The Deity of Christ

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Everything in Christianity is based on the uncreated existence of the One who created all things. To call in question the Deity of the Son is to undermine the foundation upon which all blessing for man is based. It matters not what elaborate religious systems men may build, or how much they may profess to honour the name of Christ, if they are not building on this foundation all will come to ruin.

The absolute Deity of the Son is brought before us in many passages of Scripture, but in none more strikingly than the opening verses of the Gospel of John. This Gospel opens with the sublime statement "In the beginning was the Word." All created things, and every created being in the universe had a beginning, but the Word was in the beginning. At the beginning of all things the Word was there, without any beginning. "In the beginning was the Word," is the formal assertion of the eternal existence of the Word.

Then we are told "the Word was with God." He was a distinct Person in the Godhead, for He was "with God." Furthermore we read "the Word was God." Though distinct in Person He was not different in nature, for He was God — a divine Person. Then we have the additional statement, "He was in the beginning with God." The mind of man might argue, and indeed has done so, that while it is true the Word is now a distinct Person, yet He was not always so. But this verse rebukes such a thought and tells us plainly that His distinct Personality is as eternal as His deity. Here then we have the solid foundation of our Christian faith — the glory of the Person of the Son — an eternal Person, a distinct Person, a Divine Person, and an eternally distinct Person. Many other passages are equally plain in witnessing to the Deity of the Son, but one more direct Scripture may be cited. In Hebrews 1 the Son is addressed as God. "Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever." He is worshipped by the Angels; in the beginning He laid the foundations of the earth. He is addressed as the abiding and unchanging God — "Thou remainest" and "Thou art the same."

Scripture thus gives a direct and definite witness to the absolute Deity of the Son. A difficulty may arise, however, in the minds of some, by reason of certain expressions used in connection with the Son, which may be briefly examined: — First we read of the Son as the only-begotten Son. The expression "only-begotten" might be thought of necessity to imply a birth and a beginning. Faith if unable to meet this difficulty knows full well that Scripture cannot contradict itself, and the clear statements of the opening verses of the Gospel of John forbid any such interpretation. But does Scripture give any light as to the meaning of the expression "Only-begotten" as applied to the Son? It surely does. The expression occurs nine times in the New Testament, and on five of these occasions is applied to the Son (John 1: 14, 18: John 3: 16, 18; 1 John 4: 9). One passage — Hebrews 11: 17 — is specially instructive as showing the meaning with which the word is used, There we read "By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son."

It is evident that the term only-begotten son" cannot mean that Isaac was the only son begotten of Abraham, for we know that he had other sons. It is equally plain that there was a special relationship between Isaac and Abraham which was unique, and belonged to no other son. It is surely this unique relationship that the term "only-begotten" is used to express. While Scripture makes very plain that there are distinct Persons in the Godhead, it also shows that the Persons of the Godhead are not independent but related. And, as with Abraham and Isaac, so with Divine Persons, the expression "only-begotten" is used to set forth the unique relationship eternally existing between the Son and the Father. "We beheld," says the Apostle, "His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father" (John 1: 14. N. Tr.); again we read of "the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father" — passages which bring before us the mutuality of divine and eternal affections between the Father and the Son. The Father delighting in the Son as an only-begotten; the Son in the bosom of the Father rejoicing in the Father's love. Well we know that believers are loved with the same love wherewith the Father loved the Son as Man (John 17: 23), but for ever there will be the special affection between Divine Persons — the Father and the Son — which none other will share, and which is set forth in the expression "only-begotten."

Further we have the expression "begotten" used in connection with the Son in Psalm 2 where we read "Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee." This passage is quoted in Acts 13: 33, Hebrews 1: 5 and Hebrews 5: 5. This however presents no difficulty as it plainly refers to Christ as a man, Jehovah's Anointed and Jehovah's King, in connection with this world. The expressions used, "the hill of Zion," "the uttermost parts of the earth," and this day," are clearly connected with the earth and time, thus confirming this view.

Lastly we have the word "firstborn," used in connection with Christ, setting forth His pre-eminence in relation to persons, and things, in time, even as "only-begotten" sets forth His eternal relation to His Father before time was. Beside the positive declarations of the Deity of the Son in the direct Scriptures to which allusion has been made, there are other passages, and other ways, to a few of which we may briefly refer, and which, if in a less positive, yet, perhaps, more moving way, present the Deity of the Son to the affections of His people. The claim to be one with the Father involves His Deity. The Lord can say "I and the Father are one" (John 10: 30). At once His enemies reply, "Thou being a Man makest Thyself God." The truth indeed is, that He being God became Man, but at least they rightly recognise that One using such words is laying claim to Deity.

The claim to equal honours with the Father involves Deity. He can say "The Father . . . hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father" (John 5: 22, 23). The claim to pre-existence involves His Deity. He can say, "Before Abraham was I am." This is truly a claim of pre-existence, but it is more, for the Lord does not say "I was" but "I AM." This is the consciousness of eternal existence, as well as the claim of pre-existence. This is the language of One who knows no past, and will know no future — the One to Whom time is as if it were not, who has neither beginning nor end — the Eternal I AM.

His claim to absolute authority involves His Deity. The prophets open their inspired utterances with a "Thus saith the Lord." They appeal to their hearers on the authority of the Lord. It is otherwise with the sayings of Christ which are introduced with, "Verily I say unto you." He can make no appeal to a higher authority for He is the Lord. The Lord's personal claims involve His Deity. Others bear witness to the dignities of the Lord. He claims them for Himself. David can say "The Lord is my shepherd," but Christ can say, "I am the Good Shepherd." The Baptist can bear witness to the light; the Lord can say "I am the Light." Martha can bear her witness to the resurrection, saying of the dead brother, "I know that he shall rise again;" the Lord can reply, "I am the resurrection and the life." That He was an object for heaven, proclaims His Deity. Others to be blessed must have an object outside themselves; Jesus was the object of heaven instead of having one. Stephen, looking up, finds in Jesus a glorious Object in the heavens to support him in that last sharp passage on his way to glory. But heaven looks down upon Jesus, and the Father's voice declares, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

That He gathers to Himself is a proof of His Deity. He can say, "Come unto Me." It has been truly said, had He not been God this would have been frightful. For one who was only man to use such words would have been the attempt to turn men from God. His words proclaim His Deity. How true is the verdict of the world, "Never man spake like this Man." As we listen to Jesus at the grave side speaking words of tender comfort to broken-hearted women, and then, in a little, we pass to the Upper Room, and listen to the sublime words of the last discourse, that carry our hearts above earth's sorrows into the Father's home, we realize indeed that we are in the presence of the God of whom it is written, "He healeth the broken in heart . . . He telleth the number of the stars" (Ps. 147: 3, 4).

These are some of the shining ways that witness to us the Divine glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Meditating on the Scriptures which, directly or indirectly, speak of His Deity, and entering in some little measure into their deep significance, we shall surely turn to the One of whom they speak, delighting to own,

Thou art the everlasting Word,

The Father's only Son;

God manifest, God seen and heard,

The Heaven's beloved One;

Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou

That every knee to Thee should bow.

Next Part The Incarnation.

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