Dr. Rick Bartosik
Lecture Series: The Doctrine of Christ
Lecture 2: "The Deity of Christ"

THE DEITY OF CHRIST

Introduction: Athanasius, in his debate with Arius in the 4th century, was one of the earliest Christian writers to point out that the Old Testament teaches that only God can save. Yet in the New Testament Christ is the Savior. What does this statement concerning the function of Christ tell us about His identity? If Jesus Christ is capable of functioning as Savior, who must he be? The only possible solution, Athanasius argued, is to accept that Jesus is God incarnate:

• Only God can save
• Jesus Christ saves
• Therefore Jesus Christ is God.

• Eternal (John 8:58)
• Omnipresent (John 3:13; Matthew 18:20; 28:20)
• Omniscient (John 16:30; 21:17)
• Omnipotent (Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 1:3; Mark 4:35-41)
• Immutable (Hebrews 1:12; 13:8)

• Creator (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10)
• Upholder of all things (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3)

• He forgives sins (Matthew 9:2,6)
• He will raise the dead (John 5:25-29)
• He will be the final judge of all men (John 5:22)

• He was the creator (Psalm 102:24-27; Hebrews 1:10-12)
• He was seen by Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-4; John 12:41)
• He was preceded by a forerunner (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3; Malachi 3:1; Luke 1:76)
• He is the object of faith (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:9,13)

• "Immanuel" (Matthew 1:22; Isaiah 7:14)
• "God our Savior" (I Timothy 1:1; 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4)
• In several passages "Jesus" and "God" are so grammatically related to each other as to teach their essential unity (II Thessalonians 1:12; Titus 2:13; II Peter 1:1)
• "Logos" John 1:1-2 He is to God what speech is to thought--the expression of it. Jesus as the "Word" revealed God to us.
• "Image" Colossians 1:15 Perfectly manifests God
• "Exact image" Hebrews 1:3
• "First born" Colossians 1:15 in sense of preeminence not chronology
• "Jehovah" Luke 1:76; Malachi 3:1

• He claimed eternal pre-existence (John 8:58)
• He claimed absolute oneness with the Father (John 10:28-33)He placed Himself on terms of equality with the Father (John 5:17-22)
• He equated a man's attitude toward Him with his attitude toward God: To honor him was to honor God (John 5:23); to know Him was to know God (John 14:7-9); to believe in Him was to believe in God (John 12:44); to receive Him was to receive God (Mark 9:37); to hate Him was to hate God (John 15:23).
• He claimed that He will raise the dead and be the final judge of all men (John 5:22)

Copyright © 1999-2006 Rick Bartosik

Bible Doctrines - The Doctrine of Christ

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