“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!'” (John 20:28)
The deity of Jesus Christ is declared in Scripture:
(1) In the intimations and explicit predictions of the Old Testament.
(a) The theophanies intimate the appearance of God in human form, and His ministry thus to man (Genesis 16:7-13; 18:2-23; 32:28 with Hosea 12:3-5; Exodus 3:2-14)
(b) The Messiah is expressly declared to be the Son of God (Psalm 2:2-9), and God (Psalm 45:6-7; Hebrews 1:8-9; Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Acts 2:34; Hebrews 1:13; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6; 6:20; 7:17-21; Zechariah 6:13)
(c) His virgin birth was foretold as the means through which God could be “Immanuel,” God with us (Isa 7:13-14; Matthew 1:22-23)
(d) The Messiah is expressly invested with the divine names (Isa 9:6-7)
(e) In a prophecy of His death He is called Jehovah’s “fellow” (Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31)
(f) His eternal being is declared (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6; John 7:42)
(2) Christ Himself affirmed His deity.
(a) He applied to Himself the Jehovistic I AM. The pronoun “he” is not in the Greek (compare John 8:24, 56-58). The Jews correctly understood this to be our Lord’s claim to full deity. (John 8:59). (See also: John 10:33; 18:4-6 where, also, “he” is not in the original.)
(b) He claimed to be the Adonai of the Old Testament (Matthew 22:42-45) (See Scofield “Genesis 15:2”)
(c) He asserted His identity with the Father (Matthew 28:19; Mark 14:62; John 10:30) that the Jews so understood Him is shown by John 10:31-32; 14:8-9; 17:5.
(d) He exercised the chief prerogative of God (Mark 2:5-7; Luke 7:48-50)
(e) He asserted omnipresence (Matthew 18:20; John 3:13), omniscience (John 11:11-14), when Jesus was fifty miles away (Mark 11:6-8), omnipotence (Matthew 28:18; Luke 7:14; John 5:21-23; 6:19), mastery over nature, and creative power (Luke 9:16-17; John 2:9; 10:28).
(f) He received and approved human worship (Matthew 14:33; 28:9; John 20:28-29)
(3) The New Testament writers ascribe divine titles to Christ (see John 1:1; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Romans 1:4; 9:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 5:20).
(4) The New Testament writers ascribe divine perfections and attributes to Christ (Matthew 11:28; 18:20; 28:20; John 1:2; 2:23-25; 3:13; 5:17; 21:17; Hebrews 1:3, 11-12; 13:8; Revelation 1:8, 17-18; 2:23; 11:17; 22:13).
(5) The New Testament writers ascribe divine works to Christ (John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3).
(6) The New Testament writers teach that supreme worship should be paid to Christ (Acts 7:59-60; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Philippians 2:9-10; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 1:5-6; 5:12-13).
(7) The holiness and resurrection of Christ prove His deity (John 8:46; Romans 1:4).
(Scofield)
