The next step to get to the Trinity is to understand that the Bible teaches both the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are God. Both of these statements are completely Biblically valid, and so here I will show this, along with the objections which I will refute.
The Father is God
Explanation
Almost everyone would agree that the Father is God. In fact, only the most far-out of heretics would deny this at all. However, it is important to go ahead and show basic examples of why He is considered God, just to strongly maintain each point of the Trinity. So the following three Scriptures are a puny sample of the overwhelming Biblical recongition that the Father is GodSupport
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. (1 Cor. 15:24 ESV)There is little else that needs to be said regarding this. The Father and God are assumed to the same in all of these verses and countless others. Thus the Father must be God.
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. (Gal. 1:1)
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John 1:3)
Objections
There are no modern objections of which I am aware. The Father is God, and Scripture teaches so quite clearly. However, heretics and the other Abrahamic religions stop here. To Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, and Muslims (among others), the only person who is God is the Father. Thus the next section will see their breaks.
The Son Jesus is God
Explanation
In orthodox Trinitarian teaching (actually, this was settled before the finer details of the Trinity), Jesus is the Son of God, and thus is divine Himself. Jesus is God. Scripture teaches this quite clearly, if not as explicitly as the deity of God. Nonetheless, we must reconcile this fact with the oneness of God: both the Father and Jesus the Son are called God. The dual nature of Jesus Christ (100% God and 100% man) is called the hypostatic union. More on this can be found in one of my earliest posts.
Support
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)In John 1:1 the Word, who is later identified as Jesus, is said to be God. In John 8:58, Jesus claims to be "I AM," the name God revealed to Moses as His own in Exodus 3:14. Thomas recognized Jesus as God after the Resurrection. Peter even refers to Jesus as our "God and Savior." Of course, the issue is more complex than these few verses reveal, but the testimony of Scripture is still overwhelming: Jesus, the Son of God, is Himself God. My second real blog post discusses this to an extent, and CARM.org (Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry) has some excellent articles on this issue, especially this one and this one.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 1:1)
Objections
I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (John 14:28b)These are some of the most common objections, though not all, to the deity of Jesus Christ. One could write a book on each of them, but these introductory explanations should suffice for my purpose. I cite for these John MacArthur and John Calvin, since I have easy access to some of both of their comments.
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." (Mark 10:18)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Col. 1:15)
"The Father is greater than I"
If the Father, who is God, is greater than Jesus, how can Jesus be God? There have been various attempts at explaining this statement. Most commentators relate it Christ's humiliation in becoming a mortal man, veiling His glory, and suffering for us. John MacArthur writes, "He was going back to share equal glory with the Father, which would be greater than what he had experienced in his incarnation." John Calvin said similarly, "for Christ does not now speak either of his human nature, or of his eternal Divinity, but, accommodating himself to our weakness, places himself between God and us; and, indeed, as it has not been granted to us to reach the height of God, Christ descended to us, that he might raise us to it.""No one is good except God alone"
According to those who deny Jesus' deity, Jesus was saying that He is not good because only God is good, implying that He is not good. However, this is not necessarily true. Some find Jesus's statement here actually an affirmation of His deity. The man would admit Jesus was good, but Jesus was rebuking him because he called Jesus good without affirming His deity, though only God is God. John MacArthur takes this view: "Jesus challenged the ruler to think through the implications of ascribing to him the title 'good.' Since only God is intrinsically good, was he prepared to acknowledge Jesus' deity? By this query Jesus did not deny his deity; on the contrary, he affirmed it." On the other hand, some commentators don't think this has anything to do with Jesus affirming or denying His deity. John Calvin wrote the following:But Christ had no other intention than to maintain the truth of his doctrine; as if he had said, “Thou falsely callest me a good Master, unless thou acknowledgest that I have come from God.” The essence of his Godhead, therefore, is not here maintained, but the young man is directed to admit the truth of the doctrine. He had already felt some disposition to obey; but Christ wishes him to rise higher, that he may hear God speaking. For — as it is customary with men to make angels of those who are devils — they indiscriminately give the appellation of good teachers to those in whom they perceive nothing divine; but those modes of speaking are only profanations of the gifts of God. We need not wonder, therefore, if Christ, in order to maintain the authority of his doctrine, directs the young man to God.
"The firstborn over all creation"
If Jesus was the firstborn of creation, does that not mean He was the first to be created? And if Jesus was created, how could He be God? This line of thinking is wrong. Firstly, "firstborn" does not strictly refer to creation or birth. It is quite often used figuratively to mean "first in rank." MacArthur explains this:The Greek word for "firstborn" can refer to one who was born first chronologically, but most often refers to preeminence in position or rank. In both Greek and Jewish culture, the firstborn was the ranking son who had received the right of inheritance from his father, whether he was born first or not...Thus Jesus is the firstborn in the sense that he has all the preeminence and possesses the right of inheritance over "all creation."Calvin also explains in a similar manner:
Hence, he is not called the first-born, simply on the ground of his having preceded all creatures in point of time, but because he was begotten by the Father, that they might be created by him, and that he might be, as it were, the substance or foundation of all things. It was then a foolish part that the Arians acted, who argued from this that he was, consequently, a creature. For what is here treated of is, not what he is in himself, but what he accomplishes in others.All this said, there is plenty of reason to believe that Jesus is indeed God. Thus so far we see that the Bible teaches the following:
- There is one God
- The Father is God
- Jesus the Son is God