We Believe In Jesus: The RedeemerSample

Christ the Eternal God: John 1:1

Theologians are not entirely agreed on the nature of eternity prior to the creation of the universe. Some even suggest that time itself is an aspect of creation, so that it’s impossible to speak of time before God’s act of creation. So, we’ll identify eternity as the existence of God prior to the creation of the universe. In eternity, only God existed. And he existed in Trinity as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Now, the Bible doesn’t come from eternity. It was written during time and history. And it doesn’t clearly reveal Jesus as a distinct person of the Trinity until the New Testament. Even so, Scripture teaches that Jesus has been God from all eternity. So, the things that it reveals about his divinity in the New Testament were also true of him before the creation of the universe. And they will continue to be true about him forever. As we read in Hebrews 13:8:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Several passages explicitly teach that Jesus is divine by directly referring to him as God. For example, in John 20:28, the apostle Thomas called Jesus “my God.” In Titus 2:13, Paul called Jesus “our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” In 2 Peter 1:1, Peter called Jesus “Our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” And in 1 John 5:20, John called Jesus “the true God and eternal life.” 

But perhaps the best-known passage that explicitly attributes divinity to Jesus is John 1:1, where we read these words: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

This specifically says that the Word was God, and that he has been God since the beginning, that is, before the universe was created. And later in this chapter, in verses 14-18, John clearly stated that the Word he was talking about was Christ. In this way, John left no doubt that Jesus is God. He always has been and always will be fully divine in every way.  

Click here  to watch We Believe in Jesus: The Redeemer, lesson one in the series We Believe in Jesus.
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