IVThe 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.
"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 thereal 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 thirdday, 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 notmerely 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.
The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is thatmany 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 toRev.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 inIsa.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."InRev.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 versethe Lord Goddeclares 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."In1 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 inPs.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 theLord 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 Godand Saviour Jesus Christ." InRom.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, thatJesus is spoken of by various namesand titles that beyond a question imply Deity, and that He in so many words is called God. InHeb.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.
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 inHeb.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 in2 Chron.6:30 andJer.17:9, 10, God only possesses, but we are told in so many words in John 16:30 that Jesus knew "all things," and inCol.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 inMatt.18:20 that where two or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst of them, and inMatt.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 and2 Cor.13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer, in all the millions of believers scattered over the earth. InEph.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 beginningwas 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 wasI 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 Christwho 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 inIsa.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 inHeb.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 inCol.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 showsthat He possessed every perfection of nature and character that God the Father possesses.
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. InHeb.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 inHeb.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 inPhil.3:21,R. V.In2 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 authorityover 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.
The fourth line of proof of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ is found in the fact thatover 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. InJer.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 whojudgestandtriest the reins and the heart. And in the17thchapter 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 inRev. 2:23the Lord Jesussays,"I am he which searcheththe 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 theN. T.what Jehovah in theO. 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 theN. 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.
The fifth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord is foundin the way in which the name of Jesus Christ is coupled with that of God the Father. In numerous passages His name is coupled with the name of God the Father in a way in which it would be impossible to couple the name of any finite being with that of the Deity.We have time for but a few of the many illustrations that might be given. A striking instance is in the words of our Lord Himself in John 14:23 where we read,"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him, and makeour abode with him."Here our Lord Jesus does not hesitate to couple Himself with the Father in such a way as to say "we," i.e.,God the Father and Iwill come and make our abode with him. In John 14:1 He says,"Let not your heart be troubled: Believe in God, believe also in me."If Jesus Christ was not God this is shocking blasphemy. There is absolutely no middle ground between admitting the Deity of Jesus Christ and charging Christ with the most daring and appalling blasphemy of which any man in all history was ever guilty.
There is a sixth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus. Those already given have been decisive, each one of the five has been decisive, but this, if possible, is the most decisive of them all, and that is, thatwe are taught in so many words that Jesus Christ should be worshipped as God, both by angels and men. In numerous places in the gospels we see Jesus Christ accepting without hesitation a worship which good men and angels declined with fear, and which He Himself taught should be rendered only to God (Matt.28:9; Luke 24:52; Mark 14:33; cf. Acts 10:25, 26;Rev.22:8, 9,R. V.; Matt. 4:9, 10). A curious and very misleading comment is made in the margin of the American Standard Revision upon the meaning of the word translated"worship" in these passages, and that is that "the Greek word translated worship denotes an act of reverence,whether paid to a creatureor to the Creator." Now this is true, but it is utterly misleading; for while this word is used to denote "an act of reverence paid to a creature"by idolators, our Lord Jesus Himself distinctly says, using exactly the same Greek word,"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,"and on the other hand He says in John 5:23 that"All men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father."And inRev.5:8, 9, 12, 13 the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders are represented as falling down before the Lamb and offering worship to Him just as worship is offered to Him that sitteth upon the throne, i.e., God the Father. InHeb.1:6 we are told in so many words,"And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him."One night in the inquiry room in Chicago I stepped up to an intelligent looking man at the back of the room and said to him, "Are you a Christian?" He replied, "I do not suppose you would consider me a Christian." I said, "Why not?" He said, "I am a Unitarian." I said, "What you mean then is that you do not think that Jesus Christ is a person who should be worshipped." He replied, "That is exactly what I think," and added, "the Bible nowhere says we ought to worship Him." I said, "Who told you that?" He replied, "Mypastor," mentioning a prominent Unitarian minister in the City of Boston. I said, "Let me show you something," and I opened my Bible toHeb.1:6 and read,"And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him,"and he said, "Does it say that?" I handed him the Bible and said, "Read it for yourself," and he read it and said, "I did not know that was in the Bible." I said, "Well it is there, isn't it?" "Yes it is there." Language could not make it plainer.The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, is to be worshipped as God by angels and men, even as God the Father is worshipped.
The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped; but there are also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.
1. Our Lord Jesus says inMatt.11:28,"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."Now any one that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic,or an impostor. No one can give rest to all who labour and are heavy laden who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it. If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He is either a lunatic or an impostor. If He actually does it, then beyond a question He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it. Thousands and tens of thousands who have laboured and were heavy laden and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus Christ andHe actually has given them rest. Surely then He is not merely a great man, He is God.
2. Again in John 14:1Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith in Him that we put in God the Father, and promises that in such faith we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart. His words are,"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me."It is clear that He demands that the same absolute faith be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty. Now inJer.17:5, scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly familiar, we read"Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man,"and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man, Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in God. It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when He makes this demand, must eitherbe God or an impostor, but thousands and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.
3. Again,the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for Himself. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it. InMatt.10:37 He said to His disciples,"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."And in Luke 14:26, 33, He says,"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. . . . So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."There can be no question that this is a demand on Jesus' part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus made it, and, therefore, He must be God.
4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the Father. He said,"I and the Father are one."
5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say,"He that hath seen me, hath seen theFather."He claims here to be so absolutely God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.
6. In John 17:3 He says,"And this is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ."In other words,he claims that the knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father.
Conclusion: There is no room left to doubt the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ. It is a glorious truth. The Saviour in whom we believe is God, a Saviour for whom nothing is too hard, a Saviour who can save from the uttermost and save to the uttermost. Oh, how we should rejoice that we have no merely human Saviour, but a Saviour that is absolutely God. On the other hand, how black is the guilt of rejecting such a Saviour as this! Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Saviour and Lord is guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God. Many a man thinks he is good because he never stole, or committed murder, or cheated. "Of what great sin am I guilty?" he complacently asks. Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ? "No." Well, thenyou are guilty of the awful and damning sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God. "But," you answer, "I do not believe that He is God." That does not change the fact nor lessen your guilt. Questioning a fact or denying a fact never changes it, regardless of what Mary Baker Eddy may sayto the contrary. Suppose a man had a wife who was one of the noblest, purest, truest women that ever lived, would her husband's questioning her purity and nobility change the fact? It would not. It would simply make that husband guilty of awful slander, it would simply prove that man to be an outrageous scoundrel. So denying the Deity of Jesus Christ, does not make his Deity any less a fact, but it does make the denier of His Deity guilty of awful, incredible, blasphemous slander. It does prove you who deny His Deity to be——. I leave your own conscience to finish the sentence.