God – macarisms

From time to time I get asked why Christians believe that the man of history, Jesus Christ, is believed to be divine. It’s one thing to believe that he is special and that he’s left his mark on history, but it’s another thing altogether to believe that Jesus is God. Sometimes people support there critiques by claiming that Jesus never said he was God, or that the Bible doesn’t actually describe Jesus as God. While it is true that you won’t a quotation of Jesus saying “I am God” in the Bible, this is not to say that Jesus and the Bible writers deny this. In fact, there is significant evidence to support the claim that Jesus is divine.

If you are interested in considering the Bible’s claims on this matter, the following list of references is a helpful start. They’ve been adapted from the book by Murray Harris called Jesus as God.

Divine functions performed by Jesus

In relation to the universe

Creator (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2)
Sustainer (1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:3)
Author of life (John 1:4; Acts 3:15)
Ruler (Matt 28:18; Rom 14:9; Rev 1:5)

In relation to human beings

Healing the sick (Mark 1:32-34; Acts 3:6; 10:38)
Teaching authoritatively (Mark 1:21-22; 13:31)
Forgiving sins (Mark 2:1-12; Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; Col 3:13)
Granting salvation (Acts 4:12; Rom 10:12-14)
Dispensing the Spirit (Matt 3:11; Acts 2:17, 33)
Raising the dead (Luke 7:11-17; John 5:21; 6:40)
Exercising judgment (Matt 25:31-46; John 5:19-29; Acts 10:42; 1 Cor 4:4-5)

Divine status claimed by or accorded to Jesus

In relation to his Father

Having divine attributes (John 1:4; 10:30; 21:17; Eph 4:10; Col 1:19; 2:9)
Eternally existent (John 1:1; 8:58; 12:41; 17:5; 1 Cor 10:4; Phil 2:6; Heb 11:26; 13:8; Jude 5)
Equal in dignity (Matt 28:19; John 5:23; 2 Cor 13:14; Rev 22:13; cf. 21:6)
Perfect revealer (John 1:9, 14; 6:32; 14:6; Rev 3:7, 14)
Joint possessor of the kingdom (Eph 5:5; Rev 11:15), churches (Rom 16:16), Spirit (Rom 8:9; Phil 1:19), temple (Rev 21:22) divine name (Matt 28:19; cf. Rev 14:1), and throne (Rev 22:1, 3)

In relation to human beings

Recipient of praise (Matt 21:15-16; Eph 5:19; 1 Tim. 1:12; Rev 5:8-14)
Recipient of prayer (Acts 1:24; 7:59-60; 9:10-17, 21; 22:16, 19; 1 Cor 1:2; 16:22; 2 Cor 12:8)
Object of saving faith (John 14:1; Acts 10:43; 16:31; Rom 10:8-13)
Object of worship (Matt 14:33; 28:9, 17; John 5:23; 20:28; Phil 2:10-11; Heb 1:6; Rev 5:8-12)
Joint source of blessing (1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; 1 Thess 3:11; 2 Thes 2:16)
Object of doxologies (2 Tim 4:18; 2 Pet 3:18; Rev 1:5-6; 5:13)

Old Testament passages referring to Yahweh applied to Jesus

Character of Yahweh (Exod 3:14 and Isa 43:11 alluded to in John 8:58; Ps 102:27-28 quoted in Heb 1:11-12; Isa 44:6 alluded to in Rev 1:17)
Holiness of Yahweh (Isa 8:12-13 [cf. 29:23] quoted in 1 Pet 3:14-15)
Descriptions of Yahweh (Ezek 43:2 and Dan 10:5-6 alluded to in Rev 1:13-16)
Worship of Yahweh (Isa 45:23 alluded to in Phil 2:10-11; Deut 32:43 and Ps 97:7 quoted in Heb 1:6)
Work of Yahweh in creation (Ps 102:25 quoted in Heb 1:10)
Salvation of Yahweh (Joel 2:32 quoted in Rom 10:13; cf. Acts 2:21; Isa 40:3 quoted in Matt 3:3)
Trustworthiness of Yahweh (Isa 28:16 quoted in Rom 9:33; 10:11; 1 Pet 2:6)
Judgment of Yahweh (Isa 6:10 alluded to in John 12:41; Isa 8:14 quoted in Rom 9:33 and I Pet 2:8)
Triumph of Yahweh (Ps 68:18 quoted in Eph 4:8)

Divine titles claimed by or applied to Jesus

Son of Man (Matt 16:28; 24:30; Mark 8:38; 14:62-64; Acts 7:56)
Son of God (Matt 11:27; Mark 15:39; John 1:18; Rom 1:4; Gal 4:4; Heb 1:2)
Messiah (Matt 16:16; Mark 14:61; John 20:31)
Lord (Mark 12:35-37; John 20:28; Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 8:5-6; 12:3; 16:22; Phil 2:11; 1 Pet 2:3; 3:15)
Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:13; cf. 1:8; 21:6, of the Lord God)
God (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom 9:5; Tit 2:13; Heb 1:8; 2 Pet 1:1)

Cleaning out the filing cabinet is always a revealing experience. I was sorting through some cards, letters, artwork and other stuff, when I discovered a couple of my earlier book manuscripts! That’s right, I’m an author. This particular book was never published and was probably only read by four people. So here’s my chance to self-publish for a wider audience!

I was motivated to be teaching my kids (two young boys at the time) about God in a creative way. I’d been thinking about some of the question/response catechisms of yesteryear and this led to an idea for a DIY book for kids. I would write the text and my kids would do the artwork. Having written the words, I printed them into an A5 booklet, and invited my kids to draw the pictures. Below is the Limited First Edition entitled, Who made everything? God. Written by Dave McDonald and illustrated by Matt McDonald. Given that there is a baby either growing inside one of the family members, or in her arms, it must have been written around 1996, when Matt was 4 or 5 years old!

I produced another of these called Jesus is Special, where the text on every page began “Jesus is special because…“. We explored things Jesus said and did, his miracles, his death, his resurrection, and his exaltation – in simple words and sentences.

These books weren’t hard to do, we had fun together, and it was a creative way of getting our boys to learn about God. Why not give it a go, or share some of your own creative ideas.