Is Jesus really God?

[amadeus2]

There is the Christ of the gospels; and there is the false Jesus of personal faith.

The former has come and is still present with the "real proof" of his divine identity and absolute authority, as Almighty God in person, a.k.a., "I Am Who I Am", in the kind of death he suffered. Open to detailed verification, what we have is "the first and the last" death of its kind or "Alpha and Omega" characterized as Spirit-active, perfect and transfigurative complete with the diacritical mark of baptism with the Holy Spirit.

With no independently verifiable credentials whatsoever, the latter is very popular but unreliable.

All comments are welcome!

And does not Jesus come to us by personal faith toward God? Isn't that where it begins?

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb 11:6

As to "real proof" the proof is where Jesus put it: in the open hungry hearts of men. Remember when they asked Jesus for a sign?

"But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:" Matt 12:39

We may indeed have proof within us that is acceptable to a hungry soul, but it will never be enough for someone who is not seeking truth.

 

[EphremHagos]

On the contrary, Jesus never came to anybody by ill-defined "personal faith toward God." He did not and he could not have!

We can see Jesus, from the very beginning, actually rejecting so-called "personal faith toward God" based either on hearsay (even of Jesus' own words) or on seeing of miracles performed by Jesus.

In the first, Nathanael's confession of faith, "You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel", was rejected outright as questionable and substituted with a greater promise. (John 1: 47-51)

In the second, Nicodemus' compliments were found to be very short of the minimum requirements for knowledge of Jesus Christ, a.k.a., being "born spiritually of the Spirit", to be made possible no earlier than Christ's death on the cross. (Ibid, 3: 1-15)

That is why the answer to the question, "Is Jesus really God?", can only be found in, as stated earlier, in his Spirit-active, perfect and transfigurative death complete with the diacritical mark of baptism about which Moses and Elijah testified in person. (Matt. 17: 1-13; Luke 9: 28-36)

And does not Jesus come to us by personal faith toward God? Isn't that where it begins?

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb 11:6

As to "real proof" the proof is where Jesus put it: in the open hungry hearts of men. Remember when they asked Jesus for a sign?

"But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:" Matt 12:39

We may indeed have proof within us that is acceptable to a hungry soul, but it will never be enough for someone who is not seeking truth.

 

[EphremHagos]

What a fantastic contrast between the queen of the south and this generation! I almost missed it. Thanks for the great reminder.

I now know why on Judgement Day the Queen of the south shall stand up and accuse us for doing little or nothing to know Jesus Christ and also learn from him .

Yes, as Jesus put it:

"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." Matt 12:42

And also

"Verily verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." John 14:12