I was dumbfounded.  I had been taught for years that Jesus was God’s Son but here was someone saying that He was not.  What was even worse, to my shame, I did not know how to refute her.  I could not think of one Bible verse to quote showing that she was wrong.  And neither could anyone else in the room.

Today I would respond very differently to her statement.  I now know that the Bible is full of verses that teach that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had full deity.  Deity is “the state of being God.”2  The New Testament says over and over and over again that Jesus had that.  He was co-equal with God the Father and God the Spirit.  He had the same nature that God has.  The goal of this article is to show this from several different angles.

I. JESUS WAS THE SON OF GOD3

Several of the Gospel writers say that it was their whole point in writing to show that Jesus was the Son of God.  Mark 1:1 says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Mark wrote his entire Gospel to show that Jesus was God’s Son.  He wanted his readers to know, from the very beginning, what he thought about Jesus.  As one commentator put it, “If Mark intended his work to have a title, this is it.”4

The Apostle John also says that he wrote his Gospel to let people know about Jesus’ Sonship.  John 20:30-31 says,

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

John wrote his Gospel for the same reason that Mark did: to tell others that Jesus is the Son of God.  William Hendriksen sums it up well:

The purpose of [John] has all along been this: to show that Jesus is really God (or, if one prefers, the Son of God; hence, of the very essence of God).5

The other Gospel writers make the same astounding claim.  Matthew 3:17 records God the Father’s voice at Jesus’ baptism as saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”  Luke 4:41 says,

Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, [Jesus] would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

Luke 9:35 says that at Jesus’ Transfiguration, “A voice came out of the cloud, saying ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!’”

The Gospel writers were not the only ones who said that Jesus was the Son of God.  The Apostle Paul did so on numerous occasions.6  Consider these passages from Romans:

Romans 1:9,

For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you.

Romans 5:10,

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Romans 8:3,

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh . . .

Romans 8:29,

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren . . .

Romans 8:32,

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

The author of Hebrews mentions this topic as well in Hebrews 1:2, 5, 8; 3:6; 4:14; 5:5, 8; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29.  Peter mentions it in Second Peter 1:17.  John refers to it again in First John 1:3, 7; 2:22, 23, 24; 3:8, 23; 4:9, 10, 14, 15; 5:5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Second John 1:9; Revelation 2:18.

Needless to say, the guest speaker in my philosophy class was wrong.  The Bible clearly states that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  But what does that mean?

To say that Jesus is the Son of God is to say that Jesus has the very same nature that God does.  It means that, just as an earthly son shares the nature of his earthly father, Jesus shares the nature of God.  Some cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, have taken this to mean that Jesus was born like a normal man but made into the Son of God,7 but that is mistaken.  As Walter Martin writes,

In the Jewish mind, for Jesus to claim to be God’s Son was a claim to equality with God, a fact Jehovah’s Witnesses might profitably consider!8

As the Nicene Creed put it in A. D. 325,

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light. Very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by Whom all things were made.9

Jesus’ Sonship showed that He was “very God of very God.”  It was evidence that He shared the same essence as God.

II. JESUS WAS LORD10

A second way that the Bible expresses Jesus’ Deity is by calling Him “Lord.”  Even though Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man,11 He was not a normal man.  He was the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  He was not created like other men are created.  It is true that He was born as other men are born.  But Jesus has always existed.  There was never a time when He was not alive.  In John 1:1-3 it says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

“The Word” here is a reference to Jesus.12  Jesus was with God in the beginning.  Jesus was God in the beginning.  The interesting thing about these verses is that Jesus’ relationship with God is mentioned in verses 1-2 but the creation of the world is not mentioned until verse 3.  In other words, John is describing who Jesus was before time began.  He was the Lord of all.

A. W. Pink provides a helpful explanation of what this means in his book, The Attributes of God.

Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent, God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and always as He pleases. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Is. 46:10). Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact as well as in name, and that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things “after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).13

All of this could be said about Jesus Christ.  He is Lord and, when He lived among us, He was Lord.  The word “Lord” means ruler.14  The Bible says that the Son of God is also the Ruler of Heaven and Earth.  It actually says this hundreds of times15 and, while we cannot discuss every single example, we can discuss a few of them.

John the Baptist was Jesus’ forerunner.16  His whole goal in preaching to the people of Israel was to prepare them for the ministry of Jesus.  Yet look at how John refers to Him.

Matthew 3:3,

For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”

John 1:23,

He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The whole point of John’s ministry was to prepare Israel for the arrival of “the Lord.”  He preached and prayed and taught to get the Jews ready for Jesus.

In his sermon before the crowd at Pentecost in Acts 2:36, Peter makes a very clear association between the terms “Jesus” and “Lord.”

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.

For more references in Acts that equate “Jesus” with “Lord,” see Acts 8:16; 9:15, 27-28; 15:26; 19:5, 17; 21:13.

Paul made it very clear to his readers that he believed Jesus was the Ruler of all.  Romans 10:9-10 says that someone must believe this if they would be saved.

That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

In First Corinthians 1:2, Paul starts off his letter to the church at Corinth by mentioning this.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours . . .

In his letter to the Philippians in 2:10-11, Paul goes into detail about the implications of Jesus being Lord.

So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To confess Jesus as “Lord” is to bow your knee to Him.  It is to submit to Jesus’ sovereign control over your life.  It is to admit that He is God and you are not and that you will now do as He says.  Paul says that a day is coming when everyone will do that.  Those who do it on this earth will do it in Heaven.  Those who refuse to do it on this earth will do it in Hell.17  Either way, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Finally, Peter makes this claim in First Peter 3:14-15,

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

Peter reminds believers to not be troubled when they suffer trials because Jesus is Lord.  He is the One Who is in control.  Christians have nothing to fear because they serve the One Who rules over everything.18

III. JESUS WAS WORSHIPPED

One clear example of Deity is worship.  If someone gives you homage, honor, and praise then they consider you to be God.19  The Bible tells us that people did this with Jesus Christ.  They prayed to Him.  They sang to Him.  They praised Him in ways that could only indicate that they believed He was divine.  In the words of John Stott, “It is not surprising to learn that the Author of salvation and the Lord of history is also the object of heaven’s worship.”20  He goes on to write,

Even when we shall join the heavenly host in worship, and our self-offering is at last purged of all imperfection – even then our praise is not said to be united with Christ’s. No, he will remain the object of our worship; he will not become our fellow worshiper, nor shall we become his.21

Matthew 2:2 says that the worship of Jesus began at His birth.22  When the wise men came to see Jesus as a baby, they first went to Herod and asked the question:

Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.

Matthew 2:11 says that the wise men did not change their minds when they found Him.

After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew records other similar instances where people paid homage to Jesus in Matthew 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 20:20; 28:9, 17.  Matthew 14:33 says that after Jesus walked on water in front of the disciples,

Those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

Matthew 28:17 gives a report of how the disciples responded to Jesus after His resurrection.

When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some were doubtful.

While some doubted, many of the disciples were convinced that Jesus was Lord after He rose from the grave.  It is significant to point out that, at no time in His ministry, did Jesus ever rebuke His followers for worshipping Him.  He never said to them, “Stop!  You are committing blasphemy!”  He looked on with approval as they acknowledged Him to be Who He was: God in flesh.

Other passages say that people are not the only ones who worship Jesus.  Angels and the Heavenly hosts worship Him as well.  Hebrews 1:6 says,

 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”

According to the book, Putting Jesus in His Place, this verse is not saying that the worship of Jesus is optional for angels.  It is saying that this worship is commanded of them.

God commanded angels to worship Jesus. Hebrews 1:6 is not saying that angels happened to worship Jesus, rightly or wrongly, but that God told them to worship Jesus.23

Revelation 5:12-14 says that this worship is characteristic of Heaven.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshipped.

To worship someone is to devote your entire life to their service.  The angels and living creatures and elders around the throne of God understood that.  They fell down before the Lamb and the One Who sits on the throne and they gave Him everything they had.

In a similar way, you cannot worship Jesus on Sunday morning and then ignore Him the rest of the week.  That is not true worship.  The only way to truly pay honor, homage, and praise to the Lord of all is with your all.  Since Jesus Christ is Lord of all, that is the way we must respond to Him.  To quote from John Stott again,

Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus. To worship him, if he is not God, is idolatry; to withhold worship from him if he is, is apostasy.24

IV. JESUS WAS ETERNAL

Theologians refer to the eternality of Jesus with the terms “pre-existence” or “pre-incarnation.”  As Donald MacLeod writes,

The pre-existence of Christ is clearly affirmed in the Nicene Creed: he was “begotten of the Father before all worlds.” The doctrine clearly implies that originally Christ was not like us; that he came to be like us only by voluntarily sharing our life; that, as the particular individual he was, he existed before creation; and that his existence as a man was continuous with his earlier existence as a heavenly being.25

As mentioned earlier in this article, Jesus was not created like we were.  He was fully man but, unlike us, He existed before He was born.  John 1:1-3 talks about this.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus existed “in the beginning” because He is God.  As God has no beginning, so Jesus Christ has no beginning.  The Son existed with the Father in eternity past prior to being born.  He was a Heavenly Being before He was an earthly Being.  Whereas we had no choice in the matter, Jesus did.  He volunteered to become a Man.  He chose to enter time as One of us and die in our place to save us.26

John talks about this at several points in his Gospel.  John 3:13 says, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.”  John 6:62 says, “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”  John 17:5 puts it this way,

Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus descended from Heaven when He became a man and, when He died, He ascended into Heaven to go back to where He came from.27  He shared the same glory that God has before the world was even created.  He is eternal.  There was never a time when He did not exist.

It is interesting to note how many times John tells us that Jesus Christ was “sent” from God the Father.  Jesus did not come to this earth as an ordinary human being.  He was not conceived on account of the sexual union of His mother and His father.28  Jesus was sent.  God the Father sent His Son to the earth on a mission: to save sinners.  He did not form a Personality out of nothing; He took a Person who already existed and made Him into a Man.  Here are some of the passages in John that teach this.

John 3:17,

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

John 4:34,

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

John 5:36,

But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

John 6:57,

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father…

John 7:16,

So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”

John 8:16,

But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.

Other passages that discuss the eternality of Jesus include Matthew 9:13; Mark 10:45; Luke 4:43; 12:49; 19:10; John 8:58; Romans 8:3; Second Corinthians 8:9; Galatians 4:4-6; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 1:1-4; 7:3; 10:5.  John 8:58 says it about as clearly as can be imagined.  In His own words, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”   Even though He was only in His early 30’s at the time of this passage,29 Jesus was older than Abraham.  Why?  Because Jesus was eternal.  Because there never was a time when Jesus did not exist.  Because Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord of all.

V. JESUS HAD THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

The attributes of God are “the characteristics or qualities of God that constitute him as what he is.”30  They are God’s personality traits.  They are God’s features that make Him unique.  They are His properties.

Needless to say, if Jesus has the same traits as God, then Jesus is God.  If Jesus does what God does, then He is divine.  If He has the same qualities and characteristics that God does, then our response to Him should be the same as our response to God Himself.  In his book, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, John Piper writes, “There is no more important issue in life than seeing Jesus for who he really is and savoring what we see above all else.”31  He is right.  When we open up our Bibles, we see that Jesus has the same attributes as God.32

For one, Jesus is all-powerful.  There is nothing He cannot do.  Hebrews 1:3 says,

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

First Corinthians 15:27 says that God “has put all things in subjection under His feet.”  All things are upheld by the power of the Son of God and everything is under His rulership just like it is with God the Father and God the Spirit.

Jesus also knows all things.  Matthew 11:27 says,

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

John 2:24-25 says,

But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Jesus knew what was in a man.  He knew men’s hearts as only God can.  He also knew God in a special way that no one else did.  As God Himself, He had information about God that was only available to God.

In a special way, Jesus was also ever-present.  While Jesus lived in only one place at a time when He lived among us, today He can be several places at once.  Matthew 18:20 says,

For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.

Matthew 28:20 says,

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Jesus will be with His disciples always, even to the end of the age.  Where two or more are gathered together in His name in the context of church discipline, Jesus will be in their midst.33

Jesus is also changeless.  Hebrews 13:8 says that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Second Corinthians 1:20 says,

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

Jesus is always the same.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is always faithful to His promises.  If He has promised it, He will do it.  In Him, His Word is always “Yes” and “Amen.”

The fact that Jesus Christ shares the attributes of God should not be overlooked as an insignificant thing.  It shows that, either the authors of the New Testament were blasphemous idolaters or they believed that this Man was the same as God.  Josh McDowell sums it up like this:

I cannot personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. The only other alternative is that he was the Christ, the Son of God, as he claimed.

When I discuss this with most Jewish people, it’s interesting how they respond.  They usually tell me that Jesus was a moral, upright, religious leader, a good man, or some kind of prophet. I then share with them the claims Jesus made about himself . . . When I ask if they believe Jesus was a liar, there is a sharp “No”! Then I ask, “Do you believe he was a lunatic?” The reply is “Of course not.” “Do you believe he is God?” Before I can get a breath in edgewise, there is a resounding “Absolutely not.” Yet one has only so many choices.

The issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible, for it is obvious that all three are possible. But rather, the question is “Which is more probable?” Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord and God.34

CONCLUSION

The story is told of a grandmother who came across her granddaughter drawing on a piece of paper.  The grandmother asked her, “What are you drawing?”  To which the little girl responded, “God.”  The grandmother said, “Dear child, no one knows what God looks like.”  To which the granddaughter said, “They will now!”35

The same could have been said before Jesus came.  No one knew what God looked like until He dwelt among us.  Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus was “the exact representation” of God’s nature.  Colossians 1:19 says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.”  Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”

I wish I could talk with that guest speaker from my philosophy class.  Ten years and a lot of studying have gone by since that day, and I still remember it.  It was shameful to call myself a Christian and not have an answer to someone who said that “the Bible never claims that Jesus was the Son of God.”  The Bible does make that claim.  It claims that Jesus was the Son of God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Divine Man Whom the disciples worshipped, the Eternal Pre-Existent One, and a Person Who shared the same attributes as God.

I pray that this article would help you to see that, and I pray that it would be of use if you ever find yourself in a similar conversation.

 

 

1. The Koran, translated by N. J. Dawood (New York: Penguin Books, 1999 ed.) 23. This is very consistent with the teachings of Islam. For example, the Koran says in Surrah 2:136 that, “We believe in God and that which has been revealed to us; in what was revealed to

   Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes; to Moses and Jesus and the other prophets by their Lord.” [↩]

2. Webster’s New World Dictionary, ed. by Michael Agnes (New York: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2003 (174). The technical definition of deity is “the state of being a god,” but since the Bible says that there is only one God, I had to
   modify Webster’s definition a little bit. [↩]
3. I am putting the headings of the sections in the past tense but, to be more theologically accurate, they should also be in the present tense.  Jesus was the Son of God in past history but He is still the Son of God today (Heb 10:12-14). The headings could read “JESUS WAS/IS THE SON OF GOD,” “JESUS WAS/IS LORD,” “JESUS WAS/IS WORSHIPPED,” etc. [↩]
4. James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002) 23. [↩]
5. The Gospel According to John in New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2004 ed.)466. [↩]
6. 1 Cor 1:9; 15:28; 2 Cor 1:19; Gal 1:16; 2:20; 4:4, 6; Eph 4:13; Col 1:13; 1 Thess 1:10. [↩]
7. The Truth Shall Make You Free (New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1943) 47. According to this publication from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, “The true Scriptures speak of God’s Son, the Word, as ‘a god.’ He is a ‘mighty god,’ but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah.” In another publication, they write that, “Jesus was ‘the Son of God.’ Not God himself!” Cited in Walter Martin’s The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, 1985 ed.) 53. [↩]
8. Martin, 96. [↩]
9. Quoted in Philip Schaff’s The Creeds of Christendom, Volume I (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007 ed.) 27-28. [↩]
10. For an explanation of my use of the past tense here, please see footnote 3. [↩]
11. For a discussion of how this works, see “The Humanity of Jesus Christ” in this edition of JTST. [↩]
12. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume V (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1960 ed.) 4. [↩]
13. The Attributes of God (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1975) 27. [↩]
14. Webster’s New World Dictionary, 382. [↩]
15. Robert M. Bowman, Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007) 157. [↩]
16. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. by Ronald F. Youngblood (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995 ed.) 461. The term “forerunner” means “one who goes before.” Luke 1:76-77 gives a prophecy regarding John the Baptist’s role as Jesus’ forerunner: “For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.” [↩]
17. Salvation is not possible if someone does not repent as Luke 15:7; Acts 11:18; and 2 Corinthians 7:10 clearly teach. Therefore, if someone submits to Jesus in this life and repents, he will go to Heaven and submit to Jesus there. If someone refuses to submit to Jesus in this life and refuses to repent, he will go to Hell and submit to Jesus there (Rev 14:9-10). [↩]
18. For more information on Jesus being Lord, see “Jesus Christ as Lord” in this edition of JTST. [↩]
19. Millard J. Erickson, The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology, Revised Edition (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2001 ed.) 220. Erickson defines worship as the “offering of homage, honor, and praise to God.” [↩]
20. The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006 ed.) 43. [↩]
21. Ibid., 264. [↩]
22. To be specific, the worship of Jesus Christ actually started before His birth. Psalm 2:11-12 says, “Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” [↩]
23. Bowman, Jr. & Komoszewski, 40. [↩]
24. The Authentic Jesus (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1985) 34. [↩]
25. The Person of Christ (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998) 45. [↩]
26. Hebrews 2:9 sums this up well when it says, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” [↩]
27. Acts 1:9-11. [↩]
28. For a thorough discussion of the Virgin Birth, see “The Perfect Man” in Issue 7 of JTST. [↩]
29. John 8:57 demonstrates that Jesus’ audience understood how young He was in light of this amazing claim. It says, “So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’” [↩]
30. Erickson, 18. [↩]
31. Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2004) 123. [↩]
32. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines in the Bible, Volume One (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2003) 267-268. I am indebted to Martyn Lloyd Jones for the following attributes and their verse references. [↩]
33. The context of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 18:20 is the discipline of a sinning church member. Verse 15 starts off, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private,” and then continues to describe the process of rebuking a Christian who is in sin. Jesus’ statement, that “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst,” is said in light of that. [↩]
34. More than a Carpenter(Wheaton, Ill.: Tydale House Publishers, 1977) 33-34. [↩]
35. This story is borrowed from Putting Jesus in His Place, 73. [↩]