How is Jesus God ?

 

That is a very good question.  And the reason it’s such a good question, is because very few people really understand what the bible teaches, in regards to God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  So in essence, what this really boils down to, is an understanding of what is commonly called, The Trinity. 

 

But I want to make it perfectly clear from the start, that the bible does not use the term Holy Trinity, nor does it even use the word Trinity.  These are man-made words and terms.  And they both are really an indication of man’s MIS-understanding of the “relationship” of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

 

Ever since the “Restoration Movement” in the United States, in the early 1800’s, men have pleaded that we should “Call bible things by bible words”, and  “Do bible things in bible ways”.  And these are both excellent habits to get into, and it’s excellent advice for everyone.  How can I understand what you’re talking about, and how can you understand what I’m talking about, if we use a different set of “definitions” for the words we use?  Obviously, it’s impossible! 

 

So we DO need to use the same words that God has used in His written word, which is the bible, when we talk about bible things.  And we need to understand and agree, with God’s definition of the words He uses.  Otherwise there will never be unity on anything, because we’ll always be defining things differently, and understanding them differently.  And what’s even more serious, is that we’ll never come to know God’s truth.

 

Isn’t this just good common sense?  You wouldn’t even dream of trying to learn a new language, without learning the meaning of the words that you are taught to speak, would you?  How could you possibly attempt to learn God’s will on any subject, if you insist on making up your own words, and then insist on giving those words your own meanings?  You can easily see the point can’t you?

 

So then, let’s do this…  As we answer ANY spiritual question, including this one, let’s see how God describes the subject that we’re studying.  And then let’s see what words HE uses, and then let’s use the same words, and apply the same meaning to them.  Isn’t that a fair way to study God’s word?  Sure it is, and it’s obvious that this is the only way, that we will ever come to the knowledge of the truth, that God would have us to understand.

The bible does say, in  1 Tim 2:4,  that God “.. desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 

Let’s begin then, and see what God has said concerning the relationship of the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, and what His word answers the question, “How is Jesus God?”

 

 

The Relationship of the Father and the Son

 

Here’s what the bible clearly says concerning the Father and the Son. 

 

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me, does His works.  Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.”  Jn 14:10-11

 

A Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, (which means teacher), we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”  Jn 3:2

The “signs” that Nicodemus speaks of, are the works that Jesus referred to when He said to believe in Him “on account of the works themselves”. 

No one could do the works that Jesus did, unless God was with Him;  Therefore Jesus told His disciples, that because of these works, or “signs”, (these miracles) they should believe it, when He says to them that, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me”. The miraculous works, were “signs” that proved, that God was in Jesus.  And so Jesus says, “Believe It !”

Please read the Post, “Do Miracles Exist Today ? – Part 3”, and read about the purpose of miracles.

 

Jesus gets VERY plain, in when He says in  Jn 10:30, “I and the Father are ONE !”

 

Jesus and the Father are one and the same !  Those are the very words of God.  God the Father, and God the Son, are ONE.  I realize that many people will make the claim that Jesus is only referring to the fact that Jesus and the Father are one, in “purpose”, or one, in “Spirit”; but Jesus doesn’t make that distinction here.  He simply says that  “I and the Father are ONE”.   So again, I believe we should make our judgments here on what Jesus DOES say, and not on what we believe is implied, unless we can prove that implication.  In other words, are we making a “necessary inference” of what we claim that Jesus implied. 

 

When men try to explain, what they call the “trinity”, they almost always use the words “separate”, and “distinct”.  They will commonly say, “The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are three separate persons.”  Or they will say, “They are three distinct personalities”.  But that is not the way GOD describes the relationship of the Father and the Son, is it? 

 

We will deal with the Holy Spirit later on, but for now focus on the Father and the Son.  How does God describe their relationship?  Jesus says that the Father is IN Him, and He is IN the Father.  He further says that “I and the Father are one”.  Now that’s pretty plain, isn’t it? 

 

James wrote in Jas 2:19, “You believe that God is ONE, you do well..”

 

That fact, that God is ONE, seems to be used by James to denote a “core belief”, because he goes on to say in that same verse, “..The demons believe and tremble”. 

The point being that the demons knew, that God was one, and not three separate or distinct persons or personalities.  This is a basic belief that God lays out very plainly.  But even though the demons knew it, they had reason to tremble with fear, because they still refused to OBEY God’s word.  But they DID understand this “core” fact, about God.

 

 

God Is One !

 

So, exactly HOW is Jesus God?  How can they be the same, but yet one be in heaven, and at the same time, the other be on the earth ?  And how can one be called the Father, and the other be called the Son, if they are ONE ?

As I said in the beginning, Good question.  But the answer is very plainly given in the bible, the very word of God.

First, understand another very “core” fact.  And that fact is, that “God is Spirit”.  Jn 4:24   Those are the very words of Jesus.  God is a Spirit, and being a spirit, He has qualities that are difficult for us to understand.  Although we too have a spirit within us, we live in a physical world, and do not have the ability to fully understand the spiritual nature of God.  Many people have difficulty understanding their own spiritual nature. 

Next, understand that man (that’s generic, woman included), is of a dual nature, made up of body and spirit.  We learn this very early on, in the bible. 

 

Gen 2:7  tells us,“Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (there’s our physical nature), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (there’s our spiritual nature); and man became a living soul.”

 

Some versions say, “man became a living being”.  And that’s a proper way of saying it , because your soul refers to your total “being”, the part of you that is “alive”.  When God had created “man” from the dust of the ground (that is from the same “elements” that are found in the earth), He created man’s body.  But that body had no life in it.  It wasn’t “alive”, until God “breathed” into it, the “breath of life”.  Then the body came to life, and together, the body, and the life giving spirit, became a “living soul”.  

While our spirit lives in this temporary housing called our “body”, our soul consists of our physical body and our spirit.  But when our body dies, our soul, which is eternal, goes right on living.  And so, at that point, our spirit, is our soul.  It is the only part which lives, and thus at that point of time, it is our total “being”. 

There will come a time, on the “Last Day”, when we will be resurrected, and will be given a “spiritual body”.  Our spirit will be joined to that new “spiritual body”, and once again our “soul” will consist of both body and spirit.  But this time, we will have a spiritual body which is fit for the kingdom of heaven. 

1 Cor 15: 50 tells us, “..That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”  Therefore, to enable our spirit to live eternally in heaven, God clothes it with a “spiritual body”, which will be just like Christ’s “spiritual body”. 

1 Jn 3:2 tells us, “Beloved, now are we sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Phil 3:21 says, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.”

So Jesus was “born of a woman”, Gal 4:4, and so He was born with a physical body.  But listen to what the  angel Gabriel said to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Lk 1:28, “Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.”

He continued in V-30-31, “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”

 

 

Now listen to what is said in  V-34-35,  “And Mary said to the angel; How can this be, since I am a virgin?  And the angel answered and said to her; The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for this reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God”.

 

What we learn from these verses of scripture, is that although Mary was the mother of Jesus, and Jesus received His physical body from her, God Himself is the Father, and the spirit of Jesus, was the Spirit of God.  The child conceived in her womb, was conceived by the very Spirit and power of God.  Thus the angel told Mary, “For this reason the holy offspring shall be called the son of God.”

 

 

The Father is in Me

 

“I am in the father, and the Father is in Me”  Jn 14:10.  THIS is how Jesus is God.  “I and the Father are one.”  Jn 10:30

 

 

Consider this example

 

Let me give you an illustration, to help you understand how God can be the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, all at the same time.  God is ONE, but God has fulfilled different “roles”.  He has fulfilled the “role” of the Father, and He has fulfilled the “role” of the Son, and has fulfilled the “role” of the Spirit.  The Father had His work to do, and the Son had His work to do, and the Spirit likewise.

Here’s the illustration.  Consider a woman, who is a daughter, and a mother, and a wife.  She has three different “roles” to fulfill, doesn’t she?

Picture this woman discussing something with her husband, and fulfilling the role of a wife.  One of her children walks in the room, and says, “Looky, looky mom, look what I’ve got!”  And the woman says “Wait just a minute honey, I’m talking to your father”.  Just then her other child comes in holding the phone, and says, “Mom, gramdma’s on the phone, she wants to talk to you”.

 

This woman is expected to be a wife to her husband, and a mother to her children, and a daughter to her mother.  And she can BE all those things, but she can’t be them ALL, at the same time. 

 

But God CAN be all things, and He can be them, all at the same time.  “God is Spirit”.  God is not limited as we are, to only being in one place at a time.  God is everywhere, all at the same time. 

 

We read in Psalm 139:7-10, “Where can I go from Thy Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Thy presence?  If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold Thou art there.  If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me.”

There’s no getting away from God, He is everywhere, all at the same time. 

 

 

In Conclusion

 

I’d like to leave you with a couple more verses of scripture, that illustrate very well, the oneness of God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit. 

The bible talks about the FACT, that ALL scripture, and ALL prophecy, have come from God Himself.

2 Tim 3:16 tells us that, “All scripture is inspired by God (that literally means it is “God-breathed”), and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

2 Pet 1:21 says, “For NO scripture was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy spirit, spoke from God.”

Already we see that all scripture is “God-breathed”, and that the men who made the original prophecies, were “moved” by the Holy Spirit, and that they spoke, from “God”.  Do you see how God and the Spirit are used interchangeably?

 

 

 

 

Look at one more scripture please.  1 Pet 1:10-12, speaks about the prophets who made prophecies concerning the promised Christ.  Listen to what it says about the Spirit that caused them to make these prophecies. 

“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time, the “Spirit of Christ” within them, was indicating, as He predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories to follow.”   v’s 10-11

It’s interesting to note here, that the prophets themselves, didn’t even know who the Christ was going to be, or when He would come.  But they “Spoke from God”, as He placed His words in their mouths.

“It was revealed to them, that they were not serving themselves, but you, in the things which now have been announced to you, through those who preached the gospel to you, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look.”   v-12

Now here’s what’s interesting.  These prophets are said to have had, “The Spirit of Christ within them”.  v-11.  They who preached the gospel, preached It, “by the holy Spirit sent from heaven”.  v-12.   And as we read previously, “All scripture is God-breathed”.   2 Tim 3;16

What’s the ONLY conclusion, and the clear teaching of God?  God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit, are ONE.  They are not “separate” in any sense of the word.  Nor are they three “distinct personalities”.  They are GOD.

Thank you for listening to God’s word.  I pray that you’ll be blessed by God as you strive to allow God’s word to instruct you and lead you.  May God bless you.