Who is This Jesus (The Deity of Christ) Part 1

Among the great theological debates that rage regarding Jesus and who He is, the greatest is whether or not Jesus IS God. There are some who would profess Jesus to be something less than fully God. They claim faith, yet in “who” are they believing? This short piece is designed simply to answer this incredible question - “Is Jesus God?” Further, to briefly answer the question of “why is this so important?”

Simply put, only the pure, holy, and completely uncorrupted by sin blood could possibly atone for sin. The blood of countless animals and birds never paid the sin debt for Israel. Only the pure, spotless Lamb could pay that sin debt.

And who but God is totally pure and righteous?

To that end, I am going to post a series of entries that deal with Scripture passages that, when taken all together, present a beautiful picture of the real Jesus, who is fully God.

Some say that Jesus never claimed to be God. Others rely on creative translation of selected verses to shore up their claim that Jesus is not God (or Yahweh/Jehovah). Yet a simple review of the Bible reveals a pattern that cannot be dismissed, a pattern that clearly makes the case for Jesus Christ as God.

Over the next few days, I plan to post a series of passages and a bit of comment on each in an effort to stitch together the greater picture of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who IS the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is worthy of all praise and worship. My challenge to the reader - read them, ponder on them, and pray about it, particularly as you accumulate these passages, who is Jesus?

We begin with one of the most clear, yet still controversial passages pointing to the deity of Jesus Christ.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Now, some like to move the comma, or add the word “a” based on the lack of a "definite article", yet the original language gives NO convincing reason to do either. In fact, there are several examples elsewhere that do not create controversy where there is a lack of a definite article. Yet the preponderance of Christian history and understanding agrees that the reference to "the Word" is a reference to Jesus as having the same quality as God the Father.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3

What we see here, is that the reference back to “The Word” here is clearly identifying Jesus as the Creator of all, which in the Old Testament is 100% identified as God/Jehovah.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:3

And to further reinforce this idea, let us thing a bit about one of the most powerful names God used in the Old Testament to reveal Himself - "I Am". This will be the subject of Episode 2 in this series.