Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (2007)

Easily the best and most complete book JB (JustBelief.org) has encountered on the critical subject of the deity of Christ is Komoszewski and Bowman’s, Putting Jesus in His Place. Without the evidential determination of the deity of Christ Jesus, one has a hobbled Christian Faith at best and most probably the makings of a cult! One must be able to answer Jesus with confidence when He crucially asks, Who do you say that I am? Mastery of this most seminal book in Christian apologetics will give us that confidence and provide the much needed “ammunition” for providing a rational and evidential reason for belief in the truth of the Gospels of Jesus Christ. 1PTR3:15

Jesus shares the HANDS (acronym) of God.

H – Jesus shares the Honors of God.

A – Jesus shares the Attributes of God.

N – Jesus shares the Names of God.

D – Jesus shares the Deeds of God.

S – Jesus shares the Seat of God’s throne.

Part 1 Jesus Shares the Honors of God

New Agers use Jesus as an example of finding the god within. p.17 Many cults cast Jesus in their own image depending on who they want Jesus to be. (This may bring to mind the Christians’ attempt to “return the favor” of God creating man in His image. JB) The desperation of The Jesus Seminar is very apparent when they deliberately misinterpret evidence in order to create a politically correct Jesus p.17 “congenial” to their preferred atheistic antiChrist position.

Christianity was founded by God, and is God’s own religion. All who sincerely take Jesus as their Lord and Savior are justified by trust in Jesus and His atoning death to inherit eternal life. As God incarnate, Jesus is the only way to God. (John 14:6) Jesus Christ is indeed our great God and Savior. Titus 2:13

Humans/disciples of Christ and angels worshiped Jesus as LORD. Jesus knew a “jealous God” would not share His deity with anyone; yet Jesus willingly accepted worship. Everyone will worship Jesus (Phil 2:10-11); same as God the Father (Isaiah 45:22-23). (Voddie Baucham makes a powerful case for the deity of Jesus in this paper’s final section.) Jesus well understood, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” DEUT.6:13; Mt.4:10 (And who can forget the First of God’s 10 Commandments prohibiting the worship of all idols? Isaiah tells us many times in Chapters 40-55 that there is only one God and He alone should be honored. This God is the Triune God of the Christian Faith. JB)

After Jesus walks on the water, the disciples say, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Mt.14:24-33 and “fall down.” Jesus said “All authority on heaven and earth is given to me.” Mt.28:18 Jesus assures worshipers that this honor due only to God is appropriate when directed at the Son of God. Jesus appeared to His disciples as a supernatural divine being. All of God’s angels are required to worship Jesus (by God the Father). HEB.1:6 Angels will not accept worship and exhort others to worship God. Unlike angels, Jesus does nothing to redirect worship away from Himself. p.40-42 This either indicates that Jesus is wholly sacrilegious and evil OR He is worthy of worship as Jehovah God. – JB (It is also noteworthy that only Jesus shares the position of God’s divine throne. Part 5 p.245-266)

God is the Savior and the one who can answer prayers. (Pray only to God and NEVER to Saints. JB) From the beginning of the Christian movement, believers were addressing their prayers to Jesus. As Stephen was being stoned to death, he prayed to Jesus entrusting Him with his spirit (kurios Iesous – Lord Jesus). Believers like Paul “call on the name of Jesus.” (The LORD) Jesus encouraged believers to pray in His name. “Whatever you ask Me in My name, I will do.” John14:14 Our eternal hope as Christians is Christ centered. p.30 (Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!) Rev.22:21 p.52

The Early Church sang hymns about Jesus. Singing to Lord Jesus was tantamount to singing to Yahweh in the Old Testament. “Singing – as to the Lord” was expected and uncontroversial. p.56 (Doxologies for Jesus p.33) For the Apostle Paul, there is no real difference in singing to Jesus and singing to God. These very early songs are a confession of Christ’s deity. Hymns about Christ are quite potent evidence of devotion to Jesus as God. p.55-60

Jesus said that everyone should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5:23

* “The Bible teaches us to honor Jesus by glorifying Him, by worshiping Him, by praying to Him, and even by singing hymns to Him.” p.42-44; 61

Abraham believed (‘aman) the LORD. Gen.15:6 He trusted in God’s promise. He placed his faith in the LORD. Jesus told His disciples to “Have faith in God.” Mark 11:22 Jesus told people to put their faith in Him as well. Those who believe in Jesus atoning death at the cross will not be condemned but will have eternal life! Those who believe in the name (identity) of Jesus become God’s children. Jesus warned, *“You will die in your sins unless you believe that I AM He.” John 8:24 p.63 Jesus asserted that He was just as trustworthy an object of faith as God Himself. Jesus said in John Chapter 14:1, “Believe in God, believe also in Me.” p.62-63 *Jesus linked Himself with the Father as the supreme object of faith.” p.63 (Craig Keener on the Gospel of John, 2003.), 2:931.

Part 2 Jesus Shares the Attributes of God “Like Father, Like Son”

We can know what God looks like through His revelation in His Son Jesus Christ. John1:14,18 p.73 In His essence and nature, Jesus is exactly like God. p.74 He possesses the attributes of God. (Our source of information about the qualities of God is found in the Bible.) p.74 God is the source and standard of all goodness. p.74 Jesus had two sets of attributes: human and Godly. Col.2:9 Paul wrote, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” The New Testament teaches that Jesus had the very (exact) nature of God. p.78 Jesus the Son is an exact imprint of God the Father. The Bible teaches us to give to Jesus the honors due to God. We are to love, reverence, serve, and obey Jesus as we would God. Though human, Jesus is also fully divine. p.81 The Bible, and Jesus Himself, makes clear that He is eternal. “The Alpha and Omega” existed before He was born. (Ask John the Baptist!) *Paul affirms the divine preexistence of Christ. Phil.2:6-11 p.82 Christ existed in the form of God in heaven before He became a man. Philippians 2 represents Christ as a preexistent divine person who humbled himself by becoming a human being. p.84 Many comments suggest a heavenly origin for Jesus. p.89 Like God, Jesus is clearly eternal, and His preexistence stretches back even beyond the creation of the universe. Jesus is literally “older than dirt.” (see John 1:1; 17:5) Jesus’ preexistence is affirmed in a way that equates Him with the Lord God Himself. p.101; 103-104

The Son of God possesses specific attributes of God. Christ is uncreated; also, “All things have been created through Him and for Him.” Col.1:16 The Apostle John asserts, “All things came into being through Him and without Him not one thing came into being.” John1:3 Christ, like God, is immutable; He won’t change. “For I God do not change.” Mal.3:6 p.106,109

Chapter 10 He’s Got What It Takes

Jesus possesses the three famous “omni” attributes that belong exclusively to God: omnipotence – God is all powerful, omnipresence – God is everywhere present, and omniscience – God is all knowing. Though fully divine, Jesus was also fully human: He got tired, He got hungry, He even died. Jesus, “the Bread of Life,” voluntarily laid down His life to save sinners who would accept His atoning sacrificial death at the cross of Calvary. Jesus told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Mt.28:18-20 *Jesus made and sustains the universe. Col.1:16-17 Jesus displayed an ability to act in places distant from His own physical location. (Ex. Long distance healings) Jesus as Immanuel means “God is with us.” Mt.1:23 The Bible states that God knows everything. Jesus not only knows people’s hearts and thinking, He even knows historical counterfactuals! Jesus knew events past and future. (“Molinism”) *In Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Col.2:3,9 p.113-119

Part 3 Name Above all Names “Jesus Shares the Names of God”

The contexts in which Jesus name is used in the Bible determine whether He is being referred to as God. The proper name that God’s Angel Gabriel instructed Mary, and then Joseph, to give to the virgin born child was Jesus (Yeshua): “for He will save His people (those trusting in Jesus) from their sins.” Mt.1:21; Luke1:31p.130 *Since the name of Jesus means Jehovah Saves, the implication is that Jesus is Jehovah – The LORD and Savior. (see JB Yeshua is LORD – “God Saves.”) The Bible teaches us that “God Saves” which is also the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Yeshua). Immanuel means “God is with us.” IS 7:14 (JB would interpret as “Now God is physically with us!” Hallelujah!) Isaiah knows the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ) will be “Mighty God.” IS 9:6 The New Testament refers to Jesus as “God,” “Lord,” and ”Savior” in the context of connoting Jesus’ deity. p.129 Eminent scholar, F.F. Bruce comments that Jesus’ name “had proved itself to be a name of unsurpassed power, a name with which it was dangerous to operate irresponsibly.”p.131 “According to Paul, Jesus has been exalted “above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come (Eph.1:21). *God “highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend (in worship)…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil.2:9-10). p.131 See Isaiah 45:22-23 where the same declaration is made for Jehovah God in the Old Testament. *Same language; Same God! – JB

Miracles, healings, and exorcisms are performed in Jesus’ name. New believers were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. p.132 A Christian must believe on the name Jesus in order to be saved.

Trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Our sins are forgiven on account of His name. 1JN2:12 p.133

Peter stated *“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name by which men can be saved.” Acts 4:12 *Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom.10:13

Jesus warned that His followers would be hated and persecuted for His names sake, but those who endured to the end would be saved.” Mt.10:22 We should do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Col.3:17 p.133 There is overwhelming evidence from the Prophet Isaiah supporting the conclusion that the future Messiah (Jesus) is indeed God. – JB

Nineteenth century German Higher Critics and modern day Christian liberals (Leftists) have created a controversy around Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin (almah) shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (God is with us.) p.135-137 [*An article from JB will be forthcoming on the Isaiah 7:14 controversy, known as “the litmus test.”]

Chapter 12 Immanuel: God Is With Us; He is now actually physically with us! – JB

The Book of Isaiah affirms clearly, and often, that the future Messiah would be God. Ex. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign (a miraculous sign): (IS 7:11) Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” IS 7:14 The word almah – meaning virgin or parthenos in the Greek Septuagint refers to a young maiden presumed to be unmarried. p.136

*Isaiah issues another critical Messianic prophecy in his “Mighty God” declaration of Isaiah 9:6-7

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

and the government shall be on his shoulder,

and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”6

“His Davidic Kingdom will last forevermore.”7 ESV (paraphrase JB)

(Notice that this Davidic Messiah is eternal since He will reign forever, and ever, Hallelujah …) p.137 This Old Testament evidence provides strong support for Matthew’s “virginic” interpretation found in Mt.1:23 Isaiah’s Book further states that God is coming to redeem, restore, and rule over His people. (IS 40:9-11; 43:10-13; 59:15-20) Recall that John the Baptist famously quotes from Isaiah 40 verse 3.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.”

Perhaps the closest to Jesus of any of the disciples was the Apostle John. John consistently made the case for the deity of Jesus throughout his Gospel. Komoszewski and Bowman use three examples to clearly and convincingly explain how critical New Testament verses, Titus 2:13; John 1:1, 18 and 20:28 demonstrate Jesus divinity. The I AM statements from Jesus “the Cloud Rider” from Daniel 7 are very strong evidence of Jesus’ claim of Godhood since His Sanhedrin audience knew exactly what He was implying to the point that a dramatic Caiaphas tore his robe and said essentially “Game Over; We have our confession and it is blasphemy!”- JB In addition, Jesus’ actions throughout the Four Gospels attest to His deity as well. The authors fully explain how “Our Lord and Savior” comments throughout the Gospels are plainly intended to mean that Jesus is being considered both as Lord and as Savior. (see Titus 2:13 and 2Ptr.1:1; John 20:28 et al. and the application of the Granville Sharp Rule) A great example of this Rule is where “Our great God and Savior is immediately adjacent to “Jesus Christ.” The clear language of the texts should make this the reader’s default position; UNLESS the reader has very strong cultish tendencies. B. & K. classify these heretical positions as “creative but untenable interpretations.” (God help me I love good wordsmithing…”Smells like…Victory.”)

Chapter 13 He Is Lord; though not the “Sweet Lord” of George Harrison’s 1970 “bait and switch”

After Jesus’ resurrection (forty days of appearances with lectures) and ascension, the apostles and their associates immediately began speaking of Jesus as “LORD” in a way that strongly indicated he was God himself. (JB – Perhaps Jesus conveyed this idea during his appearances before his ascension. He certainly suggested it during the course of His three year ministry.) Larry Hurtado and Gary Habermas have employed first rate scholarship in this area. see Hurtado’s “How On Earth Jesus Became a God: Historical Questions About Earliest Devotion to Jesus” (2005) (This information jives very well with daily worship and singing hymns to the risen Lord.) JB suspects that this belief developed during the time that the Godless non-evidential “theory” of Darwinian evolution began taking hold in the West. (1859-1974) German Higher Critics Nietsche, Feuerbach, Marx, Freud, Mephistopheles, Strauss, KenHoltzmann, Charles Lyell, Darwin, T.H. Huxley and Julian Huxley were able to overturn eighteen centuries of scholarship and devout orthodox belief in the deity of Jesus Christ. The feckless, effete “Surrender Monkeys” ensconced in the leadership of the Christian Churches have abandoned the field to the atheistic “disciples of death” to the point that the burdens of proof in the critical areas of God’s existence and the deity of Christ have shifted to benefit the Godless heretics. These deniers have never come close to proving that God does not exist or that Jesus is not divine.- JB Even the Early Church Father’s belief that the Gospel of Matthew (Jesus’ chosen documentarian!) predated the Gospel of Mark has been turned on its head! — “Good morning…but I digress.”

The authors stress that New Testament writers consistently referred to Jesus Christ as “Lord” in a way that identified him as Lord Jehovah. p.159 In the first recorded prayer to Jesus, the disciples address him as “Lord” and “acknowledge that he knows the hearts of all people.” “The Old Testament, ascribes this attribute of knowing people’s hearts, read minds, to Jehovah alone.” (1Kings 8:39). p.160 Peter quotes the prophet Joel 2:32 in his first Christian sermon “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21 Peter concludes: “God has made him both Lord and Messiah.” 2:36 Throughout his epistles Paul stresses that Jesus is Lord (Kurios) of all. Calling on Jesus as Lord is an act of prayer. see also Romans 10:13 *When Paul claims in Philippians 2 that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, he is deliberately employing the same language Isaiah used in Chapter 45 to describe Yahweh. Paul’s statement affirms that “God wants all creation to recognize Jesus as no one less than the Lord YHWH himself.” p.167

In 1 Peter Chapters 2 and 3, Peter essentially quotes from Psalm 34 and Isaiah 8 referring to Jesus as the Lord (YHWH). p.168 and he also makes explicit that “Christ is the Lord whom we are to regard as holy.” p.169 It is well understood among literate Christians and scholars that no one is ever considered holy except God himself. As an undisputed Christophany, the Angel of the Lord is also considered holy since Joshua is told by the Angel that he is “standing on holy ground.” Joshua 5:14 *Moses has the same experience in Exodus 3 when he is speaking with the great “I Am;” Jehovah God.

Komoszewski and Bowman sum-up Chapter 13 “He Is Lord” with this short paragraph: “Across the New Testament, then, in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles we find writers calling Jesus “Lord” in contexts that identify or equate him with the LORD YHWH. The basic confession of early Christianity that “Jesus is Lord” (Rom.10:9; 1Cor.12:3; Phil.2:11) turns out to entail the most astonishing and radical claim that any first-century Jew might have made: that the crucified man, Jesus of Nazareth, was Jehovah. p.170

Chapter 14 “Jesus Is It from Alpha to Omega”

In the New Testament, Jesus claims to be not only the Messiah but the bridegroom: like Jehovah God in the Old Testament. It is Jesus, the son, who is the bridegroom in the “wedding feast” of the future kingdom of God. (Mt.25:1-13) In another parable, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven “to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” (Mt.22:2) p.172 *The references to Jesus as the Bridegroom or husband of the Church are just one of many examples of the New Testament authors applying to Jesus Old testament metaphors for God. Dan.4:37 LXX; Rev.17:14 p.173

For Jesus “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” is a divine title. Jesus is not only a Savior for Israel, but is also the Savior of the World.” (John 4:42; 1JN4:14) Jesus is our heavenly Savior who saves us from sin and death. (Acts 5:31; 2Tim.1:10; Titus 2:14) p.175 The New Testament calls Jesus “Savior” in conjunction with the divine titles of “Lord” and “God.” Importantly, the New Testament calls Jesus our “Savior.” p.176 Larry Hurtado rightly states, *“God and Jesus are both referred to as “Savior” in such close proximity that we must infer a deliberate attempt to link them together.” p.176

“I am the God Almighty.” (Gen.17:1) (Jesus is simply “Mighty God” of Isaish 9:6. No similarity there. Right? WRONG! – JB) see EX.3:14: IS 43:10 God is the one who simply is, who depends on nothing else, and on who all else depends. (Kind of like Jesus in The Book of Colossians – JB) Jesus’ 7 I AM (ego eimi) statements in the Gospel of John were clearly claims to deity. Jesus’ resurrection proves His divine self naming to be true; p.177 as well as an exclamatory endorsement from Father God! JB

Revelation uses three titles for Jesus that mean the same thing: “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the First and the Last,” and “the Beginning and the End.” Rev.22:12-13 HCSB “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.” Rev 1:7-8 HCSB p.179-181 *Here, the “Mighty God” of Isaiah 9:6 (Messiah Jesus) is being identified as God Almighty. (For the obtuse skeptic, this avalanche of evidence in support of the deity of Christ Jesus must feel like Vince’s jesting comment from The Color of Money (1986) “a nightmare that gets worse and worse.” But compared to the collective eternity for those who reject Christ Jesus, the “nightmare” will seem like a picnic with no ants, or flies, or humorless relatives…oh well, you get the idea.)

The authors conclude that Indeed! Jawohl! “Jesus has the Names!” God’s Names of Deity That Is! JB

“When Christians affirm that Jesus is God, they are simply being faithful to the explicit teaching of the Bible. After all, the New Testament does, indeed, call Jesus Christ “God,” not once, but several times. It also affirms that Jesus is “Lord,” repeatedly doing so in contexts that equate Jesus with YHWH – the God of the Old Testament. In addition, the New Testament assigns a variety of other divine names or titles to Jesus (such as bridegroom, Savior, and the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega). It gives Jesus all these names in the broader setting of a pervasive attitude of exalting the name of Jesus above every other name. (see Phil.2:10: Acts 4:12 – JB) *If we are to be faithful to the teaching of the Bible, we must acknowledge Jesus Christ as our great God and Savior. p.181

Under Part 4 of “Infinitely Qualified: Jesus Shares in the Deeds That God Does,” The August Avery authors Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski offer some catchy and revealing titles to the final section of their crucial work on the divinity of Jesus. The titles are fairly self-explanatory for those with a familiarity with the Bible. Under Chapter15 “Meet Your Maker” is “Pop Quiz: How Many Gods Did It Take to Create the Universe?”; creatio ex nihilo is tougher than a light bulb. “Jesus Made It All”; “God’s “Junior Partner?”; and “The Heavens Are the Works of Your Hands.” Numerous appropriate Bible verses are offered to again establish the veracity of the authors’ claims concerning the deity of Christ Jesus.

Under Chapter 16 of Putting Jesus in His Place (2007), the authors offer sections: “He Keeps It Going and Going and Going…”; “He’s Got the Power!” (Perhaps an homage to He Man me thinks – JB); “When Jesus Talks Nature Listens” (E.F. Hutton?). Chapter 17, “The Way, The Truth, and The Life” is a well known self-designation from The Master Himself. “I AM The Way” kicks off the first section emphasizing a most critical quote from Jesus – John 14:6. Loads of evidential support is again pieced together to demonstrate support for the author’s position that Jesus is not only essential to our salvation, but that “God Saves” and Yeshua is that God! Next at bat for the 27’ Yankees is “I AM the Truth”; (or as Erwin Lutzer so brilliantly reminds us, He is the Logic, or Logos as well!). The chapter finishes with “I AM the Life”; (the sine qua non for our eternal lives). Wow! What a huge ego eimi. Just who does this fella think He is? According to the authors (and JB concurs) He is “the unique one and only Son of God.” He IS eternal and He dwells at the right side of the Father within the Godhead! And you had better BELIEVE IT! (Overlooked by the authors, it was my mother (Mari Meyer) who recognized Jesus’ divinity based on His being “sired” by the Holy Spirit without an earthly father!) This is the vital “incarnational Christianity” Dr. Walter Martin refers to in his Doctrines of Demons video on YouTube.

Concluding the section on the Deeds of Jesus is a shout out to the late Jerry Reed, “Here Comes the Judge.” “Order in the Court!” is predictably followed by “All Rise”; and who would we all be rising for? “Judge Jesus” of course! The authors offer oodles of spot on Bible verses and keen commentary in support of their position that belief in the deity of Christ is biblical and is a “justified belief.”

Part 5, “The Best Seat in the House: Jesus Shares the Seat of God’s Throne” concludes the authors’ coverage of the memorable acronym HANDS. For Komoszewski and Bowman, “the hits just keep coming” as they ask “Who does He Think He Is?”; (Mr. Big Stuff?) Mark 14:62 On a more wholesome note, the authors shamelessly “lift” from Art Linkletter (“JB should talk!”) titling the next section “Christ Says the Most Outrageous Things!” Surprisingly, many people fail to recognize Jesus obvious allusions to His own divinity and His position in the Godhead. He usually does this by employing speech from the Old Testament and an unparalleled use of Logic. (He is after all, according to Lutzer 2019 documentary The God Who Speaks, The Logos, i.e., The Logic.) Geisler and Patrick Zukeran demonstrate this point very well in their boss text The Apologetics of Jesus (2009) Speaking of Jesus’ position seated in the Godhead, Chapter 20 is entitled “God’s Right Hand Man.” “Seated in the Big Chair” (Psalm 110:1); The LORD [YHWH] says to my Lord [adonai] “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” For Jesus to claim to sit at God’s right hand was claiming equality with God. p.244 ESV One of the most storied accounts in all the Bible is “The Stoning of Stephen” in Acts Chapter 7. JB “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen was able to “gaze into heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” v.55-56 An interesting juxtaposition indeed! JB Additionally, as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” v.59 This would be Stephen’s final testimony as to the Lordship of Jesus! Saint Stephen made his final words count by confessing to the deity of his Lord and Savior. JB In Mark 12, Jesus asks, “How could the Messiah be David’s son and also be his Lord.” “The Heavenly Man” (Dan 7:13-14)”; “Messiah’s Throne Is God’s Throne”; or as The Father might say “Mi Casa es Su Casa.”JB The final chapter concludes with “No One Else Comes Close”; or as Champ is known to remark, “They caan’t get thare.”

The final chapter of Putting Jesus in His Place (2007) is Chapter 21 – “Jesus Takes His Seat.” The imagery of Jesus being seated at God’s right hand means that Jesus shares God’s very position of divine rule over all creation. Jesus position in the Godhead is a major theme of the New Testament. p.267 The authors employ typically sound logic in reasoning that “if a figure is positioned permanently in God’s place, sharing the throne, exercising the prerogatives of God from that position, and receiving in that position honors properly due to God, then he is certainly functioning as God.”

In reviewing the five subjects of the acronym HANDS (Honors, Attributes, Names, Deeds, Seat), the authors conclude: “Any one of these five lines of evidence would be good support for belief in the deity of Christ. *All five lines of evidence considered together prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus is God.” p.274

In Bowman and Komoszewski’s concluding chapter, “The Case for the Deity of Christ,” they state that the focus of their book (the most important apologetics book JB has come across) was to establish the truth of the deity of Christ. (It is JB’s opinion that John W. Montgomery, Perry Mason, Bishop Sheen and George Smiley working together couldn’t have done a better job.) Literate, considerate Christians owe these gifted authors great thanks; perhaps giving them a HAND, or two, might be more in keeping with the spirit of their extraordinary work. A work whose subject matter could be considered essential to our very salvation.

A summary/condensation of the BEST book on the divinity of Christ I have encountered, Putting Jesus in His Place, (2007) will now be followed up with the recorded text of ever reliable Got Questions’ – “Is Jesus God? Is the Deity of Christ Biblical?”

Jesus claimed to be God many times and in many ways. Jesus disciples believed He could forgive sins. The gospels write that Jesus had a Godly father, the Holy Spirit. Thomas cried, “My Lord and my God.” JN 20:28 Paul calls Jesus “great God and Savior.” Titus 2:13 and that prior to His incarnation, Jesus existed in the “form of God.” Phil.2:5-8 God the Father says regarding Jesus: “Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.” Heb,1:8 John 1:1 states, “In beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God.”

Jesus is given titles in the Old Testament that are unique to God. In Matthew 1, Jesus is called Immanuel – “God is with us.”

In Zechariah 12:10, it is YHWH who says, “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” see also John 19:37 *If Jesus was also the one pierced and looked upon, then Jesus is YHWH.

Paul interprets Isaiah 45:22-23 as applying to Jesus in Philippians 2:10-11. (Same language! JB )

Jesus’ name is used alongside God’s in prayer and Jesus willingly accepts worship due only to God. (This would be blasphemy if Christ were not deity!)

Jesus’ commands that we baptize in His name (and in the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit.)

Actions that can only be accomplished by God are credited to Jesus. Jesus not only raised the dead and forgave sins, He created and sustains the universe. Col.1:16-17 (Note that YHWH said He was alone during creation. IS44:24) Also, Christ Jesus possesses attributes that only deity can have: eternality (John 8:58), omnipresence (Mt.18:20), omniscience (Mt.16:21), and omnipotence. (John 11:38-44)

Christ offered many miracles as proof of His claim to deity.

* There are at least 12 historical facts about Jesus that even non-Christian critical scholars will admit:

1. Jesus died by crucifixion., 2. He was buried., 3. His death caused His fearful disciples to despair and lose hope., 4. Jesus tomb was discovered to be empty a few days later. (His enemies could not produce His body!) 5. The disciples believed they had experienced appearances of the risen Jesus to the point of dying brutal deaths as martyrs., 6. After this, the disciples were transformed from dispirited doubters into bold believers evangelizing, healing and baptizing in the name of Jesus., 7. The message of the risen Lord was fearlessly and convincingly preached in Jerusalem producing many thousands of converts to the Christian Faith., 8. As a result of this preaching, the Church was born and it grew (even in the face of brutal persecution)., 9. Following Jesus forty days on earth and His ascension, these rabid Jewish sabbatarians began worshiping the Risen Lord on Sundays. – JB 10. In addition, these committed monotheists began to accept the Son of God as LORD; with of course God the Father., 11. James, a skeptic, was converted when he also believed he had seen the resurrected Jesus., 12. Paul, a fierce enemy of Christianity, was converted by an experience which be believed to be an appearance of the risen Jesus. (Note that before being beheaded by Rome, Paul, a rising star in the Jewish religious hierarchy suffered mightily for his faith. see 2Cor.11:23-28; hardly an incentive to follow Jesus! – JB)

In conclusion, Christ claimed He was YHWH. His followers, Jews who would have been terrified of idolatry, believed Him and referred to Him as God. Christ proved His claims to deity through miracles, including the world altering resurrection. Jesus’ prophesied resurrection (not a resuscitation) was Father God’s endorsement of Jesus’ ministry and His words expressing His deity. Got Questions concludes that only the deity of Christ (together with fulfilled prophecy – JB) can explain these facts.

Due to the critical nature of this topic, the producer of JustBelief.org cannot close this discussion without relating an important commentary on the “Doctrine of Demons” (YouTube) from the revered Bible Answer Man Walter Martin. Dr. Martin definitively states that, “The primary doctrine of the devils is the denial that Jesus Christ is really God in human flesh. This is across the board, the standard denial of the occultic and cultic world. The denial of Him (Jesus) 1 John Chapter 4 says that whoever denies Jesus is Christ is antichrist. Whoever denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. The cults are denying it by saying that Jesus Christ, or the Lord God, for He is Jesus, the anointed of God, God in human form; that He has not come in flesh; that He has not come as incarnation. see 1 John That is the heart of Christianity’s incarnational theology. All the cults deny this; they will call Jesus anything but Lord. But the core of Christianity is that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; and every tongue shall confess it one day (see IS 45:22-23 and Phil.2:10-11 – JB). *Whoever denies that God became man is teaching the Doctrine of Devils.”(see John 1:1) “This is the prime attack of Satan, he must undercut the person of the Master.” Martin forcefully states, “Under no circumstances will Satan acknowledge that Jesus is eternal Word incarnate. Never!”

“Satan comes as a counterfeit of Lord Jesus seeking the worship that rightfully belongs to Jesus. The Jesus of the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the occultic world will always labor to undermine New Testament Christianity. These actions follow and sustain the Satanic teaching of the demons.” JustBelief declares that it is imperative that we “get it right” where the person and identity of our Lord and Savior is concerned. Our eternities may depend on how we answer Jesus’ query: “Who do you say that I AM?” because as June Hunt perceptively states, “Eternity is too long to be wrong.” Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, Robert Jeffress (2016).

The steel-trap mind of Voddie Baucham provides an exemplary biblical summation of the true deity of Jesus Christ. (“Sermon Like No Other On Revelation By Voddie Baucham”) YouTube In discussing a 3 part Trinitarian formulation and that “the 2^nd Person of the Trinity -Christ – is worthy of worship because He is God,” (see Isaiah 9:6 JB) Dr. Baucham states, “Grace and Peace come from God – Jesus Christ is God. Since Jesus is God, He is worthy of worship. If we worship Jesus and He is not God, we are guilty of idolatry because God is the only one worthy of worship; which is why Christ allows His Apostles to fall and worship at his feet. Worship is reserved for God and God alone; And so we worship the Lord Jesus Christ because He’s God. Because He is the creator of the world; because He is the sustainer of the universe; He is inherently worthy of worship; And He is the only one who is inherently worthy of worship. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ because He is God.”

Alot of people waiting to come to the Lord at the 11^th hour; die at 10:30.

“The Devil’s Hourglass” (JB)