Jesus Is God (The Gospel Of John)

The Gospel of John proclaims Jesus is God.  Throughout it is very strong on the deity of Christ.  We will look at a few verses from John's Gospel.  

(John 1:1-2) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God."  (ESV)  

"The Word" relates to the Old Testament in the sense that God spoke, he spoke things into existence.  He is a personal God.  "The Word" is also superior to the Greek concept of an impersonal force that orders the universe.  

The Word is Jesus.  He has existed eternally, has a personal relationship with God the Father, and Jesus is God.  We see that two different persons are referred to as God.  We begin to see the teaching of the Trinity.  There is one God in three persons. That is three persons of one essence (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).   The Jehovah's Witnesses translate the phrase as "was a god" instead of "was God".  But the context clearly shows that the correct translation is "was God".  

(John 1:3) "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."  (ESV) 

Jesus was not created, all things were made through him.  All that exists besides God was created.  Jesus is the Creator, therefore he is God.  

(John 1:18) "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."  (ESV) 

In this verse God is spoken of as two persons just as he was in John 1:1.  We see both the Father and the Son.  Some translations have "only Son" instead of "only God" but "only God" is found in the earliest manuscripts.  Jesus became man (see John 1:14), he has most fully revealed God to us.  Jesus is both fully God and fully man.  

(John 20:28) "Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"  (ESV) 

Thomas had doubted the resurrection of Christ but when Jesus appeared to him and showed him the marks in his hands and side he proclaimed, "My Lord and my God!"  Jesus accepts being called Lord and God because that is who he is.  This verse is one of the strongest affirmations of the deity of Christ in the New Testament.  Some cults who deny the deity of Christ have tried to say it was just a statement of astonishment by Thomas.  Basically saying that Thomas was taking the name of the Lord in vain.  But this interpretation is of course nonsense.  John's purpose in writing the book is that others will proclaim Jesus is their Lord and God.  

(John 20:31) "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."  (ESV)