Is Jesus God?
Jeremiah McCarthy- January 25th, 2026
What a crazy question. First of all, let’s recognize that no other individual in human history has seriously warranted this question. None of my friends are Googling, “Is Abraham Lincoln God?” and I personally have never asked ChatGPT, “Is Confucius God?” or “Is Alexander the Great God?” The fact that the question, “Is Jesus God?” is sincerely asked in the 21st century tells us something from the jump: however influential or powerful other historical figures may have been, there was (or is) something unique about the man from Nazareth named Jesus.
What do we mean by “God”?
Many powerful and influential people throughout history have claimed some kind of god-like status for themselves or had god-like status attributed to them by others. But not everyone uses “god” language in the same way. So if we are going to answer the question, “Is Jesus God?” we first need to get on the same page about what we mean by the term “god”.
A goofy example of how some people use the term “god” is found in sports. Certain NBA fans casually refer to Michael Jordan as a basketball “god”. What does “god” mean in this context? Surely these people don’t mean that Michael Jordan is the all-knowing, all-powerful being who created the universe out of nothing. Instead, they mean something like, “Michael Jordan was so good at basketball that he holds unparalleled and uncontested influence over the game of basketball.” Whether they’re correct is a different debate entirely!
Another relevant example comes from ancient civilizations. Many ancient people, and even some modern people, viewed their supreme leader as a “god” or a “son of God”. These titles were used in various ways, but in general, they expressed the belief that their leader was not merely human. The “god” or “son of God” had a special connection to divine realities and held enormous power over the natural world. These ruler “gods”, however, were always only one “god” among many “gods”. At some point, they came into existence through the power of a being or force greater than themselves. They were not considered to truly be the Highest Power - the one and only uncreated Creator of all others.
When we ask the question, “Is Jesus God?” we are not asking the question, “Is Jesus a god?” We are not just asking if he was more than human, if he had some kind of special connection to the divine, or if he was enormously powerful. We are not even asking if he was really good at basketball. When we ask the question, “Is Jesus God?” we are asking if he was created or if he is the Creator. We are asking if he was brought into existence by a power greater than himself or if he has existed eternally by his own power. We are not asking if he is a “god”, but if he is the one and only capital-G “God”. If by “God” we mean the one and only uncreated, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, self-existent Creator of all things, can we truly say that Jesus is God?
Who was the man from Nazareth named Jesus?
Now that we’ve clarified what we mean by “God”, we can explore whether that term can be applied to the man from Nazareth named Jesus. The oldest and most reliable records of Jesus’s life, known as the four Gospels, record that the man Jesus was born in real space-time human history. In the early first century AD, a baby boy was born in Bethlehem (look it up on Google Maps), and his parents named him Jesus. This little boy grew physically, learned things cognitively, went through puberty, and worked a job as a carpenter until he was about thirty years old. This all seems very human and not very God-like.
Yet, there are a few crucial facts to consider before concluding that Jesus was only human.
First, the New Testament writings and Christians throughout history affirm that he was conceived by a young lady named Mary, who was a virgin. If you know anything about human reproduction, you know that virgins do not get pregnant. Jesus did not have a biological father. If the virgin-birth of Jesus is a historical fact and not a fairy tale, then we have to consider that something more-than-human was at work in Jesus’s conception and birth.
Second, around thirty years old, Jesus quit his carpentry job and began a roughly three-year-long expedition as a travelling preacher and teacher. This expedition involved a combination of outrageous claims about his identity and mind-boggling miracles which confirmed those claims. For example, in chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus told a crowd that he had authority to forgive people’s sins - a kind of authority which belongs to God alone (see Mark 2:7). He then verified this claim to possess divine authority by miraculously healing a paralyzed man in front of the whole crowd (Mark 2:10-12). This is one example out of dozens of instances where Jesus made outrageous claims to have the kind of power and authority which belongs to God alone, then verified those claims by demonstrations of that divine power and authority via unprecedented miracles. This claim to divine authority and this confirmation of that authority via miraculous displays of divine power culminated in Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. Jesus himself said, “I have authority to lay [my life] down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). Authority over life in death rests in God’s hands alone. Jesus claimed to have God’s own authority over life and death, then proved it by resurrecting from the dead.
Third, according to the Jewish scriptures, the eternal Creator God of the universe - who gave all of us our life and breath - is the only being worthy of our highest devotion, deepest trust, and wholehearted worship. Jesus knew the Jewish scriptures well, and during his life on earth he affirmed what they taught about worship when he quoted the Jewish scripture Deuteronomy 6:13-14: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (see Luke 4:8). Jesus knew that to give our deepest trust, highest devotion, and worship to someone or something other than God our Creator is idolatry.
But then something crazy happened. People began to give their highest devotion, deepest trust, and wholehearted worship to Jesus (e.g., Matthew 28:17). They gave him the honor and glory and trust and allegiance that Jesus said was reserved for God alone. But rather than rebuking these people and redirecting their attention to God, Jesus willingly accepted their worship and therefore affirmed that they were doing the right thing by worshiping him. This indicates that Jesus saw himself as equal with God. In fact, the Gospel of John tells us that “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18; cf. John 8:58-59).
Why does this matter?
There are too many implications to the claim that Jesus is truly man and truly God to cover in this one article, so I will focus on just one implication.
If Jesus was not truly God, then it is appropriate to dismiss him as a self-obsessed, delusional, and megalomaniacal cult-leader. Christians are therefore deceived and are giving their worship, their devotion, and their trust to a man who does not deserve it. However, if Jesus was and is truly God, then to dismiss him as self-obsessed, delusional, or a cult leader is to call God a liar, to reject God, and to fail to give God the trust, devotion, and worship that he is worthy of.
The stakes are high. If you believe in Jesus, you believe in God the Father who sent him. If you reject Jesus, you reject God the Father who sent him. If you love Jesus, you love God. If you don’t love Jesus, you don’t love God. Why? Because Jesus is truly God. However you respond to Jesus is how you respond to God. How will you respond to Jesus?
If you would like to discuss these ideas further, we here at Skyline Church in Denver would love to connect. If you would like to discuss this idea of Jesus being God, please let us know here!