First of all, lets make some things clear before we begin. Jesus is not God the Father or the Holy Spirit. That would make him only a manifestation of the same person in a different form. There are some, who in order to claim monotheism (belief in one God) insist that �one� means one person only. The Bible does not teach that. It teaches three persons in one God or as I like to say it one God head.
The term �one� as used in the New Testament is from the word �eis� and can be used in a variety of ways depending on the context. Whenever it is used of Jesus and the Father, it is used in a metaphorical sense showing �union�, or �one equally combined with something else.� In John 10:30 Jesus said. �I and the Father are one� indicating that He and the Father are the same, meaning not the same person but equal to each other. Therefore when �one� is used in this way of Christ and the Father it indicates separate but equal persons. There are also several places in the Bible that teach that Jesus is God. Lets look first at:
1. His claim to be God: There are plenty of times that Jesus clearly claimed to be God as the following texts show: Matthew 10:40, 28:18, Mark 14:60-62, Luke 5:20-26, 6:50, 10:16, John 2:18-22, 5:17-23, John 8:58, 10:25-38, 12:44-45, 8:23, 13:13,19-20, 14:6-11, 17:5, Revelation 1:8, 22:12-13,16.
2. His disciples eventually came to accept that claim (Matthew 1:23; Mark 1:1-3; Luke John 1:1-4, 14; 20:28), he has all the attributes of God like Omnipotence (Matthew 28:18), Omniscience (John 1:48), omnipresence (Matthew 18:20), and he did works only deity could do (Matthew 14:33; John 1:1-3; 11:43-44).
In John 5 alone Jesus makes 6 claims of equality with God, in His person (17-18), in power and sovereignty (19-20), in judgment (22, 27), in honor (23), and His resurrection power (25-26). Now, if he is wrong in any one of these claims, he is as one of my old professors used to say, either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord.
If he is a lunatic certainly His claims would not have held up at some point in history and that would have seen by now. If he was a liar, He has deceived not only the people of his day, but millions upon millions of people who have put their trust in him since then. Not only that, if Jesus were proven a liar, his integrity, and character would be shot. But that has not been the case and He has been found to be one with great integrity and character, and his instruction pure and very profound. His teachings have changed the world. Without integrity, that could not have happened. He was not a liar, He must therefore be Lord. He taught his own deity and proved it by raising from the dead.
3. Jesus lived a sinless life (attested to by those who knew him including his enemies (1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:21-24, Acts 10:38, 1 John 2:1, 3:5; Matthew 27:3-4; Luke 23:14-15). He is the most influential person who ever lived, and all of history is measured by his life (B.C. & A.D.) His words, character and influence all give witness that he was more than a mortal man.
I have had people tell me they believe that Jesus was a good moral teacher. Let me then point this out. If one believes that, then it is inconsistent to claim he was a good moral teacher and yet not live in accordance with what he taught.
Historically we can be certain of what we read about Jesus Christ from the Bible as we can of almost any historical event. To refuse to believe what the Bible says of him can not be because of lack of evidence, but because we have decided that we know more than God who gave us the Bible. People reject Christ and his deity, not because of intellectual reasons but because of moral ones.