Remember "HANDS" When Arguing for Jesus’ Deity

Does the Bible teach that Jesus is God? Over at Come Reason's Apologetics Notes, Lenny Esposito has a summary of the acronym “HANDS” given in the book Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (by Rob Bowman and Ed Komoszewski):

1. Jesus shares the HONORS due only to God.

2. Jesus shares the ATTRIBUTES of God.

3. Jesus shares the NAMES that are used of God.

4. Jesus shares in the DEEDS that only God can do.

5. Jesus shares the SEAT of God—that is, Jesus sits on God's throne.

Read a brief overview of each of these categories on Lenny’s post or get all the details in Putting Jesus in His Place.

Comments

[a]

Good tool; also the exact quotes of Jesus show that he claimed to be nothing less than God:

"Before Abraham was, I AM!" - very specific reference to the I AM of the OT...

"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" - in response to his disciples' plea to show them the Father in the Upper Room.

"Who, being in very nature God..." - Phillipians 2.

Actually, in writing this I just had the thought that these are simply claims, and this HANDS argument would serve as evidence to back up those claims...

[WisdomLover]

I consider the fact that New Testament authors repeatedly identify Jesus with Yahweh to be decisive.

They do this by applying Old Testament prophecies to Jesus that were spoken in the Old Testament of Yahweh.

Examples:

• Romans10:9-13 – Joel 2:32 -- Whoever calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved.
• Mark 1:1-11 - Isaiah 40:3 -- The voice of one crying "In the wilderness, make straight the way of Yahweh"
• I Peter 2:3 - Psalms 34:8 -- Taste and see that Yahweh is Good
• John 19:33-37 - Zechariah 12:1,10 -- Yahweh says "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced."
• Romans 14:10-11 - Isaiah 45:23 -- Yaheweh swears by Himself that every knee shall bow and every tongue swear allegiance to Him.
• Hebrews 1:10-12 - Psalm 102:25-27 -- You, Yahweh will endure, and the heavens will wear out like a garment.

Everywhere where the OT author said Yaheweh in the above examples, the New Testament author referenced Jesus.

These are not the only examples either. Every New Testament author, with the possible exception of James, identified Jesus as Yahweh of the Old Testament.

According to the New Testament, Jesus is Yahweh. And that's more or less, case closed on whether the New Testament teaches the full Deity of Jesus. It undoubtedly does.

The rest is just icing on the cake.

With that said, I do find HANDS persuasive. If I hadn't already drawn the unavoidable conclusion from the passages above, I'd still be convinced by HANDS. Sadly, I suspect that anyone so disputations as to reject the identifications I noted in the passages above will not be impressed by HANDS.

[WisdomLover]

"disputatious" not "disputations"

[paul ernst]

At His trial the High Priest asks "Are You the son of the blessed One? When Jesus answers "I Am", the priest charges blasphemy. This shows how the Jews at that time viewed these claims and this is not subject to our interpretation.