Jesus is called Son of God, servant of God, image of God, form of God, fullness of God, mystery of God and other like terms, and on a number of occasions He is just called “God”.
However, the passages in the manuscript where Jesus is called God, with one exception, are all varied and difficult. “The Word was God” (John 1:1) is translated by the New English Bible not making the identification between Jesus and God complete but as descriptive, “What God was, the Word was”. It does not say that Jesus was God but rather that He was divine. John 1:18 speaks of Jesus in the best manuscript translations as being “the only begotten God” whereas later manuscripts use the word “son”. Other passages where Jesus is called God are found in Heb. 1:8-9; Col. 2:2-9; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20; Titus 2:13; and 1 Tim. 3:16. In all of these passages there are some manuscript difficulties. The only clear occasion in the New Testament where Jesus is called God is John 20:28 where Thomas, surprised and adoring, says “My Lord and my God”.
Yet without question each individual writer of the books accepted Jesus as God. It seemed the language of prayer and devotion struggled when it came to being written. All the New Testament writers, except Luke, were Jews and strictly monotheistic. Jesus was no rival god. Jesus Himself taught His submission to God in will, power, and knowledge. Paul thought of God as supreme even over Jesus (1 Cor.15-28). John shows Jesus was seen in obedience (John 17:3; 14:28).
No theological reasoning, but rather the personal experience of the Apostles led to the growing understanding of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian concept (2 Cor. 13:14) was to provide grounds of credal debate for centuries to come.
FOR TODAY
Many evangelical churches in our era are Christocentric but this very issue of “Jesus is God” was a hotly debated point during the 19th century. The seeds of the Trinitarian doctrine are mainly to be found in the New Testament. There is a unity between God the Father, and God the Son (John 10:30; 14:9), yet there is a discontinuity in their personality, form and substance. The early Church struggled to express their conception of the Godhead under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The writers lived at the one unique point in time when they alone of believers, both before and since, held the Old Testament understanding of God, knew the physical person of Jesus and felt the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
REV THE HON DR GORDON MOYES AC MLC