Our preceding post touched upon the full deity of Jesus Christ as a requisite to meaningful Christian faith. Hence the following of which, for some years, we have made the practice of having printed copies on hand.
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THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHESIED HIS DEITY:
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, the Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6);
"Prepare ye the way of the LORD (Jehovah or Yahweh), make straight in the desert a highway for OUR GOD" (Isa. 40:3). John the Baptist applied this to Christ (John 1:15-27).
"Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever, the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter" (Psa. 45:6). The writer of the Book of Hebrews states that this refers to Christ (Heb. 1:8,9).
Psalm 110:1 uses the divine title of Adonai in a prophetic sense which the New Testament writers consistently aver as having found fulfilment in Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:41-45; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Acts 2:34,35; Heb. 1:13; 10:12,13).
JESUS REPEATEDLY ASSERTED HIS OWN DEITY
In Revelation 1:8 and 21:6,7, Christ appropriates the Divine ascription of Isaiah 41:4 in declaring: "I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, THE ALMIGHTY." Further note this self defining identity in association with Christ's death and resurrection in Revelation 2:8.
In Exodus 3:14, God had identified himself by the name I AM, as such revealing himself as the ever present, self existent One. This became a very sacred name of Deity to the Jews. Jesus repeatedly applied this name to himself in a claim to Deity. The Jews so understood his assertion and endeavored to kill him for having made it. For example: 1. "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58); 2. "If you believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24. The word "he," as in the KJV, is not in the original text. This is why it is italicized). 3. "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I AM" (John 8:28. Again the word "he" in the KJV is an interpolation).
In Matthew 22:41-45, Jesus claims to be the Adonai of the Old Testament.
In John 10:30 Jesus states, "I and my Father are one." The Jews correctly understood this assertion as a claim to deity and are so quoted in verse 33.
In John 14:8,9 Jesus further states, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus gave the name of God as including himself.
In Matthew 19:17 Jesus answered the rich young ruler, "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, God." Here, to paraphrase his words, Jesus presses his claim to Deity by demanding, "If you acknowledge that I am good, you must acknowledge that I am God. If you deny that I am God, you must acknowledge that I am not good." It is a powerful declaration.
THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS AFFIRM CHRIST'S DEITY
Matthew 1:22,23 states that Christ is "God with us."
In his confession of John 20:28, Thomas states that Jesus is God.
Acts 20:28 states that GOD purchased the Church with His own blood. This is an emphatic claim that it was Deity Who was crucified and Who thus shed His blood upon the Cross.
I Timothy 3:16 defines Christ as "GOD manifest in the flesh."
Titus 2:13 equates God and Jesus Christ.
Acts 2:36 applies the Divine title to Christ.
Philippians 2:10-11 appropriates the Divine identity and ascription of ultimate human submission as given in Isaiah 45:22,23 and states that every tongue will one day acknowledge its rightful application to Jesus Christ.
The grammatical construction of I John 5:20 applies the declaration, "This is the true God" to the antecedent "his Son Jesus Christ."
John 5:23 states that it is God's will that "all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father."
In keeping with the preceding, it is recorded on various occasions that Christ was worshiped (Matt. 2:11; 14:33; etc.). His acceptance of worship - which by his own declaration belongs to God alone (Matt. 4:10) - was but a continuation of his own assertion of divinity.
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A final word: In having copied the foregoing outline which we assembled many years ago, our use of the KJV reflects the fact that we assembled this outline at a time in which the Jehovah's Witnesses were promoting the fact that they were willing to discuss their cause using the King James Version (as opposed to their own "New World Translation") in calling upon those to whom such would make a difference. Hence our own use here of the KJV.
