Why is it important that Jesus is God?

Sam Waldron explains in this video that when we speak of the deity of Christ, we should ask ourselves what do we mean when we say that He is God? Why is that important?

Jesus has the same nature as God. It is significant that Christ is called God in the Old Testament. He is addressed explicitly as God but also as Lord in throughout the Old Testament.  

If we are to be saved, only God can save us. Salvation is the redemption of man. Only God can redeem and save. If Jesus is not God, He is not sufficient to be our Savior. That is why it is significant that Jesus is God. He can be worshipped and He can be trusted to be our Savior.

John 8:58 (NKJV) – “Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

When we come to speak of the deity of Jesus Christ, I think as well for us to ask the question what do we mean by saying that He is God? Well, we mean that He is and has the divine nature of the Creator revealed in the Old Testament. That Creator is called by two distinctive names. The one name is El or Elohim in the plural of majesty and that name Elohim is used thousands and thousands of times to speak of the one true God, the Creator in the Old Testament. But the word Elohim is also used in a number of cases to refer to false gods.

It's used in a number of cases to refer to even angels or even human rulers, say in Psalm 82. So, it's significant that Jesus is called, in the New Testament, God, because in the 11 or 12 passages where he's called God, that is what is being said. He possesses the divine nature that the Creator of the world possesses. He is in that way the Creator of the world. The other name, though a distinctive name given to the one true God in the Bible and in the Old Testament is Jehovah, as we say it in the older English, as modern theologians tend to say it, Yahweh.

And what is really significant is not only is Jesus addressed explicitly as God 11, 12 times, it's a little bit debatable in the New Testament, but he is addressed as Lord in passages where the term Lord stands for Yahweh in the New Testament. The Old Testament is being quoted. The Old Testament is speaking of Jehovah, but Jesus is addressed there as Jehovah. The classic passage is found in John chapter 8, where Jesus adopts to himself the language by which the one true God revealed himself to Moses. He says, before Abraham was, I am.

And this is language that's commonly recognized as echoing the language of Exodus chapter 3.14, where Jesus, where God reveals himself, pardon me, as I am, that I am. Say to them, I am has sent me to you. Now, the significance that he's revealed in the New Testament as God is a couple of things. And these things can be traced back in terms of their significance to Athanasius. I think Athanasius made two great arguments against the Arians who denied the deity of Jesus Christ, at least his full deity.

And the one argument he made was, look, Christians worship Jesus. They worship Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. But if Jesus is not God, then this is false worship because only God may be worshiped. The other argument we made that was based upon the deity of Jesus Christ and that was related to the deity of Jesus Christ was this. If we are to be saved, only God can save us.

Salvation is the redemption of men. Salvation is the salvation of men, and only God can redeem, only God can save, and if Jesus is not God, He is not sufficient to be our Savior. Salvation is a new creation in Christ Jesus, and if Christ Jesus is not the Creator, He's not capable of saving us. So this is the significance of Jesus being God. He may be worshiped, and He may be trusted in to be our Savior.