9. The Deity of Christ
“Thou Art the Son of God.”
The Deity of Christ
IS ANY OTHER QUESTION so far-reaching and important as the question, Who was Jesus? Is He or is He not God?
If Jesus is not God, then there is no Christianity, and we who worship Him are nothing more than idolaters. Conversely, if He is God, those who say He was merely a good man, or even the best of men, are blasphemers. More serious still, if He is not God, then He is a blasphemer in the fullest sense of the word. If He is not God, He is not even good.
It has rightly been maintained that there is no stopping between unitarianism and rationalism after Christ. The deity of Christ is the key doctrine of Scripture. Reject it, and the Bible becomes a confused jumble of words devoid of any unifying theme. Accept it, and the Bible becomes an intelligible and ordered revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is the center of Christianity, and the conception we form of Christianity is therefore the conception we have of Him.
Our belief in the deity of Christ is, in the final analysis, based on our faith in the Scriptures. We believe Him to be the Son of God because we accept the teaching of Holy Scripture and its statements about Him. When we assert belief in the deity of Christ we mean that the person known to history as Jesus of Nazareth existed in eternity before He became man as the infinite and eternal God, the second Person of the Trinity.
The very basis of Christianity is that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). If that assertion can be overthrown, then the whole superstructure of Christianity crashes to the ground, and we are bound to assume that Jesus was either a shameless impostor or that He suffered from a delusion. In either case He is disqualified from being our Savior, and the most astounding phenomenon as well as the most potent factor in human affairs is left entirely without explanation.
Deity or Divinity?
Two terms are used to express the Godhood of Christ, “deity” and “divinity.” Is there any significant difference in the meanings of the two words?
It is unfortunate that the latter term, which was considered as synonymous with the former half a century ago, has been debased in meaning by liberal theologians and is now applied indifferently to both Christ and man. “Divinity” pertains to that which is celestial, dedicated to religious purposes, or supernatural in nature. “Deity” has only one proper connotation and pertains exclusively to Godhead.
We may speak in a limited sense of the divinity of man since he was made in the image of God, but in no sense is it right to speak of the deity of man. Of more recent years, in order to prevent misunderstanding of a crucial point of doctrine, it has become the practice among evangelical Christians to employ the less easily misunderstood term “deity” when applied to our Lord. “Deity” implies that He is on an absolute equality with the Father, of whose person and glory He is the accurate expression (Hebrews 1:3).
Bishop Handley Moule wrote in this context, “I well recognize the profound possible distinction between divinity and deity. With all possible conviction and faith I confess my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, on whom my whole hope of eternal life and present rest and strength depends, to be in the proper and ultimate sense, God, eternal, all-holy, almighty, one from and to eternity with the Father and the Spirit. At least once a week I recite the Nicene Creed, and I mean its every word. Did I cease to believe it, I should assuredly resign my office and equally assuredly I should resign my place and hope as a sinful man.”
Creedal Testimony
Creedal testimony to Christ’s deity abounds, beginning with that first confession of Peter, which the Lord attributed not to keen spiritual insight, but to divine revelation: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
From many, three creedal statements are selected:
The Apostles’ Creed, dating back to AD 165 runs:
“I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord …,” a confession possible only to a true Christian.
The Nicene Creed (AD 325), formulated as it was to meet errors that had sprung up in the church, is even more explicit:
“I believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God … being of one substance with the Father….”
The Westminster Confession, now more than three centuries old, runs:
“The Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature….”
Throughout the centuries there has been an unbroken chain of creedal testimony to the Godhood of Christ.
Personal Testimony
While personal testimony is not in itself proof, it is significant that there is a volume of testimony bearing on this point from unbelievers as well as believers.
Unbelievers and infidels have outdone each other in applauding the unique character of Christ, and in a court of law, favorable evidence from a witness for the opposing side carries great weight. Here are some tributes from unbelievers and even enemies of Christianity.
Ernest Renan, the French infidel: “Repose now in Thy glory, noble founder. Thy work is finished! Thy divinity is established…. Between Thee and God there will no longer be distinction…. Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be surpassed.”
Lord Byron, profligate poet: “If ever a man was God, or God was man, Jesus Christ was both.”
J. J. Rousseau, immoral atheist: “If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.”
Napoleon, the ruthless conqueror: “I know men, and I tell you, Jesus was not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. This resemblance does not exist … Jesus Christ alone founded His Empire upon love, and at this hour millions would die for Him. In every other existence but that of Christ, how many imperfections.”
Believers by the myriad have added their testimony and of these a few are selected.
Daniel Webster, American statesman: “I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.”
William Shakespeare, immortal poet: “Jesus Christ, my Saviour.”
John Milton, blind poet, “Begotten Son, Divine Similitude.”
William E. Gladstone, Prime Minister of Britain: “All that I live for is based on the divinity of Christ.”
Alexander Whyte, Scottish preacher: “The longer I live, the firmer is my faith rooted in the Godhead of my Redeemer. No one short of the Son of God could meet my case. I must have one who is able to save to the utmost.”
Denials of Christ’s Deity
It is a striking fact that it was not until the fourth century that anyone began to assail the belief of Christians in the deity of Christ. Then it was Arius the noted heretic who led the attack. From the form his attack took, it is apparent that until then Christians had accepted the doctrine without question. His arguments were not couched to correct an existing heresy, but to overthrow the currently accepted view.
Without question, the last battle of the Christian age, as the first, will center in the person of Christ. It is significant that most of the modern religious cults are in error concerning the person and deity of Christ.
Spiritism asserts that “it is an absurd idea that Jesus was more divine than any other man.”
Christian Science claims: “Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus Himself declared, but the Son of God.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses boldly state: “Jesus was not God the Son.”
Being thus in error at the center, these and other similar cults cannot but be wrong at the circumference.
The Witness of Scripture
The four gospels are, of course, the main source of our knowledge of the person of our Lord. The Old Testament, however, makes its contribution to the subject. References to Jehovah in the Old Testament are applied to Christ in the New. That is inexplicable and unwarranted if He was not God. Yet, as strict monotheists, the New Testament writers constantly use these ascriptions without any explanation or apparent consciousness of incongruity. In illustration of this, compare Matthew 3:3 with Isaiah 40:3; Ephesians 4:7–8 with Psalm 68:18; 1 Peter 3:15 with Isaiah 8:13.
The four evangelists are obviously depicting a real and not an imaginary character. It has been suggested that they created the story out of their own inner consciousness, but that assumption is incredible. How could those “unlearned and ignorant men” (Acts 4:13) with such consummate skill invent such an incomparable figure? As well expect four artisans to take up palette and brush and combine to produce a masterpiece in art eclipsing a Raphael!
Again, the moral and religious atmosphere in which those men lived was entirely hostile to the message they recorded. How could provincial, exclusive Jews, with their scorn of the Gentiles, paint such a glowing portrait of a Messiah whose love embraced both Jew and Gentile?
To contend that the Christ of the Bible is the offspring of mere human imagination and had no historical reality, would make the gospels as great a miracle in the realm of literature as the living Christ in the realm of history. Ernest Renan remarked that it would take a Jesus to invent a Jesus. J. J. Rousseau contended that it is more inconceivable that a number of persons should agree to write such a history, than that one should form the subject of it.
The gospel narratives are so thoroughly saturated with the assumption of His deity, that it crops out in quite unexpected ways and places. In three passages in Matthew’s record, for example, He is represented as speaking most naturally of “his angels” (Matthew 13:41; 16:27; 24:31).
The four gospels combine to present a character absolutely unique, the one universal Man. Although He came of the most exclusive of races, He Himself bore no race mark. No other man has escaped this. Each gospel presents identically the same character. The Christ of Mark says and does nothing inconsistent with the Christ of Matthew. And more remarkable still, the New Testament epistles continue to present “this same Jesus.”
Christ’s Powers and Prerogatives
The attributes of deity are ascribed to Him in the Scriptures. He Himself laid claim to omnipotence. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). On occasions He exhibited this power over nature (Matthew 8:27), over demons (Luke 4:36), over angels (Matthew 26:53), over disease (Luke 4:40), and over death (Mark 5:41–42).
Omniscience is implied in the statement “Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men” (John 2:24; see also John 4:29; 16:30; Colossians 2:3).
The promise subjoined to our Lord’s Great Commission involves the omnipresence of Christ. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
He asserted His own self-existence in these words: “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26; see also John 8:57–58; Revelation 1:8).
Actions are ascribed to Christ that are possible to Deity alone: creation (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10), resurrection (John 5:28–29), judgment (John 5:27).
When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28), Jesus did not rebuke him for blasphemy, but accepted his ascription of deity without demur. Contrast this with the reaction of the angel, when John fell down to worship him: “See thou do it not” (Revelation 22:8–9).
In reviewing the claims Christ made, we are faced with three possibilities: (a) He was a deceiver and was not telling the truth. But that is contradicted by His whole life and work, (b) He was self-deceived and thought such things of Himself, but they had no basis in fact. But the fact that He performed miracles and that He was raised from the dead contradict that, © the third and only tenable possibility is that He was exactly what He claimed to be.
The Witness of Christ’s Claims
No other man in history has made claims for himself that parallel those made by Christ.
He evinced a sublime self-consciousness of His own person and work. Christ preached Himself. “He distinctly, repeatedly, energetically preaches Himself,” says Canon H. P. Liddon. The fact that He was “meek and lowly in heart,” and that He sought nothing for Himself, gives additional emphasis to this tremendous self-assertion. In anyone else it would have been absurd and blasphemous, but in Him it does not seem incongruous.
In the first words recorded of Him, He offsets the words “My Father” against His mother’s “Thy Father” (Luke 2:41–52), surely an indication of His consciousness of a unique relation, existing between Himself and God.
To the horror of the Jews, He even went so far as to assume to Himself the sacred divine name—”I AM.” “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58; cf. Exodus 3:14). In point of fact, no fewer than sixteen names clearly implying deity are used of the Lord, for; example, “Lord of glory.”
No less astounding are the claims He made in His “I AM” utterances (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:7–11). These are undoubted assumptions of deity, as is His claim to possess the divine resources to meet all human need (Matthew 11:28; John 4:14; 7:37–38; 10:28).
He manifested a superhuman character. The sublimity of His character added confirmation to His claims. He was too sincere to prefer a false claim, too humble and unselfish to seek selfish honor or self-interest.
His disciples, who had ample opportunity to observe His inner life, never found Him to falter or fail. They were impressed by His moral courage, and amazed at His miracles. It was out of daily intercourse as well as divine illumination that Peter’s confession was born: “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.”
He assumed superiority over prior revelation. Concerning the attitude of the Lord to the Old Testament Scriptures, D. M. Mclntyre has this to say: “The Sermon on the Mount is a summary of the ethical teachings of the Old Testament. And our Lord, with all His profound reverence for Scripture, holds Himself towards it with a certain freedom. He clears away rabbinical glosses (Matthew 5:43); He affirms the transitory and imperfect nature of the civil law in Israel (Matthew 5:31); He shows that the divine pronouncement reaches beneath the letter of the statute, and searches the thoughts and intents of the heart (Matthew 5:21). He brings all life under His personal rule; the test of conduct is ‘for my sake’” (Matthew 5:11).
As a final word of authority, His oft-repeated “Verily, I say unto you” was nothing short of an assertion of a divine prerogative.
The Witness of the Spread of Christianity
“Christianity is the greatest proof of Christ’s deity, because He as its Head measures up to the highest standard of deity.” Although the Scriptures are the greatest testimony to the deity of Christ, there are other avenues of evidence. Think of the mighty revolution He has caused in the world. The growth and spread of other religions can be traced to natural causes, but Christianity can be accounted for only by supernatural.
To compare Christianity with Islam is inadmissible, for Islam made its tremendous advances by the sword, and continues to gain adherents by condoning sin instead of condemning it. The consecration of lust in the name of religion found ready acceptance. Like its fellow-religions, it is mainly confined to the nations in or near to the region in which it had its birth.
How different it is with Christianity, which knows no distinction of race or creed, but claims the world for Christ and whose messengers circle the globe. Where it comes and is faithfully practiced, sin and slavery and selfishness are banished and holiness is enthroned.
Whence this universality and ability to capture the hearts of men of every race and culture? Could this transforming influence, still undiminished, have proceeded from a mere man?
The Witness of Christ’s Transforming Power
Christ’s ministry of power is another link in the already strong chain of proof of His deity. What gained for Him the unquestioning obedience and unfaltering loyalty of His followers? If He be not Son of God, how explain the fact that after two millennia there are millions who would gladly surrender life itself rather than deny Him? The transformed lives of Christians are an eloquent and ever-present witness to the deity of the person from whom the transforming power proceeds.
I know no other Jesus
Than He who died for me;
The Saviour of lost sinners,
The Christ of Calvary.
I know no “ideal” Jesus
That human minds invent;
The only Jesus Christ I know
Is whom the Father sent.
That human Christs could save me
Is inadmissible;
My Jesus is the image
Of God invisible.
My Christ is God incarnate
And of the Virgin born;
He left a crown of glory
To wear the plaited thorn.
The Infant of the manger,
The village Carpenter,
The Teacher sent from heaven
To men to minister;
The true historic Jesus,
Who died and rose again,
He only is the Jesus,
That I proclaim to men.JAMES M.GRAY