Bible Students

The deity of Christ is one of the most important aspects of Christian faith. This point is not open to disagreement, as it is one of the defining points in orthodox Christian theology. Its importance is clear for a handful of reasons. Below are three. 

Firstly, John in the book of I John claims there are different versions of Jesus believed in by different cults apart from the orthodox Jesus. His book largely addresses these false Messiahs, which have been propagated apart from the testimony of the Apostles. Different cults such as the one John likely had in mind (which believed Jesus had not truly come in the flesh) believe in a Jesus with a different identity to the one Christians believe in. The deity of Christ is important because John identifies many people who believe in a Jesus who can not really save, because He is not the Jesus of history and the Scriptures. 

Secondly, the God of the Bible says that He will allow His glory to go to no one but Himself. If Jesus was not God, then Christians would be worshiping someone as God who was not God. This would be idolatry of the highest kind, and Christians would be in deep and unrepentant sin if this was not the true identity of Jesus. In Isaiah, God says, “…I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isa. 42:8, NIV). If Jesus is not God, then those who claim to be His people have been worshiping a man rather than the Creator. 

Finally, Jesus’ identity is important because the Bible puts great emphasis on the identity, and specifically the deity, of Christ. John, chapter one, places the identity of Jesus as the Word, which was with God and was God, at the beginning of the book of John, emphasizing the importance of His identity as God. An incredible amount of space in the New Testament is dedicated to the identity of Jesus, including the Gospels, many explicit passages in the Pauline epistles, I John, Hebrews, and Revelation, to name a few general areas. The New Testament writers must have seriously valued a proper understanding of Christology for their readers to have given so much space to that topic. For that reason, contemporary believers must take seriously the concern of the New Testament authors and study the identity of Jesus.