Does the Bible ever refer to Jesus Christ as “God”?

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This answer to Does Jesus ever claim to be God, or the son of God? addresses your question, but now the verses are included for reference below and the idea of Jesus as Lord (Kyrios) which is equal to God is discussed.

There are 7 instances where the Jesus is called God (Theos) in the New Testament, which are in John 1:1, 1:18, 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, and 2 Peter 1:1.

  1. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
  2. John 1:18 "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."
  3. John 20:28 "Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!'"
  4. Romans 9:5 "To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen."
  5. Titus 2:13 "Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,"
  6. Hebrews 1:8 "But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.'"
  7. 2 Peter 1:1 "Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:"

Also noteworthy is that Jesus is called Lord (Kyrios or Kurios) over 500 times in the New Testament, which is how both YHWH and Adonai were translated in the Old Testament into the Septuagint >100 years before Jesus came. Elohim is translated as Theos. There are multiple instances even in the New Testament where Kyrios is used to refer to God, such as the quotations that Jesus uses in Matthew 4 against Satan:

  • Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord (Kyrios) your God (Theos) to the test.’”

  • Matthew 4:10 "...You shall worship the Lord (Kyrios) your God (Theos)and him only shall you serve."

So when you account for Jesus being called Lord, you could perhaps say that the Bible calls Jesus (equal to) God explicitly over 500 times.

Edit: the link in the question has a video that mentions how kyrios is also used in several other places in the NT to mean something much less substantial than "God." He mentioned 21 references specifically; 11 of them (over half), ironically enough, are used in parables which Jesus is using an owner/master/lord (kyrios) to represent God. He does make a good point though, that kyrios applies beyond just God or Jesus. However, we can't ignore the significance of the fact that the translations of LORD (YHWH) and Lord (Adonai) are both now Kyrios in the Greek Septuagint. It's probably also worth noting that capitalization was nonexistent in the autographs (original manuscripts) of either the Old or New Testament, as unicals (all capital letters) were the norm. For the NT, minuscules began becoming more popular around 4th-5th century I believe.

Finally, not only is Jesus Lord (Kyrios) and God (Theos), He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Kyrios Kyrion)! These terms are applied to Jesus in 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:16.

Additional resources:

"The Trinity" chapter in Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology

The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman

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