Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

Written by Winfried Corduan

In the last chapter we established that by accepted historical method, we can use the Gospels to uncover reliable information about Jesus. They are good records about Him, and we can accept what they say. Thus our question now is: According to these records, did Jesus say that He was God?

 This is a crucial question. It is one thing for the followers of a person to say that He must have been God. It is quite another for that man Himself to say that He is God. The latter severely limits the options of what He truly must have been. After all, being or not being God is not the kind of thing about which one can be casually mistaken. It is ridiculous to think that someone might wind up saying, "Whoops, I'm sorry. I thought I was God, but I guess I'm not. Please forgive me; it was an honest mistake." If Jesus claimed to be God and was not, a serious alternative explanation will be required. If He did not claim to be God, then later claims about Him as God lose their force, since the most important witness to His identity (Himself) never said such a thing.

So, did Jesus claim to be God? Of course He did. There are many places in the Gospel records where He did so, directly and indirectly. I am going to point out seven specifically, though many more are possible. The one thing that they all have in common is that in each case it is Jesus Himself who makes this claim.

John 8:58

In this passage Jesus is involved in a controversy with His Jewish contemporaries. The subject of the argument is Jesus' own identity. In the process, He states that Abraham was glad to see Him. This statement really confuses the people, and they question how He could possibly have been around at the time of Abraham. Jesus responds: "Before Abraham was born, I am" (NIV). The expression, "I Am" was not a phrase that pious Jews would ever use, let alone in reference to themselves; for it was the name of God (see Exod. 3:14), and it would have been considered blasphemous to use that name for oneself. In referring to Himself as "I Am," He was saying that He was God.

Does this sound far-fetched to you? Is it not possible that we are reading all kinds of weighty theological information into a simple statement Jesus made? Fortunately we are being given clear information on how to understand this saying. In the next verse, we see the people picking up stones to throw at Him—the traditional response to evident blasphemy. Christ's listeners got the message exactly as He meant it: He was claiming to be God.

John 10:30

This passage is even clearer. In another debate about Jesus' identity, He says: "I and My Father are one" (NKJV). Thus He declared Himself to be equal with God the Father.

Once again this is a self-checking passage. We could debate for a long time exactly what Jesus might have meant, but the next verse leaves no doubt about what He communicated to His immediate audience. They took up stones again. They knew that once again He had claimed deity for Himself.

Luke 22:70 and Parallel Passages in Matthew and Mark

Here Jesus is on trial before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. After some futile efforts to convict Him on various charges, the priest and his associates turn to Jesus directly and question Him. Eventually they ask Him, "Are you the Son of God?" Jesus responds, "Yes, I am." It appears that we have a double claim here. Jesus acknowledges that He is the Son of God and also uses "I am" in His response as recorded by Luke.

Some scholars have questioned of late whether the claim to be the "Son of God" really entails a claim to being God.1 It is possible that at times the title was used simply to refer to the Messiah, but such an interpretation is impossible in this context. The reaction of the audience tells us exactly how we are supposed to understand what Jesus said and meant. Look at the next verse as well as the reactions reported in Matthew 26:63-66. It was not blasphemy to claim to be the Messiah, but it certainly was blasphemous to claim to be God, and that is exactly what Jesus must have done here.

John 5:17

Even Jesus' claim that God was His Father was a claim to deity. When Jesus said that His Father was at work in Him, He was not just expressing a sentimental attitude toward God. Once more His listeners sought to kill Him because He made Himself equal to God.

Mark 2:1-12

On some occasions when Jesus claimed to be God, He was a less direct; but by His actions He made it clear how He felt about His identity. One example is in this passage. Instead of healing the paralytic immediately, Jesus told him that his sins are forgiven. The scribes in the audience were appalled: "Only God can forgive sins." Reading their thoughts, Jesus then proves that He has the power to forgive sins by healing the man. And, of course, the scribes had it right all along. By forgiving sins Jesus showed that He was, in fact, God.

Matthew 7:22, 23

Any passage in which Jesus referred to Himself as judge on the last day constitutes a claim to be God. To His Jewish hearers it was a given that only God Himself would preside at the Last Judgment. Isaiah 33:22 says, "The Lord is our judge" (NIV). By making Himself Judge, Jesus was making Himself the Lord.

Have you ever wondered why the Jewish authorities got so angry with Jesus? For example, the verses here deal with Jesus' attitude toward the Sabbath; they end with the Pharisees' and Herodians' counseling to put Jesus to death. Were they that irate because Jesus and His disciples broke the Sabbath or because Jesus taught humanism and displayed a relaxed attitude toward the Sabbath? Surely not. In fact, Jesus was saying things some of the more liberalminded rabbis had said already without being put to death.

Mark 2:23—3:6

The clue to this passage is in verse 28. Jesus called Himself Lord of the Sabbath. To understand the import of this title, we need to know how the Jews felt (and still do feel) about the Sabbath commandment. No other commandment was regarded as a blessing so much as the fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." No other commandment was seen as expressing so well the intimate relationship between God and His people. The Sabbath commandment was seen as the closest expression of God's love for the Jews. When Jesus called Himself "Lord of the Sabbath," He applied to Himself that very special place that belonged only to God.

Jesus' subsequent relaxed attitude toward the Sabbath should be seen as an expression of this conviction. He could do with the Sabbath as He liked because He owned the Sabbath. What blasphemy in His listeners' ears! Only God owns the Sabbath. No wonder, given their perspective, that they decided to kill this blasphemer!

Did Jesus claim to be God? These representative passages make it very clear that He did.

© 2008 LifeWay Christian Resources

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