The Diety of the Son Lesson 6 Part 2
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“For the propechy came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” I Peter 1:21
This is Part 1 of Lesson 1 of Basic Bible Truths written by Cecil Argetsinger and distributed by mail as a free Bible study resource many years ago.
This lesson is entitled Who Wrote the Bible? Subtitle: The Bible is a Revelation of God
Enjoy and meditate on this word about the Holy Word of God!
Jesus Christ Has All the Attributes of God
In an earlier lesson (The Attributes of God) we observed that God had certain qualities and characteristics that were true only of Him and which set Him apart from and above all others. These are called His attributes. However, the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ possesses these same attributes in all their fullness and perfection. He then must also be God.
Jesus Christ is Eternal
In a passage of Scripture, written about seven hundred years before His first coming and yet unmistakably referring to Christ, we read these words: “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 Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). According to the original Hebrew, “everlasting Father” could just as well read “eternal Father” or “Father of eternity.” Thus a positive eternity of being is credited to the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed He is the eternal One. He had no beginning; He has no end. He always was and always will be. He is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13). He is “the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).
Jesus Christ is Immutable
Closely related to the eternity of Christ is His immutability, the fact that He is unchanging in His Person and His ways. It is written of Him, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). These words not only state that the Savior existed from all eternity but they also affirm that, in His essential Being and nature, Christ ever remains the same. What He was in eternity past, He is now and ever will be. And as God unchangeable and eternal He is a proper and worthy object of our worship.
A forceful statement as to both the eternity and immutability of Christ occurs in Hebrews 1:10-12. “And Thou, Lord (Christ), 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 shall all 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.” Only of One Who is eternal, immutable God can such things be said.
Jesus Christ is Omnipotent
To the other attributes of Christ, omnipotence or all-power may be added. Is He not called “the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8)? Did not He Himself say, “…for what things soever He (the Father) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19)? Does not He (Christ) have “life in Himself,” just as “the Father has life in Himself” (John 5:26)? Does He not say “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18)? If He (Christ) is “the Almighty,” if He does all things that the Father does, if He never received life but has “life in Himself,” if “all power in heaven and earth” is His, is He not then equal with the Father? Are not all these glories that belong to God alone; and if they are true of the Son as well as the Father, is not the Son also God? Indeed He is.
Jesus Christ is Omnipresent
Omnipresence, as well as omnipotence, belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. When He left this earth to return to heaven’s glory He made a promise to His disciples. “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). And those words of assurance were given to those who even then were being commanded to “Go ye into all the world” (Mark 16:15). Only God, only One Who is omnipresent, everywhere at once in all the fulness of Presence, could make a statement like that. Unless He were God, how could the Christ ascend into heaven and yet be here on earth, in hundreds of places at once with His many disciples?
He had His followers and believers in Judea, Samaria and Galilee, yet He could say “where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). No figurative Presence is intended by these words; these promises are above and beyond that. He was to be there with them in a special sense and in Person. And as omnipresent Deity He could keep that promise.
Jesus Christ is Omniscient
Deity alone has the attribute of omniscience, that is, a perfect knowledge of all things. To God alone belongs the knowledge of the thoughts and intents of the mind and heart. He Himself says, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins (mind) … “ (Jeremiah 17:10). “Thou, even Thou only,” says Solomon, “knowest the hearts of all the children of men” (I Kings 8:39).
But if knowing the thoughts of the heart and mind is knowledge belonging only to God alone, then surely Jesus Christ is God. Of Him it was said, “But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25). He knew, without being told, what the Pharisees were secretly thinking: “But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?” (Luke 5:22). He laid His own claim to omniscience and Deity with these words: “I am He which searcheth the reins (minds) and hearts” (Revelation 2:23).
As knowledge of the thoughts and intents of the mind and heart are attributed to Christ, so also is knowledge of the future. And that, the Scriptures declare, is knowledge that belongs to God and to Him alone. “To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be alike? … Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I shall do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:5, 9-10).
If, as these Scriptures say, knowledge of the future belongs to God alone, then indeed Christ is God. A large share of His discourses consisted of foretelling future events. Whole chapters in the Bible are devoted to His predictions of things that would one day take place. Matthew 13, 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21; and John, chapters 13-17 are prime examples of the importance He gave to prophecy. And this knowledge of the future was not revealed unto Him as was knowledge revealed to the prophets of old. Such knowledge belonged to Him, as did His knowledge of what went on in the hearts and minds of men. “Jesus knew in Himself;” He “… knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him” (John 6:61, 64).
The Titles of Jesus Christ are Titles of Deity
The titles given to our Lord Jesus Christ by His disciples and the writers of the New Testament definitely proclaim the Deity of Christ. Had these men thought Jesus to be less than God, surely they would have avoided giving Him titles that would mislead their readers and cause them to ascribe Godhood to Him. But they did not. Every last one attributed to Christ names and titles that explicitly expressed the idea that He was no less God than was the Father.
Lord
It is true that Lord in the New Testament is used of men as well as of God. But in its highest sense, that of God, it is applied to Christ again and again. That Lord in Acts 9 is naming Jesus Christ as God should be apparent even to the most casual reader (see Acts 9:1-22). What else, other than that Jesus Christ is God, can be meant by naming Him “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). It would be sheer blasphemy to contend, as Paul does, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in worship and every tongue confess that He is “Lord of all” unless he is declaring that Christ is God.
Other Titles
His title, Son of God, designates Him as the same kind of a Person as is the Father. Christ is not really a name but a title, being the New Testament equal of the Old Testament title Messiah. And the Messiah is a God-Person. He took upon Him a human nature, but even as a Babe He was called Emmanuel which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). As King of (all) kings and Lord of (all) lords, who else could He be but God (Revelation 19:16)? Scripture labels Him as the “Word of God” and as that Word He is declared to be God Himself (John 1:1). To call Him the “King of Israel” (John 1:49) is to equate Him with the Jehovah of the Old Testament (Isaiah 44:6).
Not only is Christ given the titles of Deity but His followers worship Him and call upon Him in prayer. After His ascension into glory from Bethany we are told that “They worshiped Him. and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52). For them to worship Christ, and equally for Him to accept it, would be outright blasphemy were He not God and therefore deserving of their homage and adoration. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10).
Prayer is not offered to creatures, only to God, yet in the Scriptures prayer is made to Jesus Christ. As he was being stoned, Stephen called upon God and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Paul prays to Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work” (II Thessalonians 2:16-17). In like manner he calls on Christ, just as he would the Father, to be with Timothy; “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit” (II Timothy 4:22). Then is He not God?
Conclusion
He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is worshiped; prayer is made to Him even as it is to the Father. He has all the titles of Deity; in Him are all the attributes that set God apart from and above His creatures. He is declared to be God; He is equated with the great Jehovah. Beyond the shadow of a doubt the Bible establishes the truth that Jesus Christ is God. Truly, “… great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…” (I Timothy 3:16).
Questions for Lesson 6, Part 2
What attributes that belong to both God and Jesus Christ are listed here?
Which titles of Christ show Him to be eternal?
What knowledge does Christ have that shows Him to be omniscient?
Name some of Christ’s titles.
What things did the disciples do after Christ went back into heaven that showed they believed he was God?
Answers for Lesson 6, Part 2
Christ is eternal, immutable (unchanging), omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. These titles show Christ to be eternal.
He knows the thoughts of the mind, and the heart, and He knows the future.
Some of Christ’s titles are: King of kings, Lord of lords, Son of God, Emmanuel, Lord, Word of God, King of Israel.
The disciples worshiped Christ and prayed to Him.
