Jesus is God

Mark 2:1-13 (“The Paralytic Healed”)

How can we tell from this story that Jesus is God?

Miraculous deeds

Power/Authority to forgive sins

Which of these two is greater?

Jesus’ Divinity (the fact that he is fully God) is important because the work he came to accomplish would not have been possible for a mere human, no matter how great than human was

But this is tricky … didn’t we talk all about how important it is that Jesus is fully human? And now we’re saying that he’s fully God as well? How can that be?

We are going to try to answer a few basic questions that will help us understand:

What does it mean that Jesus is God?

How do we know that Jesus is God?

Why does it matter that Jesus is God?

Looking ahead … how do we respond to Jesus?

What does it mean that Jesus is God?

Fully God and Fully Human

The Eternal Son of God (the second person of the Trinity), became fully human as the person Jesus of Nazareth.

As God, he has:

Existed forever

Created the world

As a human, he was:

Born ca. 4 BC

The divine and human natures in the second person of the trinity remain permanently united.

The Son, not the Godhead, Subordinated (Voluntarily and Temporarily)

The Eternal Son of God voluntarily and temporarily subordinated himself to the Father.

God does not stop being God, sustaining all things in the universe, exercising omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

By becoming human, the Eternal Son of God voluntarily and temporarily relinquishes certain divine prerogatives

How do we know?

Ascription

Many places in Scripture Jesus is called God, therefore he must be God or the Bible lacks authenticity.

Use the logic skills we learned in Sunday School:

Premise #1: The Bible is trustworthy.

Premise #2: The Bible says that Jesus is God

Conclusion: Therefore, it is true that Jesus is God.

You can dispute the premises, but if they are both granted, the conclusion cannot be refuted.

Sometime this is obscured, because it doesn’t use the exact language we might expect. But make no mistake, when Jesus is called …

“the way, truth, and the life”

“Lord”

“Immanuel”

“King of Kings”

… he is being called God

Attributes

Many places in Scripture attributes are ascribed to Jesus that could only rightly be ascribed to God

Same logic as above

Examples of such attributes:

Holiness

Underived being

Uncreated eternality

Unsurpassable power

Exceptional knowledge (think about our story above!)

Works

Christ performed actions and operations that only God could do

Esp. our story above — forgiving sins!

Raising the dead

Calming the storm

Worship

If Jesus is worshipped as God, and Jesus does not object to it, then he is either God or a blasphemer.

In context, how do you think a 1st century Jewish person would respond to the worship of a human being?

Why does it matter?

Truth

Since Jesus is God, his words are true

Authority

Since Jesus is God, he has the power and authority to forgive sins

Efficacy

Since Jesus is God, his work is efficacious for all humanity

Dignity

Since Jesus is God, he has ultimately dignified humanity — we are the treasured possession of his creation whom he ultimately desires to be in communion with.

How does this change our response?

The key differential feature of Christianity is its insistence on Jesus’ divinity. Without this, there’s no going any further.

What Jesus has done is the ultimate demonstration of humility, servitude — if Christ was willing to do this for us, why are we not willing to do it for him?