Philippians 2:5-11
This passage of scripture is on the two natures of Christ and clearly states “the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The fundamental question that must be answered is asked of the Pharisees by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 22:41 (KJV)
“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
Matthew 22:42 (KJV)
Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, [The Son] of David.”
They believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be nothing more than they themselves; just a man.
Many people today claim that Jesus Christ is God, while others say he is not.
What difference does it make what we believe about Jesus Christ?
Is it that important of an issue?
2 John 1:9 (KJV)
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
According to this passage, if we do not have the correct doctrine about Jesus Christ, we do not have God at all.
What we believe about Jesus Christ is critical.
Our very salvation depends upon it.
Believing That Jesus Christ is God is Essential for Salvation
John 20:30 (KJV)
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
John 20:31 (KJV)
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
This passage tells us we must believe that Jesus is “the Son of God” to have eternal life.
That is, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be saved.
But what does this term “Son of God” mean?
We may have various ideas about what this term means, but the important thing is not what you or I think it means.
What does it mean in the Bible?
The Holy Scriptures teach us that we can use the term “Jesus” and not use it to mean the “Son of God” of the Bible.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (KJV)
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:4 (KJV)
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him].”
Notice the Bible teaches that if you believe in another Jesus you will also believe another gospel and the person who has this belief received it from another spirit.
It is extremely important that we are sure that what we believe is what the Bible says.
Galatians 1:6 (KJV)
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 (KJV)
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
It really isn’t another gospel; it is a perversion of the gospel.
The Bible teaches that if we change the gospel message we have perverted the gospel.
When someone adds works to salvation that is a perversion of the gospel.
When someone teaches that God has already chosen (predestinated) whom He will save and all else are lost that is a perversion of the gospel.
Any teaching that does not line up with salvation by grace through faith is a perversion.
Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:9 (KJV)
Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Galatians 1:8 (KJV)
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Do you know of any religion that makes a claim that some angel gave the information that they believe?
Do you know of any man or woman that teaches something other than salvation by grace through faith?
Galatians 1:9 (KJV)
“As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
Is that clear?
Galatians 1:10 (KJV)
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Obviously those who teach another gospel are men pleasers and certainly there is a reason they want to please men.
So what does the term “Son of God” mean in the Bible?
What did those who heard Jesus speak in person understand him to mean when he said that God was his Father?
John 5:17 (KJV)
“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
John 5:18 (KJV)
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
This passage tells us clearly what they understood him to mean.
They understood he was “making himself equal with God.”
The term “Son of”, in this sense, means “to have the same nature as”.
The Jews understood that for a person to claim that God was his Father was to claim that he himself was God.
John 10:27 (KJV)
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
John 10:28 (KJV)
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:29 (KJV)
My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.
John 10:30 (KJV)
I and [my] Father are one.”
To know someone in this way and then claim that you can give them eternal life and then add that no one can pluck them out of your hand nor the hand of your Father is clearly something that only God could do.
What did Jesus mean by this statement?
Again, what did those who heard him in person understand him to mean?
The passage goes on to tell us.
John 10:31 (KJV)
“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
John 10:32 (KJV)
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
John 10:33 (KJV)
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
When Jesus claimed “I and my father are one”, he claimed to be God.
When you get the right view on this doctrine it will rightly direct your view on other doctrines.
A person who is wrong on this doctrine will not be able to rightly divide the word of truth.
“What think ye of Christ?”
R. A. Torrey said in 1918,
“And the most fundamental question concerning the Person of Christ is, ‘Is Jesus Christ really God’?
Not merely, Is He Divine, but Is He actually God?
When I was a boy, to say you believed in the Divinity of Christ meant that you believed in the real Deity of Christ, that you believed that Jesus was actually a Divine Person, that He was God.
It no longer means that.
The Devil is wise, shrewd, and subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instill error into the minds of the inexpert and unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new meaning into them.
So when his messengers masquerading as “ministers of righteousness” seek to lead, if possible, the elect astray, they use the old precious words, but with an entirely new and entirely different and entirely false meaning.
They talk about the Divinity of Christ, but they do not mean at all what intelligent Christians in former days meant by it.
Likewise, they talk of the atonement, but they do not mean at all the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in our place by which eternal life is secured for us.
And oftentimes when they talk about Christ, they do not mean at all our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus of the four gospels; they mean an ideal Christ, or a Christ principle.”
So our subject is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity of Christ; and our question is not, Is Jesus Christ Divine, but rather, Is Jesus Christ God?
Was that Person Who was born in Bethlehem and Who lived thirty-three and 1/2 years hereupon earth as recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Who was crucified on Calvary’s cross, Who rose from the dead after three days and three nights, and was exalted from earth to heaven to the right hand of the Father; was He God manifest in the flesh, was He God embodied in a human being?
Was He, and is He, a Being worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and our unhesitating obedience and our whole hearted worship?
Should all men honour Jesus Christ even as they honour God the Father (John 5:23).
John 5:23 (KJV)
“That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”
Not merely is He an example that we can wisely follow, or a Master whom we can wisely serve, but is He a God Whom we can rightly worship?
I presume that most of us do believe that He was God manifest in the flesh and that He is God today at the right hand of the Father, but why do you believe so?
Are you so intelligent in your faith, and therefore, so well-grounded in your faith that no glib talker or reasoner, no Unitarian or Russellite(JW) or Christian Scientist or Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead you astray?
UNITA’RIAN, n. [L. unitus, unus.]: One who denies the doctrine of the trinity, and ascribes divinity to God the Father only.
THEOS’OPHIST, n.: One who pretends to divine illumination; one who pretends to derive his knowledge from divine revelation.
The Old Testament Teaches That Jesus Christ is God
Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
A good cross-reference for this verse is found in Hebrews.
Hebrews 1:8 (KJV)
“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.”
Zechariah 12:10 (KJV)
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.”
God is speaking through the prophet Zechariah and saying “They shall look upon me (God) whom they have pierced.”
God is the one who is to be pierced.
In the New Testament, this passage is said to be fulfilled when they pierced Jesus Christ.
John 19:34 (KJV)
“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
John 19:35 (KJV)
And he that saw [it] bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
John 19:36 (KJV)
For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
John 19:37 (KJV)
And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.”
The New Testament Teaches That Jesus Christ is God
The New Testament is filled with the truth that Jesus Christ is both God and man. He is the God-Man.
1 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
John 1:1 (KJV)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 (KJV)
The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 (KJV)
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
John 1:14 (KJV)
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Acts 20:28 (KJV)
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Colossians 2:8 (KJV)
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:9 (KJV)
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is 100% man and 100% God at the same time all of the time.
The Lord Jesus Christ accepted worship.
Matthew 4:8 (KJV)
“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Matthew 4:9 (KJV)
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Matthew 4:10 (KJV)
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
Satan is told that God is the only One to be worshipped.
Acts 10:25 (KJV)
“And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped [him].
Acts 10:26 (KJV)
But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.”
Peter understood that man is not to be worshipped.
Revelation 22:8 (KJV)
“And I John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Revelation 22:9 (KJV)
Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.”
Angels are not to be worshipped.
The Lord Jesus Christ not only accepted worship it was commanded that He should be worshipped.
Hebrews 1:6 (KJV)
“And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
Matthew 8:2 (KJV)
“And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
Matthew 9:18 (KJV)
“While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.”
Matthew 14:33 (KJV)
“Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”
Matthew 15:25 (KJV)
“Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.”
Matthew 28:9 (KJV)
“And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”
Matthew 28:17 (KJV)
“And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”
John 20:28 (KJV)
“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
John 20:29 (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.”
The Lord Jesus not only allows Thomas to worship him as God, he also pronounces a blessing upon all of us who will believe and do the same.
Some people say that Jesus is not God.
They say that he was just a good teacher.
But understand, if Jesus was not God yet allowed himself to be worshipped, he would not have been a good teacher at all. He would have been a sinner and a blasphemer.
We have seen that believing in “Jesus” is not enough.
We must believe in the Jesus of the Bible, lest someone deceive us by preaching “another Jesus”.
The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God.
Jesus claimed to be God. (John 5:17-18; John 10:30-33; etc.)
The Old Testament teaches that Jesus is God. (Isaiah 9:6; Zechariah 12:10; etc.)
The New Testament teaches that Jesus is God. (1 Timothy 3:16; Colossians 2:8-9; etc.)
Jesus allowed himself to be worshipped, (Matthew 8:2; John 20:28-29; etc.), despite the fact that the Bible says we are to worship God only. (Matthew 4:10)
So, is Jesus Christ God?
Your eternal destiny hangs on how you answer that question.
2 John 1:9 (KJV)
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
