Part 6 - The Epistles and the Deity of Christ
The letters of the New Testament were written to congregations, not to theologians, and they assume the deity of Christ rather than argue for it. That is what makes them such powerful evidence. Paul does not defend the claim that Jesus is God over all; he mentions it in passing while making a point about Israel. The Philippians hymn — probably pre-Pauline, and therefore among the earliest Christian material we possess — describes Christ as existing in the form of God and receiving the universal knee-bowing that Isaiah reserved for YHWH.
Doctrine that appears in passing is doctrine already settled. This post works through eleven passages across the epistles.
Romans 9:5 — Christ, Who Is God Over All, Blessed Forever
"whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."
The Greek Construction
ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας (ho ōn epi pantōn theos eulogētos eis tous aiōnas, "He who is over all, God blessed forever") — Paul declares that the Messiah, who came from Israel "according to the flesh" (kata sarka — His human nature), is simultaneously "over all, God blessed forever."
The doxology structure in Greek makes it most natural to read this as a predicate applied to Christ: "from whom is the Christ according to the flesh — He who is over all, God blessed forever." This is confirmed by the parallel construction Paul uses elsewhere (Romans 1:3–4: "born of a descendant of David according to the flesh...declared the Son of God with power") — the same two-nature pattern. Kata sarka (according to the flesh) = His human nature; ho ōn epi pantōn theos (He who is over all, God) = His divine nature.
Douglas Moo [^48]: "The most natural reading of Romans 9:5, grammatically and contextually, is that Paul is ascribing to Christ the title 'God over all, blessed forever.' This is one of the most explicit statements of the full deity of Christ in Paul's letters."
Thomas Schreiner [^49]: "The grammar strongly favors interpreting this as a direct ascription of deity to Christ. Paul is saying that the Messiah, who came from Israel in His humanity, is also 'God over all, blessed forever' in His divine nature. This is a stunning declaration of the deity of Christ placed in a context of Israel's privileges — the supreme privilege being that the God of all became one of them in the flesh."
1 Corinthians 8:4–6 — One Lord, Jesus Christ
"Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."
The Jewish Shema Restructured Around Christ
This passage is one of the most theologically dense Christological statements in all of Paul. Paul is drawing on Deuteronomy 6:4 — the Shema: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד (Šĕmaʿ Yiśrāʾēl YHWH ʾĕlōhênû YHWH ʾeḥāḏ, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!"). The Shema has two divine titles: יְהוָה (YHWH) and אֱלֹהִים (ʾĕlōhîm).
Paul takes the Shema and restructures it around two persons: "one God, the Father...one Lord, Jesus Christ." In the Shema, YHWH is both God and Lord. Paul distributes these titles between the Father and the Son — without reducing the divinity of either. The Son receives the title κύριος (kyrios), which is the LXX translation of יְהוָה (YHWH).
Furthermore, Paul attributes the same creative function to "one Lord, Jesus Christ" that the OT attributes to YHWH: "by whom are all things, and we exist through Him" — a direct echo of John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16. The Son is the agent of creation — which is an exclusively divine attribute.
N. T. Wright (reflecting on this passage): "1 Corinthians 8:6 is Paul's most explicit restructuring of Jewish monotheism around Jesus. Paul is not abandoning Jewish monotheism — he is including Jesus within it. The Shema now has two referents: the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of Trinitarian theology, authored not by later councils but by Paul himself." [1]
Philippians 2:5–11 — The Form of God; Every Knee Bows to Jesus as YHWH
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Verse 6 — "In the Form of God"
ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων (en morphē theou hyparchōn, "who, although He existed in the form of God") — μορφή (morphē; BDAG 659), "form, outward expression of inner nature." μορφή in Greek philosophy and in Paul's usage refers to the essential nature and character expressed outwardly — not a mere external appearance but the genuine manifestation of inner reality. "In the form of God" means the Son genuinely possesses and expresses the divine nature. This is not a claim to merely appearing divine; it is a claim to being divine.
ἴσα θεῷ (isa theō, "equality with God") — The Son possesses equality with God — this is not a grasping for something He did not have, but a rightful possession He voluntarily set aside in the form of humble service. Peter T. O'Brien [^51]: "The force of harpagmon ('a thing to be grasped') requires that the Son already possessed equality with God — He chose not to exploit it for His own advantage, not to grasp it as an opportunity for self-display. His equality with God is a presupposition of the entire passage."
Verses 9–11 — The YHWH Quotation Applied to Jesus
πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ...πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται (pan gony kampsē...pasa glōssa exomologēsētai) — "every knee will bow...every tongue will confess" — Paul is quoting directly from Isaiah 45:23 (LXX), where YHWH Himself declares: "I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."
In Isaiah 45:23, the universal bow-and-confess is addressed to YHWH. In Philippians 2:10–11, the same universal bow-and-confess is applied to Jesus. The inference is inescapable: Jesus = YHWH. Paul applies an exclusively divine YHWH text to Christ, declaring that every being in the universe will ultimately confess Jesus' Lordship — and this is said "to the glory of God the Father."
This is perhaps the most powerful indirect argument for the deity of Christ in Paul's writings: he takes an OT text that is explicitly about YHWH and applies it without qualification to Jesus, embedding the claim within the most Jewish-flavored of all his Christological hymns.
Colossians 1:15–20 — Image of the Invisible God; Creator and Sustainer of All
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself..."
Verse 15 — "The Image of the Invisible God"
εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου (eikōn tou theou tou aoratou, "the image of the invisible God") — εἰκών (eikōn; BDAG 282), "image, likeness, representation." This is more than a reflection or a symbol — Paul uses eikōn to mean the perfect, accurate, substantial representation of a reality. The Son does not merely resemble God or represent Him as an ambassador — He is the image of God, meaning the fullness of God's invisible essence is perfectly and completely expressed in Him. Hebrews 1:3 makes this explicit: "the exact representation of His nature" (χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, the character/stamp of His very substance).
"The firstborn of all creation" (prōtotokos pasēs ktiseōs) — πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos; BDAG 894) — This has been misread by Arians and Jehovah's Witnesses as meaning "the first-created thing." But in the OT, firstborn (bĕkôr) is consistently a title of rank and supremacy, not necessarily of birth order (Psalm 89:27: "I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth" — spoken of the Davidic king; Exodus 4:22: Israel is God's firstborn son — a status title, not a birth order). The context of Colossians 1:15–17 confirms this: the Son is the firstborn over creation precisely because He created it (v. 16) — He is the supreme sovereign over all creation, not a member of it. F. F. Bruce [^52]: "Prōtotokos here means 'heir of all creation,' not 'first of all created things.' The son who is the image of God is also the one who has supremacy over everything God has made."
Verse 16 — "All Things Were Created by Him and For Him"
τὰ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται (ta panta di' autou kai eis auton ektistai, "all things have been created through Him and for Him") — The Son is not merely the instrument of creation (δι' αὐτοῦ, "through Him") — all creation was made for Him (εἰς αὐτόν, "for Him"). Creation exists as His possession and His goal. This is an exclusively divine attribute — the OT declares that YHWH created for His own glory (Isaiah 43:7: "everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory"). The Son creating all things for Himself is a divine prerogative.
Verse 17 — "In Him All Things Hold Together"
τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν (ta panta en autō synestēken, "in Him all things hold together") — συνίστημι (synistēmi; BDAG 974), "to hold together, to cohere, to sustain." The Son is not only the creator of all things — He is the sustainer of all things. The universe's continued existence depends on Him. This ongoing sustaining work is equally affirmed in Hebrews 1:3: "upholding all things by the word of His power." Only God can sustain the cosmos by His word — this is an exclusive divine attribute.
Verse 19 — "All the Fullness Dwell in Him"
πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι (pan to plērōma katoikēsai, "all the fullness to dwell") — πλήρωμα (plērōma; BDAG 829), "fullness, totality." This is the complete fullness of divine being — leaving nothing out. Not some of God's attributes or most of the divine nature, but all the fullness. This is confirmed and elaborated in Colossians 2:9.
Colossians 2:9–10 — All the Fullness of Deity Dwelling Bodily
"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority."
The Most Direct Statement of the Incarnate Deity
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς (hoti en autō katoikei pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs) — "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."
θεότης (theotēs; BDAG 453) — This is the strongest possible Greek word for divine nature. Paul does not use θειότης (theiotēs, "divine quality, divine power" — used in Romans 1:20 for what is visible in creation), but θεότης — "deity itself, the fullness of Godhead." The distinction is important: theiotēs could refer to divine attributes; theotēs refers to the divine essence and being itself. All of God — not some portion, not a representation, not a manifestation — but all the fullness of the Godhead itself dwells in Jesus Christ.
σωματικῶς (sōmatikōs, "bodily") — The fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form — in the body of Jesus Christ. This is directed against the proto-Gnostic teaching Paul was combating, which claimed that divine fullness was distributed among multiple heavenly beings (plērōmata) and that the material body was a prison or an evil. Paul declares: No — the fullness of all divine being is concentrated in the single person of Jesus Christ, and it dwells there bodily — in real, material, human flesh.
F. F. Bruce [^53]: "Theotētos is the strongest possible word for the divine nature. Paul is not saying that Jesus possesses divine qualities — he is saying that the very Godhead, the entire plenitude of divine being, permanently resides in Christ. The present tense (katoikei, 'dwells') indicates this is not a temporary indwelling but a permanent one."
Titus 2:13 — Our Great God and Savior, Christ Jesus
"looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus"
The Granville Sharp Rule
This verse is one of the clearest proofs of Christ's full deity in the NT, and its interpretation depends on understanding the Granville Sharp Rule of Greek grammar. In Greek, when two nouns (both personal, singular, non-proper nouns) are connected by καί (kai, "and") and the article τοῦ (tou) precedes only the first noun — both nouns refer to the same person.
τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (tou megalou theou kai sōtēros hēmōn Christou Iēsou, "our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus") — The one article tou governs both theou (God) and sōtēros (Savior), and both are qualified by Christou Iēsou (Christ Jesus). By Granville Sharp's Rule, "great God" and "Savior" refer to the same person — Jesus Christ. The verse is not speaking of two persons (God the Father and Christ as Savior) but of one person (Christ Jesus, who is both our great God and our Savior).
σωτῆρος (sōtēros; BDAG 985) — "Savior." In the OT, יָשַׁע (yāšaʿ, "to save"; BDB 446; HALOT 448) and the title מוֹשִׁיעַ (môšîaʿ, "Savior") are attributes exclusively of YHWH: Isaiah 43:11: "I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me." Hosea 13:4: "Yet I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me." The NT applies this divine title to Jesus Christ — confirming His identity as YHWH.
Philip Towner [^54]: "The Granville Sharp Rule, applied to this verse, makes it grammatically impossible to separate 'great God' from 'Savior' as referring to two different persons. Both titles apply to Christ Jesus. This is one of the most explicit direct ascriptions of the title 'God' to Christ in the Pauline corpus."
Hebrews 1:1–14 — Greater Than Angels; Addressed as God; Creator
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they..."
Verse 2 — Heir of All Things; Agent of Creation
δι' οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας (di' hou kai epoiēsen tous aiōnas, "through whom also He made the world") — ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας literally "made the ages/worlds" — the Son is the instrument of creation, through whom God made the entire cosmos. This echoes John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16.
Verse 3 — "Exact Representation of His Nature"
χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ (charaktēr tēs hypostaseōs autou, "exact representation of His nature") — χαρακτήρ (charaktēr; BDAG 1077), the engraved impress, the exact stamp, the perfect facsimile. In the ancient world, a charaktēr was the impression made by a seal — perfectly replicating every detail of the original. The Son is not merely similar to the Father — He is the perfect, exact impress of the Father's very substance (ὑπόστασις, hypostasis, "being, substance, nature"). As the seal and its impression share the same image, the Son and the Father share the same divine substance.
φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ (pherōn te ta panta tō rhēmati tēs dynameōs autou, "upholding all things by the word of His power") — The present participle pherōn ("upholding, bearing, sustaining") indicates ongoing action: the Son continuously sustains all of creation by His powerful word. This is the divine sustaining act — only God can keep the universe in existence by His spoken word.
Verses 8–12 — The Father Addresses the Son as God; Applies a YHWH Psalm to the Son
Hebrews 1:8–9 quotes Psalm 45:6–7: "But of the Son He says, 'YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM...'" — The Father addresses the Son as God (ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ θεός — "Your throne, O God"). This is the most direct statement in the NT of the Father calling the Son by the divine title.
Hebrews 1:10–12 quotes Psalm 102:25–27, originally addressed to YHWH: "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT..." — The author of Hebrews applies this psalm to the Son. Psalm 102 is a prayer to YHWH, the Creator and eternal sovereign. The inspired author of Hebrews applies it without qualification to Jesus — confirming that the Son is YHWH the Creator. This is one of the most explicit OT-to-Jesus divine identity transfers in the NT.
Verse 6 — The Worship of Angels Commanded
προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ (proskynesatōsan autō pantes angeloi theou, "let all the angels of God worship Him") — quoting Deuteronomy 32:43 (LXX) or Psalm 97:7, the Father commands all angels to worship the Son. Angels are forbidden to receive worship — they consistently refuse it (Revelation 22:8–9; Acts 10:25–26). Yet the Father commands angels to worship the Son. This can only be appropriate if the Son is God.
William Lane [^55]: "The command for the angels to worship the Son in Hebrews 1:6 is the most decisive statement of the Son's divine status in the chapter. Angels are not to be worshipped (Rev. 22:8-9); therefore, the Son who is to be worshipped by the angels is not an angel — He is God."
Hebrews 13:8 — Jesus Christ: The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐχθὲς καὶ σήμερον ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας — The unchanging, eternal nature of Jesus Christ is declared in the most direct terms. Immutability (unchangeableness) is a divine attribute exclusively — creatures change; God does not (Malachi 3:6: "For I, the LORD, do not change"; James 1:17: "the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow"). For Jesus to be "the same yesterday and today and forever" is to predicate of Him the divine attribute of immutability. He is the same in His divine nature across all of time — eternally consistent, eternally faithful, eternally God.
1 Timothy 3:16 — The Mystery of Godliness
"By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory."
Textual Note and Theological Content
The NASB 1995 renders v. 16 as "He who was revealed in the flesh" following the Greek ὅς (hos, "He who"), supported by Codex Alexandrinus and Ephraemi Rescriptus. Earlier Textus Receptus manuscripts read θεός (theos, "God") — hence the KJV rendering: "God was manifest in the flesh." The oldest manuscripts (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus) support ὅς (hos). Both readings are theologically consistent with the doctrine of Christ's deity: "He who was revealed in the flesh" refers unambiguously to Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate in the context of the entire letter. The substantive content — God revealed in flesh — is the same regardless of the textual variant.
ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί (ephanerōthē en sarki, "was revealed in the flesh") — φανερόω (phaneroō; BDAG 1048), "to reveal, to make visible, to manifest." The one who was revealed in flesh existed before being revealed — indicating pre-existence. The incarnation is a revelation of the pre-existent Son of God in human flesh. 1 John 1:2: "and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" — confirming that the one manifested in flesh was the eternal life who existed with the Father.
Philip Towner [^56]: "Whether one reads 'God' or 'He who,' the theological claim is identical: the divine figure — the eternal Christ — entered the realm of human flesh. This is the 'mystery of godliness' — the incomprehensible marvel that the transcendent God became a visible, tangible human being."
2 Peter 1:1 — Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ
"Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:"
Like Titus 2:13, this verse applies the Granville Sharp Rule: τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou theou hēmōn kai sōtēros Iēsou Christou, "our God and Savior, Jesus Christ") — One article governs both "God" and "Savior," and both refer to "Jesus Christ." This is the same rule as in Titus 2:13, and the grammatical conclusion is identical: Jesus Christ is explicitly called "our God and Savior" — not God's Savior, or a godly Savior, but "our God" in the fullest sense.
The combination of "God" and "Savior" also evokes the OT theme of YHWH as the exclusive Savior of Israel (Isaiah 43:3, 11; 45:21), which Peter now applies to Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:18–20 — This Is the True God and Eternal Life
"We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."
"This Is the True God"
οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος (houtos estin ho alēthinos theos kai zōē aiōnios, "This is the true God and eternal life") — The demonstrative pronoun οὗτος (houtos, "this") — "this one" — refers grammatically to the nearest antecedent, which is "His Son Jesus Christ" (v. 20). John explicitly calls Jesus "the true God" (ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεός — with the definite article, identifying Him as the genuine, actual God — not a god) and "eternal life" — recalling John 1:4 ("In Him was life") and John 14:6 ("I am the way, and the truth, and the life").
ἀληθινός (alēthinos; BDAG 43) — "genuine, real, true as opposed to counterfeit." Jesus is not merely a representation of God or a great revelation of God — He is the genuine, real God as opposed to the false gods and idols the world worships. John makes this point in explicit contrast to idolatry in the very next verse: "Little children, guard yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21) — meaning, hold fast to the true God, Jesus Christ, and reject all substitutes.
The Series
Part 6 of eight in the series Jesus is God: A Series on the Deity of Christ.
- Part 1 - The Case for the Deity of Christ - How Scripture Makes the Claim
- Part 2 - Messianic Prophecy and the Deity of Christ - Seven Old Testament Texts
- Part 3 - YHWH Texts Applied to Jesus - The Old Testament's Boldest Claim
- Part 4 - The Gospel of John and the Deity of Christ
- Part 5 - The Synoptic Gospels and Acts - Jesus Claims and Receives What Belongs to God
- Part 6 - The Epistles and the Deity of Christ (this post)
- Part 7 - Revelation and the Deity of Christ - Worship at the Throne
- Part 8 - Errors About the Deity of Christ - Arianism, Islam, Modalism, and More
The Climax of the Covenant, T&T Clark, 1991, p. 129 ↩︎
Author
Raised in a Christian home, I came to faith later in life. A family crisis in 2019 drove me to study Scripture deeply, and by 2021 I answered my calling to ministry and teaching God's Word.
