Indirect Testimony to the Deity of Christ.

This study is adapted from Dr. Alva McClain’s notes, revised by Dr. John Whitcomb and Ivan French, and used by permission of Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Indiana.  This is one of the finest studies ever produced on the deity of Christ, and every student of the Scriptures should master this material.

There are passages of Scripture where the deity of Christ is strongly implied and assumed, yet not stated directly. The value of such indirect testimony is that is shows us that the deity of Christ is woven into the very fabric of the New Testament. The deity of Christ is assumed throughout the pages of the New Testament
 

These are only a few of the many examples that could be listed:
 

1. Luke 7:37-38, 44-48. Luke assumes our understanding that only God forgives sins. Therefore Jesus must be God!
    

2. John 12:37-41. The words of verse 40 were written by Isaiah just after he saw JEHOVAH (Isaiah 6:1,10). But John says Isaiah saw Christ's glory (John 12:41), because he assumes that the reader identifies the Jehovah of Isaiah 6 with Christ.
    

3. John 14:28 – "my Father is greater than I." If Jesus were not Himself God, how could He compare Himself with the Father? It would be both blasphemous and ridiculous for a mere finite creature to go about trying to convince others that the Father was greater than he was! The Creator/creature distinction is infinite and cannot be compared at all. Jesus is speaking of functional distinctions between the Persons of the Triune Godhead (Christ voluntarily took upon Himself human form and certain limitations). This text is actually a proof text for the deity of Christ.
    

4. John 19:37. John's quotation is from Zechariah 12:10. But the context of that passage (see Zech. 12:1) shows that it was Jehovah that was pierced. Thus, Christ must be God.
    

5. 1 Timothy 1:13 – "Christ...put me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer." Paul is certainly not saying that before his conversion he went about speaking against Jehovah! But he did speak against Jesus. Since he assumes the reader identifies Jesus with Jehovah, he also assumes that words spoken against Jesus are blasphemous.
    

6. Galatians 1:1 – "Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ." Paul contrasts Jesus Christ with mere men, which would only be valid if Christ were God.
    

7. Matthew 13:41; 16:27 and 24:31. These passages speak of Christ's angels. Who do angels belong to?

FINAL CONCLUSION

There has never been a true and genuine Christianity from the time of the Apostles which did not hold to the deity of Christ as the major tenet. This truth is the ROCK FOUNDATION of the Christian faith (Matthew 16:15-18). Those who deny the deity of Christ have no right to call themselves Christians in the Biblical, historical sense of that term.

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