Why so few statements in the NT that Jesus 'is God'?

[ChristopherK]

It appears that there is only one "obvious" and "direct" reference in the New Testament to Jesus Christ as God (as opposed to "Son of God") - John 20:28 where St Thomas calls Jesus "my Lord and my God".

Although it is clear to me from the New Testament that Jesus Christ is God (in the Trinitarian sense), it still surprised me that there are not more reference to Jesus as God as opposed to Jesus as "Christ", "Son of God" or "Word".

Does anyobdy know of other "direct" references of Jesus as God or have an explanation of why Jesus is not referred to directly as God more often?

[Justin]

Regarding the last part, St. Gregory the Theologian speaks of a gradual unveiling of the Trinity, though you might disagree with exactly how much the Son was "manifested in the New" Testament:


For the matter stands thus. The Old Testament proclaimed the Father openly, and the Son more obscurely. The New manifested the Son, and suggested the Deity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit Himself dwells among us, and supplies us with a clearer demonstration of Himself. For it was not safe, when the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son; nor when that of the Son was not yet received to burden us further (if I may use so bold an expression) with the Holy Ghost; lest perhaps people might, like men loaded with food beyond their strength, and presenting eyes as yet too weak to bear it to the sun's light, risk the loss even of that which was within the reach of their powers; but that by gradual additions, and, as David says, Goings up, and advances and progress from glory to glory, the Light of the Trinity might shine upon the more illuminated. - Oration 32, 26 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-07/Npnf2-07-46.htm#P4606_1453815)[/URL]

Many of the [URL="http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-04/TOC.htm"]works (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-07/Npnf2-07-46.htm#P4606_1453815) of St. Athanasius contain scriptural references demonstrating the divinity of Christ. Also, it's good to keep in mind that few, if any, denied the divinity of Christ in the early Church. Pretty much everyone agreed that Jesus was God, the question in the Arian controversy for example was, "Was Jesus god but nonetheless a created being?" This is why the Fathers at Nicea didn't condemn people who refused to call Jesus God (that wasn't the problem), but instead spoke of what exactly "Jesus is God" meant, whether he was consubstantial, co-equal, whether there was ever a time when he was not, etc. Some people accuse Nicea of "making Jesus God," but if you really think about it, Nicea proves exactly the opposite, since everything they say and do is based on the premise that everyone already recognizes that "Jesus is God," and it's just that this concept has to be clarified and the faith precisely articulated.

[Ken McRae]

It is important, I feel, to keep in mind that the Revelation of Christ was delivered in a manner intended to "make foolish the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 1:20)", and require faith and dependence upon the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to make known to us the Truth of Christ:-

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." (Ephesians 1:17)

With this in mind, let us turn our hearts and minds to the Revealed Truth.

Fifteen Witnesses to Christ's Full Deity:-

01 ) Luke 1:41-43 " ... the Mother of my Lord ... "

02 ) John 1:1-14 " ... the Word was God ... and the Word became flesh."

03 ) John 5:18 "The Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."

04 ) Phil. 2:5-11 " ... Christ Jesus ... equal with God ... "

05 ) Rom. 9:5 " ... as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God, blessed for ever."

06 ) Heb. 1:8 " ... unto the Son he (the Father) saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."

07 ) Heb. 1:2-3 " ... his Son ... the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power ... "

08 ) Heb. 1:6 " ... let all the angels of God worship him."

09 ) Apoc. 1:8 "I Am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

10 ) Apoc. 22:12-13 "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I Am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

11 ) John 8:58 "Before Abraham was, I Am."

12 ) John 14:6 "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

13 ) Matt. 26:61 "I Am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days."

14 ) John 11:25 "I Am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"

15 ) 1 John 1:1-2 " That which was from the beginning ... the Word of Life ... was manifested unto us ... "

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

There are also the numerous references in the Gospels to Jesus Christ being "Lord". For example Matthew 8:2 where the leper asks for healing he says, "Lord, if Thou art willing". About this St. John Chrysostom says, "The leper defers all to Him, and calls Him Lord and attributes to Him power over the universe."

St Maximos the Confessor also says,"These- the resuscitation of the child, or the restoration of sight to the blind, or the blessing of the loaves of bread, or the cleansing of the leper- were affected by means of an omnipotent word & decree..."

Thus that Christ is God is implied by the context of the accounts given in the Gospels about Christ and what they "say" about Him. It is in this sense that the Gospels & Epistles are a book of the worshipping Christian community. For they testify of the worship of Christ & how He is the Head of the worshipping Church. Thus it is that the Gospel Book has the central place on the Altar.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Ken McRae]

Thank you, Fr. Raphael, for explaining the place of the Gospel Book(s) in the Divine Liturgy. This is significant for us to understand. May God bring it home to us all with revelatory power.

St. Luke's account of the Centurian's faith is precisely one of those many Gospel accounts you speak of, which account speaks volumes, in my eyes. Though everyone here is familiar with it, I'm confident, I see no harm in posting here, for our mututal edification.

The Centurian's Confession of Faith in the Lord:-

St. Luke Gospel 7:1-9

"1": Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

"2": And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.

"3": And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

"4": And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:

"5": For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

"6": Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:

"7": Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

"8": For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

"9": When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

In this confession of faith, we may clearly see that the Centurian looked upon the Word of Christ as the Word of Power that upholds all things. And thus, as the very Word of Life itself, by which we live, and move and have our being in God.

In the Spirit of Christ,
Theophilus

[matt]

If you ware interested, I would suggest that you read "The God of the Gospel of John" by Thompson. It is one of the better treatments of the subject and is very insightful. The whole first section of the book goes into the meaning of "God" in the setting of the New TEstament. It really is a masterpiece. Harris' "Jesus as God" is also useful.

"God" in the NT, ho theos, is used almost exclusively for the Father, which is also how we use it in the creed when we say we believe in one God, the Father Almighty. Even so, the "characteristics" of the Father are shared by Jesus.

On this topic, N.T. Wright says, "The christological question, as to whether the statement "Jesus is God" is true, and if so in what sense, is often asked as though "GOd" were the known adn "Jesus" the unknown; I suggest this is manifestly mistaken. If anything, the matter stands the other way around."

[Ken McRae]

hi Matt,

I've edited this post, as it just occurred to me early this morning, that you were addressing Christopher's question, and not the texts I posted in reply to it. Sorry about the mix-up. I suffer from occasional brain malfunctions like that, so not to worry. It's not the first time, and I'm certain it won't be the last. Anyway, thanks again for the book recommendations. I'll check them out.

Since I'm editing this post, though, I might as well take this opportunity to comment on the "I Am" texts I posted. It occurred to me today that some members and guests here might be unfamiliar with these particular proof-texts of our Lord's "full" divinity.

I cannot produce any Patristic texts at present to back up my position, but it's my current understanding that these texts are generally interpreted as Christ identifying himself as the God of Moses, who told him (Moses) to tell the people of Israel that "I Am" sent him to deliver them from the house of bondage:-

"God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." - Ex. 3:14

The Jews were quite familiar with this name of God, and whenever Jesus referred to himself as "I Am", they would have understood the full significance of it, as claiming, at very least, equality with God.

In Christ's humility,
Theophilus

[Anthony]

If I remember rightly one of the Apostolic Fathers (the writer of 2 Clement) emphasizes that "Saviour" is properly speaking a title of God (only God can save). Therefore any reference to Christ as Saviour is also a reference to His divinity.

[Athanasius Abdullah]

Dearest to Christ my brethren,

Peace and blessings to you:

Being a Coptic Christian with many Islamic family members, has meant the centrality of the issue of Christ's divinity to my personal theological studies; simply because it is one of the most widely attacked doctrines by the Muslims, and they falsely use the Bible to prove their case.

I would just like to mention the most interesting proof that I have read thus far, which concerns Christ's divinity as the corollary of His being the Wisdom of God. The central proposition in the simplest of terms goes like this: The Wisdom of God is depicted and understood as a periphrasis of God by second temple Jews, based not only on the Hebrew Scriptures but other intertestamental Jewish literature of that period. The New Testament authors being Jews themselves and writing in the context of second temple Judaism, were indeed familiar with such texts and line of thought and hence established a Christology within a Jewish monotheistic framework thereby identifying Christ with the Wisdom of God in a sense that indirectly identifies Him with the One True God.

This is a point most notably drawn by contemporary scholar Ben Witherington in his commentary on the Gospel of John. Richard Bauckham assesses this issue also in his very short book God Crucified. I really find Bauckham's approach to be appealing; he is succint and schorlarly, and his book was a worthwhile investment. Bauckham proves Christ's divinity beyond reasonable doubt, and he does it without having to delve into the metaphysics of being, personhood, essence etc. In fact he does not mention the word "Trinity" once throughout his entire book. He states in the second chapter of God Crucified:

"I shall be arguing...a suprising thesis: that the highest possible Christology, the inclusion of Jesus in the unique divine identity, was central to the faith of the early church even before many of the New Testament writings were written..." (page 27).

Such language of Christ's "inclusion within the unique divine identity" is common and oft repeated throughout Bauckham's work. I only have enough time to present this short introduction, so hopefully when I find the time I may share a more indepth understanding of Bauckham's treatment of the subject of Christ's divinity, including the underlying syllogism of one of his main arguments: 1) Wisdom = God, 2) Wisdom = Jesus 3) Therefore, Jesus = God.

In IC XC
-Athanasius