How would you explain the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where it says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us"? That points pretty clearly to the divinity of Christ.

Indeed, it actually makes what Christ does for us so much better. If we are adopted into Christ by baptism, and Jesus is truly God, then in Jesus we are divinized—that is, we are perfected by grace and made to share in God's own divine life.