What’s the Difference Between True and False Faith?
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What’s the Difference Between True and False Faith?

Jesus Is God {Belgic Confession, Article 10}

This article is the eleventh installment in our series "Christian, What Do You Believe: The Belgic Confession of Faith". Find the whole series here.

Jesus once asked a question of the apostles that we too must answer: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). According to Jesus, a true understanding of him is not earthly but is revealed from above through the Scriptures (Matt. (16:17). A true knowledge of Jesus is “necessary for salvation,” as the Athanasian Creed puts it. It is also essential for a vibrant relationship with Christ. Only when we know Christ as he really is, “the true eternal God, the Almighty,” will we “invoke, worship, and serve” him. And the Belgic Confession’s reflection on Christ’s deity can help us do that.

Defending Jesus’ Deity

Scripture reveals Jesus’ divinity, especially in his relation to the Father, in at least three important ways.

Jesus Is the Only Begotten Son of God

Jesus’ begottenness—his eternal and changeless relation to the Father—is asserted in one of the most well-known verses of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJ; cf. 1 John 4:9).

At first glance, this might seem to suggest that Jesus became God’s Son at some point in time. Psalm 2 even says, “Today I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7; cf. Heb. 1:5, 5:5). But Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, describing God the Father, at a particular time, revealing the glory of the Son. In Acts 13:33, Paul applies this verse to Christ’s resurrection. On that day he was brought forth or begotten by God from the dead. But there was never a time when Christ was not the Son of God. Psalm 2:7 is quoted in Hebrews to emphasize the Son’s unique relationship to the Father and his eternal calling. “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son,” and “a priest forever” (Heb. 1:5, 5:5). This cannot be said of angels or anyone else.

Begottenness doesn’t describe the Son’s beginning but his unique relationship and role in the Godhead.

Jesus Is “one in essence with the Father.”

Jesus, the Son, is not a lesser being than God the Father, but is of the same essence. The Spirit prophesied that the Savior coming into the world would be God himself (cf. Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:23). Jesus was clear about his relationship with the Father: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). And “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The Apostles, too, affirmed the full deity of Jesus. Paul says that Christ, who descended from the Jews according to the flesh is “God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 9:5). Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3).

Jesus Is Co-eternal with the Father

The Son of God did not come into existence when he took on flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. The incarnation was the point in time in which the two natures of Christ, the human and divine, were united in one person (art. 18). The incarnation does not represent the beginning of the Son of God. Christ was with the Israelites as they wandered in the desert; they “drank the same spiritual rock … and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). Throughout the Old Testament, the Son of God appeared often as the “angel of the Lord” (e.g. Gen. 16:7). According to his divine nature, Jesus has always been. The one who made everything cannot be made (see John 1:1–3; Col. 1:16). Truly Christ’s “goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2; NAS).

Jesus “alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.” What does this mean for us?

Applying Jesus’ Deity

If Jesus is God, at least three things must follow.

You Must Invoke Jesus as God

Jesus knows us. He knows what it’s like to be tempted by discouragement, lust, anger, and indifference (Heb. 2:17–18). But he does more than understand us. Jesus is able to answer our prayers because he conquered his temptations. If you call on the name of the Lord for salvation Jesus will save you from your sin (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:31). If you call on Christ for help in times of trouble he will deliver you, in his way, at his time. Christ’s deity teaches us to sing with Charles Wesley, “Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease; ‘tis music in the sinner’s ears, ‘tis life and health and peace.” And not just for you. When you cannot help others, invoke Jesus for them, and encourage them to do the same.

You Must Worship Jesus as God

Only God may be worshiped. When John was about to worship the angel who showed him a glorious vision, the angel stopped him; he was only a fellow servant (Rev. 22:8–9). But when the disciples saw the resurrected Lord, they worshiped him (Matt. 28:17), and Thomas called Jesus “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). And Jesus didn’t stop them. The New Testament’s main word for worship refers to the correct posture of an inferior person before his superior (as in kissing the hand or bowing the knee). We aren’t worthy of Jesus. Conscious of our weaknesses and wavering, we praise him for submitting his will to the shame of the cross for our salvation.

You Must Serve Jesus as God

As Christ’s blood cleanses your conscience from dead works, you come alive “to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14). If Christ has ministered to you, now serve him by serving others (Luke 22:27). You exist to do what pleases Jesus. You must serve the Lord Christ without distraction because he has bought us by his blood (Col. 3:24; 1 Cor. 7:35). In The Pilgrim's Progress, the Satan-figure named Apollyon three times promised the pilgrim Christian that if he returned to the city of destruction and served him, all would be well. Here is Christian’s response in faithfulness to the allegorical Christ figure:

…to speak Truth, I like his Service, his Wages, his Servants, his Government, his Company, and Country, better than thine; and therefore leave off to persuade me further, I am his servant, and I will follow him.

Let us say the same thing. Christ is the only one we can serve pleasantly. At the cross, he relieved us of our heavy burden. In this life, he gives us joy on the journey. And by his righteousness, he promises to reward with the inheritance of salvation all those who love him (Heb. 1:14).

If Jesus is not God then the Trinity is a lie and Christ is no Savior. But Jesus is God. Therefore, in him we can find everything we need that can be found nowhere else.


Footnotes

  • Athanasian Creed, art. 29.

  • Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 33.

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William Boekestein

William Boekestein is the pastor of Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has written several books and numerous articles. He and his wife, Amy, have four children.