Is Jesus Christ equal to God? Based on the following scripture, and what they have heard, or been told, many people think so.

 “For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God” (John 5:19 NRSV). 

If we look at this scripture closely, and think about it logically, there are three serious problems with the claim that Jesus made himself equal with God, and so he must be God..

1.  The claim was made by his enemies, the murderous ‘Jews who were seeking to kill him’.

2. They claimed Jesus had ‘broken the Sabbath’, but the Bible says that Jesus “never sinned” (1 Peter 2:22 NLT).

3. The phrase, “making himself equal to God“, is evidence against the claim that some make, namely, “Jesus is God.” The scripture doesn’t say that. Saying Jesus was “equal to God”, indicates that Jesus is not God. The scripture eliminates that possibility.

“Jesus did indeed claim equality with God by healing on the Sabbath” (The Forgotten Trinity, page 88, by James White).

The above statement is false because the apostles and their associates healed people, and they were certainly not equal to God. The power to heal, indeed, does come from God, but doesn’t make one God. When Jesus healed a paralytic, “the crowd . . . praised God for sending a man with such authority” (Matthew 9:8 NLT 2013). God sent the man Jesus with the authority to heal, but that didn’t make him equal to God.

WHILE JESUS WAS ON EARTH, PRIOR TO DEATH

But is he equal to God? Let’s look at the next scripture to see how Jesus replied:

“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'” (John 5:19 ESV). Jesus made very clear that he was not equal to God. Jesus made many statements during his earthly ministry that indicate his inferiority to his Father. Some examples are:

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (John 8:29 ESV). Jesus’ authority comes from his Father.

“I have not spoken on my own authority” (John 12:49 ESV). “The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and to speak” (John 12:49 NAB). The Father commands Jesus. The commander is superior to the one he commands.

“The Father is greater than I am” (John 14:28 ISV; NLT; GWT; NET; Weymouth). This statement by Jesus clearly debunks the Trinitarian equality claim.

“I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower” (John 15:1 NAB). The vine grower, the Father, is greater than the vine, Jesus.

“Father . . . this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the now whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3 NAB). Jesus calls his Father “the only true God”.

AFTER JESUS’ DEATH and RESURRECTION

How about after Jesus’ death and resurrection? Was he equal then?

“Jesus said . . . ‘ I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'” (John 20:17). Jesus said his Father was his God, so obviously, God is superior to Christ, still.

“Who, although he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6 NAB). Looking back on Christ’s time in heaven prior to coming to earth, the verse explains that Christ never thought he was equal to God. The NAB note on this verse explains: “though . . . in the form of God (Gn 1:26-27), did not reach out for equality with God, in contrast with the first Adam in Gn 3:5-6″. So Jesus never even thought about trying to become equal to God. Christ’s attitude of humility prior to coming to earth, is presented to Christians as the example to follow

“The head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3).  Even many years after his resurrection, God has headship over Christ, so there is no equality.

“Jesus Christ . . . has made us to be a kingdom to serve his God and Father” (Revelation 1:5,6 NIV). The Bible’s final book, Revelation, refers to Jesus’ “God and Father”. The Father is Jesus’ God. Anyone who has a God over them is an inferior to their God.

“My God” (Revelation 3:12). Jesus uses this expression 4 times in this one verse, which emphasizes his subordination to his God.

“Then the end will come come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father . . . Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that does not include God himself, who put everything under him, it is clear that this does not include God, who put everything under under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will made made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28 NIV). For all future eternity, Christ will be subject to God, and thus, never will there be any equality between Christ and God.

Is Jesus Christ equal to God? — According to the scriptures, the inspired 66 books of the Bible, no, Jesus Christ is not equal to God!