The Divine Attributes of Jesus

When God created humanity, He made them “in His image” (Genesis 1:26-27). This means He shared some of His characteristics with humans (called His communicable attributes), such as the ability to love, create, forgive, seek justice, show mercy, and much more.

However, some of His attributes He did not share (called His incommunicable attributes) for they are what make Him the One True God, things like His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and self-evidence to name a few.

If Jesus was merely human (as many religions and skeptics claim), then He would have only displayed God’s communicable attributes. But if He reveals evidence of holding incommunicable attributes, that would lend to the Christian argument that Jesus was and is God. So what does Scripture reveal about Christ’s character in relation to the divine?

Yep, He’s God!

First, we see that Jesus, unlike every other human, preexisted before His birth. Passages like John 1:1-2, Philippians 2:5-8, Colossians 1:15-20, and Hebrews 2:17 (among others) show His self-evidence.

Second, Scripture is quite clear that all humans have sinned (Romans 3:10-12, 23), yet Jesus did not sin (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22) despite being fully human.

Third, He exhibited extraordinary knowledge of people’s hearts (John 1:47-48, Mark 2:8), situations (John 4:16-18, John 11:11-15), the future (Matthew 26:31-35, Mark 8:31), and even “what-ifs” (Luke 10:13-15).

And fourth, we see Him display incredible power (Matthew 21:19, Mark 4:39, Luke 8:49-55, among tons of other examples).

While some critics point out that some Old Testament prophets displayed extraordinary knowledge or performed powerful miracles, none of these prophets existed before birth, lived sinlessly, exhibited such authority, or spoke without a “thus says the Lord” disclaimer. Jesus was more than just a great human. He IS God, and His attributes attest to it!