Jesus is God

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

John cannot be clearer in establishing that the Word, while being the outward expression of God, is also in essence God.

And it is this Word that is the subject of John’s writing, and having worked through a number of aspects related to the Word, we then read:

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

From this he draws a further link based upon character, establishing that this Word, which is God, now made flesh, is one and the same as the person of Jesus Christ.

Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ

John 1:17

So, if Jesus Christ is God, does that mean that while Jesus was here there was no God in heaven?

No, for remember in John 1:1, while the Word is God, it is also true to say the Word was with God.

One way to think of it, as I mentioned at the start, is to think of the Word as the outward expression of the invisible God.

The revealed Word cannot exist separately from God. It is in essence the fullness of God, and yet at the same time functionally subject unto God.

And this is further established in the next verse as John makes clear we are not talking about an abstract relationship between the mind of God and the Word of God, but rather a real and personal relationship between two persons – Father and Son – who are eternally one is essence, but have functional distinction, with the Son coming into this world in voluntary subjection and in human form to reveal to us to Father.

No man has seen God at anytime. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him. John 1:18

If we don’t understand this, we will not understand the Gospels or indeed the New Testament at large.

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Brother Toney says:

    JESUS HAS A GOD!

    Therefore he is *not God.*

    Ephesians 1:17
    I keep asking that the *God of our Lord Jesus Christ,* the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

    Romans 15:6
    …so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the *God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.*

    2 Corinthians 1:3
    Praise be to the *God and *Father of our Lord Jesus Christ*, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…

    Ephesians 1:3
    Praise be to the *God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ*, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

    1 Peter 1:3
    *Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!*

    John 20:17 (KJV)
    … *I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.*

    Revelation 3:12
    Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. *I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God*, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

    Revelation 3:21
    To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and *sat down with my Father on his throne.*

    2 Corinthians 11:31 (KJV)
    *The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,* which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

    So please tell us….. *Who is the Lord, Father and God of Jesus?*

    1. ALM says:

      Your conclusion does not follow from your premise …

      Let me give you a similar statement that will show the problem with your logic.

      ‘I have a human!
      Therefore, I am not human’

      Now I hope you see the absurdity of this statement. Every parent has children that are human. This does not mean they cannot therefore be human. How absurd a conclusion that would be?

      It may be that the same parent also has a cat as a pet. You would similarly not jump to the conclusion that the parent is therefore a cat.

      You see, what we have does not directly correspond to what we are.

      The mistake you make in not reading the Bible carefully enough is that you do not distinguish between God the Father and God the Son.

      The Bible never claims that Jesus Christ is God the Father. He is the Eternal Word, the Eternal Son, distinct from the Father, and yet He has all the attributes of a Divine Being – He is God.

      So to answer your question … the Lord, Father and God of Jesus, is the Lord, God the Father. There’s no problem with that, and it in no way rules out the Son being in essence God.

      The Bible is clear on the distinctions – God the Father is unseen, but God the Son reveals the Father to us throughout the Old and New Testaments.

      Consider Genesis 19:24
      “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;”

      Reading the context, we learn that the LORD was standing with Abraham on earth, and yet HE rained brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

      We know there is only one LORD God, yet how can HE be standing on earth and at the same time in heaven. The only way to understand this is to see the one LORD God at work in judgment, the Son on earth with Abraham (Cmp John 8:56-58), and the Father in heaven.

      Then in the incarnation, an even greater miracle of grace takes place, for now God the Son is not just coming to earth, but HE is becoming man (John 1:14), called Jesus, to identify with us, and die for us.

      And yet, similar to Gen 19:24, there is a deep union and communion between Father and Son, and a unity in their work (John 5:17-23).

      Listen to His words in John 17:4,5
      “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

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