of the word “God.” So right here, in the first two verses of
the Bible we come upon the earliest hint of the “triunity” of God. We see what we will
ultimately come to understand as the Holy Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. What does this triune God do?
*Genesis 1:26a
26a
Then God (Elohim) said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to
Our likeness…”
The Scripture says that God has created us according to His image and His likeness.
How can we get our heads around the idea that we are created by Him to be like Him?
How can we practically define the “image of God?” Maybe this will help. (picture of
Stacey and Ryan)
“This is my daughter and my grandson. Well, it isn’t actually my daughter and my
grandson. It is an image of my daughter and my grandson.”
Then Genesis 1:26 says that we are made in God’s “likeness.” How can we practically
define the “likeness of God?” This may help. (model of 427 Shelby Cobra)
“This is a 427 Shelby Cobra. Well, it isn’t really a 427 Shelby Cobra. It is a scale
model made in the likeness of a 427 Shelby Cobra.”
We have seen that Jesus Christ is the Creator God Himself. He has made us in His image
and in His likeness. But there’s more. Jesus Christ (God the Son) is the perfect image of
God the Father.
Remember Colossians 1:15? “And He is the image (a picture) of the invisible God,
the first-born (preeminent) of all creation.”
Remember Hebrews 1:3? “And He (God the Son) is the radiance of His (God the
Father’s) glory and the exact representation (a perfect model) of His nature…”
We have been made in His image and His likeness. What an amazing thing that is.
Ponder it. Meditate upon it. Let the weight of it sink deeply into your soul. He has made
us His creation and His children.
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