Is Jesus God? Or part of God? These verses are from Gospels, what they tell is that Jesus can't be God [closed]

Question

I just found out these verses, from one video on youtube, and wanted to ask if you have read them and know about them. What Christians think about Jesus? Do you think he is a God or (from trinity) part of God or prophet? Here are verses, which clearly indicate that Jesus can't be God nor is he part of God, but he could only be prophet as were Abraham, Moses, Noah and Muhammad peace be upon them. What do you think about these verses?

1. Acts 2:22 NIV “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

2. Matthew 27:46 NIV About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice,“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

3. John 14:28 NIV “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

4. John 5:30 NIV By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

5. Mark 10:18 NIV “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

Answer 1

The nature of hypostatic union is that Jesus fully God and fully man. As a man, he is an acceptable atonement for sin. As God, he is able to choose to give up the rights of being God in order to incarnate - live as a man - and yet be God. It's a paradox, but it is a central doctrine of the faith that the God-man Jesus Christ was 100% God and 100% Man at the same time.

Indeed, to deny Jesus is a man is the heresy known as Monophysitism. But to deny that he is also God is a heresy (Nestorianism would be one example of that). Can you find verses that play up Jesus' humanity? Sure. For our sake, he chose equality with God, he emptied himself. He was in the form of man. Philippians 2:5-12 is pretty clear about it. But he is God as well.

In one of the most telling confessions of Scripture (Matthew 16), Jesus actually asked his disciples, Who do people say I am?

His disciples answered that people assumed he was a prophet, just like Elijah, John the Baptist (Yahya) or Moses. (Christians rarely tend to see Noah as a prophet, but I know why you do!).

When asked what they thought, however, Peter said:

"You are the Christ, the son of the Living God."

Upon that confession, Jesus builds this faith.

He's just 200%. That's all :)

Answer 2

While there are some verses that can be misinterpreted as suggesting that Jesus is somehow not God, there are many more that make it absolutely certain that Jesus is, indeed, God. I will first address the verses you brought up. This will be a bit long, but I hope it's worth it.

Acts 2:22

In Acts 2, Peter is speaking in his first sermon to unbelieving Jews and building a case to them that Jesus is the Messiah. Now, it is one sermon, and every individual sermon cannot be expected to contain a comprehensive explanation of theology. That is imposing too much on the text. Even so, Peter ends his sermon by stating that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. "Lord" was absolutely an ascription of deity.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Acts 2:36 ESV

Matthew 27:46

I'm not sure how this would suggest that Jesus is not God. He merely quotes a Messianic Psalm, thereby reaffirming His claim to being the Messiah.

John 14:28

Context is king. Taking one statement from a long conversation and dislodging it from its context is a formula for misunderstanding. In this same conversation (John 14-17), Jesus asserts that He existed with the Father before the beginning of the world. He also speaks of His upcoming crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. John 17:5 ESV

So, does Jesus reference to the Father being "greater than he" mean that Jesus is not God, not pre-existent, not "one with the Father"? No. It means that there is a Divine progression. The Father sent the Son, and the Son sends the Holy Spirit.

John 5:30

During Jesus' time on earth, He emptied Himself of His Divine privileges, as Philippians 2:5-11 assert. In that way, He lived a truly vicarious life--not a life as a Man with all His eternal glory, which would have prevented Him from enduring all things and being tempted in all ways, just as we are. In fact, just eight verses and three verses before this, Jesus asserts that the Father will judge no one. Rather, Jesus Himself will be the Judge.

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son... And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. John 5:22, 27 ESV

Mark 10:18

Jesus is not denying the fact that He Himself is, indeed, good (and righteous and holy). The man comes with a wrong theological view and a wrong question. His question was what "good thing he could do" to inherit eternal life. The answer to that was "nothing". There is nothing anyone can ever do to merit eternal life. We need a Savior--not good works--and that Savior is Jesus.

So, Jesus answers the question by focusing on the real answer--who Jesus is. Since no man is good (Romans 3:23), to call Jesus "good" is to call Jesus "God." That is the implication of that statement.

OTHER VERSES THAT EMPHATICALLY ASSERT THE DIVINITY OF JESUS

John 1

In this passage, we are introduced to a being who:

1. Was in the beginning (1, 2)
2. Was with God (1, 2)
3. Was God (1)
4. Was uncreated and the creator of all things (3)
5. Was in the world created by Him (10)
6. Became a man (14)

So, Jesus is given the title of "The Word". He Himself was God, and He became a Man.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning *with God*. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made...

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him...

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3, 10, 14 ESV

Even in the creation of the world, God says, "Let US make man in OUR image" (Genesis 1:26), using the plural pronoun. Now, it must be noted that Christianity (at least much of it) teaches that God is not three gods, but a Holy Trinity--one God in Three Persons. His creation reflects His image as well:

• People are 1) body, 2) soul, and 3) spirit.
• The physical universe is 1) time, 2) space, and 3) matter
• Time is 1) past, 2) present, and 3) future
• Space is three-dimensional, but all space: 1) length, 2) width, and 3) height
• Matter coexists in three forms: 1) solid, liquid, and gas)

Revelation 1

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 ESV

So, God is speaking here, identifying Himself as the Alpha and the Omega. Later in Revelations, He speaks again:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:13 ESV

So, He is known by all those titles. Even in the Old Testament, God refers to Himself as the First and the Last:

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Isaiah 44:6 ESV

Now, perhaps the most important verse in all this is Revelation 1:17-18. After John hears a voice, he turns around to see the one speaking:

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

So, the one who is the First and the Last--God Almighty--says that He died and is now alive forevermore. This is quite clearly Jesus Himself.

Conclusion

So, taking the full context of Scripture, it is clear that Jesus is, in fact, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, who became a Man, was crucified as He foretold through the voice of the prophets, was buried, rose from the dead, and returned to Heaven, where He was before the creation of the world.