There is a question in the minds of non Christians and also in the minds of many Christians about the true identity of Jesus. If we go according to the Bible, Jesus is the son of God, and he took birth as a human being for the liberation of mankind and to show them the right way to salvation. However, there is no dearth of Christians and non Christians who believe that Jesus is himself the God and that God and Jesus are one and the same thing. There are also those who counter this view saying that, if Jesus is himself God, who was he crying to when being tortured on the Holy Cross? If Jesus is God himself, was he talking to himself? These are questions that are hard to answer, but attempted in this article, to see if indeed there are any differences between Jesus and God.
There is one God, and the mediator between God and men being the man called Jesus Christ. This said as in Tim 2.5. This explains that there can be only one God, and if this is true, it is impossible for Jesus to be God. Because if Jesus is God, and his Father is also God, then there are two Gods, which is meaningless even to hear or think. God the Father is the only God and Jesus is the son of the God according to the Bible. Of course, Jesus, as the son of the God, happens to be the mediator between the God and mankind. This sentence alone is enough to reflect or imply the difference between the God and Jesus. It has to be understood that the mediator between a sinful man and a sinless God cannot be the sinless God himself but rather a sinless man; that man happens to be our savior, the Jesus, the son of the God who took birth as a human being with the Holy Spirit impregnating Virgin Mary. So even though Virgin Mary is the mother of the son of the God, she is not the wife of the God but a medium to give birth to the son of the God.
We are reminded many times in Bible that God is not a man (Num. 23:19; Hos. 11:9), but Jesus, being the son of the Highest, has some similarities with God, and it is these similarities that confuse many devotees to see the God himself in Jesus. Being the son of the God, Jesus cannot be God as he cannot be one and the same person and he cannot be as old as God too.
The Bible talks of the Trinity. The God himself, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit are, therefore, three persons in God. If we think along this line, Jesus is indeed God as he is God the son. Only God knows what is inside a man’s heart, and this was a characteristic seen in Jesus as he knew what was inside a man’s heart. We know that God is one who forgives all sins, and we also know that Jesus was one who forgave all sins. Only God can be worshipped, and we worship Jesus especially when he resurrected after dying. This means that nearly all characteristics that God has can be seen in Jesus according to the Bible. Thus, he is also God, God the son. God the Father loved man and to save the mankind, he sent God the son on earth who lived, suffered, and died for the sake of us the human beings.
Summary
• According to the proponents of the view that Jesus is God, God is seen as trinity in Bible. God is three persons as God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. With Jesus being the God the son, He is certainly God himself.
• According to the opponents of the view, God chose his son to be the savior of mankind and thus Jesus is merely the son of the God and not the God himself. Being the son, he has many similarities with God, but he cannot be one and the same person as God. Also, God cannot die, but Jesus dies for three days. It is not possible to see God but Jesus lived as a man and was handled by men.