How Do We Know That Jesus Is God?

Question:
I recently read the book, The Da Vinci Code. I know that it is fiction, but it has caused me to question everything that I’ve always believed about Jesus. How do we know that Jesus is God in the flesh and not simply a good teacher?

Answer:
For two thousand years, critics have chipped away at the cornerstone of Christianity — Jesus Christ. Yet Christianity has stood firm not because it has successfully covered up a conspiracy, as Dan Brown asserts throughout his fictionalized account, but because it has stood strong in its reliance on the truth of the deity of Christ.

Even before the books of the New Testament were completed in the first century AD, the doctrinal pillar of the deity of Christ already stood firmly in place. The Da Vinci Code claims that the Nicene Creed, drafted during the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, was a ploy of the church to retain political power. In fact, the Nicene Creed, which states that Jesus was “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,” simply proclaimed what was already accepted from the beginning.

Our source of information about the deity of Christ is the Bible itself. If you want to know what Jesus claimed for Himself, you must examine the Scriptural record, which — unlike The Da Vinci Code — is a reliable historical account based on first-century records and substantiated by eyewitness accounts.

Here are a few points about the identity of Jesus that you can find in the Bible. The earliest Christian authors:

• explicitly asserted the deity of the Son in such passages as John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6; Titus 2:13; and 1 John 5:20.
• applied divine names to Jesus (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 2:11; Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Luke 1:32-33; Joel 2:32; and Acts 2:21).
• ascribed to Him divine attributes:
  • Eternal existence — Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-2; Revelation 1:8; 22:13
  • Omnipresence — Matthew 18:20; 28:20; John 3:13
  • Omniscience — John 2:24-25; 21:17; Revelation 2:23
  • Omnipotence — Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 3:21; Revelation 1:8
  • Immutability — Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8
  • Every attribute belonging to the Father — Colossians 2:9
• spoke of Him as doing divine works:
  • Creation — John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2, 10
  • Providence — Luke 10:22; John 3:35; 17:2; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3
  • Forgiveness of sins — Matthew 9:2-7; Mark 2:7-10; Colossians 3:13
  • Resurrection and judgment — Matthew 25:31, 32; John 5:19-29; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Philippians 3:21; 2 Timothy 4:1
  • The final dissolution and renewal of all things — Hebrews 1:10-12; Philemon 3:21; Revelation 21:5
• accorded Him divine honor (John 5:22-23; 14:1; 1 Peter 1:6–7; 2 Peter 1:17; Revelation 5:13).

This is just a brief overview of the Scriptures that draw a convincing portrait of Jesus as divine. For more detailed information, take a look at the following article: A Good Man or the God-man? The Case for the Deity of Jesus.