Christian Essentials: Jesus Is God

 

Christian Essentials
What are Christian essentials?  Simply put, they are non-negotiable beliefs and doctrines that must be agreed on in order to be considered a true Christian.
 
Within Christianity, there are uncompromising, non-negotiable beliefs that must be held.  These are also referred to as primary doctrines.
 
A step beneath the primary doctrines are secondary doctrines.  These beliefs can be held deeply and zealously, but they are not deal-breaking beliefs that should hinder Christian fellowship.  For example, the subject of Calvinism (predestination) vs Arminianism (free will) is often a hotly contested doctrinal debate.  However, it is a secondary doctrine that true Christians can disagree on and maintain Christian fellowship.  There are great proponents of each position that are true and godly people.
 
A step beneath the secondary doctrines are tertiary doctrines.  Many times these are simply preferences and opinions.  Topics such as using musical instruments in worship vs vocal singing only, the age of the earth whether young or old, worship styles such as hymns vs contemporary praise songs, alcohol use, and the likes fall squarely within the tertiary doctrines.  These are completely inconsequential to Christian fellowship.
 
Today we discuss the essential doctrine of Jesus' divinity:  Jesus is God.
 
 
Introduction
In very close relationship to the essential doctrines of the Trinity and of Jesus' pre-existence of creation is that Jesus is in fact God.  

Religions of the world including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness, and the Latter Day Saints view Jesus the same:  He was a good man.
 
Some would go as far as to say that Jesus was an enlightened man or even a holy man.  Atheists will even attribute to Jesus a certain amount of goodness and wisdom.
 
Author and Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis, summed up that Jesus couldn't simply be a good man.  Understanding that Jesus spoke and indicated His divinity, He would have to to either be a lunatic who was delusional, an immoral liar for misleading people for nefarious reasons, or He had to be exactly what He claimed - Son of Man, Son of God, God Himself.  Lewis summed it up perfectly in his book, Mere Christianity:
 

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Revisit 

One of the chief objections to this doctrine comes from both atheists, Muslims, and cultists.  The claim is that Jesus never claimed to be God.  In fact, Muslim apologists will often press Christians to point to any biblical scripture where Jesus says, "I am God. Worship me" and refuse any other evidence.  Obviously that tactic is extremely disingenuous, but unfortunately some Christians can't make an answer.

It may be cheating a little, but I have already written an article addressing this objection found here:  Objection: Jesus Never Claimed To Be God.  I will let that be the main portion of this Essentials article as it provides various methods Jesus used to indicate His divinity.

Importance

So, why is it important to acknowledge Jesus as God? 

First:  Because His infinitude.  Jesus came to be the substitutional sacrifice for all sinners who turn to Him for salvation.  If a finite person could live a sinless life, they would only be able to pay the debt for a single finite person: themself.   Religions like Jehovah's Witness that believe Jesus was originally an angel, specifically the archangel Michael, fall into this fallacy.  The faithful angels that did not rebel against God, although righteous, are also finite created creatures.  They, like us, had a created beginning even though we will continued into eternity.  Because Jesus is God, He is infinite in His righteousness and power without beginning or end.

Second:  Because God is a jealous God.  That doesn't mean that He is jealously petty in the ways that we experience jealousy.  It means that He is the only One worthy of glory, and honor, and of our praise, and of our worship for our creation and our salvation.  He does not share His glory with others:

I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

    - Isaiah 42:8

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned?  My glory I will not give to another.

    - Isaiah 48:11

If you missed the Essential Doctrine of the Trinity, you can find it here.

Third:  Because He alone is sinless.  He was miraculously formed in Mary's womb and not by any natural process.  Adam and Jesus are essentially top-tier sons of God the Father within humanity being brought about through miraculous means rather than biological means.  Adam's body was fashioned from the earth and God breathed life into him; Jesus' body was fashioned in Mary's womb and God (Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity) took that human form on Himself.

As descendants of Adam, he is "our father" in the same sort of manner that Abraham is the "father of Israel".  Adam is biologically the father of humanity.  This is referred to as "federal headship".  The curse placed on Adam because of his rebellion became the inheritance of all of his progeny.  Because Jesus was not a biological result, this means that the curse was not passed to Jesus through procreative lineage.  Jesus was born without the curse of sin and lived a sinless life.    

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.  For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

    - Romans 5:18-19

Jesus alone lived as a sinless man, Jesus has the infinitude of divine righteousness, and Jesus alone can pay for the sins of a multitude of unrighteous humans.

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

    - 2 Corinthians 5:21

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

    - Acts 4:12

This is the importance of acknowledging Jesus as God.  If you are worshipping a Jesus that is not God, you aren't worshipping the God but a god. 

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