The Godhead – Jesus Christ

Jesus is not God

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus, the Son of God, is not God. Here is what they say: “ … in his prehuman existence, Jesus was a created spirit being, just as angels were spirit beings created by God …. The fact is that Jesus is not God and never claimed to be’ (Should You Believe in the Trinity?, [1989], 14,20). During His prehuman state, which lasted from the time of the Son’s creation to the time when He was born on earth as a man, Jesus was the spokesman for God the Father to other creatures that were called into being after him. Thus, the Son was the Chief Executive Officer of God, and, as such, superior to all other creatures (The Truth Shall Make You Free, page 44). Prior to His coming to earth, the Son was an angel (in heaven He was known as Michael), therefore, between Christ in His prehuman state and the angels, there was a difference only of degree but not of kind. Yet, at that time the Son was some kind of god (a god, according to their translation of John 1:1). So, since the Son was not God during His prehuman state, He could not be God during His earthly life. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only ones who deny the Deity of Jesus; many other people deny it. Here are some other sects that deny it.

The Unification Church: “Jesus, on earth, was a man no different from us except for the fact that he was without original sin. Even in the spirit world after his resurrection, he lives as a spirit man with his disciples …. Jesus is not God Himself” (Sun Myung Moon, Divine Principle, 2d ed. Washington, D.C.; The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1973, page 212).

Christian Science: ‘The Christian who believes in the First Commandment is monotheist. Thus he virtually unites with the Jews’s belief in one God, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God’ (Science and Health, page 361).

Iglesia ni Cristo (widespread especially in the Philippines): an Iglesia minister was once asked about the Iglesia’s belief concerning Christ. He answered: ‘Yes, we believe in Jesus Christ, but we do not believe that he is true God. We believe in only one true God, the God of creation. Jesus Christ is a great Saviour and was commissioned by God to be the Saviour’ (Far East Broadcasting Company, ‘Research Center Bullettin’, April 17, 1970 [mimeograph], p. 3).

The Way International: ‘Jesus Christ is not God [that is, God Himself], but [merely] the Son of God. They are not ‘co-eternal, without beginning or end, and co-equal. Jesus Christ was not literally with God in the beginning; neither does he have all the assets of God’ (Victor Paul Wierwille, Jesus Christ is Not God, page 5); ‘If Jesus Christ is God and not the Son of God, we have not yet been redeemed’ (Victor Paul Wierwille, op. cit., page 6); ‘Those who teach that Jesus Christ is God and God is Jesus Christ will never stand approved in 'rightly dividing' God's word, for there is only one God, and 'Thou shalt have no other gods'...The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was a man conceived by the Holy Spirit’ (Ibid., 79).

The Christadelphian Church: ‘John 1:18 plainly states that "No man hath seen God at any time". It does not say "No man hath seen God the Father" at any time, but that no man has seen GOD at any time. It is obvious from the Gospels that people saw Jesus: therefore Jesus cannot be God, or any part of God ….Jesus was human, not God’ (http://www.christadelphian.org.uk)

Confutation

The Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus Christ in His prehuman existence was God, that is to say, He was equal to God the Father. He was God from all eternity. Here is what the apostle John says about the prehuman state of the Son of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2 - NKJV). Therefore, since the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) we affirm that He was God even during His earthly life. That Jesus Christ was God during the days of His flesh, is confirmed in various ways by the Scripture. He was worshiped (and we know that God alone is worthy to be worshiped) by the wise men who came from the East, as it is written: “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him” (Matthew 2:11 – NKJV); He forgave men their sins (and we know that God alone has the power to forgive sins), as it is written: “Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you’ And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:3-7 – NKJV).

Jesus Christ Himself claimed to be God, for He said to the Jews: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58 – NKJV) and also: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 – NIV).

The apostles believed and taught that Jesus Christ was God. Here are some of the words of the apostles attesting the Deity of Jesus Christ.

Paul calls Jesus “God over all, forever praised!” (Romans 9:5 – NIV), “our great God and Saviour” (Titus 2:13 – NIV), and he affirms that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9 – NKJV). Peter calls Jesus “our God and Saviour” (2 Peter 1:1 – NKJV). The author of the epistle to the Hebrews calls Jesus “God,” as he says: “But to the Son, He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Hebrews 1:8-9 – NKJV)

From all these Scriptures it is evident, therefore, first of all, that before the Incarnation the Son existed from all eternity (in other words, there was never a time when He did not exist) because He was God, and secondly that during the days of His flesh the Son was still God (even though He was also a true man). We firmly believe that Jesus Christ is God, therefore we worship Him, as His disciples did and as all the angels of God are doing in heaven. Yes, the angels of God are worshiping Jesus because God commanded them to worship His Son, as it is written: “Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Hebrews 1:6 – NKJV). To our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, be the glory now and forevermore. Amen

Beloved, beware of all those who deny the Deity of Christ, for they are deceivers. Let no one of them deceive you with empty words.

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