God with Us: Why Jesus Never Ceased to Be God

The Word Became Flesh—Not Less Than God

Recently, I was having a conversation with some ladies when it came up that I’m not a fan of a certain popular teacher. One of them asked me why, and we talked through some of the concerning doctrines this teacher has promoted—particularly one claim that stood out: that Jesus stopped being God when He became man. I’m not going to share the exact quote, because the point of this article is not to name names or stir controversy. It’s to gently and firmly shepherd God’s people away from a serious theological error. The focus here is on the teaching, not the teacher.

So let’s ask the question plainly: Did Jesus stop being God when He became man? And more importantly, what does Scripture say?

John 1:1–3, 14 gives us a powerful and foundational answer:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John deliberately echoes the language of Genesis to make a theological point: the same Word who was with God in the beginning was God—and this very Word became flesh. That means the eternal, divine Son of God entered creation without ceasing to be who He always was. The incarnation is not subtraction, but addition.

Philippians 2:5–11 expands this mystery of the incarnation:

Though he was in the form of God,
he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men…

The text is clear: the emptying happened by taking the form of a servant. In other words, He emptied Himself not by laying aside His divine nature, but by clothing Himself in our human nature. It was humility, not divestment. Addition, not subtraction.

To claim that Jesus gave up His divine attributes is to fall into the ancient heresy of kenosis, which undermines both the incarnation and the cross.

Hebrews 1:3 reinforces the truth that even during His earthly life, Christ was upholding the universe by the word of His power. That is not the work of someone who has ceased to be divine. That is the work of the Son of God, fully present in His divine nature, even as He walked in human weakness.

If Jesus had stopped being God, the universe would have collapsed into nothingness. There would be no salvation, no atonement, and no hope. A creature cannot bear the weight of divine wrath—only God can.

Why This Matters

This is not a small theological point. If Christ was not truly God throughout His incarnation, He could not bring us into full communion with God. A mere man, even a sinless one, cannot reconcile us to God. Only God can do that.

As Scripture teaches, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19). If Christ were not truly God and truly man, He could not be the Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), and the cross would be powerless to save.

The historic Church has consistently affirmed what Scripture teaches: Jesus is one person with two natures—truly God and truly man. These natures are not mixed, nor are they separated. This is the doctrine of the hypostatic union. He must be man to die for men. He must be God for His death to be of infinite worth.

If Jesus had stopped being God, then God changed. And if God changes, we cannot trust Him. Hebrews 6:17–18 tells us that it is because God does not change or lie that we can have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. Our entire confidence in God’s promises rests on His unchanging nature. To say that Jesus ceased to be God is to strike at the very heart of our assurance.

To say that Jesus “stopped being God” isn’t just a minor mistake—it’s a departure from the heart of the Gospel. If Jesus wasn’t God during His earthly life, then He wasn’t God on the cross. And if He wasn’t God on the cross, then we are still in our sins.

This isn’t a side issue. It’s everything.

Let us hold fast to the Jesus of Scripture—the Word made flesh, the radiance of God’s glory, the One who is and was and is to come, truly God and truly man, our only hope in life and death.