Sermon Tone Analysis

Term to know: Deity means Godhood.

Having the nature of God

Direct Scriptural Statements

“God” or “Theos” used of Christ

“Lord” or “Kyrios” used of Christ

Kyrios or Lord was used as a polite address to a superior like the word sir is used.

Matthew 27:63; John 4:11

Sometimes it can simply mean “master” of a servant or slave.

Look at

The same word used in the Septuagint

Term to know: Septuagint—Oldest translation of Hebrew Old Testament into Greek; often quoted in the New Testament.

Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, vol. 5, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 481.

The Greek translation of the OT, which was commonly used at the time of Christ, translated the name of God Yahweh as Lord, or the word Jehovah or LORD as Lord.

The word Lord is used 6814 times in the Greek Old Testament.

A Greek speaking reader during the time of the NT who had any knowledge of the Greek OT would have recognized based on the context, when the word Lord stood for the Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth, the omnipotent God.

Look at Luke 2:11

Listen to the words of John the Baptist

Other Strong Claims to His Deity

Titles that Affirmed His Deity

The Word

In John 1:1, John not only calls Jesus “God” but also refers to him as “the Word” (Gk.

λόγος, G3364).

John’s readers would have recognized in this term λόγος a dual reference, both to the powerful, creative Word of God in the Old Testament by which the heavens and earth were created (Ps.

33:6) and to the organizing or unifying principle of the universe, the thing that held it together and allowed it to make sense, in Greek thinking.

John is identifying Jesus with both of these ideas and saying that he is not only the powerful, creative Word of God and the organizing or unifying force in the universe, but also that he became man: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14).

Here is another strong claim to deity coupled with an explicit statement that Jesus also became man and moved among us as a man.

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 546.

The Son of Man

Further evidence of claims to deity can be found in the fact that Jesus calls himself “the Son of man.”

This title is used eighty-four times in the four gospels but only by Jesus and only to speak of himself (note, e.g., Matt.

16:13 with Luke 9:18).

In the rest of the New Testament, the phrase “the Son of man” (with the definite article “the”) is used only once, in Acts 7:56

where Stephen refers to Christ as the Son of Man.

This unique term has as its background the vision in Daniel 7 where Daniel saw one like a “Son of Man” who “came to the Ancient of Days” and was given “dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away” (

It is striking that this “son of man” came “with the clouds of heaven” (Dan.

7:13).

This passage clearly speaks of someone who had heavenly origin and who was given eternal rule over the whole world.

The high priests did not miss the point of this passage when Jesus said, “Hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt.

26:64

The reference to Daniel 7:13–14 was unmistakable, and the high priest and his council knew that Jesus was claiming to be the eternal world ruler of heavenly origin spoken of in Daniel’s vision.

Immediately they said, “He has uttered blasphemy … He deserves death” (Matt.

26:65–66

Here Jesus finally made explicit the strong claims to eternal world rule that were earlier hinted at in his frequent use of the title “the Son of man” to apply to himself.

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 546–547.

The Son of God

Though the title “Son of God” can sometimes be used simply to refer to Israel (Matt.

2:15), or to man as created by God (Luke 2:38), or to redeemed man generally (Rom.

8:14, 19, 23), there are nevertheless instances in which the phrase “Son of God” refers to Jesus as the heavenly, eternal Son who is equal to God himself (see Matt. 11:25–30; 17:5; 1 Cor.

15:28; Heb.

1:1–3, 5, 8).

This is especially true in John’s gospel where Jesus is seen as a unique Son from the Father (John 1:14, 18, 34, 49)

who fully reveals the Father (John 8:19; 14:9).

As Son he is so great that we can trust in him for eternal life (something that could be said of no created being: John 3:16, 36; 20:31).

He is also the one who has all authority from the Father to give life, pronounce eternal judgment, and rule over all (John 3:36; 5:20–22, 25; 10:17; 16:15).

As Son he has been sent by the Father, and therefore he existed before he came into the world (John 3:17; 5:23; 10:36).

The first three verses of Hebrews are emphatic in saying that the Son is the one whom God “appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb.

1:2).

This Son, says the writer, “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp [lit., is the ‘exact duplicate,’ Gk. χαρακτήρ, G5917) of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb.

1:3).

Jesus is the exact duplicate of the “nature” (or being, Gk. ὑπόστασις, G5712) of God, making him exactly equal to God in every attribute.

Moreover, he continually upholds the universe “by his word of power,” something that only God could do.

These passages combine to indicate that the title “Son of God” when applied to Christ strongly affirms his deity as the eternal Son in the Trinity, one equal to God the Father in all his attributes.

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 547.

Divine Attributes seen in Jesus

Term to know: Divine Attributes: Aspects of God’s character that describe his essential mode of existence

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 1236.

Omnipotence

Term to know: Omnipotence The doctrine that God is able to do all his holy will

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 1249.

Jesus demonstrated his omnipotence when he stilled the storm at sea with a word (Matt.

8:26–27), multiplied the loaves and fish (Matt.

14:19), and changed water into wine (John 2:1–11).

Some might object that these miracles just showed the power of the Holy Spirit working through him, just as the Holy Spirit could work through any other human being, and therefore these do not demonstrate Jesus’ own deity.

But the contextual explanations of these events often point not to what they demonstrate about the power of the Holy Spirit but to what they demonstrate about Jesus himself.

For instance, after Jesus turned water into wine, John tells us, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11).

It was not the glory of the Holy Spirit that was manifested but the glory of Jesus himself, as his divine power worked to change water into wine.

Similarly, after Jesus stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples did not say, “How great is the power of the Holy Spirit working through this prophet,” but rather, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

(Matt.

8:27).

It was the authority of Jesus himself to which the winds and the waves were subject, and this could only p 548 be the authority of God who rules over the seas and has power to still the waves (cf.

Ps. 65:7; 89:9; 107:29).

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 547–548.

Omniscience

Term to know: Omniscience The doctrine that God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 1249.

The omniscience of Jesus is demonstrated in his knowing people’s thoughts (Mark 2:8) and seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree from far away (John 1:48),

and knowing “from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him” (John 6:64).

Of course, the revelation of individual, specific events or facts is something that God could give to anyone who had a gift of prophecy in the Old or New Testaments.

But Jesus’ knowledge was much more extensive than that.

He knew “who those were that did not believe,” thus implying that he knew the belief or unbelief that was in the hearts of all men.

In fact, John says explicitly that Jesus “knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man” (John 2:25

The disciples could later say to him, “Now we know that you know all things” (John 16:30).

These statements say much more than what could be said of any great prophet or apostle of the Old Testament or New Testament, for they imply omniscience on the part of Jesus.

Finally, after his resurrection, when Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, Peter answered, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” John 21:17

Here Peter is saying much more than that Jesus knows his heart and knows that he loves him.

He is rather making a general statement (“You know everything”) and from it he is drawing a specific conclusion (“You know that I love you”).

Peter is confident that Jesus knows what is in the heart of every person, and therefore he is sure that Jesus knows his own heart.

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub.

House, 2004), 548.

Omnipresence