Thursday February 20, 2014

Read John 1:1, 8:58-59, 10:30-33

A JW knocks on your door and introduces herself to you. She calls herself a Christian and begins to talk about her faith. After much discussion you learn that she believes that Jesus is NOT God but rather was the first born of all creation. Is it really possible to be a Christian and not believe in the deity of Christ? Is it possible to be a Christian and to think that Jesus is the first part of God’s creation? Could you defend the deity of Jesus to this woman at your doorstep?

The Bible is exceedingly clear that Jesus is God. There is no doubt in the New Testament that Jesus is God. In John 1:1 we read that the Word, who is Jesus, was there or existed in the beginning. He was with God but we also read that He WAS God. John 1:1 is a direct statement that Jesus is God! If the lady at the door gets out her bible (trust me, it doesn’t deserve a capital b), she’ll read John 1:1 and it’ll say, ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a god’. The simple addition of that little word ‘a’ means that they don't have to worship Jesus as God! Even though the Greek construction (called an anarthrous construction) doesn’t allow that little ‘a’ to be put in, they put it in to deceive millions of people!!!

Added to this, we see that Jesus claimed to be God on several occasions. In John 10:30-33 Jesus said, ‘I and the Father are one’. How we interpret the statement is irrelevant to a large degree. The crowd that listened to Jesus clearly heard Him state that He was God! Verse 33 is clear. They heard Him claim to be God and they tried to stone Him for blasphemy!!!!!

In John 8:58-59 Jesus made one of His many ‘I am’ statements. The Greek text, in which the New Testament was originally written, is much clearer than the English. The Greek version of ’I am’ clearly refers to the Hebrew name of God Yahweh which translates as ‘I am’. What is significant in John 8 is that Jesus should have said, ’Before Abraham was born, I was’ to be grammatically correct. But He used the ‘I am’ statement to claim to be divine! In verse 59 we again read that the crowds understood exactly what He was saying. They wanted to stone Him for blasphemy! It would not be considered blasphemous to say I am very very very old. It may be considered looney but certainly not blasphemous!

Other passages in the Bible also identify Jesus as God. When Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus he cried out, ‘My Lord and My God!’ (John 20:28). If he were crying out in astonishment as modern people sometimes do, he would have been stoned for blasphemy or at least rebuked by Jesus for his error. He was not!

Hebrews 1:8 also identifies Jesus as God. While word order is not overly significant in Greek and can be changed around, the Lord God is speaking to the Son Jesus and says that His throne, O God, will last forever!  The Son is clearly called God in Hebrews 1:8!

Jesus also makes a claim that shows He is above all created beings. In John 15:26, 16:6 and Luke 24:49 Jesus promises that He will send or commission the Spirit to come to the disciples from heaven. In John 14:16-23 Jesus affirms that the Holy Spirit will mediate God the Father and the Son to the disciples. Both will come and dwell with the believer! Given that the Spirit of God was understood by Jews to be God Himself, Jesus’ claim to be Lord of the Spirit and His authority to direct the Spirit goes above the possibility of any created being. The only conclusion is that He is God!

Is it possible to be a Christian and to reject the deity of Christ? The biblical testimony is clearly NO!

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Ask the Lord to bless the work of R.I in state schools. Pray that God would bless each R.I teacher with wisdom, insight and Biblical knowledge. Pray that the children would grow to love Jesus and to worship Him as their own Lord and Saviour. 

ª Pray that the chaplains in our state schools and high schools would have many opportunities to introduce Jesus to students, parents and teachers.

Witness Moment –  If you are confused about the Trinity and the various roles and differences in the Godhead, you will be unable to evangelise effectively. Many people have questions about God the Father, Son and Spirit. They need you to answer clearly and precisely. You need to understand the theology of our God so that you can share it more clearly with others.

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Can you suggest some verses that show the NT is monotheistic?

2. Can you suggest some verses that show Jesus is God?

3. Can you suggest some verses that show that the Holy Spirit is God?

4. A fellow church goer says to you, ‘This Trinity stuff doesn’t really matter! It’s all the stuff that theologians talk about and doesn’t affect me.’ How do you respond?