|
[Return
to english page]
THE
DIVINITY OF JESUS
Jesus
is the Messiah, God Incarnated. This truth revealed by the
Books of the New Testament is the basis of our faith. Yet,
some people, all along the centuries, tried to destroy this
doctrine basing themselves on the Gospels. The "Nicolaitans"
(Revelation 2,6), the followers of "Arius" -IIIrd century
AD- and "Jehovah's Witnesses" are among those. The main
verses on which they base their arguments to deny Christ's
Divinity are the following:
1-
John 14,28: "The Father is greater than I", said Jesus. He
is not therefore God, since he is lower than him.
2-
Acts 2,22: "Jesus... this man..."
3-
Romans 5,15: The grace confided to only one
man.
4-
1 Timothy 2,5: The unique mediator is the Christ, a
man.
They
conclude by these verses that the Christ is not God
incarnated but just a man.
Answer
to the first point:
John
begins his Gospel by revealing: "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was
at the beginning with God... And the Word became flesh and
He lived among us... " (John 1,1-14).
God's
Word, Jesus, through incarnation, came down to men's level
by taking a human body. This human condition is lower than
the divine nature, but doesn't cancel it. Jesus is therefore
man and God. He is God incarnated. Jesus is right,
therefore, to say that the Father, as Eternal Spirit, is
greater than Him as created temporal body.
This
is what Paul explains in his letter to the Philippians
2,6-11:
"Jesus,
of divine condition, did not keep jealously the rank
that equaled Him to God. But He annihilated Himself,
taking the condition of a slave, and becoming similar to
men. Having behaved like a man, He humiliated Himself
even more, obedient (to God's plan) until death and death on
a cross! Therefore God has exalted Him and has given Him the
Name (divine) that is above all names, so that
all, in the name of Jesus, kneel, in Heaven, on
earth, and in hell, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father."
Answer
to the other points:
Jesus
is really a man. But this doesn't mean that He is not
God who took "the condition of a slave and becoming similar
to men", as says Paul in the previous text. Jesus is God and
a man at the same time. His divinity appears in
several evangelical texts:
1. He
is God's incarnated Word as John revealed it (John
1,1-14).
2.
Jesus said that He existed even before Abraham (John
8,56-59). His glory was with God "before the world ever
existed" (John 17,5).
3. The
Jews understood that Jesus presented Himself as God's equal
and He didn't deny it (John 5,18 & 10,33).
4. To
Philip who asked Him: "Show us the Father", Jesus answered:
"Who saw Me saw the Father! How can you say show us the
Father"? (Jean 14,8-9).
5.
Thomas recognizes Jesus' divinity after His Resurrection and
told Him: "My Lord and my God" (John
20,27-29).
6.
"... the Christ is above all, God blessed eternally" (Romans
9,5).
7.
"...In Him (Jesus), in bodily form, lives divinity in all
its fullness" (Colossians 2,6-9).
8.
"God made the centuries by Jesus" (Hebrews 1,2) "... Jesus
is well superior than angels" (Hebrews1,4)... "When God
introduces the Firstborn in the world, He says: That God's
angels worship Him" (Hebrews 1,6). This contradicts the
Witnesses of Jehovah who pretend that Jesus is the
incarnation of the archangel Michael since "He is well
superior than angels" who, moreover, owe Him
"worship".
9. St.
Paul also says: Jesus' dignity is greater than the one of
Moses "in as much as the dignity of the constructor of a
house is greater than the house itself... and the One who
constructed everything is God... ". Jesus is therefore the
"Constructor" of Moses and of the whole universe (Hebrews
3,3-4) and the Constructor is none other but God.
10.
"While waiting for the blessed hope and the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ…"(Tite
2,13).
The
Messiah's divinity in the Old Testament:
1. The
necessity of the advent of God Himself on earth was felt
briskly by the prophet Isaiah in the VIIIth century BC.
Eager for God's advent, he exclaimed: "Ah! if You tore the
heaven and if You descended! " (Isaiah 63,19).
The
names assigned to the Messiah by Isaiah reveal His divinity:
"Eternal Father" and "Mighty God" (Isaiah 9,5).
2. The
prophet Ezekiel saw the Messiah under the appearance of a
human being who had the aspect of God's glory
(Ezekiel 1,26-28).
3. The
prophet Micah in the VIIIth century BC., revealed that the
days of the Messiah go back to the day of Eternity (Micah
5,1).
[Return]
|