Eclectic Christian

Christ on the throne

By Michael Bell

This is Part 1, of a multi-part series looking at the deity of Christ. Here are the links to the Introduction and Table of Contents.

As we begin, it is important to clarify just what we mean, and what we do not mean, when we say that Jesus is God.

We do no mean that there is more than one God.

Many have tried to portray Jesus as a god, but not the Almighty Lord God, and as a result try to make him less than God.  Yet, the scripture clearly teaches that there is but one true God.  Several of these verses are listed below.

Isaiah 43:10b (NIV) – “… Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”

Isaiah 45:5 (NIV) – “… I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”

Isaiah 45:21b-23 (NIV) – “… And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is none but me.  Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 37:16 (NIV) – “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.  You have made heaven and earth.”

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV) – “Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Mark 12:28-29, 32 (NIV) – One of the teachers of the law… asked him, “of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  “The most important one, answered Jesus, “is this:  ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one…”  “Well said, teacher,” the man replied.  “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.”

What does all this mean?  Since the Bible clearly states that there is only one true God, we are left with two options.  We can either believe that Jesus Christ is the LORD God, or we can believe that he is not God, or “a god” at all.  If we try to call Christ “a god”, we are then saying that there is more than one God, which, as can be seen from the above verses is definitely not biblical.

What do you think? Your comments as always are welcome?

Christ on the throne

By Michael Bell

The deity of Christ is one of the most important elements of the Christian faith, and one of the foundational points for all of the creeds.   Yet ask the average Christian in the pew how they support it from Scripture, or how the theology developed, and most would be hard pressed to give an answer.

This is the topic that I have spent more time on than any other over the last twenty years.  I had been challenged on the topic when I was quite young, and as a result it was one of the primary reasons that I went to seminary.  I really wanted to understand some of the biblical and language arguments that were being used both for and against the deity of Christ.

What will follow will be several short posts, on what I feel are some of the best arguments for the deity of Christ.  As far as comments go, I will allow further support and challenges to what I have written on individual passages.  I would ask that while the series is unfolding, that people focus their comments on the scripture texts in question.  At the end of the series I will allow for a more general free for all. Also, I will keep most of the posts at an introductory level so that they are understandable for a wide audience. If anyone wishes to put forward Hebrew or Greek arguments, I would be happy to debate them in the comments section of each post.

Update: It is very difficult (if not outright wrong) to put God into a box. It is impossible to describe the infinite in finite terms. Human words simply can not do justice to the task of describing the infinite God. So understand that I am not trying to delineate the edges of the box, rather it is my attempt to say, “Here is what we do know about the deity of Christ. Please understand that our knowledge is imperfect, and our understanding of the topic is imperfect, but we present it as best we can so as to improve your knowledge and understanding.”

This page will serve as the index page for the series.  When a post is complete, it’s link will be below.  The posts will follow in the following order:

1. Only One God
2. Jesus is not the Father
3. The Image of God
4. The Glory of God
5. The Word of God
6. The Word was God
7. Confessed as God
8. Worthy of worship
9. God the Creator
10. The Name of God
11. Jesus the Saviour
12. The forgiveness of sins
13. The preexistence of Jesus
14. Our reason for being
15. The First and the Last
16. Prophecies concerning his birth
17. Testimony of the Church Fathers.
18. Concluding discussion.

Some of the arguments you will find compelling, others less so.  But I believe that taken as a whole they will provide compelling evidence that the Bible teaches, and the early church believed that Jesus Christ was God.  You may also find some arguments missing that you had previously heard.   That is probably because I did not find them that compelling.  I would be interested in what you have to say about them when we reach the end of the series.

One final note.  I recognize that I am only telling half the story here.  That Christ is recognized the the Church as fully God and fully man.  I am not so nearly well equipped to tell the second half of the story, the humanity of Christ.  It will have be told at another place or time.

I will be posting usually every two days, so the whole series will take about a month to unfold.  I hope you find it of value.