Is Jesus God?

1. Isaiah 7:14, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

2. Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given (Christ's humanity)...And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Christ's Deity)." (see Genesis 3:15; Micah 5:2; Colossians 2:9) The Coming One would be born a man, but also be God. His name is both Prince of Peace and Everlasting Father. This is why Jesus said that anyone who saw Him had seen the Father.

To clarify about the title "mighty God" in Isaiah 9:6 we must read further in Isaiah. Jehovah's Witnesses attest that Jesus is "a mighty god" but a lesser god than Jehovah. However, we read later: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God," Isaiah 10:20-21. In the context of the passage Jehovah (the Hebrew YHWH appears where the word "Lord" is used) is the mighty God, the same term in Isaiah 9:6. Jesus is Jehovah, the mighty God. See also Jeremiah 32:18 for a reference to Jehovah being referred to as "the mighty God," by the prophet.

3. Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The name for the divine being is God (Hebrew 'Elohim'). Yet Jesus commands that disciples be baptized into the name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (plural). A similar verse is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God (Elohim, literally means 'gods'), the Lord is one!"

4. Luke 1:16-17, "And he (John the Baptist) will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him (God) in the power and spirit of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Yet Scripture is clear that John preceded Christ (Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3; John 1:27). This puzzle only resolves itself if Christ is God.

5. John 1:1**, "In the beginning (arche; Greek for origin) was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God [Ton Theon], and the Word was God [Theos]." (The NWT* introduces the article "a" into this verse without ANY manuscript authority, so it reads, "the word was a god." This is scripture twisting. The grammatical construction of the Greek has Logos (the Word) is the subject and the verb "was" describes it. There is a Greek grammar rule stating that a definite predicate nominitave--Theos, or God--never takes an article when it precedes the verb; in this case, "was". To translate this verse as "a god" then is not only uneccesary but improper grammar and poor or biased translation of Greek.Theos (God) is the predicate nominative of "was" in the third sentence clause of the verse and must refer back to the subject, "Word" (Logos). Christ "the Word made flesh" (John 1:14) must then be God unless both the Greek text and the Bible are wrong.

6. John 5:18, "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (The word "equal" in Greek is "isos" and literally means "the same." This was a plain decleration that the Jews understood that Jesus was declaring Himself to be God.

7. John 8:24, "If you do not believe that I AM [He], you will die in your sins." (The word 'He' is absent in the original Greek)

8. John 8:58, "Jesus said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." (see Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 43:13.)

9. John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd." This is a clear reference to the Old Testament shepherd embodied in Psalm 23 "The Lord is a my shepherd." The Hebrew for "The Lord" is "yehwih" or "Yahweh" or "Jehovah." Literally the verse reads: Jehovah is my shepherd. For Jesus to make this claim is tantamount to calling Himself Jehovah since the Old Testament is clear that there is but one true shepherd: God, Psalm 80:1; Ecclesiastes 12:11; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:11-16.

10. John 10:30, "I and My Father are one." (The Greek term "one" is neuter, and literally means "one essence" or "a unity.")

11. John 12:45, "And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me."

12. John 13:19, "Now I tell you before it comes, that when it (future events) does come to pass, you may believe that I am [He]." (compare with Isaiah 43:10; 46:10; 48:5) "You are my witnesses," says the Lord...That you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me...declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done...even from the beginning I have declared it to you; before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you."

13. John 14:9, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." (John 10:30; Colossians 1:15)

14. John 20:28, "Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" (Jesus always accepted worship, which would have been utterly blasphemous were He not God. This is quite unlike the holy angels, who refused worship at once, Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9) Jesus' response is worthy of noting. "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," John 20:29. Thomas believed Christ was God and Jesus affirmed this. He also commended those who would, in later times, believe the same without having to see Him.

15. Acts 20:28, "Shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (see Revelation 1:5)

16. Romans 9:5, "From whom (Israel), according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen."

17. 2nd Corinthians 4:4, 6, "...whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them...For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

18. Philippians 2:6, "[Jesus], being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." (Two words of interest stand out in this verse. "Form" in the original Greek is "morphe" which is translated "nature or character." Thus Jesus, Paul attests, has the nature and character of God. The word "equal" is "isos" as seen in John 5:18; which again means "the same." This verse powerfully asserts that Jesus is the nature and character of God, and found it not robbery that He is the same as the Father.)

19. Colossians 1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."

20. Colossians 2:2, "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ." (see 1st Timothy 3:16)

21. Colossians 2:9, "For in Him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (see John 1:14; 2nd Corinthians 5:19) The phrase, " fullness of the Godhead" in the Greek (pleroma tes theotetos) is only used here in the New Testament. It refers to the sum of God's person and character. All the fullness of God dwells or resides within Jesus Christ; He is deity personified. This verse is a clear teaching of the incarnation, that God became a man through the virgin birth.

22. 1st Timothy 3:16, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."

23. Titus 2:13, "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."

24. Hebrews 1:3, "[Jesus], being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (see 2nd Corinthians 4:4, 6. The original Greek for the words "express image" is actually one word, "charakter;" and it means "exact representation.")

25. Hebrews 1:8, "But to the Son He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom." (see Psalm 45:6-7; The NWT* also changes the context of this passage so much that it is now the Father being referred to instead of the Son. No manuscript authority is cited for this blatantly liberal mutilation of Scripture, whose context in Hebrews clearly portrays the Son of God being spoken about, see Hebrews 1:5-13.)

26. 2nd Peter 1:1, "To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."

27. 1st John 5:20, "We know the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

28. 2nd John 1:9, "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son."

29. Revelation 1:17, "He (Jesus) laid His right hand on me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last." (see Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, 48:12)

30. Revelation 21:6; 22:16, "...and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done...I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David (Christ's humanity), and the bright and morning star (Christ's divinity)." See also Revelation 1:1.

* The NWT is the New World Translation, used by the Watch Tower and Jehovah's Witnesses.

** John's Gospel was unique among the four. Matthew portrayed Jesus as King of the Jews. Mark painted the picture of Jesus as the suffering servant, who came not to be served but to serve. Luke wrote his Gospel to reveal the perfect man to the Greeks. But John wrote specifically to evangelize anyone who reads. His purpose was to reveal Jesus Christ, the living and eternal Word as God almighty, Creator and Savior of mankind. To that end John uses lofty imagery to suggest or plainly state Jesus' claims of deity. While John also portrayed our Lord in the same roles as his peers, his goal was much broader; he wanted anyone reading to be convinced by the proofs written of Jesus' deity and ability to save so they might place their faith in Him for eternal life.

***Isaiah 43:10 is the verse from which the Jehovah's Witnesses derived their name in 1931, when Judge Rutherford, Charles T. Russell's successor, was president. Yet in Isaiah 43:10-13 the phrases "I am He" and "I am God, there is no other" occur numerous times, reflecting the statements Jesus repeatedly made in John's gospel; "I am He." Jesus said in John 8:24, "if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." What do you think Jesus was referring to? The Jehovah's Witnesses assert that Jesus is "a god" even "a mighty god," perverting John 1:1 and Isaiah 9:6. Yet in the very passage they took for their cult's name, God proclaims that there is no other "god" before or after Him. Not even "a god" or "a mighty god." This eisegesis is forcing Scripture to say what the Watchtower wishes, rather than allowing the Bible to speak for itself.