Question: How can Jesus be both God and God’s Son? Is Jesus God? Does the Bible explain this?
Answer: The Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – has always been a mystery to human minds. On earth, we don’t have a being who is like this, so people have tried to explain it and have prompted misunderstandings. Christians don’t worship 3 gods but one God shown in 3 distinct persons or entities. Each has a purpose and a role. Let’s look at what the Bible tells us.
We can trust the words of Jesus, who said He was equal and one with God the Father. In the last book of the Bible, Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
During His earthly ministry, Jesus taught that baptism should be in the One name of God but in all 3 equal persons: “…baptizing them the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
When the Comforter (Holy Spirit) comes, whom I (Jesus) will send from the Father, He will testify of me. John 15:26
In the Old Testament, also, Jesus is shown to be one of the 3 parts of God, who are sometimes referred to as the Tri-Unity: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God, and His Spirit, have sent me. Isaiah 48:16
Do you realize that the Trinity was also present during the creation of the world? (Notice the mention of Jesus as “light” in these passages. Jesus also called Himself “light” and “life” in John 8:12, 14:6.)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:1/2
In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), 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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1: 1-5
The Trinity is sometimes compared to other 3-fold manifestations in the nature of God’s creation. For instance, in the concept of time, there is the past, present, and future. Is one more important that the other? It takes all 3 to be defined as time, as we understand it. A mathematician once described the Trinity as not 1+1+1 = 3 but rather as 1x1x1 = 1. Now, that’s putting the concept into terms that are easier to understand! Each part is equal to the others.
He who has seen me has seen the Father… Jesus in John 14:9-11
