Who is Jesus Christ and is He God?

Few questions, if any, carry greater implications than these: Who is Jesus Christ, and is He God?

The answer changes everything. So let’s look at Jesus of Nazareth: what He said, what He did, and what Scripture reveals about who He truly is.

Last updated September 9, 2026. Originally published July 31, 2018.

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus Christ, and is he really the Messiah? Some say he’s a great teacher, calling him Rabbi, and some consider him a great philosopher. Others will give just a little bit more and say that he’s a prophet.

And then there are people who say he’s a lunatic, responsible for the greatest and largest hoax in all of human history, having tricked masses of people across a few thousand years into some religion.

Here’s what the writer C.S. Lewis said:

What Jesus does leave open to you though, is the question of who you say he is. That choice carries eternal consequences for you, for me, and for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived or ever will live.

And when you encounter the risen Christ Jesus, you will discover that those who truly know who he is, even the demons, recognize him as Messiah, the one and only Son of God.

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” James 2:19

What is “Christology?”

“Christology” is the term we use for the study of Jesus Christ: who he is, what he has done, and what Scripture teaches us about him.

In other words, it’s how we answer the question, Who is Jesus? It’s also what people mean when they say the Doctrine of Jesus Christ.

And if I, or anyone else for that matter, am going to tell you that eternal life is found in Jesus, and that rejecting him carries eternal consequences, then I have some work to do, don’t I?

I had better be able to show you why I believe that.

That means looking carefully at what Scripture actually says about Jesus. But it also means taking seriously the significant historical evidence, the objections people have raised, and the competing claims that have been made against Jesus.

And I am prepared to do that.

What Does the “2 Natures of Jesus” Mean?

Fully God and Fully Man

One of the most important truths that we can understand about Jesus Christ is that he is fully God and fully man at the same time.

This is called the hypostatic union. It means that in the one person of Jesus Christ there are 2 distinct natures at exactly the same time: divine and human.

Jesus did not become half God and half man. He did not stop being God when he became human. And he does not switch back and forth between his divine and human natures.

He is truly God and truly man at the same time.

When you begin to think about what that means, it’s difficult to not stand in awe of it. The eternal Son of God took on a real human nature without ceasing even for one moment to be who he eternally is.

That matters enormously.

If Jesus were not truly human, He could not truly stand in our place. He could not live the human life we have failed to live or die a genuinely human death on our behalf.

And if He were not truly God, then He would not be the divine Savior Scripture declares Him to be.

Our salvation depends upon Jesus being exactly who Scripture says He is: fully God and fully man.

Let’s look more closely at both of these natures and why they matter.

The Humanity of Jesus Christ

The truth that Jesus Christ is fully man is desperately important to understand who he truly is. He didn’t just look human, he entered fully into human life.

He knew hunger, exhaustion, grief, pain, frustration, temptation, rejection, and suffering. He experienced the weakness that comes with being human, yet He did so without sin.

That means when Scripture tells you to bring your fear, sorrow, temptation, and weakness to Christ, you are not bringing them to someone who is distant from human experience.

He knows what it is to suffer. He knows what it is to be tempted. He knows what it is to grieve.

He can do more than sympathize with us. He can stand in our place. Without his humanity, he could not truly represent us.

The flip side, of course, is that without his deity, he could not save us. And that is the wonder of Christ: fully God and fully man.

The Deity of Jesus Christ: He is God

Have you ever heard the word incarnation?

You won’t see this word anywhere in Scripture, but it’s important to understand it because it’s something Scripture teaches very clearly: the eternal Son of God became truly human without ever ceasing to be God.

In his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem explains that the word incarnate comes from Latin and means, essentially, “to make flesh.” It’s the word Christians have used for centuries to describe Christ as God in human flesh.

“The word incarnate comes from Latin incanāre, which means “to make flesh.” The Latin prefix in- means “to cause something to be something,” and the Latin word caro means “flesh,” thus, we use the word incarnate to refer to Christ as God in human flesh.” (Grudem, page 543).

Jesus didn’t simply possess a human body, and he didn’t become “like man.” He didn’t appear human and he was not an ordinary man who somehow became divine.

The eternal Son of God became man.

And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

The one John calls “the Word” did not begin his existence in Bethlehem. He already was, and then he became flesh.

That’s the incarnation explained in Scripture.

And if we are going to say that Jesus Christ is truly God, we should be able to show why from Scripture.

Let’s do that now.

Christ in the Beginning

If you’ve stayed with me this far, now we get to one of the most important questions of all:

Did Jesus begin in Bethlehem?

Scripture’s answer is no. Jesus was truly human, just as we are, but with one enormous distinction: he is eternal and without sin because he is God.

In Johns Gospel, we see that Jesus speaks about returning to the place where he was before:

Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? John 6:62

Jesus existed before his earthly life, and the New Testament repeatedly points us back into the Old Testament to show us that. John does this in a remarkable way when he quotes Isaiah and then says,

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him. John 12:41

John is speaking about Jesus. That means when Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, John understood that glory to be the glory of Christ.

And we can go back even farther. All the way to creation.

John opens his Gospel with words that deliberately take us back to Genesis:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3

John could hardly make the point more clearly.

The Word already was in the beginning.

The Word was with God.

The Word was God.

And everything that exists was made through Him. So Jesus was not just present at creation. He was active in creation.

Paul says the same thing another way:

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16

Scripture also calls Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God” in 1 Corinthians 1:24. That shows us that God’s wisdom is perfectly revealed in Christ.

Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem. He was there before creation began, and when creation began, He was already there.

Who Does the Bible Say Jesus Is?

The New Testament Directly Calls Jesus God

If we want to know who Jesus is, there is no better place to begin than Scripture itself. The Gospels show us His life, His words, His works, and His character. And the rest of the New Testament helps us understand what those things mean.

One of the clearest pieces of evidence is that the New Testament directly refers to Jesus as God, using the Greek word theos.

There are several passages where this happens plainly, and others where the grammar or manuscript evidence requires a little more care. Let’s look at the strongest ones.

1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

John identifies Jesus as the Word, the Logos, and then says plainly, “the Word was God.” He also distinguishes the Word from the Father by saying the Word was “with God.” John is not confusing the Father and the Son. He is telling us that the Word is distinct from God the Father and yet fully shares the divine nature.

2. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:18

John 1:18 has an important manuscript variation. Some translations read “the only begotten Son,” while others read “the only God” or “the one and only Son, who is himself God.” Either way, John’s point is clear: Jesus uniquely reveals the Father because of who He is and His unique relationship with Him.

3. “Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:28

Thomas responds directly to Jesus: “My Lord and my God.” This is a profound declaration by Thomas. Jesus does not correct him or reject the confession. Instead, He responds to Thomas’s faith. John presents this confession near the end of his Gospel for a reason.

4. “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 9:5

In the most natural reading of the text, Paul describes Christ as “God over all, blessed forever.” Most modern translations reflect that understanding.

5. “…looking forward to the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13

Paul speaks of “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The Greek construction naturally refers both titles, God and Savior, to the same person: Jesus Christ.

6. “But of the Son he says,“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” Hebrews 1:8

This verse quotes Psalm 45:6, declaring the deity and eternal nature of God, using the word Theos. Hebrews applies it directly to Christ and addresses him as God.

7. “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…” 2 Peter 1:1

Peter also declares the deity of Christ when he begins his second epistle saying, “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The text points to one person receiving both titles: Jesus is both God and Savior.

Jesus Receives the Names and Titles of God

Jesus is also repeatedly called Lord, kyrios, throughout the New Testament. This title can mean “master” or “sir,” depending on the context. But it carries much greater weight when New Testament writers apply Old Testament passages about YHWH directly to Jesus. The Greek Old Testament regularly uses kyrios to represent the divine name.

Jesus also uses extraordinary language about himself in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He does not merely say that he existed before Abraham. His wording echoes the divine self-identification found in the Old Testament, and his hearers respond by picking up stones.

Jesus Does What Scripture Says God Does

His actions also reveal who He is. When Jesus commands the wind and sea and they obey Him, the disciples ask, “What sort of man is this?” The Old Testament repeatedly portrays God Himself as the One who rules the sea and stills the storm (Psalm 107:23-30).

He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 107:29

Near the end of Revelation, Jesus declares,

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Revelation 22:13

These are divine titles. Revelation uses this same kind of language for God Himself. John is not saying that Jesus is the Father. He is showing that the Son shares the divine identity and glory of God.

The case for Christ’s deity does not depend on one word or one isolated verse that scholars and skeptics argue over. The New Testament calls Him God, gives Him divine titles, attributes God’s works to Him, and gives Him the honor that belongs to God.

The Doctrine of Christ

This is what Scripture reveals about Jesus Christ. And you should examine it.

Pick it apart. Ask hard questions. Follow the passages. Look at the evidence yourself. I hope that you do.

Jesus is not threatened by our questions. But none of us can afford to be careless with the answer.

And after everything we have looked at, Romans 10 brings us to the question that matters most. Paul writes,

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

That sentence comes from Joel 2:32, where the promise is made concerning the LORD. Yet Paul applies that promise in a passage centered on confessing Jesus as Lord.

That is an extraordinarily high claim about who Jesus is.

But Christology is not about getting the doctrine right. It brings us face-to-face with a person.

Knowing Christ

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then eventually all of these questions will become very personal.

Who do you say he is?

This is the most important question you’ll ever ask because it comes with an eternal outcome.

Or, you can study his claims, wrestle with the evidence, and ask the hard questions.

But you cannot remain forever at a safe academic distance from Jesus. Scripture calls us to trust Him.

To turn from our sin and place our faith in the One who died and rose again for us. To confess Jesus as Lord and entrust ourselves to Him.

Paul writes earlier in the same chapter,

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

If God has already given his Son for you, you can trust him with everything necessary to finish the work of salvation he has begun.

That is the hope of the gospel. Jesus Christ is not someone to understand.

He is the Lord to whom we respond.

So now the question comes back to you: Who is Jesus Christ?