Study Material

GID1 Chapter 2 - The Deity of Jesus Christ

In Chapter 1, we understand that Jesus had human nature. Now we will discover that Jesus also has another nature. We begin by noting the unusual names and titles given to Him by God, by angels, by people as well as by what he called Himself. They include:

God                       Saviour ('Jesus' itself means 'Saviour')
Son of Man           Messiah ('Anointed One'), translated as 'Christ'
Son of God           Son of David
Lord                      Word of God

All the names have a common characteristic; they all point to His divine nature. In this chapter we will study His divine attributes and His relationship to God the Father.

From the following verses note the attributes that Jesus had:
1. John 1:1
1. John 1:3
1. Matthew 28:18
1. Mark 2:7,10
1. Mark 2:8
1. John 16:30

What were some 'God-Acts' of the many miracles that Jesus performed to show He is God?
1. John 11:43-44
1. John 9:1-7; 32-33
1. Mark 1:23-27
1. Mark 1:40-42
1. Mark 4:35-41
1. Matthew 4:15-21

These miracles by themselves were significant. But seen in the Jewish context, they are even more significant. These point to works done by the long-expected Messiah who was God's Chosen One to deliver Israel and the world from their sins and sufferings. This was what Jesus proclaimed at the onset of His ministry in Luke 4:18-21. The source of the quotation Jesus used was Isaiah 61:1-2 in the Old Testament, a prophecy of the Messiah's future ministry actualised by Jesus.

¹The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners ²to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn
—Isaiah 61:1-2

Who was Jesus in relation to God the Father?
1. Matthew 3:17
1. John 10:29-30
1. John 5:18
1. John 5:19
1. John 5:21
1. John 5:22-23
1. John 5:26-27
1. John 14:8-9

What do the following verses tell us about the deity of Christ?
1. Colossians 1:15-16
1. Colossians 2:9
1. Hebrews 1:1-3

Based on what you have studied in Chapters 1 and 2, indicate whether the following statements about Jesus are true or false:
1. Jesus had only 1 nature, that of a man
1. Jesus is God and not man
1. Jesus was 50% Man and 50% God
1. Jesus was two persons in one body
1. Jesus had two natures in one person

"The Scriptures affirm that Jesus was both 100% God and 100% human. In kind of a similar way we talk about the living Word and the written word both having these properties of humanity and deity; the written word is both 100% the word of God and the word of human authors, the word of men. But even more in a more precise way the Christ the person Jesus Christ of Nazareth was in His person 100% God in His nature and 100% divine in nature. So He had two natures in one person."
—Systematic Theology II - Lecture 3, "The Humanity of Christ"
Bruce Ware, Biblical Training
https://www.biblicaltraining.org/learn/institute/th504-systematic-theology-ii/th504-03-the-humanity-of-jesus-christ

Conclusion

We thus conclude that Jesus is fully man, manifesting the traits of a human being, but with the unique difference that He was sinless. He also manifested the traits of God, like being eternal, having the same authority and powers as God the Father. He was fully God. He was both God and man in a human body, the incarnation of God in human flesh.

Review the truths about the Deity of Jesus. Which of these truths impressed you most? How differently do you see Jesus now?

Jesus Christ has trod the world. The trace of Divine footsteps will never be obliterated. And the Divine footsteps were the steps of a Man… not an angel, not a disembodied spirit, not an abstract ideal, but the MAN JESUS CHRIST.
—Peter Bayne
“The Testimony of Christ to Christianity”, Published 1862