The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself.^{(A) 2} He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³ All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself.^{(A) 2} He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³ All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines on in the ^[c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].^(B)

⁶ who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; ⁷ but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. ⁸ After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus ^[a]every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,^{(A) 11} and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.

God’s Final Word in His Son

1 God, having spoken to the fathers long ago in [the voices and writings of] the prophets in many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the truth], and in many ways, ² has in these last days spoken [with finality] to us in [the person of One who is by His character and nature] His Son [namely Jesus], whom He appointed heir and lawful owner of all things, through whom also He created the universe [that is, the universe as a space-time-matter continuum]. ³ The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s ^[a]Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],

God’s Final Word in His Son

1 God, having spoken to the fathers long ago in [the voices and writings of] the prophets in many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the truth], and in many ways, ² has in these last days spoken [with finality] to us in [the person of One who is by His character and nature] His Son [namely Jesus], whom He appointed heir and lawful owner of all things, through whom also He created the universe [that is, the universe as a space-time-matter continuum]. ³ The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s ^[a]Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority], ⁴ having become as much superior to angels, since He has inherited a more excellent and glorious ^[b]name than they [that is, Son—the name above all names].

⁵ For to which of the angels did the Father ever say,

And again [did He ever say to the angels],

^6 [c]And when He again brings the firstborn [highest-ranking Son] into the world, He says,