The Deity Of Christ

by John Drain, Belfast | Category: Contending For The Faith | Apr 1971

A truth of very great importance in the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints is the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ is not God the Son, One of full Deity, then the basis on which rests the revelation of God to mankind is destroyed.

In the revelation of God contained in the Old Testament Scriptures there are many indications that One would come who would be the great Deliverer, the King-Messiah. When Adam sinned in Eden he brought far-reaching serious consequences to himself and to the race of which he was head. Sin separates from God and sin brings divine judgement. Sin brought man into bondage and into the power of Satan. In amazing mercy towards mankind the Lord God promised in Eden that One would come who would effectively deal with the powerful enemy who had brought about man's fall. The promise is contained in the words, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). From Eden onwards the unfolding of divine purpose saw many references to this coming One. Satan, whose evil workings led to the downfall of Adam, is a very powerful being. But he is a created being. The One whom the Lord God promised - the great Deliverer - is not a created being. True, He was indicated as being the Seed of the woman but He was not the seed of the woman as any other child born by natural generation is the seed of his mother. The great prophet Isaiah was moved by the Holy Spirit to write concerning the promised One, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). The Revised Version margin gives the meaning of Immanuel, "God is with us". We observe that this Child was to be the virgin's Son, and was to be Immanuel. Later Isaiah wrote, "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 called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). To no ordinary child could the words be applied, "Mighty God, Everlasting Father". Where is the Child to whom these profound words are applicable?

In Matthew chapter 1 we read of a virgin who was found to be with child. To allay the fears of the man to whom she was betrothed an angelic messenger was sent to him with the message, "She shall bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name JESUS". Heaven knew about this Child. "Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us" (Matt. 1:22,23). It is true that God, because of who He is, is omnipresent in the vast universe which He created. But when at Bethlehem the Babe was born to Mary, God, in a manner unique and therefore unprecedented, was with men and women on the earth. The eternal Word, God the Son, "became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The Babe who lay in the manger was Mary's Child, miraculously conceived within her by the power of the Holy Spirit, and He was the Son of God. Here is the great Mystery of God, here is One in whom are full Deity and perfect humanity, two natures in one -wondrous Person.

Writing about the coming of Christ into the world Paul said, "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law ..." (Gal. 4:4). It was the Son whom God the Father sent. He did not send one to be the Son. The Son was with the Father through eternal ages. The time came when the Father sanctified the Son and sent Him into the world. Frequently in His teaching the Lord Jesus claimed that He was the One sent by the Father. It is clear that not merely was pre-existence indicated but also co-equality. The sent One was the Son. The Son was equal with the Father. On one occasion the Lord Jesus said to His opponents, "My Father worketh even until now, and I work". The Jews immediately grasped the significance of these words. They sought to kill Him "because He not only brake the sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God". Christ did not contradict this.

Testimony to the truth that Christ was the One sent by the Father was testimony to His Deity. When speaking to the Jews on the occasion referred to in John chapter 5 the Lord pointed out that witness given by Himself might be rejected as unacceptable. But there were other witnesses. John the Baptist, the miraculous works which the Father gave to Christ to accomplish, the Father Himself and the Scriptures, with a particular emphasis on what Moses wrote, all bore testimony to Christ (see John 5:31-46).

When Christ was on the earth He met widespread rejection. Satan mustered his forces of demons and men in opposition. It is very remarkable that though the world knew Him not, demons, who had taken possession of human victims, recognized him. On one occasion there was in the synagogue at Capernaum a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. When he saw the Lord he cried, "Ah! what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God" (Luke 4:34). The

demon saw more than the humble Man of Nazareth. He saw the Holy One of God.

On another occasion when the Lord was speaking to His disciples He brought up the matter of His identity. He questioned the disciples as to the opinions of the people generally. Then He asked, "But who say ye that I am?" From Peter came the answer, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Others had said John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. These certainly were great men. But Jesus was not just a great man on a plane comparable with those men who were cited. He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Great words and great works mark a man as being great in the eyes of his fellows. Something more was involved in Peter's confession. Said the Lord, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17). Flesh and blood could reveal the identity of a great man. Divine revelation and enlightenment were required to bring to Simon Peter that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and the Son of God, God the Son.

The historic manifestation of Christ on earth was an important crisis in divine purpose and revelation. It meant that there was a Man on earth who was God the Son. A hymn-writer has expressed this truth in his words,

"Yet One from Thee, oh matchless grace

Oh, wondrous mystery divine!

In human form did take man's place,

And God and man in one combine".

When after His death and resurrection Christ ascended to take His place at the right hand of God there was on the throne of God the Man who was God the Son. This great truth held a central place in the message of God to men in a new dispensation which opened up on the day of Pentecost.

The writings of Peter and John show that they believed Jesus to be God the Son. The Christology of Paul, which was in fact the accepted revelation of the Holy Spirit to Paul, is crystal clear in its testimony to the Deity of Christ. Space would not permit an examination of this testimony, but we refer to some of Paul's statements on this matter. When writing to the Romans the apostle said concerning his kinsmen according to the flesh, "who are Israelites ... of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 9:4,5). To the Philippians Paul said of Christ Jesus, "who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God" (Phil. 2:6). Greek scholars have shown that the expression "form of God" includes the whole nature and essence of Deity. Whatever changes were involved in the Incarnation Christ was essentially God. He never could be anything else. He could empty Himself of many manifestations of the glory and prerogatives which were His as being on an equality with God. But He could not empty Himself of His essential Being, and in His Being He is God. The saints in the church of God in Colossae were feeling the effects of attacks by the adversary on the Person of Christ. The Spirit of God moved the apostle to write to these saints, and amongst other profound and instructive truths concerning the Lord Jesus Christ we have, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). The fulness of Deity is in Christ. All that God is Christ is. He is of the same nature as God the Father and God the Spirit. To Him belong the same infinite attributes. There can be no doubt that to Paul Jesus of Nazareth was God manifested in the flesh. And as He contemplated the return of Christ Paul wrote, "... looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savour Jesus Christ ..." (Titus 2:13).

The witness of Scripture is clear. Christ is our great God, God the Son, of the full Deity possessed. The confession of His disciples finds its language in the words of Thomas, "My Lord and my God".

John Drain, Belfast | Apr 1971
Contending For The Faith