According to the Bible, Jesus is divine. More accurately, divinity and humanity unite in the person of Jesus. Jesus grew, lived, and still now lives as a true human. Yet he also has always been divine.
But don’t take my word for it. Take the Bible’s.
What Does the Bible Say?
Here is what God said to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM (Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν). This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM (Ὁ ὢν) has sent me to you” (Exod 3:14).
Here is God restating his identity: “I, Yahweh, am the first, and with the last —I am He (ἐγώ εἰμι)” (Isa 41:4).
Here is how Jesus identified himself: “Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am (ἐγὼ εἰμί)” (John 8:58).
Nobody was confused at what he meant: “they picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59).
Simply put, Jesus identifies with divinity. He is who Yahweh is. That’s why Jude can say without explanation: “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).
Jesus led Israel out of Egypt and destroyed those in the wilderness who did believe in the words of Yahweh, that is, Jesus.
What about People Who Deny the Divinity of Jesus?
Since the Bible clearly articulates the divinity of Jesus, what should we think about people who deny the divinity of Jesus? It depends. Some people have not yet learned the Christian faith or had time to hear the Bible read. In cases like this, we come alongside, befriend, and help such a person grow in their understanding.
Yet we need to accept what the Bible says about another category of people: “Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7).
By saying “the coming of Jesus,” John signifies that Jesus came from somewhere. At minimum, John means that Jesus the Messiah existed and then came “in the flesh.”
According to John’s Gospel, Jesus was the Word of God who always was with God (John 1:1).
Like our words flow from our mind and mouth and belong to us yet are not precisely the same thing as us, so also does the Word of God flow from the mind and mouth of God (metaphorically).
So the Word was. And the Word became flesh (John 1:14). And to deny that the Word, that is, Jesus Christ came in the flesh means one thing: this person “is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
Not everyone is neutral or good. Some people are deceivers and antichrists. The mark of such a person is the denial that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that is, that Jesus truly pre-existed and became a true human.
Run from someone like this.
“Like our words flow from our mind and mouth and belong to us yet are not precisely the same thing as us, so also does the Word of God flow from the mind and mouth of God (metaphorically).” Excellent.