If you spend any time online, you\u2019ll meet people who confidently call themselves\u00a0Christians\u00a0and yet deny the\u00a0deity of Christ<\/a>. \u00a0They will insist they are followers of Jesus while rejecting the\u00a0triune nature of God, claiming Jesus is something less than God\u2014perhaps a special human, a high prophet, even a unique created being, but not God Himself. They\u2019ll even quote\u00a0Old Testament passages\u00a0about the oneness of God to argue against the deity of Jesus.\n<\/p>\n But if you take\u00a0John 1\u00a0seriously, that position simply collapses.\n<\/p>\n As a\u00a0cold\u2011case detective, I learned that you rarely get one \u201csmoking gun.\u201d Instead, you develop cases on the principle of \u201cdeath by a thousand paper cuts.\u201d\u00a0A thousand small but consistent lines of evidence that point repeatedly to the same reasonable conclusion. That\u2019s what John 1 does with the\u00a0deity of Christ. It quietly, relentlessly divides reality into pairs\u2014creator and created, light and darkness, life\u2011giver and life\u2011receiver, already\u2011is and will\u2011become\u2014and keeps putting Jesus on the God side of each pairing.\n<\/p>\n Right out of the gate we read,\u00a0\u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d\u00a0John reaches for a term familiar to both\u00a0Greek and Jewish audiences. For Greeks, the\u00a0Logos\u00a0was the rational principle, the underlying order of the cosmos, the pattern on which everything else rests. For Jews, the\u00a0Word of the Lord\u00a0was God\u2019s\u00a0active, personal self\u2011expression\u2014His creative, commanding, revealing, saving power in passages like\u00a0Genesis 1\u00a0and\u00a0Isaiah 55, and in all those places where \u201cthe word of the Lord came\u201d to the prophets. When John calls Jesus\u00a0the Word, both groups would have understood that he was not talking about a mere man. He was pointing to the\u00a0foundational, causal, creative, revealing power of God Himself, now identified with a concrete person.\n<\/p>\n John immediately introduces what looks like a dilemma unless you embrace the\u00a0Trinity<\/a>. The Word is\u00a0with God\u00a0and yet\u00a0was God. He is clearly\u00a0not the Father, yet He is everything that God is. Those two truths\u2014\u201cwith\u201d and \u201cwas\u201d\u2014are not a problem if\u00a0one divine essence\u00a0is shared by\u00a0three distinct persons. That\u2019s why the\u00a0Trinitarian formulation\u00a0arose so early: it wasn\u2019t an arbitrary philosophical invention; it solved a tension created by the\u00a0biblical text itself. Then John raises the stakes:\u00a0\u201cThrough Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.\u201d\u00a0Now divide all reality into two categories:\u00a0the uncreated Creator\u00a0and\u00a0everything that has been made<\/a>. There is no third category of \u201csemi\u2011divine, super\u2011creature.\u201d Jesus cannot be in the \u201cmade\u201d group if\u00a0everything that was made was made through Him. That places Him firmly in the\u00a0uncreated category, which belongs to\u00a0God alone.<\/p>\n John goes further:\u00a0\u201cIn Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.\u201d\u00a0In the\u00a0Old Testament, there is only one ultimate source of\u00a0life and light, and that is\u00a0God<\/a>. Life is not something God borrows; He is life and gives it. Light is not a generic metaphor; it\u2019s a\u00a0God\u2011term\u00a0used for His presence, His revelation, His salvation, His glory. When John says\u00a0life is in Jesus in that same way, and that He is the\u00a0light that shines in the darkness\u2014a light the darkness cannot overcome\u2014he is stepping directly into the language that was used for\u00a0Yahweh.\n<\/p>\n John carefully contrasts Jesus with\u00a0John the Baptist. John the Baptist is simply called\u00a0\u201ca man sent from God.\u201d\u00a0That phrase could have been used for Jesus, but it isn\u2019t. John the Baptist is a\u00a0witness, a role that in the Old Testament is typically reserved for those who testify about\u00a0God\u2019s saving action and covenant faithfulness. He is not the light; he comes\u00a0only\u00a0to bear witness to the light. That sharp distinction tells the reader that Jesus is\u00a0not in the \u201cmere man\u201d category, even while John still speaks of Him as entering the world.\n<\/p>\n Then comes another dividing line:\u00a0\u201cHe was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.\u201d\u00a0The\u00a0Maker of the cosmos\u00a0walks into His own creation and goes unrecognized. He even comes to\u00a0His own people, and they do not receive Him. Their rejection doesn\u2019t undermine His deity; it exposes\u00a0human nature\u2014our expectations, pride, and hardened hearts. We often come to cases with\u00a0pre\u2011existing biases. Many in the first century wanted a\u00a0political liberator, a\u00a0military Messiah, not a\u00a0suffering, crucified one\u00a0from\u00a0Nazareth. That mismatch between expectation and reality blinded them to the One standing in front of them.\n<\/p>\n Finally, John says that to those who\u00a0believe in His name, Jesus\u00a0\u201cgave the right to become children of God.\u201d\u00a0That kind of authority\u2014granting the right to become God\u2019s children, causing people to be\u00a0\u201cborn of God\u201d\u00a0rather than of blood or human will\u2014is a\u00a0divine prerogative. In the Old Testament it is\u00a0God Himself\u00a0who claims to be the Father of His people, the One who adopts and names them. John 1 credits\u00a0Jesus\u00a0with exercising that role.\n<\/p>\n If you\u2019re still trying to hold on to a\u00a0\u201cjust a prophet\u201d Jesus<\/a>, John 1 won\u2019t let you. Verse by verse, it forces you to choose:\u00a0Is Jesus on the side of the Creator or the created<\/a>? The Giver of life and light, or merely a receiver? The One who already is, or one who merely becomes?\u00a0Once you follow John\u2019s reasoning, the \u201cjust a prophet\u201d option simply isn\u2019t on the table anymore.\n<\/p>\n To learn more about the evidence for Jesus\u2019 deity in John Chapter 1, please listen to our podcast:<\/p>\n
\nThe Word is with God and yet was God. He is clearly not the Father, yet He is everything that God is. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/coldcasechristianity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Academy-Center-Ad.jpg\"\/)
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