Seven Proofs That JESUS CHRIST IS GOD
What are the main proofs in Scripture that Jesus Christ is God? Let’s look at seven of the most glaring proofs and the support texts thereof:
1. Christ Plainly Said He and the Father Are One
This can be observed here:
“I and the Father are ONE”
And is implied here:
“…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…”
2. Christ Plainly Said He Was “I AM”
This can be observed in the Messiah’s debate with some Pharisees who opposed Him:
56“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8:58-59
Christ wasn’t just saying that he existed prior to Abraham since, if that were the case, he would’ve said, “Before Abraham was born, I was.”
Instead, he boldly said, “before Abraham was born, I Am!” This was:
- A statement of eternal self-existence.
- A reference to the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush to describe Himself, “I Am Who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). Jesus just shortened it to the first and last Hebrew words of the phrase/name, “I Am.”
Since Yeshua was clearly claiming to be God, the Pharisees & their followers naturally responded by trying to stone him to death for blasphemy.
Christ also revealed that he was I AM earlier in the chapter:
“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
He likewise testified that he was I AM just before his execution, as observed in John 18:5.
Speaking of the Son’s eternal self-existence…
3. Christ Is the Living Word of God, Who Was With God in the Beginning and IS GOD
This is plainly chronicled here:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3
Further proof that Yeshua is the “Word of God” can be observed in Revelation 19:13.
4. Christ Is Immanuel, Meaning “God With Us”
One of the Messiah’s names is Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14 & Matthew 1:23), which means “God with us.” How much clearer can Yeshua’s deity be stated?
You see, Christ is “the Word” who was “with God” “in the beginning” and the Word “was God” (John 1:1). This Word was made flesh when Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18 & Luke 1:35) and gave birth to Jesus, which is the incarnation and is pointed out as the first chapter of John continues:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
5. The LORD (YHWH) Is the First and the Last, Both Father and Son
Notice what the LORD says in the book of Isaiah:
“This is what the LORD says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.”
The same terminology is used in reference to Jesus Christ in the New Testament:
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”
“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.”
This next verse from the final chapter of Revelation says the same thing, but adds that Christ is the “Alpha and Omega,” which refer to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Compare this with who is said to be the “Alpha and Omega” in the first chapter of Revelation:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Wow, you’d have to be spiritually blind to not see Christ’s deity!
6. Angels Refused Worship From People While Christ Accepted It
Because angels are supernatural beings they’re fascinating creatures and we should appreciate them and take advantage of their services, but we must not entertain any temptation to worship them. ‘Worship’ is proskuneó (pros-koo-NAY-oh) in the Greek, which literally means “to acknowledge and adore via prostration.” The apostle John was tempted to do this twice with an angel while he was receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ imprisoned on the Island of Patmos. Notice what this angel says to John on these occasions:
So I fell at his feet to worship to him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!”
But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
It’s important to understand this because the Bible warns us that the worship of angels stems from an “unspiritual mind” and it is an identifying mark of those who try to mislead believers (Colossians 2:18). Cults thus put undue emphasis on either heavenly angels or fallen spirits. Do not be misled by such false teachers. Let your worship be reserved for God alone, as this particular angel instructed John.
The angel’s corrective response shows that these spiritual beings are adamant about our attention being focused on the Lord, their ‘employer,’ not them. They prefer to stay in the background and let the Mighty LORD have the throne. As created beings, they know their rightful place and their purpose: To worship and serve the Creator, not be worshipped themselves.
Also, notice how this angel described himself in each of his responses to John: He said “I am a fellow servant with you”. We must get ahold of this fact: Angels are “ministering spirits”—serving spirits—sent by God (their ‘Boss’) to serve people (Hebrews 1:14). People, by contrast, do not serve angels; they serve us. In fact, we will judge angels in the age-to-come (1 Corinthians 6:3).
The Lord Christ is not an angel in the commonly understood sense, but since ‘angel’ means “messenger,” the Son is The Angel of the LORD because he’s the Living Word of God — God’s message to humankind. In contrast to angels, Jesus Christ allowed himself to be worshipped as observed with this born-blind man that he healed:
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
John 9:35-38
This is the same Greek word for ‘worship’ noted above.
Later, when doubting Thomas met the resurrected Lord, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28), which both reveals Christ’s nature and bespeaks of worship (reverence, honor, submission). The Greek word for ‘Lord’ here is kurios (koo’-ree-os), which we’ll examine closer in the next section.
Lastly, worship has to do with adoration and reverence, not to mention honoring someone greater than yourself and the corresponding submission. Notice what Christ said about honor:
22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
John 5:22-23
In short, the same honor that we are to bestow on the Father, we are to offer the Son. Why? Because both Father and Son are the Almighty LORD, YHWH. Speaking of which…
7. The Hebrew Word for ‘LORD’ in the Old Testament, YHWH, Is Used in Reference to Christ in the New Testament
Romans 10:13 says “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” While ‘Lord’ here is the Greek word for Lord, kurios (KOO-ree-os), Paul was quoting Joel 2:32 wherein the Hebrew word for Lord is YHWH , pronounced either Yahweh (Yah-WAY) or Yahovah (Yeh-ho-VAH). The question is: Who is the “Lord” in Romans 10:13? Let’s read the surrounding verses for the obvious answer:
Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:5-15
Again, Paul was quoting the prophet Joel in verse 13 and the Hebrew word translated as “LORD” in that Old Testament passage is YHWH. Hence, we are to call upon the name of YHWH. But the verses before and after reveal that Paul was talking about calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus and believing in Him. “Jesus” is the Greek rendition of the Hebrew Yeshua (or Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” or “Yahweh is salvation.”
Jesus Christ is the topic of this section of Scripture, as verified by verses 6, 7 and 9; and Jesus is even referred to as “Lord” in verse 9. This is the aforementioned Greek word kurios, which is the very same word used to translate the Hebrew YHWH from Joel 2:32 in verse 13! In other words, the same Greek word for “Lord”—kurios—is used to translate the Hebrew YHWH and is used as a reference to Jesus Christ in the same context. Plus keep in mind what Christ said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” and “I and the Father are ONE” (John 14:9 & John 10:30).
There’s more evidence of Christ’s deity, of course — for instance, He said “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19, Acts 5:30-31 & Ephesians 1:20) — but I wanted to limit the proofs to seven for this article.
Before we close, let’s consider a couple common arguments against Christ being God:
‘The Scriptures Refer to Christ as God’s “Firstborn” ‘
This argument is based on these two verses:
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Cults like the Jehovah’s False Witnesses use these texts to support their belief that Jesus was the first created being of the LORD; and then God used Jesus to create everything else. However, Scripture interprets Scripture and we know from other passages examined in this article that Jesus is Yahweh (YHWH), albeit the Son, not the Father.
So what do these verses mean by describing Yeshua as the “firstborn.” The apostles, like Paul, borrowed this term from their Hebraic upbringing wherein “firstborn” meant especially honored. For instance, the nation of Israel was referred to as God’s “firstborn,” but this obviously didn’t mean Israel was the first nation that ever existed (Exodus 4:22).
Similarly, God referred to David as His “firstborn” when he was hardly the first male God created, not to mention David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons (Psalm 89:20 & 89:27). Furthermore, David was the second king of Israel. In light of all this, when Christ is referred to as the “firstborn” it simply means that the Son has a place of honor before the Father, shared by no one else; as well as a place of honor over all creation.
There are several other reasons for rejecting the idea that Christ was God’s first created being. Here are two obvious ones:
- Jesus cannot be both “first created” and “one and only Son” (John 1:14 & 1:18, 3:16 & 3:18, 1 John 4:9).
- John 1:3 says that “Through him [Christ] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” If Yeshua is the Creator of all things he cannot also be the first created. It’s simple logic.
‘But the Bible Says God Is ONE’
Yes, the Scriptures emphasize that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4 & Isaiah 45:5, 45:6, 45:18), but there’s obviously a triunity within that oneness consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which you can learn more about here.
Related Topics:
THE Angel of the LORD — Mighty Angel or Pre-Incarnate Christ?
Christ: “The Anointed One” — What Does it Mean? What Does “Jesus” Mean?
Demons Vs. Jesus Christ — No Contest!
Jesus Christ — Milksop or Mighty Lord?
Trinity — Father/Son/Holy Spirit — Yes or No?
God’s Name — YHWH (Yahweh), the Tetragrammaton
What is Oneness theology—aka “Jesus Only”—and is it Biblical?
Is the Holy Spirit God or a Divine Force?
Does God have a Feminine side?
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