In my last essay in our salvation series we discussed a few “inconvenient truths” including, “I am a sinner and would never qualify for heaven on my own.” And, “I am sorry for my sins, and I want to be clean and whole.”

That brings us to the necessity of accepting the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God — fully God and fully Man.

In other words, do you believe that Jesus Christ is who He said He was? Not just a mere man, but incarnate God? Do you accept the Bible’s declaration that He is the Savior of the world? YOUR Savior?

Many religions claim some sort of Jesus, but when studied carefully, their “Jesus” is just another man, a teacher, a prophet, but not God.

To address this, C.S. Lewis wrote:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say.

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.

“Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Deity of Jesus Christ

Consider the following thoughts regarding the necessity of Jesus having to be fully God and fully Man to qualify Him as Savior of the world:

Only God could have reconciled mankind to God. God needed to intervene in the affairs of man — we were helpless to save ourselves. If Jesus were a mere man, he, too, would need a savior.

It goes back to the Old Testament and Isaiah 43:10-11, “Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, only I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me.”

Only God, being of infinite worth, could offer sufficient atonement to deal decisively with all sin for all time.

The problem was simply too big for a mere man, however “holy” he might be. Yet, only a man could die for a man. That’s why it took His two natures operating in unison.

Jesus was fully man yet fully God. In the original language, “homoousios,” “consubstantial,” ”of one substance.”

Think about it, who else could make the following claims? “… I give them (men) eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:29-30)

As final proof of Jesus’ Divine credentials, God raised Him from the dead. Would God have raised an imposter?

Word Made Flesh

Jesus was/is eternal. He didn’t just “pop up” in Bethlehem. From John 1:1-5 and 14-15:

“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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”

How About You?

Your salvation depends upon which “Jesus” you believe in.

“… for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” (John 16:27-28)

“Salvation belongs to the Lord; May Your blessing be upon Your people! (Psalm 3:8)

Do you believe this?

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated video overview of this essay.