By Prem Lee.
Many seem to find the divinity of Jesus difficult. How can God appear so human?
So, they point out all the verses that highlight the humanity of Jesus. That should not disturb us, or worry us, as Jesus was wholly human as well as wholly divine. What we need to be clear about is the passages which emphasize the divinity of Jesus.
The fact is that we cannot understand everything which God has created, nor can we understand God Himself. So apparent contradictions like freewill and God being in absolute control of history, Yahweh as the God of all nations, and Yahweh as God of Israel will exist. In a similar manner we have the Divinity of Jesus and the Humanity of Jesus.
While we have some passages which states the divinity of Jesus in clear terms, other passages are not so clear.
John in his gospel brings out the divinity of Jesus very forcibly in the first chapter itself, where he introduces Jesus in the first verse as God and then states in vs 14 that this God Jesus became flesh or human.
In the Greek text, John very carefully distinguishes between Jesus and God the Father, by his use of the articles ‘the’ and ‘a’. One can see it in the interlinear Bible.
Therefore, Jesus is God but distinct from God the Father. Then how can we believe in Deut 6:4 which says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
The word used for one is ‘echad ’ in Hebrew. If we see the use of this word, it does not mean strictly one in a mathematical sense. For instance in Gen 2:24 where it says that Adam and Eve would be one flesh, the word ‘echad’ is used, and carries the sense of unity. So, the word does not deny the Trinity.
In Gen 27:44, Rebecca tells Jacob, “And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,” The word translated as few is ‘echad’. So the word is better understood as a unity rather than one.
So, to believe in the Divinity of Jesus is not contrary to the teaching of the Bible, and the concept of Trinity is valid.
Some verses on the divinity of Jesus: John 8:58, 10: 33, 14:9, Phil 2:5-6, Is 9:6, Titus 2:13