Ron Halbrook

Jesus is the Son of God, meaning he shares the same divine nature as God the Father (omniscient, omnipotent, everlasting, holy, etc.), as in John 3:16.  There are three persons in the one Godhead including the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (see Acts 17:29 & Rom. 1:20 to know there is one Godhead; see three persons in Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6).  A mere man did not come to save us, not even a great angel, but, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16).  One of the Godhead who created all things came to save us!

Jesus is the son of man, meaning he shares the same human nature as all of humanity.  God prophesied that He would send our Savior as “one like the son of man” in Daniel 7:13-14, who would be received back up into heaven to rule in all glory for our salvation!  Hebrews 2:9-18 elaborates more on this theme by showing that because Jesus came in the flesh we can understand him to be “a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (vs. 17).  In other words, the one who came to redeem us and reconcile us to God, though he is creator of all things, yet he humbled himself to come in the flesh so that we can understand he fully sympathizes with our human condition.  He created even the angels, but, like us, he “was made lower than the angels” in order to experience death for us on the cross (vs. 9).

Someone can insist the moon is made of cheese, but that does not prove it to be true.  John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  “In the beginning was the Word.”  This means the one true God or Godhead exists from eternity and is not created.  “And the Word was with God.”  The person identified as the Word exists from eternity and is not created.   Words express and unfold our thoughts so that other people can understand us.  This person identified as the Word came to fully express and unfold God’s plan for our salvation (see vs. 14).  “And the Word was God.”  This person called the Word shares the full nature of deity, the same as the Father.  “The same was in the beginning with God.”  In other words, John emphasized that the Word was not created, but exists from everlasting the same as the Father.  “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  Acting in perfect harmony with the Father, the Word is the creator and sustainer of all things.  Iglesia ni Cristo says this passage is not correctly translated in order to justify their false claim that Jesus Christ is not God or deity, but any man can prove any false theory by claiming the Bible is not translated correctly!  God gave a stern warning against people who do this in Revelation 22:18-19.

Christ acted as creator in unison with the Godhead, exercising omnipotence as deity.  This is proven in John 1:1-3.  It is proven again in Colossians 1:12-19.  In vs. 15 Jesus Christ as the Son of God “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.”  Firstborn means the preeminent position (as in Ex. 4:22 God chose Israel or Jacob as His firstborn, though Esau was actually born first; see Psalm 89:27, which prophesied God would make Christ his “firstborn,” higher than the kings of the earth, i.e., preeminent position).  Why does he have the preeminent position?  (1) Vs. 16 He created all things. (2) Vs. 17 He is from eternity and able to sustain all things he created. (3) vs. 18 He is the head of his body, his one true church.  Also read Hebrews 1 to know Christ is the creator.  In vs. 3 he is the last great prophet of God, and is “the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person.”  This truth is developed in the rest of the chapter by showing he created all things including the angels, and the angels worship him because he is God.  As the Son of God, he has “a more excellent name than they,” and they are commanded to worship him (vv. 4-6).  Since only God is worthy to be worshiped (Matt. 4:10), this proves Jesus Christ is God!  Unto the Son, the Father said, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Heb. 1:8).  The Father called the Son “God!”  Verses 10-12 are quoted from Psalm 102 and applied to Jesus Christ, a psalm which speaks of Jehovah God.  Jesus Christ is also Jehovah God, the same as the Father.