Before All Things, Christ Is.
Christian confession does not begin with a theory about divine being. It begins with the identity of Jesus as Scripture reveals Him. The New Testament places Jesus on the Creator side of the line that runs between God and everything God has made.
The doctrine of the deity of Christ teaches that Jesus of Nazareth is God the Son: eternal, uncreated, sharing fully in the one divine nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and personally distinct from both. He did not become divine. He did not earn divinity by obedience or receive it at His baptism or resurrection. He has always been God, and at Bethlehem He also became man.
The biblical teaching that Jesus Christ is fully and eternally God, possessing every attribute of deity, worthy of worship, and one in essence with the Father.
This truth belongs to the Gospel itself. To deny it is to preach another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4). If Jesus is not God, He cannot reveal God perfectly, His death cannot bear the infinite weight of sin, and worship of Him is idolatry. The deity of Christ is part of the foundation of the Gospel itself.
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For Deeper Study
- On the IncarnationAmazon AthanasiusThe fourth-century classic by Nicaea's great defender.
- The Lord of GloryAmazon Benjamin B. WarfieldA study of the New Testament titles of Christ.
- Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of ChristAmazon Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski
- Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's WitnessesAmazon Ron Rhodes
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Trinity
There is one God, and He eternally exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each fully God.
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