John 1:1-4 speaks of the full deity of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Charles Hodge author of Systematic Theology wrote,
All divine names and titles are applied to Him. He is called God, the mighty God, the great God, God over all; Jehovah; Lord; the Lord of lords and the King of kings. All divine attributes are ascribed to Him. He is declared to be omnipresent, omniscient, almighty, and immutable, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is set forth as the creator and upholder and ruler of the universe. All things were created by Him and for Him; and by Him all things consist. He is the object of worship to all intelligent creatures, even the highest; all the angels (i.e., all creatures between man and God) are commanded to prostrate themselves before Him. He is the object of all the religious sentiments; of reverence, love, faith, and devotion. To Him men and angels are responsible for their character and conduct. He required that men should honour Him as they honoured the Father; that they should exercise the same faith in Him that they do in God. He declares that He and the Father are one; that those who had seen Him had seen the Father also. He calls all men unto Him; promises to forgive their sins; to send them the Holy Spirit; to give them rest and peace; to raise them up at the last day; and to give them eternal life. God is not more, and cannot promise more, or do more than Christ is said to be, to promise, and to do. He has, therefore, been the Christian’s God from the beginning, in all ages and in all places.
If you do not believe in the unique deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not a Christian, whatever else you may be. We are not looking at a good Man only, we are not interested merely in the greatest Teacher the world has ever seen; we are face to face with the fact that God, the Eternal Son, has been in this world, and that He took upon Him human nature and dwelt among us, a Man amongst men – God-Man. We are face to face with the mystery and the marvel of the Incarnation and of the Virgin Birth. It is all here, and it shines out in all the fullness of its amazing glory. “What manner of Man is this?” He is more than Man. That is the answer – He is also God.
Depend on it, my hearer, you never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God.
Scripture clearly proclaims Jesus as being God. Long before His birth it was divinely predicted that He would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us,” (Matt. 1:23; cf. Isa. 7:14). He was called by many divine names, such as “the Holy and Righteous One,” (Acts 3:14). It declares that to know Jesus is to know God the Father (John 8:19; 14:7), to hate Him is to hate the Father (15:23), and to believe in Him is to believe in the Father (Matt. 10:40; John 12:44; 14:1). It affirms that to see Him is to see the Father (John 14:9), to honor Him is to honor the Father (5:23), and to receive Him is to receive the Father (Mark 9:37). It proclaims that Jesus is omnipotent (Matt. 28:18), omnipresent (Matt. 28:20), changeless (Heb. 13:8), creator of the world (John 1:3), able to forgive sin (Mark 2:5-10) and is to be worshiped as God (Phil. 2:9-11; cf. Matt. 28:9, Heb 1:6).
John H. Gerstner author of Theology for Everyman wrote,
The significant thing is this: not one recognized religious leader in the history of the world has ever laid claim to being God – except Jesus. Moses did not. Paul was horrified when people tried to worship him. Muhammad insisted that he was merely a prophet of Allah. Buddha did not even believe in the existence of a personal God, and Confucius was skeptical. Zoroaster was a worshiper, but he was not worshiped. We repeat – of the recognized religious leaders of all time, Jesus of Nazareth – and Jesus of Nazareth alone – claimed to be eternal God.
