A Healthy Search

To follow the argument that Jesus got his deity from the One God to its logical conclusion, we must eventually ask ourselves the question: “What made Jesus God in the first place?” It’s not just curiosity, but a healthy search for answers to a Christian's deepest questions that leads someone to ask this.

And we’re lucky because others have inquired about this before us. We can build on their arguments. The participants of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea debated this issue. They ended up ostracizing a famous preacher named Arius and four of his followers for insisting that Jesus was created by God.

Arius taught that there was a time when Jesus did not exist. His famous expression was "there was a time when the Son was not." Although we saw in the Gospel of John chapter 1 and the Epistle of 1 John that Jesus was with God in the Beginning (meaning: at Creation), it's hard to find a Bible passage that says that Jesus existed with God from all eternity.

But you will not find a Scripture passage that states that Jesus was created either. So Arius was out of place to teach that there was a time when Jesus did not exist. He went outside his bounds. But that doesn’t justify the contrary position of the Trinitarians either. Their comeback to Arius was to call Jesus “co-equal and co-eternal” with the Father. There’s no Biblical support for that position either.

A continued search of the Scriptures and healthy debate will be good for all of us. There’s nothing blasphemous about searching the origins of Jesus’ deity. It should not be a prohibited topic—an issue restricted by threats. If the Church leaders could debate about it at Nicaea, then why can't we debate it today?

Wood on the Fire

We refuse to be afraid of entering into this debate with either Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evangelicals, or Protestants, but there’s no need to throw wood on the fire of controversy and to generate division unless such a debate will maintain fundamental doctrine.

Why did Arius and his followers make such a big deal about an issue that’s very difficult to find in the Scriptures anyways? Was it really worth arguing over? What was their goal in pursuing the argument? They seem to have been trying to defend the Father’s preeminence and sovereignty (something Calvinists are also very zealous to do)—but they went too far.

We know that Jesus was called “the Word,” but what his nature was before God gave him a divine nature (what his nature was before the Foundation of the World) is not anywhere laid out for us. It is not presented in the Bible as a foundational matter of doctrine. It’s something we will get understanding about in the Kingdom, after we're resurrected, but not now.

In All Things, Charity

Be sure to note that Jesus’ human nature, the incarnation, is a foundational doctrine. The fact that his nature at the incarnation was the same as ours, that he came in the flesh, must be guarded with the utmost zeal. Fight for that truth with boldness.

Yet the nature of the Word (Jesus) before he got his equality with God in Eternity Past is not part of what determines the Christian body of Truth. It's not part of the Faith; therefore, it is not an issue over which there should be division in the Church.

Differences of opinion on Jesus' nature before God gave him equality with him should not be a cause for disfellowship or excommunication. During the 4th c. AD, Arius and his followers were ostracized twice for denying the divine nature of Christ in Eternity Past. Now, that sounds like they must have been horrible people.

However, the founder of Trinitarianism, Athanasius, was exiled 5 times! That's 3 more than Arius. And that’s not counting the 6 times Athanasius had to flee Alexandria to escape from those who wanted him kicked out of the Church!

The issue remains a matter of discussion and debate today. But where are the debates? One of the biggest problems in the Church today is that people don't even have forums for discussion. There are no places where we can sort out the finer points of Christian theology. Few people even take Bible study seriously. Most simply follow the popular teachings of the day and treat their churches like a social club.

If there are discussions, we would hope that they might be carried out in a spirit of brotherly love. So far, there has been hostility, but there is a famous Church expression which should guide us:

In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.

Inquisitive and Bold

If just asking the question “What makes Jesus God?” produces a backlash of persecution, disfellowship, and rejection, causing an inquisitive person to be excommunicated and deemed a heretic, then nobody will ask the question. But although that spiritual climate existed in the Church during the Dark Ages, it doesn’t need to exist today. We can overcome it through love.

So, let's ask the question again. There is a real dilemma before us: We know that there is One God, and we know that Jesus is not that One God. However, we also know that Jesus is God. So, there's an obvious question we have to ask: What makes Jesus God?

Many will say that just bringing up the issue of Christ’s origins is divisive. But is merely proposing a question divisive? Merely reflecting on an issue is disruptive?

Must we pretend to be 100% positive that the question was put to rest in Nicaea back in 325 AD? Was the issue (in fact) settled? Catholics and Protestants will tell you that Arius and his followers were “defeated” when the Bishop Nicolas struck him on the face, but the victory was given to people who were no better than him!

Reclaiming History

We wonder whether that Council ever operated in a spirit of love. Did they demonstrate love of the Truth and love for one another? Why not, instead of disputing over non-essentials, recognize that there is a grey area in the revelation of the times prior to the Creation?

God provides us clear revelation about the time after Creation, but he discloses very little about the time prior to it. Is it anathema to ponder what happened during those times? Does curiosity kill the proverbial cat?

We wonder: Could it be that what happened in Nicaea wasn’t more political than spiritual? Were people from both sides of the debate treated fairly? Was there brotherly love? We cannot go back in time, so if there wasn’t, let there be brotherly love today. Let the issue be investigated by sincere believers all over again. What do we have to lose?

If you discuss tough topics like this, the only thing you'll lose is fear!

We’ll ask the fundamental question the Nicaean fathers asked. We’ll disregard any backlash. We’ve decided to free ourselves from fear, be confident in love, and be healthy in mind. We ask again: What makes Jesus God?

Is the answer so difficult? No. Rather, we can answer with an answer many gave in the fourth century: What makes Jesus God is certainly not the same thing that makes God God.

Nothing makes God God. The Father is and always has been completely self-sufficient. God—the One God—is completely independent. Can we at least agree upon that? Can that be our starting point in the debate? Sure it can! It’s logical, it’s Biblical, and it’s common sense.

It’s not fanatical, radical, or irrational to say “nothing makes the Father divine.” When we say it, we’re upholding a Christian argument that was well established from the start. We’re reclaiming Christian history.

Jesus Was Brought Forth

According to the Scriptures, Jesus received his divine nature from God. Unlike the One God who is the source of all glory, life, authority, and divine power, Jesus was brought forth (Proverbs 8:24) by God. Other translations say that he was given birth (NIV) or born (NLT) of God before the Creation.

And the next Bible passage says so much. It's the voice of Jesus telling us what he was and what he did before the Creation event.

The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I have been established from Everlasting, from the Beginning, before there was ever an Earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth.

When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet he had not made the Earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the World (Proverbs 8:22-26; NKJV).

When he [God] prepared the heavens, I was there.

When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when we strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the Earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman.

And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited World (Proverbs 8:27-31; NKJV).

And let's look at another passage, one that predicted Christ’s birth. You’ll find it in the New Testament in Matthew 2:5 but it first appears in the Old Testament. It’s a magnificent revelation of the times that took place before the Creation of the Universe.

Here it is, a verse which gives us insights into Eternity Past:

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will come forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the Days of Eternity (Micah 5:2; NASB)

His times of coming forth? That sounds a lot like Proverbs which spoke of how Jesus was brought forth, doesn’t it? But, to understand what a coming forth means, we first need to understand what the Days of Eternity are. What are those days?

These Days of Eternity could only be the times that existed before Creation—the epoch that took place before the so-called “Beginning.”

So now we know that if the Scriptures highlight that ‘in the Beginning the Word was with the One God,’ we're only looking back 6,000 years ago. That is, John’s Prologue only invites us to contemplate what Jesus was up to 6 millennia ago. But what was he doing 6,500 years ago, or 7,000 years ago, or 700,000 years ago? That's what Micah is talking about.

When the prophet Micah mentions the Days of Eternity we are forced to contemplate a foregone era long forgotten. We are obligated to meditate on time--and a different period in the past, a distinct era of history. We must envision the dimension that precedes the current time-place spectrum we’re familiar with--call it "time immemorial."

Questions and Answers

So, what have we learned so far?

1. We don’t need to ask the question “Was Jesus created?” because it’s not a question the Bible contemplates.

We believe that Jesus is Alpha in Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13), the Beginning and the End, and see nothing about him being created. That idea is not entertained in the Scriptures. What we do know is that Jesus is the Word and that his goings forth are from the Days of Eternity (Micah 5:2).

2. We don’t need to ask who gave Jesus the divine nature because we know that power, authority, and glory have only one source: God. The One True God, the Father (with whom Jesus was in the Beginning) brought Jesus forth, and anointed him.

3. That the only real question is “What made Jesus God?”

And for that question we have an answer, a very sure answer. Can you handle it?

Love is the Answer

The answer to the question “What made Jesus God?” is love. God loved him. Love made Jesus God—but not just any love. It was fatherly love because it was the love of the Father.

Wow! That answer, love—if contemplated well—should be enough to silence all arguments, halt all debates, and squelch all church rivalries. The response “love” should be enough to muzzle the quarrelsome, whining, contradictory heretics. But it will only silence them, and give us the confidence we need to face them, if we truly contemplate love well.

We’ve got to stand back, behold, and be in awe of the great love of God! Let’s stop bickering and open our eyes to behold this Truth. It is the only truth that actually can produce unity. Love builds people up. With our trust in the One God who is love, we will overcome all lies, evil, and sin.

The God Who is Love

When our worship is focused on One God, it brings us together as human beings. It unites us as God’s children. The worship of God produces unity. It places us under the banner of his love.

His banner over me is love (Song of Solomon 2:4)

God is the source of all life. To know him is to know love—because God is love (1 John 4:8). God loved Jesus, and he loves us. Remember that!

Jesus said to God in prayer:

… you loved me before the Creation of the World (John 17:24).

And John reminds us:

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we might be called sons of God (1 John 3:1).

God loved Jesus, and God loves us. But do you know what that love is like? If it’s the same love that God has for Jesus, then do you understand what kind of love God has for Jesus? It’s too bad if you don’t understand it, but even if you don’t understand what God’s love for Jesus is like, Jesus is praying that you get it.

Jesus prays that the same love God has for him might be in us.

The Lord Jesus lifted up these words to our Father:

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them (John 17:26).