JESUS — Lord and God

Recognizing the DEITY of Jesus Christ

by Pastor Eddie Hughes

July 19, 2004

The doctrine of the Trinity has long been a subject of controversy and debate. Until recently however, there has not been much of that debate taking place within mainline Christianity. We have always known the non-Christian cults, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, did not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, but I have been surprised recently to find myself in conversation with members (and even pastors) of churches who say they are full gospel, evangelical, and even one who claimed to be “Word of Faith”, who are non-Trinitarian.

There are different types of non-Trinitarian believers. There are those who call themselves “Apostolic”, whose doctrine is sometimes referred to as “Oneness” or “Jesus only”. These, erroneously believe that the ‘Father’ and the ‘Holy Spirit’ are merely different manifestations of Jesus. They do not believe the Father was in heaven while Jesus was on earth; or that when Jesus prayed, He was actually praying to the Father in heaven. They teach that Jesus prayed to the Father, only to set an example, and that in reality, Jesus Himself, IS the Father.

In my opinion, the most dangerous form of non-Trinitarian belief however, is that which is also referred to as “Oneness”, but is specifically that brand of oneness doctrine which denies the DEITY of Jesus. In other words, proponents of this doctrine say that Jesus is the Son of God, but deny that He is God, the Son.

True biblical faith is built upon the foundation of the revealed knowledge of who Christ is; and to deny the fundamental truth that Jesus is GOD, is to deny the faith. It is vitally important, to understand why Jesus was also called “Emmanuel” — “God with us”.

There is a pastor of a relatively large church where I used to live, who refers to his church as a “Word of Faith” church. During a recent conversation, I asked him if he believed in the doctrine of the “Trinity”. His response was, “Well... I don’t believe in three Gods.” He went on to claim that those who believe in the Trinity, actually believe in three Gods. He further explained his view that Jesus was the Son of God, but not God — that there was no such person as God, the Son. He also said Jesus had His beginning when Mary received the word from the angel, and the word became flesh. He claimed Jesus was born, purely a man, and His life, though it was sinless, was only that of a man, full of the Holy Ghost. “Jesus”, he said, “Is not God.”.

NOTE: The typical “Word of Faith” pastor or teacher does NOT believe as the above mentioned pastor. In fact, I personally, have never known of ANY other “Word of Faith” teachers who were non-Trinitarian.

This is an example of how close to truth someone can appear to be, yet in reality be far from it. While it is true, Jesus took upon Himself, the seed of Abraham and became fully man... And while it is also true, in His earthly ministry, Jesus operated as a man, anointed by the Holy Ghost... Jesus was, from eternity past, and will be, for all of eternity future, just as much “GOD” as is the Father or the Holy Spirit.

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve — Matthew 4:10

Jesus made it clear with those words that ONLY God should be worshipped. When reading through the four Gospels, one will notice there are about a dozen accounts of where Jesus was worshipped. From the stable in Bethlehem through His entire earthly life, right up until His ascension; Jesus was worshipped by men, angels, and even demons. In none of those instances, did Jesus correct anyone, or even hint at a possibility that they were violating the commandment... “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only...”

There was, however, one recorded case where someone began to worship another man. The Bible tells us that Cornelius began to “worship” Peter, but Peter quickly stopped him, for the simple fact that he was just “a man” also (Acts 10:25,26).

Some have raised the objection... “Why then, did Jesus never actually claim to be ‘God’ incarnate? Why did He only refer to Himself as ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Son of God’?”

The incarnation of God, in Christ, was necessary for the salvation of man. One man, Adam; got us into the mess we were in... And only a man, the second Adam (Jesus), could get us out. Jesus did indeed come as Son of man and minister as a righteous man, anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). In fact, His authority to minister to men was not based upon His equality with God, but because He was a man...

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. — (John 5:26,27)

The fact that Jesus was fully man, did not take away from the fact that He was also fully God. It was because of His humility, not His humanity, that He did not present Himself as God. The apostle Paul addressed that humility in his letter to the Philippians...

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — Philippians 2:5-11

Paul refers to the humility of Jesus as our example (Let this mind be in you). And the act of humility on the part of Jesus, was to lay aside His glory and His equality with God and take upon Himself the “form of a servant” and be made “in the likeness of men”. He did not cease to be “equal with God”, but He laid His glory aside during His earthly ministry, referring to Himself as “Son of Man”.

When Jesus finished His redemptive work and ascended to heaven, He was once again exalted by the Father and crowned with His original glory.

Jesus knew this was to happen and His expectation of that marvelous event was articulated in His prayer, as recorded in John, chapter 17...

...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. — John 17:4-5

The “glory” which Jesus had WITH the Father, “before the world was”, is without a doubt referring to His glory as GOD... In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

It is that same “glory” Jesus prayed to be re-glorified with; and the account of that re-glorification is recorded in Hebrews, chapter one...

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. — Hebrews 1:8-12

How much more clearly could it be said! God, the Father received Jesus into glory, handed Him the scepter of righteousness, called Him “GOD”, and gave Him credit for the creation of the earth and heavens with His “own hands”.

Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples has been remembered as the doubter. Yet, even doubting Thomas had enough spiritual savvy, when he looked at those hands that had fashioned the heavens; now scarred with eternal reminders of the price of redemption and the unfathomable mercy of God; to bow his knee by choice, and worship Him. In doing so, he made the proclamation which would serve generations to follow, as a summary of our profession of faith in Jesus Christ — “My Lord and my God”.

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