Does the Bible say that Jesus is God?

  • Page under construction

    Obviously, this page is under construction and serves mostly as a placeholder for now.

“Yes, after all…
“No, after all…
  • Philippians 2 - “He did not grasp equality with God”

    It says in Philippians 2 -- “[Jesus], although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. [New World Translation (2013), for Jehovah's Witnesses].

    But so what? Couldn't it simply be referring to Jesus's not grasping at God's higher rank.1

    1. Contra the unstated assumption of the JW field booklet Reasoning from the Scriptures [Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, (1985, 1989), 419], the Philippians were not attempting to seize at a higher ontological nature; they were equally human, and simply fighting over who does/should rank higher in the community of those with equal human nature. This is relevant because, contextually, Paul is using Jesus's relationship to the Father as an example of the attitude he is encouraging (v5). This entails that Jesus and God are equal “in form” (or ontological nature) as the Philippians were equal in nature, but they are unequal in rank:

      John 12:49 -- I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say (cf. Jn 14:28, 31).

      In short, unlike the Philippians, Jesus lacks the “contentiousness” (v3), “grumbling” (v14) and “selfish ambition” (v3) that the disunified Philippians displayed. Jesus consequently had equal divine nature but did not fight to have the Father's rank.