Proofs that Jesus is God

I PETER 1:11
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify...

Christ is Jesus who suffered. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets of old. It was the Spirit of God who was in the prophets. If Christ was merely a created being such as an angel, his spirit would not have dwelt in the prophets of old, for which of the angels was ever said to indwell a prophet or any man? And if Christ was merely an angel, his spirit would not have been equated with the Holy Ghost - the very Spirit of God!

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter 1:21).



I PETER 2:6
6 ...he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

To "believe on", with the kind of promise here mentioned, is an action which only God deserves and a benefit which only God can give.



I PETER 2:9
9 ...him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Christ brought us into his marvellous light. Only God is light. There are angels "of light" that is, of God's light - the light being God, not the angels' own. But here the light is said to belong to the very One who called us out of darkness, that is, Christ.

"I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).

Jesus didn't merely have the light, or bear witness to the light - He is the light. God is light.


I PETER 2:13
13 ...for the Lord's sake...

Jesus is Lord. The Lord is God. Jesus is God.

"And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God" (I Kings 18:39).


I PETER 2:16
16 ...as the servants of God...

First-century Christians believed that Jesus is God. Peter referred to first century Christians as the servants of God. Peter would not have referred to them as the servants of God unless he knew it to be true that Jesus is God.

They could "glorify God in the day of visitation" only if their confessions of Christ as God were truly "good works" (verse 12).

The suffering which they endured with conscience to Christ was said to be with conscience toward God (verse 19).

The whole passage equates serving Christ (as the first century-believers were doing) with serving and being acceptable to God and being in the sight of God of great price and as "well doing" (verses 2:11- 3:18).


I PETER 2:25
25 ...the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Jesus is the good Shepherd. The Shepherd is the Lord. The Lord is the creator. The creator is God. Jesus is God.

"Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture" - Psalm 100:3.

"I am the good shepherd..." (John 10:11).


I PETER 3:16
16 ...your good conversation in Christ.

Believers are in Christ. How could they be "in" a mere man who had died? How could they be "in" a mere created being such as an angel? But God could dwell in them, and they in God. Christ is God.


I PETER 3:18
18 ...the just for the unjust...

Jesus is just. Only God is just. Jesus is God.


I PETER 3:22
22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God...

To be on the right hand of God was understood to be equated with divinity, as illustrated by the Scriptures quoted below. No angel or man was ever exalted to the right hand of God. Jesus is God.

"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord" (Acts 7:56,57).

"And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth" (Luke 22:66-71).

"But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" (Hebrews 1:13).


"...The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool..." (Mark 12:36).


I PETER 3:22
22 ...angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.

All beings were made subject to Him, Jesus. He is hereby distinguished from mere angels, authorities and powers. He is exalted to the right hand of God. He is divine. Jesus is God.


I PETER 4:11
11 ...that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ...

The Christian message about Jesus Christ was said to be the oracle of God; the Christian ministry said to be done with the ability of God - and the whole was said to glorify God. Peter told the believers that the sufferings which they were enduring because of their belief that Christ is God, glorified God. The believers were called "the flock of God". Therefore Christ is understood to be intrinsically divine. Jesus is God.


GALATIANS 1:6
6 I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel:

The Gospel is the grace of Christ. Other Scriptures call it the grace of God. Therefore Christ is equated with God.

"...grace of God..." (I Peter 4:10).

And only God is gracious. Christ is said to be gracious. Therefore Jesus is God.



I TIMOTHY 3:16
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

God was manifest in the flesh. Who was manifest in the flesh? GOD was, speaking of Jesus. Of whom can it be said that He was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory? This is true only of Jesus. And yet the verse says GOD was. Therefore Jesus is GOD.

According to the flow of the verse, who was justified in the Spirit? GOD was. Who was seen of angels? GOD was. Who was preached unto the Gentiles? GOD was. Who was believed on in the world? GOD was. Who was received up into glory? GOD was. The subject of the entire verse never changes - it continues to be GOD throughout. And yet all these incidences are true only of JESUS - they were fulfilled by, and only by, Jesus - whom the context calls GOD. Therefore Jesus is GOD.

Manifest in the flesh. If that's all that the verse said about GOD, some could try to make it mean that God was merely manifesting Himself in the life of a human being by means of an anointing, similar to the way in which Old Testament prophets experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon them. But the remainder of the list includes items which make no other interpretation possible except that Jesus is GOD.

When Old Testament saints were filled with the Spirit of God, the Scripture never used terminology as strong as "GOD was manifest in the flesh." To say, "GOD was manifest in the flesh" is far higher than to speak of the Spirit coming upon or filling a person. GOD Himself was manifested in the flesh, in a physical body, as the person of Jesus - His wonderful person! "In Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily." Jesus is GOD.



JOHN 1:1-14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...

The Word was both with God and was God. The Word is Jesus. Therefore Jesus is God.


2 The same was in the beginning with God...

Since He was already in the beginning with God, He stands with God outside of creation, and transcends creation. He was not a created being. To be with God, in the beginning, makes Him equal with God.


3 All things were made by him...

He - the Word, Jesus - made all things. Only God can make all things.


...and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Nothing exists that Jesus did not make. Therefore Jesus is not a created being, such as an angel. He is greater than the angels, for He Himself made the angels. It also means that God did not create Jesus, or else Jesus must have made Himself.


4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Only Jesus had power to lay down His life and to take it up again. Only Jesus has power to have life in Himself and to give life to all who come to Him. Only Jesus will raise us all back to life at the last day. And that life is the light of all men.


10 ...the world was made by him...

Angels don't have creative power - only God does. Therefore Jesus is God.


11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

If He were a mere man, or even an angel, it could not be said of Him that He came unto His own. Israel specifically and mankind generally belongs only to the Creator. Israel belonged only to God. Therefore Jesus is God.


12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name...

Who can give power to become sons of God but God alone? Whose Name alone can give power to become sons of God, simply by believing on His Name? Only God. If believing on a certain person's name is the vehicle through which we can be given the power to become the sons of God, then that certain person must be God. Therefore Jesus' Name is declared to be God. Jesus is God.


14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...

That's Jesus. The Word is a person - Jesus. The Word, the Life, the Light - these didn't just come into some random person such as a prophet - these are the person - Jesus. The physical person who walked amongst the disciples was not merely a man who contained God, and the Word, and the life and the light - He was said to be the Word, He was the Life, He was the Light and He was God. And this was the state of things even before He was born, for He made all things. Jesus is the Light, the Life, the Word - Jesus is God.


...(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father)...

Peter, James and John were eyewitnesses of His glory, on the mount of transfiguration. What type of glory? The glory that was unique to the Son of God. This was not a glory shared by any archangel nor by any man. It was the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

In what sense was Jesus the only begotten of the Father? In one sense, it means that Jesus was the only person Who, as to His physical body, was begotten by God. Adam was made, not born; and the angels also were made, not born. All of us were born, but through the will of an earthly father and through the will of the flesh, not through God. Jesus alone was born through the will of the Father alone. In that sense, as to His physical body, Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. That makes Him the Son of God. That makes Him divine. There never was nor ever shall be any other Who is God come in the flesh. Only Jesus. There was and only ever shall be one virgin birth. Adam is called the son of God, but he was made, not begotten. Some people believe the angels are also referred to as the sons of God, but they also were made, not begotten. We are also called sons of God, and we also have been begotten: "Of His own will begat He us" - but it is only our spirit that has been born again. Only Jesus was physically begotten of the Father.

But there is another sense in which Jesus is the only begotten of the Father, quite aside from His physical birth. The term only begotten has a broader meaning than what we may think. The Bible calls Isaac, the son of Abraham, "...his only begotten son..." yet we know Abraham already had another son, Ishamael; and later he had other sons too. Abraham eventually had several sons, but Isaac was unique in that only he was born by promise, the only-born of Sarah. So the broad meaning of the term only begotten may be qualified by the context. The Tyndale Translation, 1534 Version translates the Greek word μονογενης υιος as "only son" where the KJV renders it "only begotten son" (John 3:16). The LXX translates the same Greek word in Psalm 25:16 as desolate, meaning, alone. So the meaning is that the disciples beheld Jesus' glory, the glory that was unique to the Son of God and He alone. God has but one Son who is of one substance with the Father and who has the glory of that uniqueness. That is the unique glory which the disciples beheld in Jesus, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. I myself have seen a vision of the glory of Jesus. And I can testify that He is, "...full of grace and truth."