Chapter 23 — Jesus as "God" in John's Writings
The Incarnate Christ and His Critics (Komoszewski & Bowman, 2024)
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John 1:1 isn't the only place in John's writings where Jesus is called "God." The Gospel of John and the First Letter of John contain three more texts that do this, each adding a different dimension to what it means.
Together, these four texts form a comprehensive case that John, more than any other New Testament author, looked squarely at Jesus and saw God.
John 1:18: The Only Son, God
John's Prologue ends as it begins, with a paradox about the Son. "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1:18 NABRE).
There's a textual issue here. Some manuscripts say "the only begotten Son" while others say "the only begotten God" (or "the only Son, God"). The latter reading has strong early manuscript support (the famous Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and several papyri all back it) and most contemporary scholars accept it as the original wording.
If that reading is correct, the verse says something extraordinary: the invisible God has been made known by "the only Son, God," the one who is uniquely and exclusively in the Father's presence. The one who reveals God is himself God. He doesn't just tell us about God from the outside. He reveals God from the inside, because he is God.
This fits the logic of the Prologue perfectly. The Word who is God (1:1) has become flesh (1:14) and now reveals the Father (1:18). What better revealer of God could there be than the one who is God?
John 20:28: "My Lord and My God!"
This might be the most emotionally powerful of all the texts in which Jesus is called God.
Thomas, the disciple notorious for his doubt, was absent when Jesus appeared to the others after the resurrection. He refused to believe without physical proof: "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe" (John 20:25).
A week later, Jesus appeared again. He didn't rebuke Thomas's demand. He met it. "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe" (20:27).
Thomas's response is one of the greatest declarations in Scripture: "My Lord and my God!" (20:28).
Notice what Thomas doesn't say. He doesn't say "You are like God" or "You represent God" or "You are a god." He says my Lord and my God, both titles together, both intensely personal, and addressed directly to Jesus.
And how does Jesus respond? He accepts the declaration. He doesn't correct it. He uses it as the occasion for a teaching about belief: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (20:29).
The entire narrative leads to this climax. John's Gospel is built to bring the reader to Thomas's confession. The next verse (20:30-31) reads like a conclusion: "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Thomas's confession is the goal of the Gospel. "My Lord and my God" is John's thesis statement.
1 John 5:20: The True God and Eternal Life
The First Letter of John closes with a dense summary sentence: "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).
The question is who "he" refers to in "he is the true God and eternal life." Some argue it's the Father. But most scholars, examining the sentence structure and the flow of the argument, conclude that "he" refers to "his Son Jesus Christ," the nearest antecedent.
If so, this verse calls Jesus "the true God and eternal life," about as direct an identification of Jesus with the one true God as you'll find anywhere.
The phrase "true God" matters here. John uses this language to contrast the real God with false gods, idols and counterfeits. If Jesus is "the true God," he's not one divine being among others. He's the genuine article, the real one, set against all the impostors.
The Cumulative Case in John
John 1:1: The Word was God (before creation)
John 1:18: The only Son, God, makes the Father known (in the incarnation)
John 20:28: "My Lord and my God!" (at the resurrection)
1 John 5:20: "He is the true God and eternal life" (in the letter's summary)
These four texts span the full arc of John's writing, from the Prologue to the Gospel's climax to the letter's conclusion. They cover the preexistence, the incarnation, the resurrection, and the theological summary of who Christ is.
And they all say the same thing. Jesus is God.
Not metaphorically, not by a stretch of language, not in some lesser, watered-down sense. Thomas's declaration says it best, because it came from the lips of a man who didn't want to believe it, a man who touched the wounds and couldn't deny it anymore.
My Lord. My God.
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