Is Jesus God?

 

Photo Source: Artificially Generated 

Have you ever noticed how often the question of who Jesus really is comes up in everyday conversation? Sometimes it happens in a Bible study. Sometimes in a classroom discussion. Sometimes when a friend knocks on your door, or when you’re scrolling through social media and someone confidently says, “Christians didn’t originally believe Jesus was God.” Other times it’s more personal: If Jesus really is God, why did He pray? Why did He get tired? Why did He say the Father is greater than He is?

At first glance, those questions sound reasonable. After all, the Gospels show us a Jesus who eats, sleeps, weeps, prays, and dies. That looks very human. And yet the same Bible shows people worshiping Him, angels bowing before Him, demons trembling at His name, and disciples calling Him “my Lord and my God.”

So which is it?

Is Jesus God — or is He just God’s greatest messenger?

Is He eternal — or the first and highest created being?

Is He the Creator — or part of creation?

Is He unique — or simply one spirit among many?

These aren’t small questions. The identity of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity itself. If Jesus is not truly God, then Christian worship is misplaced, prayer is misdirected, and the cross becomes something far less than the saving act of God Himself. But if Jesus is God, then everything changes: our understanding of God, salvation, worship, Scripture, and even our own identity.

The good news here (not to be confused with the Gospel) is that the Bible does not leave us guessing. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture steadily builds a clear, coherent, and compelling portrait of Jesus as fully God and fully man—not half-and-half, not a lesser deity, not a created being, but the eternal Son who took on flesh for our salvation.

What follows is my humble attempt to walk through some relevant Scripture on this topic to help clarify some common questions and perhaps answer some critics. This is a longer blog post than some because the topic is weighty, and the Christian church has answered this question for nearly 2,000 years!  I cannot possibly cover the material exhaustively here.  

My aim, therefore, is to help those who wish to learn more about the topic and, perhaps, equip those having conversations with friends, neighbors, and others about who Jesus is and is not. It is not my intention to be technical, though some level of precision is necessary when discussing this topic. I've tried to keep what follows readable and rooted in the text as much as possible.  If you have questions, I urge you to reach out to me directly, and I'd be glad to discuss them with you. As with all that I write, I offer what follows in humility as honoring to Christ Jesus, Son of God, our Lord and Savior.

In what follows, we will look at:

• Passages that directly call Jesus “God”
• Verses that show Him doing what only God can do
• Key Greek and Hebrew insights that sharpen the meaning
• How Jesus can be both divine and human without contradiction
• Why the early church said the Son is “of the same essence” as the Father
• How common objections fail when Scripture is read carefully
• Why Jesus is not an angel, not a created being, and not the spirit brother of Satan
  
  

And finally, we’ll see why this doctrine is not just about winning debates — but about worship, trust, and the heart of the gospel itself.  If you have another Gospel or another Jesus, you do not have the Savior or the salvation that the Bible speaks of for sinners.

So, let’s begin where the Bible begins: with the claim that the man from Nazareth is nothing less than God with us.

1) The Bible Calls Jesus “God” in Plain Language
There are places where the Bible doesn’t merely imply deity—it speaks it.

Jesus is directly called “God” — John 1:1, 14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

John opens his Gospel with a deliberate echo of Genesis 1. Before creation begins, the Word already is. He is distinct from God (“with God”) and yet fully divine (“was God”). Then the unthinkable happens: this eternal Word becomes flesh.

John 20:28
When the risen Jesus appears to Thomas, Thomas falls before Him and says, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus does not correct him. He receives the confession.

Romans 9:5
“…the Messiah… who is God over all, blessed forever.”

Titus 2:13
“while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  

And by the way, the Greek grammar here unites “God” and “Savior” to the same person.

Hebrews 1:8
“But to the Son: ‘Your throne, God, is forever and ever…’”

Don't miss what the author of Hebrews is saying here as He shows the superiority of Jesus and the New Covenant. In this passage, God the Father addresses Jesus the Son as “God.”

2 Peter 1:1
“…through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

If the New Testament writers were trying to avoid calling Jesus God, they chose very strange language.

2) The Bible Gives Jesus the Works and “Job Description” of God

Even when Scripture doesn’t use the word “God,” it gives Jesus what belongs to God alone.

Jesus is the Creator—not a creature

Jesus forgives sins
Jesus receives worship3) Key Greek Terms That Sharpen What the Text Is Saying

John 1:1
Contrary to what some believe, John 1:1 does NOT teach that Jesus is a lesser deity. One of the most common objections to the deity of Christ centers on the opening line of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Some wrongly claim this verse should instead read, “the Word was a god,” as if John were saying Jesus is merely a divine-like being — a lesser god, not truly God Himself. This wording appears in certain modern translations produced by groups that deny the full deity of Christ (for example, the New World Translation of the Bible adopted by Jehovah's Witnesses).

At first glance, this may sound like a technical dispute over grammar. But in reality, this verse is one of the clearest and most decisive affirmations of who Jesus is. And when we look carefully at the original Koine Greek grammar, the claim that John meant “a god” simply does not hold up.

Let’s look at what John actually wrote.  John 1:1 in Greek reads (using the NA28 edition of the Greek New Testament):

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος  ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
(Koine Greek)

“En archē ēn ho logos, kai ho logos ēn pros ton theon, kai theos ēn ho logos.”
(transliterated)

Literally in English:

• “In the beginning was the Word,”
• “and the Word was with God,”
  
• “and the Word was God.”

The key phrase here is the final clause: “kai theos ēn ho logos” — “and the Word was God.” This construction emphasizes nature: the Word has the very identity of God, not merely godlike qualities. In the original Koine Greek, the word theos (“God”) appears without the definite article (“the”). That is what leads some to claim it should be translated “a god" (that is, indefinite).  But that argument misunderstands how Greek grammar works.

Why is “a god” grammatically wrong? In English, leaving out “the” often makes a noun indefinite (“a god”). But Koine Greek does not work that way.  Greek frequently omits the article when describing the nature or essence of something. This is called a qualitative construction. It tells us what something is by nature, not whether it is definite or indefinite. In this sentence, John is not saying who the Word is (that was already made clear: “the Word was with God”. He is saying what the Word is.

In other words:

• “The Word was God” means: the Word has the very nature of God.

If John had written, “ho theos ēn ho logos” (“the God was the Word”), he would have collapsed the Father and the Son into the same person, denying the personal distinction he just affirmed in the previous line (“the Word was with God”). John carefully avoids that mistake.

Instead, he writes it in a way that means:

• The Word is not the same person as the Father (“with God”),
• but the Word fully shares God’s nature (“was God”).

This is exactly what historic Christian theology has always taught.

And Greek scholar after Greek scholar — across denominations and theological traditions — has pointed out that John’s construction emphasizes quality, not indefiniteness. Greek writers regularly leave out the article not to make a word vague or unspecific, but to describe what something is by nature. One of the best summaries of this comes from a standard rule of Greek grammar (often called “Colwell’s Rule, 1933”), which observes that predicate nouns placed before the verb often lack the article but remain definite or qualitative.

What this means in simple terms is this:

John deliberately and indisputably wrote the sentence, in Koine Greek, to say, “The Word was fully divine.”  
Not “a god.”
Not “god-like.”
Not “a lesser divine being.”
But: the Word possesses the very essence of God.

So in summary, the Greek grammar does not weaken John’s statement — it actually strengthens it. John is not saying Jesus is one god among many. He is saying the Word is truly divine, fully sharing in who God is, while still being a distinct person from the Father. And we know from the rest of Scripture that this person is Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. This is why virtually every major Greek scholar and every mainstream translation renders the verse: “The Word was God.”

Colossians 2:9
“For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ.”

The word theotēs means “deity.” Paul says the full reality of God dwells in Christ — bodily.

Philippians 2:6–11
Jesus existed “in the form of God,” humbled Himself, and then received universal worship.

“Every knee will bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

That phrase comes from Isaiah 45:23, where Yahweh says every knee will bow to Him. Paul applies it directly to Jesus.

4) Hebrew and Old Testament Foundations

Isaiah 9:6
The coming Messiah is called “Mighty God” (El Gibbor).

Then, in the New Testament, we find the following Yahweh texts about God applied directly to Jesus:

• Joel 2:32 → Romans 10:13
• Psalm 102 → Hebrews 1
• Zechariah 12:10 → John 19:37

In these examples, Jesus is placed inside the identity of the LORD. This is not accidental language, nor poetic exaggeration. The New Testament writers deliberately take passages that speak of Yahweh Himself and apply them directly to Jesus. In Jewish theology, this is extraordinary. No faithful Jew would ever place a mere creature inside the divine identity.

And yet again and again, the apostles do exactly that.

This is not inconsistent with the doctrine of the Trinity — it is one of the strongest biblical
foundations for it.  According to the historic Christian understanding of the Trinity summarized in the Athanasian Creed, God is one in essence and three in persons. The Creed famously says: “We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.”

In simple terms, this means:

• There is only one God, not three gods.
• The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
• The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father.
• Yet all three share the same divine nature, glory, power, and eternity.

The Creed goes on to say that the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Spirit is uncreated — yet there are not three uncreated beings, but one uncreated God. Each person is eternal, almighty, and fully divine, yet there is only one eternal, almighty God.

This is exactly what the New Testament shows us when it places Jesus within Yahweh’s identity using Old Testament Scriptures like those above.

Jesus is not a second God.
He is not a lesser God.
He is not a created messenger borrowing God’s titles.
He is the eternal Son who shares fully in the divine being of the one LORD of Israel, while remaining personally distinct from the Father.

So when Scripture applies Yahweh texts to Jesus, it is not breaking monotheism (the idea that there is one God)— it is revealing the mystery of God’s own inner life.  The God who saves is not solitary. The LORD who redeems is Father, Son, and Spirit. And the Jesus who was pierced on the cross is none other than the LORD Himself, come in the flesh to rescue His people.

5) Fully God and Fully Man (Scripture That Demonstrates This Truth)

Jesus is truly human:

• Born (Luke 2:7)
• Grows (Luke 2:52)
• Hungers (Matthew 4:2)
• Weeps (John 11:35)
• Dies (Mark 15:37)

And truly God:

• He is Worshiped (Despite the "No other Gods" of Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:6)
  • Matthew 14:33 — “Then those in the boat worshiped him…”
  • Matthew 28:9, 17 — the disciples worship the risen Jesus
  • Hebrews 1:6 — “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
  • Revelation 5:11–14 — the Lamb receives worship with the One on the throne

• Forgives sins (a divine authority, belonging only to God) 
  • Mark 2:5–12 — Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sins; the leaders say, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
  • Luke 7:48–49 — “Your sins are forgiven,” and the crowd asks, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

• Creates (power and authority that belongs only to God) 
  • John 1:3 — “All things were created through him…”
  • Colossians 1:16–17 — “Everything was created by him… He is before all things…”
  • Hebrews 1:10 — the Son is addressed as the Creator of heaven and earth

• Called God (directly named as God)
  • John 1:1 — “The Word was God.”
  • John 20:28 — Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”
  • Romans 9:5 — “the Messiah… who is God over all”
  • Titus 2:13 — “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
  • Hebrews 1:8 — “But to the Son: ‘Your throne, God, is forever and ever…’”
  • 2 Peter 1:1 — “our God and Savior Jesus Christ”

6) The Greek Word “Homoousios” in Simple Terms

As Christians wrestled with how the Bible describes Jesus, one Greek word eventually became central to protecting the truth the apostles had taught about Jesus being fully God and fully Man. That word is homoousios (ho-mo-OO-see-os). It simply means: “Of the same essence” or “of the same nature.”

In everyday language, it means that the Son is made of the same divine ‘stuff’ as the Father. This word was chosen carefully in the early fourth century because the church faced a serious controversy. Some teachers were saying that Jesus existed before creation and was very exalted — but that He was still a created being, not truly God. They claimed there was a time when the Son did not exist.

The church recognized immediately that this teaching threatened the heart of the gospel. If Jesus were a creature, even the greatest creature, then:

• He could not fully reveal God
• He could not bear the infinite weight of human sin
• And worshiping Him would be idolatry

So the question was simple but enormous:
In AD 325, church leaders from across the Christian world gathered at the Council of Nicaea to settle this question based on Scripture. They concluded that the Bible clearly teaches that the Son is not a creature, but fully divine. To protect that truth, they confessed that the Son is:

“Begotten, not made, being of one substance (i.e., "homoousios") with the Father.”

That single word — homoousios — drew a bright line:

• The Son is not similar to God.
• The Son is not almost God.
• The Son is not a lesser divine being.
• The Son shares the very same divine nature as the Father.

So, the Son and the Father are NOT the same person. The Bible clearly shows they are distinct — they speak to one another, love one another, and send one another.  And the church carefully explained the balance:

• The Father and the Son are different persons (i.e., different “who”)
• But they share the same divine nature (i.e., the same “what”)

That is why Christians say:

• Same what — God
• Different who — Father and Son
• Not two gods.
• Not one person playing different roles.
• But one God in three persons.

This language was not invented to override Scripture — it was chosen to protect what Scripture already teaches.  The Bible says:

• The Father is God (John 6:27)
• The Son is God (John 1:1; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8)
• The Spirit is God (Acts 5:3–4)
• And yet there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4)

The word "homoousios" (aka same substance) simply gave the church a precise way to say what the apostles had already proclaimed, which was:

• Jesus is not part of creation.
• Jesus is not a lesser deity.
• Jesus shares fully in the being, glory, power, and eternity of the one true God.

Now, why does all of this matter for salvation?  

That single word — homoousios —  was not an abstract philosophical debate. Everything depended on it. The church took a hard stance early-on, making it clear that Scripture says:

• Only God can save in the way Scripture describes.
• Only God can forgive sins absolutely.
• Only God can reveal God perfectly.
• If Jesus is not fully God, then the cross becomes the sacrifice of a creature.
• But if Jesus is fully God, then the gospel becomes breathtaking because it was God Himself who came to rescue us.

And that is why the church confessed — and still confesses today — The Son is not the same person as the Father, but He shares the same divine nature.

• Same “what.”
• Different “who.”
• Again, not two gods.
• Not one person playing roles.
• One God in three persons.

7) Answering Common Objections

“Firstborn means created.”


“Only the Father is true God.”
“Jesus prays and learns.”

“When Jesus was baptized… the Spirit descended like a dove… and a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son.’” (Matthew 3:16–17)

• The Son in the water
• The Spirit descending
• The Father speaking

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

“Though existing in the form of God… he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant.” (Philippians 2:6–7)

• Humans are meant to depend on God
• Humans are meant to seek the Father
• Humans are meant to live by trust, not self-reliance

• Loving communion within the Trinity.
• Prayer is not a sign of weakness in God.
• It is a window into God’s own inner life.

• Fully God — able to represent God to us
• Fully man — able to represent us before God

• Before choosing the disciples (Luke 6:12)
• Before feeding the crowds (John 6:11)
• Before facing the cross (Matthew 26)
• Before raising Lazarus (John 11:41–42)

• God is not solitary or distant.
• From all eternity, God is Father, Son, and Spirit — living in perfect love.
• Prayer is not trying to wake up a reluctant God.
• It is entering into the life of the God who already delights in fellowship.

• The Father plans it
• The Son accomplishes it
• The Spirit applies it

• He is the eternal Son in loving fellowship with the Father
• He is the true man living a life of perfect obedience
• He is our mediator standing in our place
• And He is our teacher, showing us how to trust God

8) Jesus Is Not the Spirit Brother of Satan

According to the Bible:

• Angels are created beings (Psalm 104:4, Nehemiah 9:6, Colossians 1:16)
• Satan is a created angel (Revelation 12:7-9, Job 1:6, Zechariah 3:1–2, Luke 10:18).
• Jesus is the Creator of angels (Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:3, Hebrews 1:5-6, 10–12).

Scripture draws a sharp and unbreakable line between Christ and Satan. Satan is a created angel who rebelled (Job 1:6; Revelation 12:7–9). Angels themselves are part of the created order (Psalm 104:4; Nehemiah 9:6). But Jesus is the Creator of the entire invisible realm, including angels and authorities (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17). Angels worship Him (Hebrews 1:6), and He is addressed as the eternal Creator (Hebrews 1:10–12). Creator and creature are not siblings.

Nonetheless, despite this evidence, at some point in conversations about who Jesus really is, an unusual claim sometimes arises: that Jesus and Satan are “spirit brothers”—two beings who belong to the same heavenly family, who began alike and then chose opposite paths. This is most common within Mormonism, otherwise known as the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Please note that many Mormons today will deny that they believe Jesus and Satan are brothers. Nonetheless, this teaching was most definitely a belief of the early Mormons.

So, this idea does not come from rumor, caricature, or misunderstanding. It comes from official Mormon teaching about the premortal life — the belief that all people lived with Heavenly Father as spirit beings before coming to earth. In this system, every human being existed as a spirit child of God, and Jesus is described as the firstborn among those spirits. LDS teaching also describes a premortal “council in heaven,” where God presented His plan, and Jesus willingly offered to carry it out, while Lucifer rebelled and proposed a different plan. Because both Jesus and Lucifer are described as premortal spirit sons who lived in God’s presence before the world began, later LDS leaders and manuals concluded that they belonged to the same heavenly family. This teaching appears in early LDS scriptures, official manuals, and statements from authoritative church leaders, though in more recent years the Church has tended to speak less directly about the family relationship and to describe the premortal council and rebellion in more general terms.

Here are examples of Mormon writings supporting these claims, including a testimony by an ex-Mormon about the lies he used to speak while on "mission" for the Mormon church:

Lucifer was “Another Spirit Son of God” 
Official LDS Gospel Topics essays — "Premortality," and "Satan"
Premortal Spirits Organized Before the World
Abraham 3:22–23 (Pearl of Great Price)



The Premortal Council and Jesus’ Response
Abraham 3:27 (Pearl of Great Price)


Milton R. Hunter (LDS Apostle and Theologian)


Mormon Research Ministry
I encourage everyone to read "Ten Lies I Told as a  Mormon Missionary" by former Mormon missionary Aaron Shafovaloff.

Why does this matter biblically?  

Like many theological errors, at first it may sound harmless, even creative. But when we stop and think about what this would actually mean, the idea begins to collapse under its own weight.  Here is a simple way to see the problem:

If one man has a brother, and another man has no brother, those two men cannot be the same person.

A person either belongs to a family with siblings or does not. You cannot be both the man with a brother and the man without a brother at the same time.  It's another person. And, when it comes to Jesus, if we're speaking of another Jesus, then we're not speaking of the Jesus of the Bible. And if it's not the Jesus of the Bible, then we're not speaking of a Jesus that can offer salvation.

And that is exactly the contradiction this claim creates.  The Bible repeatedly tells us two things that cannot both be true if Jesus and Satan are brothers:

• Satan is a created angel, part of the invisible heavenly order.
• Jesus is the Creator of angels, existing before they existed.

A creator and his creature cannot be siblings. A being who brings others into existence cannot belong to the same created family as those he made. If Satan is created, and Jesus created him, then Jesus cannot be his brother, any more than an architect can be the sibling of the house he designed. Scripture is very clear on this distinction.

Colossians 1:16 says:  

“For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible…”

The phrase “the invisible” includes the angelic realm — thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. In other words, Jesus did not come from the angelic family. He created it. Hebrews 1 drives this point home even more forcefully. The chapter repeatedly separates the Son from angels (Jesus is shown to be greater than the Angels):

• The Son is called God (Hebrews 1:8).
• The Son is worshiped by angels (Hebrews 1:6).
• The Son is addressed as the eternal Creator (Hebrews 1:10–12).
• Angels are described as “ministering spirits” sent to serve (Hebrews 1:14).
• Angels worship the Son (Revelation 5:11-14).
• Angels serve the Son (Hebrews 1:7, 14, Matthew 4:11, 26:53, Luke 22:43).
• Angels were made by the Son (Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:3, Hebrews 1:2, 10-12, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Revelation 4:11).

All of that is not the language of siblings. Here, again, the Scriptural evidence is that Creator and creature are not brothers. The Bible never describes God as physically begetting spirit children. The Bible never says angels are God’s offspring. The Bible never places Jesus and Satan in the same created family. Instead, Scripture makes a clear distinction:

• Satan is a created angel (Job 1–2; Revelation 12:9)
• Jesus is the Creator of angels (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10)

Hebrews 1 exists largely to prevent this exact confusion:

“For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son’?” (Hebrews 1:5)

And then:

“Let all God’s angels worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6)

Friends, THAT is why the Bible presents a radically different picture from Mormon theology:

• Jesus is not a spirit child among spirit children.
• He is not one brother among many.
• He is not part of creation at all.

He is:  

“Before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

And Scripture not only reveals who Jesus is in relation to creation — it also reveals who He is in relation to our salvation.

The simple bottom line is this: 

Scripture draws a sharp line between God and everything else. God alone is the Savior.

“I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.” (Isaiah 43:11)

And yet the New Testament speaks with equal clarity:

“There is salvation in no one else… for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

So, if only Yahweh could create and save — and Jesus creates and saves — then Jesus is not a creature helping God. He is God Himself acting to rescue His created people.

Only God can forgive sins absolutely. Only God can conquer death finally. Only God can reconcile the world to Himself fully.  A created being, no matter how exalted, cannot bear the infinite weight of human guilt or bring eternal life to the world.

But the gospel does not present Jesus as a helper standing beside God.  

It presents Him as God with us.

Friends, the Jesus of the Bible is:

• Eternal
• Creator
• God with us
• Obedient man
• Crucified Savior
• Risen Lord

If Jesus is not God, then worshiping Him is blasphemy.

But if Jesus is God — and Scripture repeatedly says He is — then refusing Him is not a harmless disagreement. It is refusing the Creator God and Savior of Sinful Humanity Himself.

And so the right response to Jesus remains the same as Thomas’s, when he saw the risen Christ and finally understood:  “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28)

And may the God of all peace and truth open your eyes today to understand all of these truths.

(Is there more that could be said to prove Jesus is God? Yes! So much more. Jesus walks on water, raises people from the dead, performs numerous healing miracles, returns from the dead Himself, was before time began, and identifies Himself as I AM (the Old Testament name for God) just to name a few. But alas, this blog must stop somewhere and my goal for this article has been to address specific topics raised during recent discussions within our local community.)

"Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”   -- John 3:3

Have you been born again?  The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death.  However, there is Good News!  The Bible also says that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 3:23 and 6:23).  Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?  If not, why not?