The Divine Doctrine of Jesus’ Deity

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:15-20 ESV

As far as Paul was concerned, one of the most non-negotiable aspects of God’s will that the Colossians needed to understand concerned the preeminence of Christ. Evidently, Epaphras had informed Paul that the doctrine of Christ was under direct assault by men claiming to have apostolic authority. These unnamed individuals were teaching false doctrines concerning Christ that left the Colossian congregation confused and dangerously close to diminishing the fruitfulness for which Paul had so graciously complimented them.

In an effort to redirect the focus of his letter back to Christ, Paul adeptly and somewhat abruptly shifts the emphasis from God the Father to Jesus Christ the Son.

For he [God] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. – Colossians 1:13-14 NLT

Following this reminder of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross and its eternal implications for their redemption and justification, Paul states, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 NLT). In coming to earth and taking on human flesh, Jesus, the Son of God and second person of the Trinity, made God both visible and knowable. He became the visible image of the invisible God on earth.

In his gospel account, the apostle John elaborates on this unique aspect of Christ’s earthly ministry.

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 1:14 ESV

And John boldly proclaims that Jesus was more than just another messenger from God; He was God in human flesh.

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known. – John 1:18 BSB

The author of Hebrews expands on the nature of Jesus’ divinity and further solidifies the identity as a member of the Godhead.

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. – Hebrews 1:3-4 NLT

For Paul and the other authors of the New Testament, the divinity of Jesus was an essential doctrine that must be defended at all costs because it was the hinge upon which the door of salvation swung. If Jesus was not divine, then His death on the cross would have been ineffectual. His sinlessness was the key to His death’s effectiveness.

…we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins… – 1 John 2:1-2 BSB

But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. – 1 John 3:5 BSB

What makes the atoning work of Jesus even more significant is the fact that, as God, He was the Creator laying down His life for those whom He created. Paul further enhances Christ’s divine credentials by stressing His eternality and the essential role He played in the creation story.

…by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. – Colossians 1:16 ESV

And, once again, the apostle John provides ample support for Paul’s claim.

He [Jesus] was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. – John 1:2-3 BSB

Paul presented this same message concerning Christ’s role in the creation account when writing to the believers in Corinth.

…there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. – 1 Corinthians 8:6 BSB

As the Creator-God, Jesus was responsible for all that existed, including the believers in Colossae. He was not just a Messiah who came to save them, but He was also the God who created them. He was responsible for their very existence and their salvation. He had formed them and forgiven them. He had breathed in them the breath of life and had become for them the means for experiencing new life.  And, more importantly, by His divine power, Jesus would hold them safe and secure to the end.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. – Colossians 1:17 ESV

Paul goes out of his way to stress the unique nature of Christ. He was adamant that the believers in Colossae grasp and appreciate the significance of Jesus’ life-giving and life-transforming role as the Son of God. Jesus had been so much more than a teacher, Rabbi, healer, and miracle worker; He was supreme in all things. He had no equal, and there was no one who could replicate His accomplishments or diminish His one-of-a-kind status as the sovereign Savior of the world. That is why Paul stressed the headship of Christ over the church, and promoted His well-deserved position as the preeminent one.

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. – Colossians 1:18 ESV

Paul’s point is that the church would not exist without Christ. Had Jesus not died and risen again, there would be no church because there would be no Christ-followers. He was not a martyred teacher who managed to cultivate a faithful host of committed followers who continued to propagate His teachings. He was the “firstborn from the dead” who, through His death and resurrection, made possible the spiritual transformation of countless men and women.

However, there were those who taught that the resurrection of Jesus was a fable or myth, and downplayed its importance to the Christian faith. Paul addressed the misguided musings of these dangerous “false teachers ”in his first letter to the church in Corinth.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 ESV

Christ’s resurrection made possible the redemption of condemned humanity and guarantees the future resurrection and glorification of all those who accept His free gift of salvation. Again, Christ was more than a gifted teacher with a message of life transformation based on behavior modification. He had not just modeled a new way of living; He died so that sinful men and women might receive new lives and new natures that emulated His.

Paul emphatically states that Jesus is preeminent and one-of-a-kind; He has no equal. Jesus was the sole means by which God chose to redeem fallen humanity. That’s why Paul claims, “God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ” (Colossians 1:19 NLT), and no one else. It was only through Christ that “God reconciled everything to himself” (Colossians 1:20 NLT). No one else could take credit for the role that Jesus played in God’s grand redemptive plan. God used Jesus to reconcile sinful humanity to Himself, and anyone who diminished Jesus’ role as Savior or presented another means of salvation was to be avoided at all costs. Paul chastised the believers in Galatia and Corinth for embracing a false version of the gospel that eliminated the deity of Jesus.

You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. – Galatians 1:6-8 NLT

You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. – 2 Corinthians 11:4 NLT

Paul held strong views concerning this topic and was committed to defending the doctrine of Christ at all costs. He would not tolerate anyone who attempted to diminish Christ’s divinity or who tried to devalue His role as the God-man who, through His life, death, and resurrection, made it possible for sinful men to be made right with a holy God.

Father, there is a sense in which we take the deity of Jesus for granted. I don’t catch myself doubting His divinity or wondering whether He was just another man who promoted one more religious system to follow. Yet, at the same time, I don’t fully appreciate or contemplate the incredible reality of His incarnation. At Christmas, we celebrate His birth and sing songs that commemorate the doctrine of His divinity. 

O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

But even as we sing those words, we miss the radical implications of their meaning. Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In sending Your Son to take on human flesh, You revealed Yourself to humanity in a never-before-seen way. For the first time in human history, You manifested Yourself in a form we could understand and relate to. And it was in that human form that Jesus lived a sinless life and died a gruesome death on behalf of sinful mankind. That was the only way for our sin debt to be paid and our condemnation to be removed. Paul reminds us, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” (Galatians 4;4-5 NLT). He adds, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6 NLT). And it was all Your plan. It was Your idea for Your Son to become a man so that He could become the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Thank You for this amazing gift and help me never take it for granted. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God’s Greatness and Goodness

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 “Dominion and fear are with God;
    he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can man be in the right before God?
    How can he who is born of woman be pure?
5 Behold, even the moon is not bright,
    and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!” 

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “How you have helped him who has no power!
    How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose breath has come out from you?” – Job 25:1-26:4 ESV

It almost appears as if Bildad is growing weary. In what will be the last of his three speeches, he seems to run out of energy and words in his ongoing attempt to convince Job of his guilt. Since Job has continued to express his belief that God will ultimately vindicate him, Bildad reminds his friend that God is not to be trifled with. He describes God as a “powerful and dreadful” (Job 25:1 NLT) ruler who reigns over the armies of heaven. His power is so vast that He controls the sun and “is more glorious than the moon” and “shines brighter than the stars” (Job25:5 NLT).

This all-powerful deity is a force to be reckoned with and not to be taken lightly. Bildad is appalled by Job’s arrogant display of faux intimacy with God. From his perspective, Bildad sees Job as far too flippant in his attitude toward the God of the universe. His beleaguered friend displays a schockingly and unwise disregard for God’s holiness and transcendence. Job speaks of God as if they were best friends and Bildad goes out of his way to paint God as anything but Job’s bosom buddy in the sky. This great and glorious God is so vast and holy that no mere mortal can dare to stand in His presence, let alone hope to be called His friend. Bildad drives home this point like a dagger.

“How can a mortal be innocent before God?
    Can anyone born of a woman be pure?” – Job 25:4 NLT

And in an apparent attempt to build a bridge of reconcliation to Job, Bildad includes himself in the category of all those who fail to measure up to God’s glorious standard.

“In comparison, people are maggots;
    we mortals are mere worms.” – Job 25:6 NLT

While there is truth in what Bildad has to say, he is applying that truth like a sledgehammer while neglecting to factor in such things as God’s love, mercy, compassion, and desire to have a relationship with mankind. God is indeed transcendent but He makes a habit of reaching out making Himself available and approachable to humanity. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of God’s desire to make Himself known to man.

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. – John 1:18 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. – Colossians 1:15 NLT

God made Himself known to Adam and Eve in the garden. Before the fall, they had daily fellowship with their Creator-God. Noah and Enoch are said to have walked with God. They both enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Almighty that He initiated. Abraham was called “the friend of God” (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:24) and that relationship was marked by regular interactions with his divine counterpart. They talked repeatedly and Abraham knew what it was like to be discipled and disciplined by his Heavenly Father and friend. 

Bildad mistakenly portrays God as a one-dimensional being who is so dissimilar and distant from humanity that the gulf between the two cannot be bridged. What right does the lowly worm have to expect the God who created the universe to take notice of it. And, according to Bildad’s logic, a sinful human being has not hope of standing before the wholly righteous and sinless God of the universe. Job was out of his league and out of his mind to think that God would give him the time of day. Bildad believed ob was living in a fantasy land of illusion and false hope, and the sooner he woke up to the reality of his sinfulness and God’s holiness, the better.

But Job isn’t swayed by Bildad’s pessimistic logic. Rather than bow the knee to Bildad’s demand for abject submission to God’s trancendence, Job levels a series of stinging and sarcastic one-liners against his friend.

“How you have helped the powerless!
    How you have saved the weak!
How you have enlightened my stupidity!
    What wise advice you have offered!
Where have you gotten all these wise sayings?
    Whose spirit speaks through you?” – Job 26:2-4 NLT

These literally statements drip with sarcasm. Job wants Bildad and his two companions to know that their lengthy monologues have been utterly useless and of no benefit whatsoever. He is not impressed with their wisdom. He has received no life-altering insights from all their pontificating and posturing. He has not been swayed by their rhetorical skills or pithy-sounding platitudes masquerading as truth. There is nothing they have said that he didn’t already know. They have brought nothing new to the table but have simply regurgitated the same old worn-out arguments about God’s greatness and man’s lowliness. But that doesn’t help to explain Job’s predicament. Job fully understood that God is God and he is not. He knew that God was holy and righteous. In fact, he was counting on it. He was so convinced of God’s “otherness” that He was willing to take his questions and concerns straight to the sole source of wisdom, truth, and justice.

Job knew God was holy, and he wasn’t taking Him lightly or treating Him with contempt. Despite the picture his friends painted, Job wasn’t stupid. But he was desperate. He needed answers. He longed for relief. And so he called out to that powerful and dreadful God who rules over the host of heaven and controls the sun, moon, and stars. He went straight to the top, not out of some misguided sense of self-worthiness or equality with God, but based on his understanding of God’s greatness and goodness.

God invites His children to call upon Him. He desires even lowly worms to reach out to Him in faith and hope.

“…call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” – Psalm 50:15 ESV

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” – Jeremiah 33:3 ESV

…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. – Romans 10:13 ESV

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Acts 2:21 ESV

Job had not called his friends, but they had shown up anyway, and their arrival had brought him nothing but grief. Their answers and advice had proven unhelpul and nothing but hurtful. They were even advising Job to curtail his pitiful and pointless cries to God. It would do him no good, they reasoned. He was wasting his time. But Job knew better. Despite all that had happened, Job knew that God was his only hope. Yes, his hope was wavering and his faith was being severely tested, but he kept returning to the one piece of solid ground in the landscape of his shattered life: The greatness and goodness of God.

If Job had only had access to the Psalms, he might have shared the following insights with his friend, Bildad. These amazing words from the pen of Ethan the Ezrahite provide a powerful counterpoint to the short-sighted logic of Bildad.

O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies!
    Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord?
    You are entirely faithful.

You rule the oceans.
    You subdue their storm-tossed waves.
You crushed the great sea monster.
    You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;
    everything in the world is yours—you created it all.
You created north and south.
    Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name.
Powerful is your arm!
    Strong is your hand!
    Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
    Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.
Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
    for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation.
    They exult in your righteousness. – Psalm 89:8-16 NLT

It is God’s greatness that makes possible His goodness. Only He is all-powerful and fully capable of using His righteousness and justice to right the wrongs and bring about vindication and restoration to the hurting and hopeless of this world.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.