St. Jude's Dauntless Orthodox Christian - Reading an Article

Apologetic: Christ's divinity cannot be denied. He is the divine Son of God.

Confirmations from viewers

Today's Gospel of Jesus Christ

22 Feast of the Dedication.[d] At that time, the feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple along the Portico of Solomon.[e] 24 The Jews gathered around him and asked, “How much longer will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus replied, “I have told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness to me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will ever snatch them from my hand. 29 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”[f] 31 Once again, the Jews picked up rocks to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have performed in your presence many good works from my Father. For which of these works are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered, “We are not going to stone you for any good work you have done, but for blasphemy. Even though you are a man, you are claiming to be God.” 34 Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law,[g] ‘I said: You are gods’? 35 If those to whom the word of God was addressed are called ‘gods’ —and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 how can you say, ‘You blaspheme,’ to the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world for saying, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 “If I am not performing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. 38 However, if I am doing them, then even if you do not believe me, at least believe my works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 They again tried to seize him, but he escaped from their clutches. John 10:22-39, New Catholic Bible.

Facts

Scripture and history repeatedly testify that Jesus Christ is indeed the Divine Son of God, and that he is God. This is seen by his various miracles, statements, and testimonies of the Early Church.

Opinions

Those who deny that Jesus Christ is God are dead wrong. They simply do not have the understanding needed to see all the evidence and come to understand that he is God. But however, you must pray for them, for they need to know that Jesus Christ is indeed God, and not otherwise, as evidence and true testimonies confirm.

Article

Good day brothers and sisters in Christ. It is another beautiful day that the Lord has given us, and we must be thankful and grateful for all that the Lord has done for us, which includes delivering us from sin, by his cross and resurrection. It is a great reality that we are walking with the one who created the heavens and the earth, and so we must continually give thanks and be loving toward the Lord our God. Keep remaining in Christ's love and keep the ways that he taught us. For through his body and blood, we have life.

Today brothers and sisters, we must know that Christ Jesus is indeed the Divine Son of God. There are some people who do deny Jesus' divinity as the Son of God, and they actively say that he is not God. But this is actually wrong to believe and think about. In this article, there will be much evidence from Holy Scripture and real history that literally scream that Jesus Christ is indeed God, the Son of God. So without further ado, let's get right into it.

First from Holy Scripture, let's take a look at John 1:1-5, where Saint John the Theologian, an eyewitness and close friend of Jesus Christ, introduces his eyewitness account proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Divine Word of God, the very reason of why everything exists, because the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is God. As John 1:3 does state in that passage, all things were made through him, and without him, there was nothing. And remember, only God Almighty can create everything that ever existed in the history of the Universe. John also says that he is Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has been unable to overcome the light, which only the Divine can do. The Prologue of John is already Gold for evidence that Jesus is God. But there is more: John 8:58 records when Jesus Christ openly declared that before Abraham existed, he already existed, calling himself the Divine Name that was recorded in the Book of Exodus, I AM, specifically Exodus 3:13-15. So Jesus Christ calls himself God, because he literally called himself the same name God calls himself when talking with Moses. Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his own lips. There are more passages within John that affirm that Jesus Christ is indeed God: John 10:22-39, John 15:1-8, John 14:6-11, John 11:25-26, and other episodes recorded in John that indeed do point to Jesus Christ indeed being God. And these claims of divinity from Jesus' own lips are not just from the Gospel of John, they are also in the Synoptic Gospels as well, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Mark, the very first Gospel, Jesus does declare himself to be the Son of God in Mark 14:60-64, and at the beginning of Mark's Gospel, Mark 1:1-5, Mark openly declares Jesus to be the Son of God. So it is clear right from the get-go that eyewitnesses and the Early Chruch do recognized Jesus to be the Divine Son of God. In Matthew 21:14-17, Matthew, also one of Jesus' closes friends, records that the religious priests and authorities are infuriated that the masses are praising Jesus for saving them, and singing Psalms to him. But when confronted by the Pharisees, Jesus replies with Psalm 8:3, part of Psalm 8, a Psalm by King David praising God and glorifying God. But Jesus applied this Psalm to himself, making himself equal with God, and so saying that all these people are indeed praising God, who is himself. In Luke 18:18-30, a rich young man comes to Jesus, and asks him how to gain eternal life, which only God can give. Jesus then asks him, why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. With this statement, people get confused that Jesus denies his divinity, but this is just surface level reading. Remember that Jesus here only asked, why do you call me good? And then Jesus follows up with the statement, no one is good but God alone. So with this, he actually challenges the man to think a little, to know who he really is talking to. Jesus thus then calls himself God here, because he did not deny the man's comment of Good Teacher, he simply asked why he is calling himself good, because if the man did truly call Jesus Good teacher (which he did), he would be putting Jesus on the same level as God Almighty, which Jesus does not deny, but simply asks him to think about the nature of who he is talking to.

These are of course just a few examples from Holy Scripture, but there is more from other historical accounts. In addition to these eyewitness accounts, we can take a look at Early Chruch testimonies that do point to Christ's divinity, and other historical accounts that do testify that Jesus is God. Saint Justin Martyr, an early Christian Apologist who lived during the second century AD, builds on the affirmation that Jesus is the Divine Word of God, explaining the evidence, testimonies, and events that do testify that Jesus is God, in both his first and second apologies, of which these are known as canonical to the Chruch of which Christ established. The Jewish Historian Josephus does acknowledge that Jesus did many mighty deeds and was a true historical figure. Historically, no one can claim to do mighty deeds except God alone. The prophets of old did do miracles, but they simply do not even compare to the great sign of Christ's resurrection and his miracles as well. He did all the miracles on his own authority, for he learned it from the Father personally (John 5:19-20). The prophets of old could only do it by relying on the Lord's power and prayer, fasting, faith in him, and trust in him. Jesus did it by being united with the Father as he himself testifies and his own miracles testify to as well, to which all his miracles do have historical evidence. The people who died willingly for Christ in brutal ways all firmly believed that Jesus is God. They willingly got sawed in half, crucified, scourged to death, beheaded, split in half, poisoned, starved, and killed because they really do believe that Jesus is God. No one dies for a lie. They die for the truth, the truth that has much evidence to back it up.

And there are still much more pieces of evidence that do support Christ's divinity. So to say that Jesus is not God is simply ignorance. They have not looked at the evidence, and they have not understood the evidence, because they choose to not understand Jesus. Know this brothers and sisters: Jesus Christ is the Divine Son of God, and to those who deny his divinity, pray for them as Christ commands us. But the evidence does show that Jesus is God.

Go in peace brothers and sisters, and glorify the Lord with your life. With this knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can defend our Lord with confidence and reliance on the Lord. Go and love one another people. Amen.