Is Jesus God? Understanding the Divinity of God the Son

Divinity of God The Son

Over the last few weeks, we’ve laid the groundwork for the Trinity and looked closely at the eternal nature of God the Father. Today, we are turning our attention to the second Person of the Trinity: God the Son.

When most people think of Jesus, their minds automatically go to a few specific scenes: a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, a teacher walking the dusty roads of Galilee, or a savior dying on a cross in Jerusalem.

While those historical events are foundational to our faith, if we only view Jesus through the timeline of human history, we miss His grandest identity. Jesus didn’t blink into existence two thousand years ago. Long before He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, He was—and is—the eternal Son of God.

What is the Pre-Existence of Christ?

Just like we discovered with the Father, the Son has always existed. In theology, we call this the pre-existence of Christ.

It is a common mistake to think that God the Father created Jesus first, and then together they made everything else. But that’s an ancient misunderstanding (historically called Arianism). The Son is not a creation of God; He is God. He didn't have a beginning.

Think back to the verse we looked at last week, John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word..." Notice John doesn't say, "In the beginning, God made the Word." The Word already was.

Bethlehem was not the beginning of the Son’s existence; it was simply the moment He took on human flesh to come rescue us.

The Trinity: Fully God and Fully Man Explained

As the Son, He has a unique role within the Trinity. While the Father plans salvation and the Spirit applies it to our hearts, it is the Son who stepped into time to accomplish it.

To do this, He had to do something the Father and the Spirit never did: He became a man. In the incarnation, Jesus didn’t stop being God. Instead, He added humanity to His divinity. He became the ultimate bridge between heaven and earth! Fully God and fully man.

He is distinct from the Father (the Son is the one who prayed to the Father and died on the cross), yet He possesses the exact same divine authority, power, and glory.

5 Times Jesus Proved His Divine Authority in the Gospels

It’s one thing for someone to claim they are God; it’s an entirely different thing to prove it by doing things that only the God of the universe has the authority to do. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly drops the "trinity signature" through His actions, leaving no doubt that He is Yahweh in the flesh.

• He claimed authority over God's law: In Matthew 12:8, Jesus boldly declares, "For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." To the Jewish people, the Sabbath was instituted by God Himself. Only the Author of the law could claim to be the Lord over it.

• He commanded the elements: When Jesus calms the raging storm in Mark 4 with a mere three words ("Peace! Be still!"), the disciples are terrified and ask, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" They knew their Old Testament scriptures, like Psalm 107:29, which says God stills the storm to a whisper. Jesus did effortlessly what only Yahweh could do.

• He bypassed time: His very first miracle in John 2 was turning water into wine. Think about the physics of that. Normally, wine takes months or years of growth, fermentation, and aging. Jesus completely bypassed the constraints of time, creating aged, choice wine in a millisecond.

• He overrode natural scarcity: When Jesus healed the sick, opened blind eyes, and multiplied a boy's small lunch to feed thousands (bypassing the natural laws of growth and harvest), He was showing that He has total, creative authority over physical matter.

• The Ultimate Drop: He forgave sins: In Mark 2, a paralyzed man is lowered through a roof. Instead of just healing him, Jesus says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." The religious leaders immediately short-circuited, asking, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And they were right! If you sin against me, I can forgive you. But if you sin against someone else, I have no right to grant you forgiveness. Because all sin is ultimately a rebellion against God, only God can forgive sins. By forgiving the man, Jesus was explicitly operating as Yahweh.

Essential Bible Verses About the Divinity of Jesus Christ

To deeply anchor your understanding of God the Son, here are three powerhouse scriptures to study and memorize:

• Colossians 1:15-17 — "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth... All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

  • Why it matters: Culturally, "firstborn" meant the one who holds the highest rank and inheritance, not the one born first chronologically. Paul explicitly states that Jesus is the Creator of all things. If He created all things, He cannot be a created thing Himself!

• Hebrews 1:3 — "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."

  • Why it matters: Think of the sun and its brightness. You can’t separate the sun from its radiance. In the same way, the Son is the perfect, exact expression of God's inner being. He isn't a cheap copy; He is the exact imprint.

• Philippians 2:5-6 — "...Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."

  • Why it matters: Before coming to earth, Jesus existed in the "form of God"—a Greek phrase implying His innermost essential nature was divine. He chose to lay aside His heavenly rights, not His deity, to save us.

Why the Deity of Jesus Matters for Your Daily Life

Why does the eternal deity and absolute authority of the Son matter to your regular, everyday life? Because it means the One who holds your life in His hands is not a helpless bystander.

When you face overwhelming storms, you aren't crying out to a distant historical figure; you are crying out to the Lord of the storm, who can silence chaos with a word. When you feel trapped by your past, you can rest in the absolute certainty that your sins are completely forgiven by the only One who has the divine authority to wipe the slate clean.

By being fully God, Jesus possesses the infinite power, authority, and sovereignty to handle anything you face. By being fully man, He chose to use that infinite power not to crush us, but to serve us and die for us. We don't just worship a powerful creator, and we don't just admire a good teacher. We worship the Eternal Son who wields the very power of Yahweh to love, rescue, and hold us fast!

With the Father and the Son beautifully mapped out, the next natural step for next time is to round out the Godhead with God the Holy Spirit. See you next time!