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Part 1: Like No One Else | Part 2: Deity 1 | Part 3: Deity 2
In the previous two posts we considered 7 passages in which the Scripture explicitly calls Jesus God. There are translational questions around 3 of the 7, but even in those cases the evidence strongly supports a statement of Jesus’ deity.
But beyond those—and 7 is the number of completeness, isn’t it? :-)—there is still considerable evidence for Christ’s deity. I’ll turn now to passages where titles or names appropriate only for God are ascribed to Jesus. Let me suggest 6, the last of which will surprise you.
- Immanuel (Is 7.14; Mt 1.23)
Isaiah prophesies that one born to a virgin will be called “Immanuel,” which in Hebrew means “God [is] with us.” Now, it’s true that Hebrew names can speak of God’s attributes (we call those “theophoric” names) without implying deity in the bearer; my own personal name, Daniel, means “God [is] my Judge,” with no implication that I am “God my Judge.” If all we had to go on was Isaiah’s prophecy, we might have an ambiguity here. But the key to understanding Isaiah’s intent is that Matthew, also writing under inspiration, says that Joseph’s stepson fulfills this prophecy of a virgin birth and of the title “Immanuel.” And Matthew emphasizes the deity of this child by translating the Hebrew, even though his Jewish readers would likely have been able to translate it themselves.
Am I reading too much into Matthew’s intent? I don’t think so. At the other end of his Gospel, he records this child, now a man, commissioning his disciples:
All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Mt 28.18-20).
This is divine language. This child is more than just someone named “Immanuel.”
- Lord
It’s true that the word “Lord” is not always a divine title; in Elizabethan England, people would refer to those of higher social status as “my lord,” much the way we would use “sir” today. And there are clearly places in the Bible where the word is used that way (Mt 13.27; 21.30; 27.63; and many other places, especially in John’s writings).
But there are occasions where Jesus is called “Lord” in which the word “Sir” would be wildly out of place. Let me cite just a few:
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Sir (Lk 2.11).
“My Sir and my God!” (Jn 20.28).
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Sir Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him (1Co 8.6).
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND SIR OF SIRS (Re 19.16).
OK, that’s enough ridiculousness. The breadth of contexts over which Jesus is addressed as “Lord” is testament to his deity.
- Son of God
Now, it’s indisputable that the Bible calls persons “sons of God” who are not in fact divine. Angels are described this way (Ge 6.2, 4; Job 1.6; 2.1; 38.7), and we Christians are as well (Jn 1.12; Ro 8.14, 19; Php 2.15; 1J 3.1-2). But that’s always in the plural; no one is ever called “a son of God” or “the son of God” besides Jesus.
Further, the title is used in contexts that clearly evidence deity. Peter’s great confession ascribes the title to Jesus (Mt 16.16), after which Jesus proceeds to speak of himself in terms that assume deity: he will build his church; he will give Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Mt 16.18-19). And even Jesus’ enemies, who deny his deity, hear the words as a divine claim (Jn 5.18; 10.33).
There are 3 more titles or names of Jesus that identify him as God; we’ll cover those in the next post.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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