The Divinity of Christ
I know this is long, but it is the MOST important subject in the world and I beg you to read it all and to prayerfully consider it in your heart.
1. Christ CLAIMED to be God:
He claimed characteristics that can only be attributed to God including...
A) Self-existence (John 1:4, 14:6)
B) Omnipresence (Matt 18:20)
C) Omnipotent (Matt 28:18)
"It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only." (Matt 4:10) Yet Jesus received worship as God (Matt 14:33, 28:9) and sometimes even demanded to be worshiped as God (John 5:23).*
Maybe you feel unclear about Christ's claims to deity, but the Jews of the day were not:
"I tell you that one greater than the temple is here." Matt 12:6 The very presence of God lived in the temple. No one is greater than God's temple than God Himself. In claiming to be greater than the temple, Christ told the Jews that He was God.
"So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working.' "For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God." John 5:16-18 Not only, does He call God "My Father" instead of "our Father," He also shows His work to be on the same level as that of the Father's.*
I feel the need to investigate John 10:30 a litter deeper. "I and the Father are one." In earlier discussions there have been claims that this was an allusion to one in purpose. However, this is not the case. A Greek scholar named A.T. Robertson wrote that "the 'one' used in this sentence is neuter, not masculine,in the Greek, and does not indicate one in person or purpose but rather one in 'essence or nature'."* It is important to realize that this means that Christ claimed to be a separate person from God the Father, yet still be God at the same time. We will discuss this at length later in this post.
This also got the Jews riled up. They were there - they knew the context of the situation better than we can today. They understood what He said: "Again the Jews picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?' 'We are not stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.'" John 10:31-33 It is clear that the Jews understood that Christ claimed to be God.
When performing miracles in the book of Acts, the apostles only perform miracles in the name of Jesus. If Jesus was only an intermediary between the Father and man, then the apostles would have used the Father's name - the source of the power. However, they perform miracles by the power of Christ's name alone.
I feel inclined now to share some other verses that shed some light on the issue with little more discussion:
"'I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!'" John 8:58
"'Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." Rev 22:12,13
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one." John 17:22
"If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you don know Him and have seen Him." John 14:7
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Dan 7:13,14
"Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me." John 14:11a
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Philipians 2:6
2. The Holy Spirit is also God:
"Then Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit... You have not lied to men but to God.'" Acts 5:3,4
"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me." John 14:26
"All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines." 1 Cor 12:11
3. Three Persons? How is this possible?
I personally like C.S. Lewis' concept of the Trinity (probably because I am an engineer and like geometry). In his book, Mere Christianity, he likens the concept of the Trinity to that of one and two-dimensional Euclidian geometry. In one-dimensional geometry you have one direction. You can move either left or right (or up and down depending on your orientation, but for simplicity's sake, let's just agree on left and right). The only thing you can create in this space is a line segment. However, if you move on to two dimensions, you can also go up and down. You have now created a plane (think of your basic x,y coordinate system). You can now assemble three line segments into one triangle. They still remain one-dimensional line segments, but together in this new dimension they have created a single shape. Lewis likens the Trinity to this concept. In our frame of reality, we can only understand one individual at a time, but if you move up to the spiritual dimension where God resides, we could also understand how the three Persons of the God-head are in fact, one entity. They remain separate and different persons, but also are one.**
Other illustrations of this concept are also helpful. They liken the Trinity to time or space:
With time, for example, the past is distinct from the present, which is distinct from the future. Each is simultaneous. Yet, they are not three 'times,' but one. That is, they all share the same nature: time.
With space, height is distinct from width, which is distinct from depth, which is distinct from height. Yet, they are not three 'spaces,' but one. That is, they all share the same nature: space.***
These are just illustrations to dumb down a concept that human minds will never fully comprehend.
To review:
1. Christ is divine.
2. The Holy Spirit is divine.
3. The Trinity does make logical sense.
I believe that I have finished a fairly comprehensive look at the Trinity. I am completely convinced that scripture teaches the Trinity. If we dismiss Christ's claims to be God, we call Him a liar. I pray that this (long but thorough) discussion will be helpful to the walk's of everyone who reads it. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
*"More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell
**"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis
***CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS and RESEARCH MINISTRY
And a special thanks to Hayls for some scripture references.