To bring this short series of articles on some of the doctrines of Christ to a conclusion, I thought I would end with one of the most fundamental truths of the gospel, ‘Jesus is God’.
There are several compelling reasons to believe that Jesus is God. I will list some and then focus on one.
Different words for God are used in the Old Testament. A few examples are noted below.
This word is the plural form of El, meaning ‘strong one’. It is especially used of God’s sovereignty, creativity, and mighty work for Israel. There are also quite a few compound titles of El, such as: El Shaddai, ‘God Almighty’; El Elyon, ‘The Most High God’; El Olam, ‘The Everlasting God’.
ELOHIM
Genesis 1. 1; Psalm 19. 1
EL-ELYON
Genesis 14. 17-20; Isaiah 14. 13, 14
EL-ROI
Genesis 16. 13 meaning The strong one who sees.
EL-SHADDAI
Genesis 17. 1; Psalm 91. 1 meaning The God of the mountains or God Almighty.
EL-OLAM
Isaiah 40. 28-31 meaning The everlasting God.
This name comes from a verb which means ‘to exist, or to be’. It emphasizes that God is the independent and the self-existent God of revelation, redemption, and covenant. Just like El, there are compounds of Yahweh such as Yahweh Jireh (Yireh), ‘The Lord will provide’.
JEHOVAH-MACCADDESHEM
Exodus 31. 13 meaning The Lord thy sanctifier.
JEHOVAH-ROHI
Psalm 23. 1 meaning The Lord my shepherd.
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH
Ezekiel 48. 35 meaning The Lord who is present.
JEHOVAH-RAPHA
Exodus 15. 26 meaning The Lord our healer.
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU
Jeremiah 23. 6 meaning The Lord our righteousness.
JEHOVAH-JIREH
Genesis 22. 13, 14 meaning The Lord will provide.
JEHOVAH-NISSI
Exodus 17. 15 meaning The Lord our banner.
JEHOVAH-SHALOM
Judges 6. 24 meaning The Lord is peace.
JEHOVAH-SABBAOTH
Isaiah 6. 1-3 meaning The Lord of hosts.
In the same way that Elohim is a plural word, so too is Adonai, speaking of majesty. The singular form of the word means ‘master, owner’. The title stresses man’s relationship to God as his master, authority, and provider.
ADONAI
Malachi 1. 6 meaning Lord, a reference to the Lordship of God.
When you come into the New Testament it is no surprise that there is more than one word used in reference to God, again some examples are noted below.
This is the plain Greek word which is most frequently translated as ‘God’ and functions as the primary name for God used in the New Testament.
When you read ‘Lord’ in the New Testament, it is most likely to be a translation of this Greek word. It stresses authority and supremacy and is used mostly as the equivalent of Yahweh of the Old Testament.
Despite the statements of some to the contrary, Jesus is called God in the Bible. As we have noted earlier, there are several other reasons why you can confidently conclude that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God, but this is one of the clearest. In the New Testament, the Greek word theos is used of the Lord Jesus.
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’, John 1. 1.
‘Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen’, Rom. 9. 5.
‘But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom’, Heb. 1. 8.
There are some aspects of the character and work of the Lord Jesus which do not lie on the surface of scripture and need to be dug out with careful study. However, this is not one of them. Understanding that Jesus is God is essential to the salvation of any person. His deity is attacked and denied today as it was when He walked on the earth.
He is not one of many gods; He is not just a man and only a man; He is not an angel; He is not a created being - He is God. The starting point of demonstrating that simple yet essential truth is that the Bible uses the plain Greek word for God when referring to the Lord Jesus.
The truth stated in this article is just a starting point. I would encourage readers to take this further and go down the above list building a comprehensive picture of the witness of scripture to the deity of the Lord Jesus.
