IV The Deity of Jesus Christ
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What think ye of the Christ? whose son is He?”—Matt. 22:41, 42.
The question that our Lord Jesus here puts to the Pharisees is the most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Himself is the centre of Christianity, so the most fundamental questions of faith are those that concern the person of Christ. If a man really holds right views concerning the person of Jesus Christ he will sooner or later get right views on every other question. If he holds a wrong view concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later. What think ye of Christ? That is the great central question, that is the vital question.
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, subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instil 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 by it what intelligent Christians in former days meant by it. Just so they talk of “the atonement,” but they do not mean at all by the atonement 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 this morning is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity of Christ, and our question is not is Jesus Christ Divine, but is Jesus Christ God? Was that person who was born at Bethlehem nineteen hundred and twenty-one years ago, and who lived thirty-three or thirty-four years here upon 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 the third day, and was exalted from earth to heaven, to the right hand of the Father, was He God manifested 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, just as God the Father is worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and unhesitating obedience and our whole-hearted worship? Should all men honour Jesus Christ even as they honour God the Father (John 5:23)? 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 manifested in the flesh, and that He is God to-day 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 or Christian Scientist or Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead you astray? It is important that we be thoroughly sound in our faith at this point, and thoroughly well-informed, wherever else we may be in ignorance or error, for we are distinctly told in John 20:31 that “These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye may have life in His name.” It is evident from these words of the inspired Apostle John that this question is not merely a matter of theoretical opinion, that it is a matter that concerns our salvation. It is to confirm and instruct you in your blessed faith, your saving faith in Jesus Christ as a Divine person, that I speak this morning. When I studied the subject of the Divinity of Christ in the theological seminary I got the impression that there were a few proof-texts in the Bible that conclusively proved that He was Divine. Years later I found that there were not merely a few proof-texts that proved this, but that the Bible in many ways and in countless passages clearly taught that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Indeed I found that the Doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ formed the very warp and woof of the Bible.
I. Divine Names
The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is that many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total number of passages reaching far into the hundreds. Of course, I can give you only a few illustrations. Turn with me first of all to Rev. 1:17, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last.” The context shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself “the First and the Last.” Now this beyond a question is a Divine name, for in Isa. 44:6 we read, “Thus sayeth Jehovah, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.” In Rev. 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha and Omega. His words are, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse the Lord God declares that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are, “I am the Alpha, and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.” In 1 Cor. 2:8, the Apostle Paul speaks of our crucified Lord Jesus as “the Lord of glory.” His exact words are, “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” There can be no question that “the Lord of glory” is Jehovah God, for we read in Ps. 24:8-10, “Who is this king of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; yea lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory will come in. Who is the king of glory? Jehovah of hosts. He is the king of glory.” And we are told in the passage already referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King of Glory, therefore He must be Jehovah. In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God, “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” Unitarians have endeavoured to get around the force of this utterance of Thomas by saying that Thomas was excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying “my Lord and my God” as an ejaculation of astonishment, just in the way that profane people sometimes use these exclamations to-day, but this interpretation is impossible, and shows to what desperate straits the Unitarians are driven; for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus’ words immediately following those of Thomas are, “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). In the correct translation of Titus 2:13, the translation given in the English revision, not in the American Standard Revision, our Lord Jesus is spoken of as, “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” In Rom. 9:5, Paul tells us that “Christ is over all, God blessed forever.” The Unitarians have made desperate efforts to overcome the force of these words, but the only fair translation and interpretation of the words that Paul wrote in Greek are the translation and interpretation found in both our Authorised and Revised Versions. There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to find out what it actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into it, that Jesus is spoken of by various names and titles that beyond a question imply Deity, and that He in so many words is called God. In Heb. 1:8 it is said in so many words, of the Son, “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.” If we should go no further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of the Bible that Jesus Christ was really God.
II. Divine Attributes
But there is a second line of proof that Jesus Christ was God, a proof equally convincing, and that is, all the five distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ, and “all the fulness of the Godhead” is said to dwell in Him. There are five distinctively Divine attributes, that is five attributes that God alone possesses. These are Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity, and Immutability. Each one of these distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ. First of all, omnipotence is ascribed to Jesus Christ. Not only are we taught that Jesus had power over disease and death and winds and sea and demons, that they were all subject to His word, and that He is far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in the world to come (Eph. 1:20-23), but in Heb. 1:3 it is said in so many words that He “Upholds all things by the word of his power.” Omniscience is also ascribed to Him. We are taught in the Bible that Jesus knew men’s lives, even their secret history (John 4:16, 19), that He knew the secret thoughts of men, knew all men, knew what was in man (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24, 25) which knowledge we are distinctly told in 2 Chron. 6:30 and Jer. 17:9, 10, God only possesses, but we are told in so many words in John 16:30 that Jesus knew “all things,” and in Col. 2:3 we are told that in Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Omnipresence is also ascribed to Him. We are told in Matt. 18:20 that where two or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst of them, and in Matt. 28:20 that wherever His obedient disciples should go He would be with them, even unto the end of the age, and in John 14:20 and 2 Cor. 13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer, in all the millions of believers scattered over the earth. In Eph. 1:23 we are told in so many words that He “filleth all in all.” Eternity is also ascribed to Him. We are told in John 1:1 that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In John 8:57 Jesus Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” Note that the Lord Jesus did not merely say that “before Abraham was I was,” but that “before Abraham was, I am,” thus declaring Himself to be the eternal “I am.” Even in the Old Testament we have a declaration of the eternity of the Christ who was to be born in Bethlehem. In Micah 5:2 we read, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” And in Isa. 9:6 we are told of the child that is to be born, “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, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” And in Heb. 13:8 we are told that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” His immutability is also taught in the passage just quoted from Hebrews, and in the first chapter of the same book, the twelfth verse we are told that while even the heavens change, the Lord Jesus does not change. The exact words are, “They shall perish, but thou remainest: They all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a mantle shalt thou roll them up, as a garment, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same. And thy years shall not fail.” So we see that each one of the five distinctly Divine attributes were ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Col. 2:9 we are told in so many words, “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (i.e., in a bodily form). Here again we might rest our case, for what has been said under this head, even if taken alone, clearly proves the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that He possessed every perfection of nature and character that God the Father possesses.
III. Divine Offices
But we do not need to rest the case here. There is a third unanswerable line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, namely, all the distinctively Divine offices are predicated of Jesus Christ. There are seven distinctively Divine offices. That is to say, there are seven things that God alone can do, and each one of these seven distinctively Divine offices are ascribed to Jesus Christ. The seven distinctively Divine offices are: Creation, Preservation, Forgiveness of Sin, the Raising of the Dead, the Transformation of Bodies, Judgment, and the Bestowal of Eternal Life, and each of these is ascribed to Jesus Christ. Creation is ascribed to Him. In Heb. 1:10 these words are spoken to our Lord: “And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands.” The context clearly shows that the Lord addressed is the Lord Jesus. In John 1:3 we are told that “All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” Preservation of the universe and of everything is also ascribed to Him in Heb. 1:3 where it is said of the Lord Jesus, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his (i.e., God’s) substance and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” The forgiveness of sin is ascribed to Him. He Himself says in Mark 2:5-10 when His power to forgive sins was questioned, because that was recognised as a Divine power, “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” The future raising of the dead is distinctly ascribed to Him in John 6:39, 44, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” The transformation of our bodies is ascribed to Him in Phil. 3:21, R. V. In 2 Tim. 4:1 judgment is ascribed to Him: we are told that He shall “judge the quick and the dead.” Jesus Himself declared that He would be the judge of all mankind, and emphasised the fact of the Divine character of that office. In John 5:22, 23 He said, “For neither doth the Father judge any man, but He hath given all judgment unto the Son, that all men may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.” The bestowal of eternal life is ascribed to Him time and time again. In John 10:28 He Himself says, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” And in John 17:1, 2, He says, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: even as thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, He should give eternal life.” Here then we have the seven distinctively Divine offices all predicated of Jesus Christ. This alone would prove that He is God, and we might rest the case here, but there are still other proofs of His absolute Deity.
IV. Statements Which in the Old Testament Are Made Distinctly of Jehovah, God, Taken in the New Testament to Refer to Jesus Christ
The fourth line of proof of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ is found in the fact that over and over again statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the New Testament to refer to Jesus Christ. We have not time to illustrate this at length, but will give but one illustration where many might be given. In Jer. 11:20 the prophet says, “But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.” Here the prophet distinctly says that it is Jehovah of Hosts who judgest and triest the reins and the heart. And in the 17th chapter and the tenth verse Jeremiah represents Jehovah Himself as saying the same thing in these words, “I, Jehovah, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” But in the New Testament in Rev. 2:23 the Lord Jesus says, “I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” We are distinctly told in the context that it is “The Son of God” who is speaking here. So Jesus claims for Himself in the N. T. what Jehovah in the O. T. says is true of Himself and of Himself alone, and in very many other instances statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the N. T. to refer to Jesus Christ. This is to say, in New Testament thought and doctrine Jesus Christ occupies the place that Jehovah occupies in Old Testament thought and doctrine.