“but of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom'” (Hebrews 1:8-9 NET).
In Matthew 1:23, Christ is called “Immanuel,” a word that means “God with us.” This tells us that Jesus isn’t simply a god, He is the God. Many Biblical references substantiate this reference to Jesus’ divine nature.
For instance, the New Testament gospel of John opens with the following reference to Jesus as the Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Near the close of that same gospel, the Apostle Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” when he was presented with Jesus’ post-resurrection crucifixion wounds (see John 20:24-29).
Paul the Apostle referenced the “…the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” in the epistle of Titus (Titus 2:13). He also referred to “…Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever” in the book of Romans (Romans 9:5 ESV).
We can turn to the epistle of 1 John for another clear expression of Jesus’ deity…
“We know also 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 by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20 NIV).
Jesus also made a claim to deity in the following exchange with the religious leaders of His day…
“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:58-59).
Jesus’ use of the term “I AM” in reference to Himself is a direct, unmistakable, and intentional claim to deity, for it aligns with the Old Testament book of Exodus where God used an identical self-designation (see Exodus 3:14). Therefore, we can say the following regarding Christ…
“He is fully God and fully man (Col. 2:9); thus, He has two natures: God and man. He is not half God and half man. He is 100% God and 100% man. He never lost his divinity. He continued to exist as God when He became and added human nature to Himself (Phil. 2:5-11). Therefore, there is a ‘union in one person of a full human nature and a full divine nature.'” (1)
(1) “Hypostatic Union” CARM Theological Dictionary, retrieved 22 November, 2021 from https://carm.org/dictionary/hypostatic-union/