Is Jesus God?

Rick sent in a question which I answered in the comments section, I thought I would reproduce the answer here on the blogs main post so those who do not check the comments would be able to read the answer. This is a question that is asked a lot and we need to be able to answer this as Christians, feel free to leave comments or questions!


Rick said

How is it that the Scriptures tell us that no man has seen God at any time (John 1:18) and yet men saw Jesus? I'm confused about this. How can I explain this to someone who doesn't believe that Jesus is God?


MY Response

Rick,

Great question, I would recommend that you get a couple of books that will help you out with "Bible Difficulties". The first book I would recommend to you is called "The Big Of Bible Difficulties". The Second one is Dr. Gleason Archers book " Encyclopedia Of Bible Difficulties" and lastly Dr. Walt Kaisers book "Hard Sayings Of The Bible". Also on my blog I have a section on the right called "Bible Difficulties" which will take you to carm.org and there Matt Slick has hundreds of them for free for you to look at.

OK with that being said let me answer your question.

This is whats going on. Jesus has 2 natures, one human and one Divine. This in theology is called the Hypo-static union. Jesus was fully God, and Jesus was also fully man. So when one asks a question about Jesus, you really need to ask the question twice. Yes men saw Jesus in his humanity, but no one has seen nor can see God in his full essence. For One God is Immaterial which means he can not be composed of parts, thus if Jesus was fully divine in his man hood he would be composed of parts and be a material being. But we are told God is Spirit in John 4:24, and that a Spirit does not have flesh and bone, Luke 24:39.

This would also take away from Gods other attributes such as omnipresence ( Every where at the same time).

So the way this is answered is that Jesus in one person who has 2 natures, fully human and fully God, thus those who saw Jesus only saw his humanity, not his divinity. If you are still unclear let me know and I will see if I can expound on it. Consider the following

JESUS' DIVINE NATURE:

Uncaused

Unchanging

Knowledge is INFINITE

Necessary Being

All-Powerful

Simple Being {Not composed of parts}

INDEPENDENT


JESUS' HUMAN NATURE:

Caused

Changing

Knowledge IS finite

Limited Power

Composed Being

Dependent