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1. Does Christ Make Statements Only God
Would Make? The following
Scriptures, given the character of Jesus Christ, are only
logically explained on the basis of His deity:
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will
but to do the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38)
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the
glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17:5)
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before
Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58)
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Matthew
28:18)
I have told you these things, so that in me you may
have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
Jesus said… "I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
(John 11:25)
I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not
be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
(John 5:24; see John 10:27, 28; 11:25)
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains
in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
(John 14:6)
When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.
(John 12:45; see John 14:7-11; 17:5)
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I
said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it
known to you. (John 16:15)
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world,
(John 9:5)
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does
not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will
condemn him at the last day. (John 12:48)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but
whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s
wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)
[The Father has entrusted all judgments to the Son]
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the
Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the
Father, who sent him. (John 5:23)
When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me
only, but in the one who sent me. (John 12:44)
Can we imagine the president of the
United States appearing on national TV and making such
claims for himself? Can we imagine even the most exalted
angel doing so? The magnitude of these claims are such
that if they are not true, Jesus cannot be considered a
sane or a good man. He would have to be considered as the
founder of the greatest system of idolatry the world has
ever seen. Loraine Boettner asserts in his Studies in
Theology (1980, p. 144):
Certainly on the basis of His own teaching Jesus
claimed Deity for Himself. No unprejudiced reader can
reach any other conclusion. Such has been the impression
of the great mass of those who have read the New
Testament. This has led Dr. A. H. Strong to observe that
"if He is not God, He is a deceiver or is self-deceived,
and in either case, Christ, if not God, is not good."
And Dr. E. Y. Mullins has pointed out that if we deny
His Deity then "we must conclude that, with all His
moral beauty and excellence, Jesus was a pitiable
failure as a teacher if He did not succeed in guarding
His message against corruptions which have led to His
own exaltation as God, and to the existence through
eighteen centuries of a system of idolatry of which He
is the center."
Note again the close relationship
between God and Christ in the following Scriptures. No
mere creature, however exalted, could rationally make such
claims:
I and the Father are One. (John 10:30)
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the
Father. (John 5:23)
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father
also. (John 8:19)
He who beholds Me, beholds the One who sent Me. (John
12:45)
Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also
does in like manner. (John 5:19)
No one knows the Father except the Son. (Matthew
11:27)
You believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14:1)
He who has seen Me, has seen the Father. (John 14:9)
He who hates me, hates my Father. (John 15:23)
He who receives Me, receives the One who sent Me.
(Matthew 10:40)
All that belongs to the Father is mine. (John 16:15)
My Father is working until now and I am working.
(John 5:17)
2. Does Christ Conform to the Attributes
of Deity?
In the following condensed descriptions
of various Scriptures, we see that Jesus Christ is God
because He has the attributes of God.
Eternity
The everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).
From everlasting (Micah 5:2).
In the beginning, He always was (John 1:1, 2, 14,
15).
Jesus had glory with God before the world was created
(John 17:5).
Omnipresence
Where two or three are, He is there (Matthew 18:20).
He is with us always (Matthew 28:20).
He is in every believer (John 14:20-23).
He fills all (Ephesians 1:23; 4:20).
Omniscience
He knows people’s thoughts (Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8;
11:17).
He knew the manner of His death (Matthew 16:21; John
12:33).
He knew the Father (Matthew 11:27; Only God can know
Himself—1 Corinthians 2:11, 16).
He knew who would betray Him (John 6:64, 70-71).
He knew the future (John 2:19-22; John 18:4; John
13:19; Matthew 24:35).
He saw Nathaniel under the fig tree (John 1:49).
He knew the history of the Samaritan woman (John
4:29).
The disciples’ testimony (John 16:30; 17:30).
He knew all men (John 2:24, 25).
While Christ is God, we must remember
that in the incarnation He had surrendered the
independent use of His attributes (Philippians 2:6-8;
John 5:30). As a true man, He was a servant to the
Father, as an example to us (John 13:4, 5). Therefore,
while on earth, there were some things the Father did
not allow Him to know and in His humanity only He was
not omniscient. Thus, He didn’t know the time of His
return (Mark 13:32); He went to see if there was fruit
on a fig tree (Mark 11:13) and He marveled at both
unbelief (Mark 6:6) and belief (Matthew 8:10).
Omnipotence and Sovereignty
He is the Almighty (Revelation 1:8).
He does whatever the Father does (John 5:19).
He upholds all things (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3).
All authority, including over all mankind, is given
to Him (Matthew 28:18; John 17:2, 3).
He is the head over all rule and authority
(Colossians 2:10).
He has power to subject all things unto Himself
(Philippians 3:21).
He will reign until He has put all enemies under His
feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
He exerts control over His own life and death (John
10:18).
He is the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation
1:5).
He has power over nature (Luke. 8:25).
He is Lord of all (Revelations 19:16; 1 Peter 3:22,
Colossians 1:18; Acts 10:36).
Immutability
He is always and forever the same (Hebrews 13:8 cf.,
1:12, 8, 10).
His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35).
Holy
He is holy (Revelation 3:7)
He is the holy offspring that will be called the Son
of God (Luke 1:35).
He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).
He is without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
He is holy, innocent, undefiled, and separated from
sinners (Hebrews 7:26).
He is unblemished and spotless (1 Peter 1:19).
He committed no sin (John 8:46; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter
2:22).
Truth
He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
The truth is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21).
He is the truth (John 14:6).
He is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11).
If the major attributes of deity are
ascribed to Christ, the only logical conclusion is that
Christ is God.
3. Are the Names, Titles, and
Designations of God Ascribed to Christ?
The following comparisons between God
in the Old Testament and Christ in the New
Testament prove that Jesus Christ is God. Any
creature, however exalted, is unworthy of these statements
collectively, and often individually.
PROOF THAT JESUS CHRIST
IS GOD
Descriptions of God in the Old Testament
used of Jesus in the New Testament
1. The first and the last—Isaiah 41:4;
44,6; 48:12 / Revelation 2:8; 22:13
2. I AM—Exodus 3:14 / John 8:58; John
13:19
3. Author of eternal words—Isaiah.
40:8; Psalm 119:89 / Matthew 24:35; John 6:68
4. Light—Psalm 27:1 / John 1:4-9;
8:12; 1 John 1:5
5. Rock—Deuteronomy 32:31; Psalm 18:2;
Isaiah 8:14; Psalm 92:15 / 1 Peter 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians
10:4
6. Bridegroom—Isaiah 62:5; Hosea 2:16
/ Mark 2:19; Revelation 21:2
7. Shepherd—Psalm 23:1 / John 10:11;
Hebrews 13:20
8. Forgiver of sins—Jeremiah 31:34 /
Acts 5:31
9. Redeemer—Hosea 13:14; Psalm 130:7 /
Titus 2:13,14; Revelation 5:9
10. Savior—Isaiah 43:3; Hosea 13:4 / 2
Peter 1:1, 11; Titus 2:10-13; Acts 4:12 (cf., Titus 1,
3)
11. The Lord of Glory—Isaiah 42:8 /
John 17:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:8
12. Judge—Joel 3:12 / Matthew 25:31-46
13. The Second Coming God—Zechariah
14:5 / Matthew 16:27; 24:29-31
14. The First Coming God—Isaiah 40:3 /
Matthew 3:3
15. King of Glory—Psalm 24:7, 10 / 1
Corinthians 2:8; John 17:5
16. Jehovah our righteousness—Jeremiah
23:5, 6 / 1 Corinthians 1:30
17. Jehovah the first and last—Isaiah
44:6; 48:12-16 / Revelation 1:8, 17; 22:13
18. Jehovah above all—Psalm 97:9 /
John 3:31
19. Jehovah’s fellow and
equal—Zechariah 13:7 / Philippians 2:6
20. The Lord Almighty—Isaiah 6:1-3;
8:13-14 / John 12:41; 1 Peter 2:8
21. Jehovah—Psalm 110:1 / Matthew
22:42-45
22. Jehovah the Shepherd—Isaiah 40:11
/ Hebrews 13:20
23. Jehovah, for whose glory all
things were created—Proverbs 16:4 / Colossians 1:16
24. Jehovah the messenger of the
Covenant—Malachi 3:1 / Luke 7:27
25. Invoked as Jehovah—Joel 2:32;
Isaiah 45:22 / 1 Corinthians 1:2
26. The eternal God and Creator—Psalm
102:24-27 / Hebrews 1:8, 10-12
27. The great God and savior—Isaiah
43:11-12 / Titus 1:3-4; 2:10, 13; 3:4-6
28. God the Judge—Ecclesiastes 12:14 /
1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1
29. Emmanuel—Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew
1:23
30. The Holy One—1 Samuel 2:2 / Acts
3:14
31. Lord of the Sabbath—Genesis 2:3 /
Matthew 12:8
32. Lord of All—1 Chronicles 29:11-12
/ Acts 10:36; Romans 10:11-13
33. Creator of all things—Isaiah
40:28; Psalm 148:1-5 / John 1:3; Colossians 1:16
34. Supporter, preserver of all
things—Nehemiah 9:6 / Colossians 1:17
35. Stumbling rock of offense—Isaiah
8:13-14 / Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:8; Acts 4:11
36. Confess that He is Lord—Isaiah
45:23 (Jehovah) / Philippians 2:11 (Jesus)
37. The Judge of all men—Psalm 98:9 /
Acts 17:31
38. Raiser of the dead—1 Samuel 2:6;
Psalm 119 (11 times) / John 11:25; 5:21 w/Luke 7:12-16
39. Co-sender of the Holy Spirit—John
14:16 (The Father sends) / (Jesus sends) John 15:26
40. Led captivity captive—Psalm 68:18
/ Ephesians 4:7, 8
41. Seen by Isaiah—Isaiah 6:1 / John
12:41
42. Judge of the nations—Joel 3:12 /
Matthew 25:31-41
43. Salvation by calling on the name
of the Lord—Joel 2:32 / Romans 10:13
4. Are the Prerogatives of Deity
Ascribed to Christ?
•
Raising the dead while on earth (Matthew
9:25, the Synagogue official’s daughter; Luke
7:12-16, the widow’s son; John 11:44, Lazarus; John
2:19-22, Himself).
•
Doing the works of God (John 10:37-39).
•
Giver of eternal life with authority over
all mankind (John 17:2; John 10:28).
•
Worshipped by angels (Psalm 148:2):
God—Hebrews 1:6; Jesus—Luke 4:8.
•
Addressed in prayer (Acts 7:59).
•
Providence and eternal dominion (Luke
10:22; John 3:35; 17:2; Ephesians 1:2; Colossians
1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:5).
•
Power to transform the bodies of all
believers (Philippians 3:21).
•
Raising the dead for judgment (John
5:24-29; Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31).
•
Worship by people. Only God is worthy of
worship (Psalm 95:6). Neither people (Acts 10:25-6),
nor angels (Revelation 19:10) are to receive worship, only
God (Luke 4:8). But Jesus received worship from: the
man born blind (John 9:38); the disciples (Matthew
14:33; 28:17); the wise men (Matthew 2:2, 11); the young
ruler (Matthew 9:18); women (Matthew 28:9); the
disciples (Matthew 28:17); the demons (Mark 3:11;
5:6); everyone (Philippians 2:10, 11); the four elders
(Revelation 5:14).
•
Forgives sin (Matthew 1:21; Mark 2:7).
•
Sending the Holy Spirit (a creature cannot
send God; John 16:7; cf. 14:26).
Even in the baptismal formula, we find
Christ clearly asserting His Deity. In his Studies in
Theology (1980, pp. 144-145) Loraine Boettner quotes
the great Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield (Biblical
Doctrines, p. 204):
The precise form of the formula must be carefully
observed. It does not read: "In the names" (plural)—as
if there were three beings enumerated, each with its
distinguishing name. Nor yet: "In the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit," as if there were one
person, going by a threefold name. It reads: "In the
name (singular) of the Father and of the (article
repeated) Son, and of the (article repeated) Holy
Spirit," carefully distinguishing three persons, though
uniting them all under one name. The name of God was to
the Jews Jehovah, and to name the name of Jehovah upon
them was to make them His. What Jesus did in this great
injunction was to command His followers to name the name
of God upon their converts, and to announce the name of
God which is to be named on their converts in the
threefold enumeration of "the Father" and "the Son" and
"the Holy Spirit." As it is unquestionable that He here
intended Himself by "the Son," He here places Himself by
the side of the Father and Spirit, as together with them
constituting the one God. It is, of course, the Trinity
which he is describing and that is as much as to say
that He announces Himself as one of the persons of the
Trinity.
5. Does Scripture Declare Unequivocally
that Christ Is God?
As if the "Proof that Jesus Christ is
God" comparisons were not sufficient, Scripture plainly
declares Christ’s deity:
•
John 1:1, 14, "The word was God….
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among
us."
•
John 1:18, "The only begotten God."
•
John 20:28, Thomas said to him [Jesus] "My
Lord and my God."
•
Titus 2:13, "Our Great God and
Saviour Jesus Christ."
•
Hebrews 1:8, But about the Son he says,
"Your throne O God, will last forever and ever."
•
2 Peter 1:1, "Our God and Saviour
Jesus Christ."
•
1 John 5:20, "Jesus Christ. He is the
true God and eternal life."
•
Colossians 2:9, "In Christ all the fullness
of the Deity lives in bodily form."
•
Isaiah 9:6, "For to us a child is
born...and He will be called Mighty God."
•
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23, "Immanuel"—"God
with us."
•
Hebrews 1:1-3, "The Son is the radiance of
God’s glory and the exact representation of His
being…."
•
Colossians 1:15-17, "He is the image of
the invisible God… by him all things were
created."
•
Acts 20:28, The church was purchased with
the blood of God.
•
2 Corinthians 4:4, "Christ, who is the
image of God."
•
Romans 9:5, "Christ, who is God over
all, forever praised."
•
1 Corinthians 1:24, "Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God."
•
2 Thessalonians 1:12, "Our God and
Lord Jesus Christ."
•
Philippians 2:6, "being in very nature
God." (The Greek could be literally translated
"continuing to subsist in the form of God.")
Some critics have responded to the above
listing with, "Is that all?" Others, even some
theologians, have claimed that the actual direct
scriptural references to Christ’s deity in the New
Testament are "exceedingly few."
Only one clear reference of God to
Christ’s deity should be sufficient; the truth is we have
hundreds of direct and indirect references. The term for
"Jehovah God" that is employed some 6,000 times in the
Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) is
kurios (Lord). In other words, kurios is the
specific term the Septuagint translators chose to
designate the one true God of all the earth. The Apostle
Paul and other New Testament writers were well aware of
this fact. What is significant is that the very word
chosen to designate God in the Septuagint is the
word they chose to designate Jesus Christ in the
New Testament—kurios. The implication of this could
hardly be lost on either the New Testament writers or its
readers. The New Testament writers clearly chose to
describe Jesus Christ as God hundreds of times by their
use of the term kurios.
6. Other Testimonies
Thomas: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
Peter: "The Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16; to
a Jew, this made Him God’s equal, cf., John 5:18).
John: "Making Himself [Jesus] equal with God" (John
5:18).
The Jews: "You a mere man claim[ing] to be God" (John
10:33).
The High Priest" "You have heard the blasphemy" (Mark
14:61-64).
The Deity of Christ and Early Church
Testimony
Some critics, as well as most liberal
theologians, maintain that the doctrine of the trinity was
not part of the teachings of Jesus and the
apostles, but merely invented by the church centuries
later. Emanuel Swedenborg, founder of the Church of the
New Jerusalem claimed that the apostolic church knew
nothing of the Trinity and that the Trinity was really
fabricated by the Council of Nicea in the fourth century
as a belief in three Gods, not the one true God, which he
believed was unipersonal: "A Trinity of Persons was
unknown in the Apostolic church, but was hatched by the
Nicean Council," and "No other trinity than a trinity of
Gods was understood by the members of the Nicean
Council...[and] so understood by the whole Christian world
as well." 1
Likewise, in a sermon given in August, 1964, at New York
City, liberal theologian James A. Pike declared, "The
Trinity is not necessary. Our Lord never heard of it. The
apostles knew nothing of it." Victor Paul Wierwille,
founder of "The Way International," claims in his book,
Jesus Christ Is Not God, that the early church (to 330
A.D.) never believed in the Trinity or in Christ’s deity.
He argues, "Certainly, during this time, church leaders
spoke of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but they never
referred to them as co-equal.... In fact, the opposite was
the case. They spoke of the Father as supreme, the true
and only God... and of the son as inferior...
having a beginning, visible, begotten, immutable."2
But is this really what we find when we
carefully examine the writings of the earliest Christian
leaders, or is this merely an invention by those who, for
whatever reason, choose not to believe in the Trinity? The
following twenty-two chronological examples of key leaders
show that the early church clearly believed that Jesus
Christ was God:
Ignatius of Antioch (30-107 A.D.).
He was born before Christ died and consistently spoke of
the deity of Jesus Christ. Consider a few examples: In his
writings To the Ephesians, To the Romans,
To the Magnesians and other letters, we find
references such as the following: "Jesus Christ our God";
"who is God and man"; "received knowledge of God, that is,
Jesus Christ"; "for our God, Jesus the Christ"; "for God
was manifest as man"; "Christ, who was from eternity with
the Father"; "from God, from Jesus Christ"; "from Jesus
Christ, our God"; "Our God, Jesus Christ"; "suffer me to
follow the example of the passion of my God"; "Jesus
Christ the God" and "Our God Jesus Christ." 3
The fact that Ignatius was not rebuked, nor branded as
teaching heresy by any of the churches or Christian
leaders he sent such letters to proves that the early
church, long before 107 A.D., accepted the deity of
Christ.
Polycarp (69-155 A.D.).
He possibly spoke of "Our Lord and God Jesus Christ." 4
Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.).
He wrote of Jesus, "who... being the first-begotten Word
of God, is even God." 5
In his Dialogue with Trypho, he stated that "God
was born from a virgin" and that Jesus was "worthy of
worship" and of being "called Lord and God."6
Tatian (110-172 A.D.).
This early apologist wrote, "We do not act as fools, O
Greeks, nor utter idle tales when we announce that God was
born in the form of man." 7
Theophlius (116-181 A.D.).
He was the first to use the term "Trinity" in his
Epistle to Antolycux II, xv. 8
Irenaeus of Lyons and Rome (120-202 A.D.). He wrote
that Jesus was "perfect God and perfect man"; "not a mere
man...but was very God"; and that "He is in Himself in His
own right...God, and Lord, and King Eternal" and spoke of
"Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour and King."9
Tertullian of Carthage (145-220 A.D.).
He said of Jesus "Christ is also God" because "that which
has come forth from God [in the virgin birth] is at once
God and the Son of God, and the two are one...in His
birth, God and man united." Jesus is "both Man and God,
the Son of Man and the Son of God." 10
Hippolytus (170-235 A.D.).
He said, "[it is] the Father who is above all, the Son who
is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all. And we
cannot otherwise think of one God, but by believing in
truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit.... For it is
through this Trinity that the Father is glorified.... The
whole Scriptures, then, proclaim this truth." And, "the
Logos is God, being the substance of God." 11
Caius (180-217 A.D.). He was a Roman Presbyter who
wrote of the universal Christian attestation to the deity
of Christ in his refutation of Artemon, who maintained
that Christ was only a man. Caius appealed to much earlier
writers, all of whom taught Christ’s deity: "Justin and
Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others—who is
ignorant of the books of Irenaeus and Melito, and the
rest, which declare Christ to be God and man? All the
psalms, too, and hymns of brethren, which have been
written from the beginning by the faithful, celebrate
Christ the Word of God, ascribing divinity to Him....
[This] doctrine of the Church, then, has been proclaimed
so many years ago,..."12
Gregory Thaumaturgus of Neo-Caesarea
(205-270 A.D.). He declared in
On the Trinity, that "All [the persons] are one
nature, one essence, one will, and are called the Holy
Trinity; and these also are names subsistent, one nature
in three persons, and one genus [kind]." 13
He referred to Jesus as "God of God" and "God the Son."14
Novatian of Rome (210-280 A.D.). He wrote in his
On The Trinity of Jesus being truly a man but that "He
was also God according to the Scriptures.... Scripture has
as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it
has also described Christ the Lord to be God.... this same
Jesus is called also God and the Son of God." "Christ
Jesus [is] our Lord God."15
(Note, then, that in the 200’s we already had discourses
on the Trinity.)
Origen of Alexandria (wrote ca 230
A.D.). He stated that Christ was
"God and man." 16
In 254 A.D. he wrote, "Jesus Christ...while he was God,
and though made man, remained God as he was before."17
Athanasius (293-373 A.D.). This keen defender of
New Testament teaching against the early Arian heresy,
which taught that Jesus Christ was not God, declared of
Jesus, "He always was and is God and Son," and "He who is
eternally God,... also became man for our sake."18
Lucian of Antioch (300 A.D.).
"We believe in... one Lord Jesus Christ, his Son, the
only-begotten God...God of God.…" 19
Alexander of Alexandria. He spoke in reference to
Jesus of "his highest and essential divinity" and that he
was "an exact and identical image of the Father."20
Eusebius of Caesarea.
Stated that "the Son of God bears no resemblance to
originated creatures but...is alike in every way only to
the Father who has begotten [Him] and that he is not from
any other hypostasis and substance but from the Father." 21
And (325 A.D.), "We believe in... one Lord Jesus Christ,
the word of God, God of God.…"22
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca 350 A.D.). "We believe in...
One Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God...very
God, by whom all things were made."23
Epiphanius of Constantia (374 A.D.). "We
believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ...of the substance of
the Father, Light of Light, very God of very God."24
Augustine. Declared that Christians "...believe
that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God, maker and
ruler of the whole creation: that Father is not Son, nor
Holy Spirit Father or Son; but a Trinity of mutually
related Persons, and a unity of equal essence," and that
therefore, "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the
Holy Spirit God; and all together are one God."25
Tertullian.
Wrote of Jesus that "He is God and man.... We have here a
dual condition—not fused but united—in one person, Jesus
as God and man." 26
Proclus. "He
was born of woman, God but not solely God, and man but not
merely man.....Christ did not by progress become
God—heaven forbid!—but in mercy he became man, as we
believe. We do not preach a deified man; we confess an
incarnate God...him alone who was born of a virgin, God
and man." 27
Cyril of Alexandria.
Wrote of Jesus, "For he remained what he was; that is, by
nature God. But...he took it on himself to be man as
well," and, "There is nothing to prevent us from thinking
of Christ as being the one and only Son at once both God
and man, perfect in deity and perfect in humanity...he is
conceived of as God and is God,..." 28
From the very first the leaders of the
Christian church—immediately after the time of the
apostles up to the Council of Nicea in the fourth century
and beyond—had consistently believed and taught that Jesus
Christ is God. Therefore, those who deny this are clearly
mistaken when they maintain that the Trinity was
"invented" by Christians only in the 4th century or later.
There is only one logical explanation
for the abundant early testimony to the deity of Jesus
Christ: early church leaders were simply declaring what
was already declared by Jesus Christ and the apostles in
Holy Scripture: that Christ was indeed God. As Gregory of
Nazianzus stated in his "Third Theological Oration
Concerning the Son," "From their [the apostles] great and
exalted discourses we have discovered and preached the
deity of the Son." 29
E. Calvin Beisner,
author of God in Three Persons, states:
The testimony of the New Testament to the deity of
Christ is unanimous.... Were there no passages at all
which directly call Christ God, we would still have a
great weight of evidence that is the New Testament
conception of him, for in all senses he is depicted as
precisely parallel to God the Father. C. F. D. Moule
wrote: "Far more impressive than any single passage are
two implicit Christological ‘pointers.’" At first is the
fact that, in the greetings of the Pauline epistles, God
and Christ are brought into a single formula. It
requires an effort of imagination to grasp the enormity
that this must have seemed to a non-Christian Jew. It
must have administered a shock comparable (if the
analogy may be allowed without irreverence) to our
finding a religious Cuban today inditing a message from
God-and-"Che" Guevara…."
The other Christological pointer, evidenced early…
[is the undeniable] fact that Paul seems to experience
Christ as any theist reckons to understand God—that is,
as personal, but as more than individual: as more than a
person. This is evidenced by certain uses (though
admittedly not all) of the well known incorporative
formulae, "in Christ."…30
The truth is that for all those who deny
Christ’s deity—as for the early Arians—the Trinity is
simply a stumbling block to their rationalism. What they
cannot fully comprehend, they will not accept. Thus, the
doctrine of the Trinity cannot be rejected on biblical or
historical grounds because the testimony for it is too
abundant. It can only be rejected on philosophical and
personal grounds which have no merit.
Footnotes:
1. Emanuel Swedenborg, The True Christian Religion,
Vol. 1, p. 260 (n. 174); p. 258 (n. 172).
2. Victor Paul Wierwille, Jesus Christ Is Not God
(New Knoxville, OH: American Christian Press, 1975).
3. Kirsopp Lake, trans., The Apostolic Fathers,
Vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University
Press (1965), To the Ephesians I, Greeting; I:I;
vii. 2; xvii. 2; xviii. 2; xix. 3; To the Magnesians,
xiii. 2; To the Trallians, vii. 1; To the
Romans, Greeting; iii. 3; vi. 3; To the
Smyrnaeans I.I; To Polycarp, viii. 3,
respectively.
4. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians,
Chapter 6, in Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (eds.),
The Ante-Nicene Fathers Translations of the Writings
of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325 (Vol. 1 The Apostolic
Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus) (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977), p. 34.
5. Justin Martyr, "The First Apology," Chapter 63, in
Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers,
Vol. 1, p. 184.
6. Justin Martyr, "Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher
and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew," Chapters 64, 68, in
Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers,
Vol. 1, pp. 231-233.
7. Tatian the Assyrian, "Address of Tatian to the
Greeks," Chapter 21, in Roberts and Donaldson, The
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 74.
8. Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers,
Vol. 2, p. 101.
9. Irenaeus, "Against Heresies" Book III, Chpt. 16,
Title; Chpt. 19, Title, para. 2; Book I, chapt. 10, para.
1, in Roberts and Donaldson (eds.), The Ante-Nicene
Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 440, 448-49.
10. Tertullian (Quintus Tertullianus), "A Treatise on
the Soul," Chapter 41, and "Apology," Chapter 21, in
Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.
3, Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 221, 34-35, and
Against Praxaes in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.
3, p. 498, respectively.
11. Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus,
p. 14, cited in Harold O. J. Brown, Heresies
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1984), p. 95;
Refutation of All Heresies, X, XXIX, Ante Nicene
Fathers, Vol. 5, p. 151.
12. Caius, "Against the Heresy of Artemon" in
"Fragments of Caius" in Roberts and Donaldson, The
Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Third Century,
Vol. 5, p. 601.
13. Gregory Thaumaturgus, "On the Trinity," para. 2,
in Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers,
Vol. 6: Fathers of the Third Century (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1975), p. 48.
14. In Beisner, p. 81.
15. Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, "A Treatise of
Novatian Concerning the Trinity," Chapter 11, in Roberts
and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of
the Third Century, Vol. 5, p. 620.
16. Origen, "Dialogue with Heraclides," 1-4 in Wiles
and Santer, Documents in Early Christian Thought,
p. 23.
17. In Beisner, p. 80, citing On the Principles,
Preface, p. 4.
18. Athanasius, "Against the Arians," III, para. 29,
31, in Maurice Wiles and Mark Santer (eds.),
Documents in Early Christian Thought (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 52, 54.
19. In Beisner, p. 82.
20. "Alexander of Alexandria’s Letter to Alexander of
Thessonalica," para. 37, in William G. Rusch
(trans./ed.), The Trinitarian Controversy
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 40, 42.
21. "Eusebius of Caesarea’s Letter to His Church
Concerning the Synod at Nicaea," para. 13 in Rusch, p.
59.
22. In Beisner, p. 84.
23. Ibid., p. 86.
24. Ibid., p. 87.
25. Augustine, "On the Trinity," IX, para. 1; XV,
para. 28, in Wiles and Santer, Documents in Early
Christian Thought, 36-37, p. 91.
26. Tertullian, "Against Praxeas," Chapter, 27, in
Wiles and Santer (eds.), p. 46.
27. Proclus, "Sermon I," paragraphs 2, 4 in Wiles and
Santer, Documents in Early Christian Thought, pp.
62-64.
28. Cyril of Alexandria, "Second Letter to Succensus,"
2, 4, in Wiles and Santer, Documents in Early
Christian Thought, pp. 67, 69-70.
29. Gregory of Nazianzus, "Third Theological Oration
Concerning the Son," 17 in Rusch (trans./ed.), The
Trinitarian Controversy, p. 143.
30. In E. Calvin Beisner, God in Three Persons
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1984), pp. 33-34.
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