THE FIRST PROOF: Explicit Verses On the Divinity of Christ

Section II

This proof consists of the following:
(A) Proof that the Lord Jesus Christ is God
(B) Proof that there is only One God, that is, God
(C) Conclusion: Christ is This One God, that is, He is God

(A) Christ Is God

(1) (Rom. 9:5): St. Paul the Apostle said in his discourse about the Jews: "and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. " The phrase 'over all ' gives power to Christ's Divinity; He is not God of certain people only, as the pagan gods are. The expression 'eternally' signifies the continuity of His worship and the infinity of His Divinity.

(2) (John 20:28): When Thomas said to the Lord: "My Lord and my God!", the Lord Jesus Christ accepted the title and reproached Thomas for believing only after seeing when he should have believed without seeing.
(3) (John 1:1): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " Although Jehovah's Witnesses, in their heterodoxy, say: "and the Word was a God", yet they do not deny the Divinity of Christ and consider Him second to Jehovah. In order not to enter into translation controversies with them, we say that their mere belief that He is a God leads to the fact that He is God, because there is only One God.

  
(4) (Matt. 1:23): The angel was referring to Isaiah's prophecy: "'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a
Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel" which is translated, 'God with us"' (Is. 7:14). The fact that Christ is 'God with us' is an obvious profession of His Divinity. That is why the prophet Isaiah explains this meaning when he says:

(5) (Is. 9:6): "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". It is probably the phrase 'Mighty God' in this verse that has made Jehovah's Witnesses
say that Christ is a Mighty God, although in their opinion, He is not God. Strangely enough, this verse is from the Book of Isaiah in which the clauses: "I am the Lord and there is no other; there is no God besides Me", are repeated many times (Is. 45:5,6,21,22).

(6) (Heb. 1:7,8): When St. Paul the Apostle explained how the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the angels, he said: "And of the angels He says: 'Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire. 'But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, God, is for ever and ever. ' " St. Paul quoted this verse from Psalm 45, verse 6, where the reference to the Divinity of Christ is very clear.

(7) (1 Tim. 3:16): "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. " It is obvious, from this verse, that Christ is God who was manifested in the flesh. But the heresy of Jehovah's Witnesses presents another translation: "Great is the mystery of godliness which was manifested in the flesh", which is incompatible with the continuation of the same verse. Because how could the mystery of godliness be seen by angels? Or how was it received up in glory? Was it not Christ who was seen by angels, ascended to heaven in glory, preached among the Gentiles and believed in the world? However, the theological facts are not based upon one verse: (1 Tim. 3:16) is similar to another verse:

(8) (Col. 2:9): St. Paul the Apostle says about the Lord Jesus Christ: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. " The phrase "all the fullness of the Godhead" adds to the power of this verse. If all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ, then He lacks nothing and He is God, and there is no other God but Him, because there is nothing outside the fullness. The expression 'bodily' signifies that This Godhead took a body or was manifested in the flesh as the previous verse (1 Tim. 3:16) explains, and as is
explained in the following verse:

(9) (Acts 20:28): "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." It is known that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and a spirit has no blood. So, God did not purchase the Church with His blood unless He had taken flesh and sacrificed His blood for her. Here, we reach the same meaning of "God was manifested in the flesh".

       

(B) There is only One God

(1) This is clear from the first of the Ten Commandments: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3);(Deut. 5:7). 

(2) And from other verses in the Book of Deuteronomy, such as: "the LORD Himself is God,. there is none other besides Him" (Deut. 5:35), and: "Hear, 0 Israel.. The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" (Deut. 6:4)
(3) The doctrine of One God is also clear in many verses in the Book of Isaiah, among which are:
(a) (Is. 43: 1 0,1 I): "I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no Saviour." This is the chapter from which Jehovah's Witnesses extracted the phrase: " 'You are My witnesses,' says the LORD" (Is. 43:10,12).
(b) (Is. 44:6): "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God."
(c) (Is. 45:5,6): "I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me."
(d) (Is. 45:21,22): "Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides Me. For I am God, and there is no other."
(e) (Is. 46:9): "For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me."
(4) Another testimony on the Oneness of God is in the Book of Hosea the Prophet: "Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour besides Me" (Hos. 13:4). 

 (5) We find the same testimony in the New Testament:
(a) (Rom. 3:30): "...since there is one God"
(b) (1 Cor. 8:4): "...there is no other God but one"
(c) (James 2:19): "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!" This means that even the demons, unfruitful as they are, know very well that there is one God and tremble from His Judgment. If there is mention in the Holy Bible of the word 'gods', it does not at all mean Deity. Sometimes it means the pagan gods as is mentioned in the Psalms: "For the LORD is great and greatly
to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols" (Ps. 96:4,5), and: "Worship Him, all you gods" (Ps. 97:7). Naturally, those who worship another are not true gods.
Another example, said by the Divine Inspiration in Psalm 82, is: "I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."' (Ps. 82: 6,7). Naturally, he who dies and falls can not be a God. But it is a symbolical expression signifying power and authority, as when some of the Jews' enemies were afraid from the return of the Ark of the Covenant and said: " Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness" (1 Sam.4:8). They described all the people as gods which has a symbolic or a metaphoric meaning.

(C) Conclusion: Christ is God

If there is only one God, by the testimony of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible, and if Christ is a God by the same testimony, then Christ is This One God. God says in the Book of Isaiah: "And there is no other God besides Me", and in the same Book the Divine Inspiration says that Christ is a "Mighty God." What does this mean other than the Two are One?

Source: Divinity of Christ by H.H. Pope Shenouda III

.....To be continued in the next section....