Question: Can you help me with other scriptures that refer to Jesus as God? I thought of Matthew 1:23. Thank you, and God Bless.
Response: There are many scriptures which explicitly declare Jesus to be God, and many others which, while perhaps not making a direct statement to that effect, unquestionably are operating on that assumption. Overall it is fair to say that from an unbiased reading of the New Testament in toto, without excerpting any books or passages, one would have to conclude that the Bible, as a document, assumes and teaches the divinity of Christ. That is true, moreover, even if the person making this judgment were not a believer and were to have no confidence in the inspired nature of scripture. What I mean to say as a starting point, therefore, is that "the Bible clearly teaches the divinity of Christ". One can choose not to believe this point of truth (in spite of the fact that the Bible teaches it), or one can choose not to believe the Bible (in spite of the fact that it is indeed the inspired Word of God). But what, in my opinion, one cannot do and at the same be intellectually honest is to claim to honor the Bible (either as the Word or as a "source text") yet dismiss its claim that Jesus is God.
I offer here a very short list of some of the more important and direct passages that touch on this point (it is not meant to be exhaustive):
1. Jesus is explicitly called God: (your passage - He is "Immanuel", "God [present] with us", Matt.1:23; and also Jn.1:18; Rom.9:5; Tit.2:13; Heb.1:8; 1Jn.5:20)
2. Jesus is worshiped as God (Matt.28:9; Phil.2:10)
3. Jesus is the Creator (Jn.1:3; Col.1:16; Heb.1:1-3; 1:10 - and God created the world: Gen.1-2)
4. Jesus is One with God (Jn.10:30)
5. Jesus has always been "face to face with God" (Jn.1:1; cf. Jn.1:18; 7:29; 17:24)
6. Jesus is the only Son of God (Matt.17:5; Heb.1:5-9), entering the world for us from His prior presence with God (Jn.1:14; 17:24)
7. Jesus has all the divine attributes of God (cf. Matt.28:18; Jn.1:48; 14:6)
8. Jesus is the exact image of God (Col.1:5; cf. 2Cor.4:4; Heb.1:3)
9. Jesus is eternal like God (Jn.8:58; Heb.13:8)
10. Jesus is equal to God (Jn.5:18)
11. Jesus is sent from heaven and comes from heaven – which can only be the case if He is God (Jn.6:38-58).
Consider, for example, that John tells us that what Isaiah actually saw
was not the Father but Jesus' pre-incarnate, divine glory (amid the "seraphim" who proclaim
"Holy! Holy! Holy!" in Isaiah chapter six: Jn.12:41), opening our eyes
to the fact that most of the representations of the Lord in the Old
Testament are actually Jesus Christ, the revealed member of the Trinity
(and there is not time or space here to examine the hundreds of OT
passages wherein we find such
"Christophany",
see the link and also
"Old Testament Appearances of Jesus Christ").
It is really not too much to say that the Bible breathes forth the divinity of Jesus Christ at almost every breath, and that it is only by ignoring or diminishing its testimony that one can come to any different conclusion. All of this is explained with much more on this subject in general at the following links:
Jesus Christ is Divine (in BB 4A: Christology)
Hope this is of some help to you.
Yours in our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Bob L.