In Matthew 12:6, Jesus says to the Pharisees, "I say to you,
that something greater than the Temple is here." How much greater?
Look at verse 8. Referring to Himself, Jesus asserts, "The Son
of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." How can anyone be Lord of the
Sabbath except God who instituted it? This is a direct claim to deity.
In Matthew 23:37, Jesus speaks as though He has personally observed
the whole history of Jerusalem:
0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who
are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together,
the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
In Mark 2:1,2, Jesus tells a paralyzed man, "My son, your sins
are forgiven." Some scribes sitting there caught the obvious
intent of Jesus' words and reasoned:
Why does this man speak in this way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive
sins but God alone?
Jesus challenged them:
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven";
or to say, "Arise, and take up your pallet and walk"? But
in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth
to forgive sins ...
And then Jesus healed the paralytic. The implication was obvious.
No one forgives sin but God. Anyone could say he is able to forgive
sin; but Jesus proved He had the authority to forgive sin when He
healed the paralytic. Jesus was clearly claiming deity for Himself.
Back again in Matthew, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (7:21-23),
Jesus speaks of Himself as the ultimate judge who will have authority
to deny entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
In the next paragraph, rather than say, "Everyone who hears the
words of God or Torah will lay a strong foundation for their lives,"
Jesus states, "Everyone who hears these words of mine . . . "
David Biven, a researcher of the Hebraic background of the Gospel
accounts, concludes:
It was not the way He taught or even the general content of His teaching
that made Jesus unique among the rabbis. What was unique about Jesus
was who He claimed to be, and He rarely ever taught without claiming
to be not only God's Messiah, but more startlingly, Immanuel, "God
with us."
It is surprising how critics try to reject Jesus' constant references
to Himself as deity. Ian Wilson, for example, writes:
In the Mark Gospel, the most consistent in conveying Jesus' humanity,
a man is represented as running up to Jesus and addressing Him with
the words "Good Master." Jesus' response is a firm rebuke:
"Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone"
(Mark 10:18).
Wilson's interpretation is 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Seen
within the context of the situation, Jesus is using obvious irony
In essence, He is arguing: (1) If no one is good but God alone, and
(2) if I am good, then (3) 1 must be God. Often Jesus receives worship
and does nothing to discourage it (see Matthew 14:33, John 9:38).
You would think one who severely rebukes Peter for trying to keep
Him from God's will of being crucified would also severely rebuke
someone offering worship to Him which rightly ought to be given only
to the one true living God. Paul severely reacted against being deified
at Lystra (Acts 14:8-18). How much more should Jesus have reacted
if He were only a mere man? Did He not quote Deuteronomy 6:13 to Satan
during His temptation, "You shall worship the Lord your God,
and serve Him only"?
One notable occurrence of Jesus accepting worship is in Matthew 21:15,16.
Children cried out, "Hosanna to the Son of David," in praise
to Jesus. "Hosanna" is used here as a cry of adoration,
but some critics insist on interpreting "Hosanna" in a stiffly
literal sense, rendering the statement "Save us Son of David."
This interpretation cannot be accurate, though, because (1) it would
actually read: "Save us to the Son of David," which makes
little or no sense; (2) the chief priests and scribes who saw Jesus
receiving the praise "became indignant and said to Him, 'Do you
hear what these are saying?' " as though Jesus should have silenced
the crowd (something He would be expected to do only if the crowd
were worshipping Him); and most important, (3) Jesus replied by attributing
to Himself something which was meant for God alone. He asked the chief
priests and scribes, "Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth
of infants and nursing babes Thou [God] hast prepared praise for Thyself
[God]'?"
Did you catch what Jesus said? Basically it was, "When those
children praise me, they are praising God."
Of all the Gospel writers, John most clearly perceived the cues Jesus
gave about His identity. For his effort to report those cues, he has
been the most criticized Gospel writer of all, allegedly falling under
Hellenistic influence. Scholars today, however, have begun to realize
the inaccuracy of this charge. In John 8:58, when Jesus proclaimed
to a Jewish crowd, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham
was born, I Am," He was claiming two aspects of deity for Himself:
· · the eternal existence of God; and
· · the name of God.
Jesus was referring His listeners back to Exodus 3:13,14 where Moses
tells God:
Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them,
"The God of your fathers has sent me to you." Now they may
say to me, "What is His name?" What shall I say to them?
God answered Moses,
I AM WHO I AM ... Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I
AM has sent me to you."
Any Jewish person would have heard Jesus' claim to deity loud and
clear. That is why the very next verse in John's account says: "Therefore
they picked up stones to throw at Him" (John 8:59). In all, Jesus
uses the term I am (Gr. Ego eimi) more than nineteen times in reference
to Himself in the Gospel according to John. Often it is used to make
claims about Himself that normally would be thought appropriate only
for God. For example,
I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he
who believes in Me shall never thirst (6:35);
I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the
darkness, but shall have the light of life (8:12);
Unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins (8:24);
I am the good shepherd (10:11-14) [cf. Psalm 23:1: "The LORD
is my shepherd"];
I am the resurrection, and the life; He who believes in Me shall live
even if he dies (11:25).
Other Scriptures on this subject include John 4:26; 6:41,48,51; 8:18,
28,58; 10:7,9; 13:19; 14:6; and 15:1.)
Earlier, in John 5:17, Jesus claimed to be continuing the work of
the Father. He also called God "My Father." In John 10:28-30
Jesus again called God "My Father." He also claimed at one
time to be the giver of eternal life and at another time to be one
with the Father. On both those occasions, the Jewish crowds picked
up stones to stone Him because, as they put it, "You, being a
man, make Yourself out to be God" (John 10:33; cf. 5:18).
In John 14:6, Jesus did not just claim to be teaching mankind the
truth; He claimed that He was the truth. In John 14:9, Jesus admonished
Philip, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." In Isaiah
42:8, God said, "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give
My glory to another." But in John 17:5, Jesus prayed, "And
now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory
which I ever had with Thee before the world was."
In John 5:19ff., Jesus delivers a long monologue in which He makes
repeated claims to be on the same level of authority as God the Father.
"Even in His parables," says Norman Geisler, "Jesus
claimed functions reserved only for Yahweh in the Old Testament, such
as being Shepherd (Luke 15), Rock (Matthew 7:24-27), and Sower (Matthew
13:24-30)." 31/14
C. S. Lewis puts all these claims in the right perspective when he
reminds his readers that Jesus was a Jew among Jews:
Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking
as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always
existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.
Now let us get this clear. Among pantheists, like the Indians, anyone
might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would
be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could
not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being
outside the world who had made it and was infinitely different from
anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what
this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has
ever been uttered by human lips.
The question is, can we accept as true what Jesus [God the Son],
claimed? The most conclusive evidence establishing the deity of Christ
is the historically verifiable resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote
that Jesus "was declared with power to be the Son of God by the
resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4) If the resurrection
of Christ is true, then it is possible and, indeed, logical to believe
all His claims and miracles including His assertion of the complete
validity of the Old Testament. They would be what one would expect
from God.
The primary reason that Jesus is the only way to God is that He forgives
sin and offers eternal life, (John 10:28) something that the founder
of no other major religion has claimed to do. Think about that!
Every person is separated from a perfect, holy God by sin. According
to God’s requirement, either the individual must pay the penalty
for sin – death – or he must find someone who is willing
and able – who has no sin – to pay the penalty for him.
(Hebrews 9:14, 22) Jesus Christ was both able and willing to do this,
as demonstrated by His death on the cross. That is why Jesus is the
only way to God.
For a more in-depth review of this important subject, go to http://www.passionofchrist.com/english/claims.htm
Will you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and choose to follow Him
today? Would you like to know God personally
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Updated
20 April, 2004
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Who Is Jesus Really?
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