Chapter 2
Did Jesus Deny that He Was God?
As stated before, there are many who have said that Jesus never claimed to be God therefore He is not the Almighty One. They refer to some of His words that seem to them to indicate that He is actually denying His divinity.
Let us look at some of those verses that seem to indicate that Jesus said He was not God. Remember that Jesus is the eternal Word of God (John 1:1-2) so whatever Scripture says is what Jesus is testifying to.
The First Born
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. (Col. 1:15)
And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (Col. 1:18)
At issue with these verses are the words, "…the first born..." These few words seem to imply that Jesus had a beginning, when He was born, and therefore was not the eternal God. However, what is often missed is that these words refer to Jesus as being the first person to have received a glorified body after death. He was the first person to be resurrected into a glorified body therefore He is "the first born from the dead". Later, at the return of Christ to Earth, all Christians who have died will receive their glorified bodies as will all Christians who are living. However, Jesus was the first one born into a glorified body. Those who have received their glorified bodies will never die again.
Other people in Scripture were raised from the dead. Most notable of those was Jesus" good friend Lazarus whom He raised from the dead.
On all these occasions, the people came b