Is Jesus God? Talks With a Jehovah's Witness
This is Part three of a series of blog posts covering Dan’s recent conversations with a Jehovah’s Witness.
One of the critical doctrinal differences between Christianity and Jehovah’s Witnesses is the identity of Jesus. During my conversations with my Jehovah’s Witness friend, I asked him, “Who is Jesus?” He briefly answered, “He is the Son of God!” His answer sounded reasonable, right? Then I asked him, “Is Jesus God?” He quickly cried, “No, he is not God, Jesus is not deity, he is Michael the Archangel.” In my last blog, I described how his claim that Jesus was Michael the Archangel was not valid according to the Word of God. In this blog, I will write about how I reasoned with my friend, from Scripture, that Jesus is God. Then I will answer three charges my friend made as he tried to counter the truth that Jesus is God.
IS JESUS GOD?
Who did Jesus say he was?
In John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.” Now, let’s keep reading from John 10:31–33 “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
There is a question we must ask ourselves from these verses. Jesus performed many good works in front of many witnesses while on earth. So, why did the Jews want to stone Jesus? The Jews did not threaten to stone Jesus because of his good works; instead, they tried to stone him because he ‘made himself God’ by saying, “I and the Father are One.” In short, the Jews knew Jesus was claiming to be God; therefore, they wanted to stone him. Jesus himself said he was God.
Who did Jesus’ followers say he was?
In Acts 20, the Apostle Paul gave instructions to Ephesus elders. In those instructions, the Apostle Paul said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). We know Jesus bought the Church with his own blood, and in this verse, Paul proclaims to the elders “…to care for the church of God, which HE obtained with HIS own blood” (Emphasis mine). Jesus is God!
In John 20:28, Thomas cried out to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” We must take note that Jesus did not correct him. Jesus is God!
The writer of Hebrews declares, “But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8). The Father himself calls Jesus God. Jesus is God!
In Revelation 19, John writes that an angel instructed him to worship only God. Throughout the Scriptures, Jesus is worshipped (Matthew 14:33, Luke 24:52, and John 9:38). If my Jehovah’s witness friend was correct, would not Jesus do just like the angel and tell people not to worship him? Yes, but he did not stop the people from worshiping him. Jesus is God!
Finally, in John chapter one, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
I exclaimed to my friend, “See, Jesus is the preexistent Word! He was there at the beginning with God. He was not created; rather, he is the second person of the Holy Trinity (we will discuss my friend’s response to the Trinity in the next blog). AND, if there is any doubt, verse 3 answers it, “…and without him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus was not created, but through him, all things were created.
And there is more, and it is great news! John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Conclusion: Jesus is God!
In summary, I pleaded with my new friend, “See, these verses teach us that Jesus is God in the flesh. Don’t you see the beauty of his grace, that he would become like us and come to earth to live among us, facing every temptation, yet never sin?” I continued, “My friend, this is the way it must be! If Jesus is not God and is a created being, he has a sinful nature and is not without sin. If he is not without sin, he could not pay the vast penalty for the sins of humanity against a holy and just God. Only God could pay such a penalty. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, ‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ No created being could perform such grace. Only God could take on the sins of the world, die a death that all humanity deserves, and rise from the dead defeating sin, death, and Satan. Only God could do this! Jesus is God! I plead with you to believe this good news.”
My Jehovah’s Witness friend vehemently denied the deity of Jesus, saying, “No Dan, he is not God, ‘The Lord our God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4).” He continued his challenge with a barrage of questions. He asked, “Dan, why does the Bible call Jesus the “Son of Man?” Why does Jesus pray to God? Can man kill God?”
Let’s hold off on my friend’s reference to Deuteronomy 6:4. We will address this reference in the next blog, where we will discuss the Trinity. For the remainder of this blog, I will summarize how I answered my friend’s three challenging questions.
Why does the Bible call Jesus the “Son of Man?”
The title Son of Man points us to Jesus’ humanity. Ezekiel was called the Son of Man almost 100 times in the Bible. God was simply calling Ezekiel a human being. So, for Jesus to be called the “Son of Man” means he was definitely a human being. 1 John 4:2 says, Jesus, came “in the flesh.”
The title “Son of Man” moreover, points us to the deity of Jesus. Jesus was not a “Son of Man” like Ezekiel; he was the “Son of Man.” Colossians 2:9 tells us in Jesus, “all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form.” Therefore, Jesus could forgive sins, save lives, have power over nature and sickness, and defeat death by rising from the dead. In Matthew 26, we read of Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. In verse 64, Jesus said, “I say to all of you: From now on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” After Jesus made this statement, the trial ended because he was accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. Why? Because he claimed to be God.
The title “Son of Man” points us to Jesus’ humanity and deity.
Let’s move on to my friend’s second challenging question:
“Why did Jesus pray to God?”
Here again, Jesus was giving us a glimpse of his humanity while on earth. Jesus' praying to the Father demonstrated His eternal relationship within the Holy Trinity. This trinitarian relationship is key to understanding why God the Son would pray to God the Father while on earth. We must remember this relationship is eternal and existed well before Jesus came to earth. A close look at John 5:19-27 teaches us that the Father sent the Son, and it does not teach us that Jesus “became” the Son of God when he was born in Bethlehem. From eternity past, Jesus has always been the Son of God.
So, since God the Son had an eternal relationship with God the Father, doesn’t it make sense that Jesus would pray to God while on earth? For what did Jesus pray? Remember, Philippians 2 teaches us that Jesus took on flesh and came into our sin-filled world. Hebrews 5:8 tells us Jesus had to learn obedience to his Father as he would be tempted by every sin, face false accusations, be rejected by his people, and eventually be crucified. When Jesus prayed to his Father, he prayed for power (John 11:41-42) and wisdom (Mark 1:35). Jesus, praying to the Father, showed his dependence on the Father to carry out his earthly mission.
In summary, Jesus prayed to God because of their eternal relationship and because, while on earth, being fully man and fully God, Jesus depended on the Father for power and wisdom to accomplish his earthly mission.
My friend’s final challenge:
“If Jesus is God and he died at the hands of men, can man kill God?”
What does God’s word say?
Matthew 26:3-4 tells us the chief priests, elders, and the high priest plotted together to arrest and kill Jesus. So, these religious leaders are responsible for the death of Jesus.
In Matthew 27, we learn that the Roman soldiers, under Pontius Pilate's authority, crucified Jesus. They, too, were responsible for the death of Jesus.
In Luke 23, we read about Jesus' trial before Pilate. During that trial, the people of Israel demanded that Jesus be crucified. The people of Israel were also responsible for Jesus’ death.
I continued by reading from Acts chapter 2. “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:22–23).
Again, the Word of God affirms the “Men of Israel…crucified and killed” Jesus. But what’s truly amazing is that ultimately, it was God who put Jesus to death. This radical act of divine love, mercy, and justice was “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Jesus’ death was part of God’s perfect plan of redemption and restoration. No created being to satisfy God’s justice. No created being could fulfill God’s requirement for a perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of all who would believe the gospel. It had to be this way! It had to be this way so that our sins could be forgiven, and we could live in the newness of life. If it wasn’t this way, Jesus was just a created being with a sinful nature and, therefore, not without sin. If this is true, his death was sad and meaningless, and we are without hope.
As my friend and I ended this lengthy conversation, I pleaded with him once again to believe this good news. To believe that God came to earth and took on flesh, being fully God and fully man. While on earth, Jesus faced every temptation, yet he was without sin. So God, in his great mercy and love, “…made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:51).
In my final plea, I said, “Your sins and my sins put Jesus to death. We too, killed Jesus! So yes, in this sense, man killed God, but only because God allowed and planned for such an act of love, mercy, and grace. We see God’s eternal love for sinners in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. My friend, I love you. Don’t you see how much God loves you? That he would make such a provision before the foundation of the world for you and me.” With a tear in my eye and a crackling voice, I said, “Please believe in this Jesus and this good news. What you believe has consequences for today and all eternity; please believe what I’m telling you.”
My friend responded, “Well, I believe our time together is over, and one day soon, we will find out who has the truth.”
However, praise God, our time together was not over. In our following conversations, we discussed the Trinity, and we considered how one is saved. So, stay tuned to read about these conversations.
Resources used in these conversations:
The Holy Bible (ESV)
www.gotquestions.org