In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. * * * * * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.
The identity between Jesus of Nazareth—"the Word made flesh"—and the "Word" that was "with God from the beginning," and that "was God," is so clear that it cannot possibly be doubted. So the Son is God, as well as the Father. (Ibid, pp. 13, 14.)
3. The Godhead—Composed of Three Distinct Persons: "These three, the Father. Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is true, are spoken of in the most definite manner as being God, but the distinction of one from the other is also clearly marked in the scriptures, or illustration take the circumstances connected with the baptism of Jesus. There we may see the three distinct personalities most clearly. The Son coming up out of the water from his baptism: the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit descending upon him; while out of heaven the voice of God is heard saying "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Here three Gods are distinctly apparent. They are seen to be distinct from each other. They appear-simultaneously, not as one, but as three, each one being a different thing, so that however completely they may be one in spirit, in purpose, in will they are clearly distinct as persons—as individuals. In several instances in the scriptures these three personages are accorded equal dignity in the Godhead. An example is found in the commission which Jesus gave to his disciples after his resurrection, when he sent them out into the world to preach the Gospel to all nations. He stood in the presence of the eleven, and said:
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Each of the three is here given equal dignity in the Godhead.
Again in the apostolic benediction:
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. * * * * * These three personages then are of equal dignity in the Godhead, according to the teachings of the New Testament, and each is equally divine—equally God. Hence Jesus is God equally with God the Father, and with the Holy Ghost." (Ibid, pp. 15-6, 7.)
4. What Think Ye of Christ? "Said Jesus to the Pharisees. What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them. How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. If David then call him [that is, the Christ] Lord, how is He his son. And no man was able to answer him a word."
It seems to me that we have right here, what we might regard as the beginning of the proclamation of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here let me say, in passing, that the world is waking up to something of a comprehension of the necessity for affirming the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have here a note in manuscript, that I will read to you, a declaration from one of the first scientists of our age, a Christian man who stands well advanced on the far-flung line of modern Christian thought. Having called attention the humanity of Jesus Christ, to His unity with the human race, and emphasizing the fact that He is human, one of our race, after setting forth that doctrine, this learned man says:
"The conception of Godhead formed by some devout philosophers and mystics has quite rightly been so immeasurably vast, though still assuredly utterly inadequate and necessarily beneath reality, that the notion of a God revealed in human form—born, suffering, tormented, killed—has been utterly incredible. 'A crucified prophet; yes; but a crucified God! I shudder at the blasphemy,' is a known quotation which I cannot now verify; yet that apparent blasphemy is the soul of Christianity. It calls upon us to recognize and worship a crucified, an executed, God. * * * The world is full of men: What the world wants is a God. Behold the God! The divinity of Jesus is the truth which now requires to be re-perceived to be illumined afresh by new knowledge, to be cleansed and revivified by the wholesome flood of scepticism which has poured over it; it can be freed now from all trace of groveling superstition, and can be recognized freely and enthusiastically; the divinity of Jesus, and of all noble and saintly souls, in so far as they too have been inflamed by a spark of Deity—in so far as they too can be recognized as manifestations of the Divine." (Sir Oliver Lodge in Hibbert Journal for April, 1906, Art. "Christianity and Science.")