Where in the Bible does it say Jesus is God?
The Bible says Jesus is God in many ways: directly and indirectly, in individual verses and longer passages.
In this article, you will find the nine best Jesus is God Bible verses and three longer Scripture passages that prove undeniably that Jesus is God.
Hope you enjoy them!
Contents
Where in the Bible does it directly say Jesus is God?
Hebrews 1:8
But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.
In Hebrews 1:8, the Father testifies in His divine Scripture that the Son, Jesus, is God enthroned over all forever.
Hebrews 1:8 is one of the best verses which directly say Jesus is God. Therefore, we have unpacked Hebrews 1:8-12 fully later in this article.
John 20:28
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
The famous doubter Thomas believed Jesus was God when he touched Jesus’ wounds after the resurrection. Jesus didn’t rebuke Thomas for saying He is God but reassured him that he was correct with His answer: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
Titus 2:13
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
In Titus 2:13, “The blessed hope and appearing,” talks about the Second Coming of Jesus, when He will appear to all people in His glorified body as a divine King to judge the whole world.
By calling Jesus “God and Savior,” Paul acknowledges both Jesus’ divine nature and His role as the Savior of humanity. This is crucial as Jesus is presented here not just as a figure appointed by God but as God Himself.
2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:1 is a straightforward verse. Jesus is our God and Savior. Remember also, according to the Old Testament, there is no other Saviour than God (Isaiah 43:11).
Romans 9:5 ESV
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
John 1:1(14, 18)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.(The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.)
John 1:1 talks about the Word who was with God and was God. Who is the Word?
You see the answer in John 1:14, which says that the Word became flesh, and He is the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word is Jesus, and according to John 1:1, He is God.
Jesus is called the Word because He reveals God to people. No one has ever seen God, meaning no one has fully perceived who God is, but Jesus makes Him known.
The word “has made Him known” is the Greek word “exegesato” from which we get the word “exegesis.” See the interlinear below. Thus, Jesus interprets or declares God to us, and He can do that because He fully knows the Father and is of the same nature as the Father.
The title, the Word, comes from the Old Testament, where the Word of the Lord was perceived as a divine person who appeared to select people and spoke to them bodily. The person was distinguished from and identified as Yahweh, God of Israel.
John’s Gospel’s first chapter does not refer to some philosophical term, Logos/Word, but to this second person in the Old Testament, reminding readers of Psalm 33:6: “By the Word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”
Where in the Bible does it indirectly say Jesus is God?
John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.
In John 8:58, Jesus makes one of His most direct and profound statements about His identity.
In the verse, Jesus is speaking to a group of Jewish leaders who are questioning Him about His authority and identity.
Jesus not only claimed that He existed before Abraham lived but also used the name I AM, which God referred to Himself in Exodus 3:14.
The Jews understood that Jesus was claiming to be God because “they took up stones to throw at him.” (John 8:59)
John 10:30
I and the Father are one.
We have dedicated an entire article to the meaning of “I and the Father are one.” Click the link to read the full explanation of how Jesus claims to be God in John 10:30.
Revelation 5:13
I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!”
In Revelations 5:13, apostle John, the author of Revelation, really hammers home the idea that every creature gives a blessing, honor, glory, and dominion to the Father and the Lamb (Jesus). The verse clearly says that every created thing in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and on the sea (meaning there is no creature in any place in the creation) gives the exact same glory to the Father and the Lamb.
From the verse, you can infer two things:
- The Lamb is distinguished from the creatures because every created thing gives glory to the Lamb.
- The Lamb is given the same honor and glory as the Father.
In the Old Testament, Yahweh doesn’t share His glory with others (Isaiah 42:8). Therefore, the Lamb must be God to get the same honor and glory as the Father.
Isaiah 9:6(-7)
For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.)
Isaiah 9:6 is a powerful prophecy written almost 800 years before Christ. In it, the prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of a human child, the Messiah, with unique authority and divine attributes. Jesus is the divine Messiah.
The Messiah will be seated on David’s throne forever, giving divinely wondrous advice to His people. As a “Wonderful Counselor,” the Messiah will guide people with perfect wisdom, offering guidance that transcends human understanding.
Furthermore, Isaiah applies three of the four names of the coming child to God elsewhere in his book. The prince is applied to God in Daniel 8.
- Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 28:29)
- Mighty God (Isaiah 10:21)
- Everlasting Father (Isaiah 57:15, 63:16)
- Prince of Peace (Daniel 8:11, 25)
Each name in this verse highlights a different aspect of His character and mission, revealing Jesus as a ruler who is not only human but also fully divine.
The best Scripture passages that say Jesus is God
Hebrews 1:8-12
You will find one of the best passages to prove that Jesus is God from Hebrews 1:8-12. In this passage, the Father speaks about the Son, Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 1:8-12
But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”
And,
“You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the works of your hands.
They will perish, but you continue.
They all will grow old like a garment does.
You will roll them up like a mantle,
and they will be changed;
but you are the same.
Your years won’t fail.”
The Father calls the Son God, says the Son created the heavens and the earth, and vouches for the eternality of the Son.
The verses 11-12 quote Psalm 102:25-27 in which Yahweh is the everlasting Creator who made the heavens and earth. Psalm 102 is dedicated to Yahweh (see Psalm 102:1), so the Father says through His inspired Scriptures in Hebrews 1 that the Son is the everlasting God.
Jude 4-7
The mention of Moses seeing Jesus in Jude’s letter is interesting because there are variations between Bible translations on who saved Israel from Egypt in verse 5. Some translations say “the Lord” (e.g., WEB), and some say “Jesus” (e.g., ESV) saved them.
Even though Jesus is far more straightforward to use here, it doesn’t matter if the word is “the Lord” since verse 4 tells us who the Lord is in verse 5. It is Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:4 WEB
For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:5-7 ESV
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
In the oldest manuscripts of Jude, P72 (3rd and 4th century), Jesus is written as “God Christ” in verse 5.
Source for the image below.
In other early copies of Jude from the 4th and 5th centuries, the word is Jesus, which the ESV (above) uses.
So, to sum up, the earliest copies of Jude testify that Jesus is God.
Jude 4-7 also confirms that Jesus has an active role in the Hebrew Bible, giving you a significant clue for the Trinity in the Old Testament.
John 5
John’s Gospel chapter 5 is full of Jesus’ claims to divinity. In this chapter, He also explains His father-son relationship with God the Father: He is the divine Son of God, equal to the Father, in perfect union with the Father yet subject to Him.
Let’s see the multiple ways Jesus shows He is God in the flesh in John 5.
In John 5:1-16, Jesus heals a man paralyzed for 38 years on the Sabbath. Because He healed the man and said to him that it’s okay to carry his mat on Sabbath, the Jews sought to kill Jesus.
For this, Jesus says that God is working on the Sabbath (John 5:17). God is free from Sabbath observation because He needs to preserve the creation. If He does not preserve the creation, the universe would cease to exist. Therefore, He is working even on the Sabbath.
In John 5:17, Jesus continues that He is also working on the Sabbath. If you would ask the Jews of Jesus’ time if any human is free from Sabbath observance, they would say no one is free from it. Jesus claims to be God by saying that He, too, works on the Sabbath.
The Jews understood this and, thus, wanted to kill Him, as you see in John 5:18.
John 5:15-18
The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The story continues in the next verse, John 5:19, which is actually a famous rebuttal attempt of the deity of Christ because, in it, Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.”
How can the Son be God if He can do nothing of His own accord?
Jesus’ explanation defeats this rebuttal with another claim of divinity. Let’s read John 5:19-20.
John 5:19-20
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
“The Father shows the Son all that he himself is doing.” In Greek, the word “see” can mean looking or perceiving with one’s mind’s eye.
Jesus sees and perceives everything the Father does, all the time. This alone should be enough to convince anyone of Jesus’ deity.
“For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Jesus can also do everything that the Father can do.
Those are powerful claims for divinity.
The counterargument is refuted because Jesus sees everything that the Father does and can do all He sees the Father doing. Can one still argue that the Son is a mere creature? No creature can see all that the Father does, and no creature can do all that the Father does, including:
- Create the world.
- Give life.
- Forgive sins.
- Be omnipresent.
- Know all things.
- And other acts that only God can perform that the Bible affirms Jesus of doing.
Since Jesus can see and do everything the Father does, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing” speaks about the hierarchy and perfect union (also John 5:30) within the Godhead, not about denial of Jesus’ divinity.
In the following verses, Jesus expounds on His relationship with the Father.
John 5:21-23
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
According to Jesus’ words, He, as the Son of God,
- can give life to whom He desires,
- has all judgment over everyone,
- so that everyone would honor the Son as they honor the Father.
According to the Bible,
- only God gives and takes away life (Genesis 1-2, Deuteronomy 32:39).
- Only God judges everyone (Isaiah 33:22, Psalm 75:7, James 4:12).
- God does not share His glory, including honor, with any creature (Isaiah 48:11).
The Father has given all the judgment to the Son so that everyone would honor the Son as they honor the Father.
Why would the Father give all the judgment and, through it, the same honor to the Son as He has if He does not share His honor with any creature?
God also says in the Bible that humans are prohibited from giving the same honor to anything created as they give to God. But now the Father demands that the same honor be given to the Son.
It’s because the Son is divine, and Jesus is God.