Is Jesus God?

Many people try to adopt a piecemeal view of Jesus. For instance, you might think that it’s easier to regard Him as a “prophet” or a “great moral teacher” instead of trusting Him as God The Son. But are these alternative views of Jesus really viable. Let’s carefully define our terms and find out.

A prophet is someone who delivers a true-message on behalf of a supernatural authority. For example, Moses and Elijah spoke to Israel for God. To avoid a cosmically dangerous brand of confusion, Israel’s prophets overtly distinguished prophecy from their own speech with preambles like: “Thus says YHVH, the God of Israel.”

Jesus doesn’t do this. Instead, He begins teaching with phrases like: “Most assuredly, I say to you..." (John 3:3). Notice this carefully, Jesus reveals the Truth to us on His own authority. Jesus doesn’t only claim to transmit the truth. He says: “I Am the Truth” (John 14:6).

In Jesus’ mind, He isn’t just a prophet. He Is The Prophet (Logos). All truth is His Truth. It is meaning that flows from Him, and is ultimately about Him. So, is He right?

Well, if Jesus is wrong and knows it, then He is a liar. If He’s wrong and doesn’t know it, then He’s a deluded psychopath. You see, "prophets" and “great moral-teachers” have something important in common. They tell the truth! So you can’t simply peel off the piece of Jesus that you like, and then discard the rest of Him. 

He Is Who He Is. 

"He" Is your Lord and God—or “he” is nothing but a curse to you.

Since Jesus’ own opinion about His Name and Nature is foundational to whether or not He Is God, many dismiss the Christian view by simply asserting that “Jesus never claimed to be God.” 

There’s an important concept to notice before answering this objection. It’s called an anachronism. This is the false expectation that speech and behaviors in our time can be installed into the past and carry the same meaning. They can’t. Just think about Marty McFly wailing Johnny Be Good in 1955, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of an anachronism. Marty only went back 30 years. Imagine if he'd gone back 2,000.

The English word “God” is identical to an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Good.” The word "God" didn't exist in first-century Judea. Then and there, the children of Israel knew God by His Covenant-Name YHVH, which means “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). 

Indeed, the Jews were so pious about "The Name," that saying it aloud or writing it down wasn’t done. The word “Adonai” (LORD) was used in its place, just like it is in our modern Bibles. But when Jesus stands trial and is asked to answer for His Name and Nature, He says: “I AM” (Mark: 14:62).

The Jewish rulers understood His meaning. It is precisely why they wanted Him killed. 

(Leviticus 24:16). 

If Jesus really Is "I AM," then He must have acted like it during His public ministry. The four New-Testament books known as “Gospels” contain eye-witness testimony of Jesus performing miracles. But what is a miracle? 

A miracle is a sign worked by Someone with authority over the physical laws of nature. God wrote these laws and built the world to run according to them. Therefore, God Is the only One capable of supervening them. When He chooses to do so, it results in a supernatural event that we call a miracle.

Notice carefully that Jesus doesn’t just say things that God says. He does things only God can do. He organizes energy into matter. He supervenes fundamental forces like gravity. He heals diseases and sets broken things right again (Matthew 14). He even gave life back to a dead man (John 11).

How is Jesus able to do these things? Because He Is the One Who gave meaning to this world in the first place. (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-4). He Is the Creator. He Is the Headwaters of Energy, Life, and Health. He Is the Perfect-Being (John 14:6).

Jesus worked miracles for a reason. He used them to reveal His Ultimate Power and Authority to work the ultimate miracle. He entered a corrupt and broken world so that through His own Perfection, He could make the world perfect. (Philippians 2:5-11; Revelation 21:5)

Now, God’s Perfect World can’t have even one imperfect thing in it and still be perfect. That leaves you and me out—doesn’t it?

Not so fast. There’s an essential difference between God’s Perfection and our own. God Is essentially complete in Himself. We aren’t. If we lack a community with God, we remain incomplete and imperfect. So how is an imperfect thing made perfect?

It takes a miracle.

Where do apples come from? From apple-trees of course. The behavior of a thing follows naturally from what it is. Fruit trees bear fruit. Song-birds sing songs, and the Perfect-Being does every perfect thing. 

Perfection is complete. It lacks nothing. Indeed, God has nothing to take from this world. But He has everything within Himself to give to it. That's why the world is here. That's why you are here.

All that Jesus Is and does reveals the essential Nature of God's Perfect Love. Jesus Is God, but He Is not all that God Is. God Is Love. And love is ever the gift of oneself to and for others. Jesus claimed to be God, but He never claimed to be God alone. It isn’t good to be alone. Jesus prayed to His Father, and He promised the Holy Spirit to us. These are the Others with Whom Jesus Is One in a necessary Community of Love.(Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 John 4:8)

God Is the Love-Relationship shared by The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. We are privileged to reflect God’s Love whenever a man, a woman, and their children come together as one and live—as a loving family.

Here is the miracle. To be in love with God the Son, is what it means to know God. Because Jesus sets all of our broken things right. He completes us and makes us truly alive in The Holy Spirit. And He unites us to the Father and makes us one with God and with each other. God’s Perfect Life is our due-perfection—yours and mine. Purchasing our perfection is what Jesus’ Life, death, and resurrection are all about.

"He Is" the Life, Love, & Perfection of God given for you and me. (Luke 22:19).

Perfect does as Perfect Is.