The divinity and humanity of Jesus
Is Jesus God?
Historic Christianity answers yes. The New Testament presents Jesus as truly divine and truly human, personally distinct from the Father, and included within the identity, works, honor, and worship of the one God.
Direct answer
The New Testament presents Jesus as God while distinguishing him from the Father.
The Bible teaches that there is one God. It also describes Jesus using divine titles, attributes, actions, honor, and worship.
John says that the Word was God and that the Word became flesh. Thomas addresses the risen Jesus as "My Lord and my God." Paul says that the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ.
At the same time, Jesus is not presented as the Father. He is the Son who was sent by the Father, prayed to the Father, and returned to the Father.
Historic Christian doctrine summarizes this biblical pattern through the Trinity: one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Key Bible passages
Passages Christians use to explain Jesus' divine identity
No single isolated verse contains the entire Christian doctrine of Jesus. The conclusion comes from the combined witness of the New Testament.
John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John describes the Word as eternal, personally with God, and truly God. John 1:14 identifies this Word as the one who became flesh and lived among humanity.
John 1:14
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
The eternal Word did not merely appear human. John says that the Word became flesh. Historic Christianity understands Jesus as truly divine and truly human.
John 8:58
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
Jesus claims existence before Abraham and uses the striking expression 'I am.' Christians have traditionally understood this language as echoing God's self-identification in Exodus.
John 10:30
"I and my Father are one."
Jesus distinguishes himself from the Father while also claiming profound unity with the Father. The surrounding response shows that his listeners understood this as an extraordinary claim.
John 20:28
"And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."
After encountering the risen Jesus, Thomas directly addresses him as Lord and God. Jesus receives this confession rather than correcting it.
Colossians 2:9
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
Paul presents the fullness of deity as dwelling bodily in Christ. This statement joins Jesus' divine identity with his real embodied humanity.
Divine authority
The case includes what Jesus does, not only the titles he receives
Jesus forgives sins
In Mark 2, Jesus forgives a man's sins. The religious teachers object that only God can forgive sins in this ultimate sense, and Jesus then demonstrates his authority.
Jesus receives worship
The Gospels describe people worshiping Jesus, including after the resurrection. He receives that worship rather than rejecting it.
Jesus claims authority over the Sabbath
Jesus identifies himself as Lord of the Sabbath, claiming authority over an institution given by God within Israel's covenant life.
Jesus gives eternal life
Jesus speaks of giving eternal life to his sheep and says that no one can remove them from his hand.
Jesus will judge humanity
The New Testament presents Jesus as the one who will judge the living and the dead, a role closely connected with divine authority.
Jesus shares divine honor
John 5 teaches that people should honor the Son even as they honor the Father, placing the Son within the worship and honor due to God.
Truly human
Calling Jesus divine does not deny his humanity
The New Testament presents Jesus as genuinely human, not as God pretending to be human or temporarily wearing a human disguise.
Jesus was born
The Gospels describe Jesus entering human history through birth and growing within a family and community.
Jesus experienced hunger and tiredness
Jesus fasted, became hungry, grew tired during travel, ate meals, slept, and experienced ordinary human physical needs.
Jesus experienced grief and suffering
Jesus wept, felt sorrow, experienced rejection, endured pain, and suffered death by crucifixion.
Jesus prayed to the Father
The Gospels repeatedly show Jesus praying. Christian teaching does not identify Jesus as the Father; the Son relates personally to the Father.
Jesus truly died
Christianity teaches that Jesus' death was real, not an illusion. His resurrection is meaningful because he genuinely entered human mortality.
Jesus rose bodily
The resurrection accounts describe continuity with the crucified Jesus while also presenting him as transformed and victorious over death.
The incarnation
Christians believe the eternal Son truly became human
The word incarnation describes the Christian belief that the eternal Son of God took on a complete human nature without ceasing to be divine.
Jesus is therefore not described as half God and half human. Historic Christian teaching says that he is fully divine and fully human.
This helps explain why the New Testament can speak of Jesus with divine authority while also describing hunger, fatigue, learning, prayer, suffering, and death.
Christians have debated how best to explain some details, but the central confession remains that the one Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human.
The Trinity
Jesus being God does not mean that Jesus is the Father
The doctrine of the Trinity attempts to preserve all of the biblical claims together rather than selecting only the easiest passages.
There is one God
Christian teaching remains monotheistic. The Trinity does not mean that Christians believe in three separate gods.
The Father is God
Scripture consistently speaks of the Father as God and as personally distinct from the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Son is God
The New Testament uses divine titles, attributes, works, honor, and worship in relation to Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit is God
The New Testament also describes the Holy Spirit personally and connects the Spirit with divine knowledge, presence, authority, and action.
The three are personally distinct
The Father sends the Son, the Son prays to the Father, and the Father and Son send the Spirit. They are not merely three names for one person.
The three share the one divine identity
Historic Christian doctrine summarizes the biblical witness as one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Common questions and objections
Difficult passages should be read within the complete biblical picture
Why did Jesus pray if he is God?
Christian teaching distinguishes the Son from the Father. Jesus' prayers express his real relationship with the Father and his genuine human life. The Trinity does not teach that Jesus prayed to himself.
Why did Jesus say, 'My Father is greater than I'?
John 14:28 appears within Jesus' teaching before his death and return to the Father. Christians have commonly understood it in relation to his humbled earthly mission, not as a denial of every claim to divine identity.
Why did Jesus say the Father is the only true God?
In John 17:3, Jesus addresses the Father as the only true God while also describing himself as the one sent by the Father and speaking of the glory he shared with the Father before the world existed. The full chapter must be considered.
Why did Jesus not know the day or hour?
Mark 13:32 is one of the passages Christians discuss when explaining Jesus' genuine humanity and humbled mission. Different Christian theologians explain the precise relationship between his divine and human knowledge in different ways.
Did Jesus ever say the exact words, 'I am God'?
The Gospels do not record Jesus using that exact modern English sentence. They present his identity through titles, actions, claims, worship, relationships, and statements that his Jewish listeners understood within their biblical setting.
Does calling Jesus the Son of God mean he was created?
Historic Christianity does not understand 'Son of God' as meaning that God physically produced or created Jesus. John presents the Son as existing before creation and sharing the divine identity.
Historic Christian teaching
Four statements summarize the traditional Christian view
Fully God
Jesus possesses the divine identity rather than being merely a powerful creature, prophet, angel, or lesser god.
Fully human
Jesus truly entered human life, experienced human limitations and suffering, and died a real human death.
One person
Historic Christian teaching does not describe Jesus as two separate persons. The one person, Jesus Christ, is truly divine and truly human.
Distinct from the Father
Jesus is not the Father. The Father and Son relate to one another personally while sharing the one divine being.
Why it matters
Jesus' identity is connected with worship, salvation, and hope
The question is not only theoretical. If Jesus is merely a teacher, then Christian worship of him would be misplaced. If he truly shares the divine identity, worshiping him is part of honoring God.
Jesus' divine identity also shapes the Christian understanding of salvation. Christians believe that God did not remain distant from human suffering but came near in the person of the Son.
His true humanity means that he genuinely entered human life, represented humanity, suffered, and died. His divine identity means that his saving work has unique authority and significance.
The resurrection then confirms the Christian proclamation that Jesus is the living Lord rather than only a teacher from the past.
Summary
Historic Christianity confesses Jesus as truly God and truly human
The New Testament describes Jesus using divine titles, authority, works, honor, and worship while also presenting him as genuinely human.
Jesus is personally distinct from the Father. Christians do not believe that Jesus is the Father or that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate gods.
The doctrine of the Trinity summarizes the belief that the one God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the Son became human in Jesus Christ.