Did Jesus Say He Was God?

From: www.apologeticsguy.com

What would you say if someone asked you, “Did Jesus say He was God?” In this post, I’ll give you a few talking points that you can use to give a thoughtful response to a question like this. But first, let me tell you a little story.


One day, I was at this family reunion at my in-laws’ place when a relative decided to engage me in a religious conversation. Now you have to understand that I usually don’t go looking for these kinds of discussions at parties. What I was looking for was more potato chips. Why? So I could try some of this homemade blue cheese dip–a secret family recipe!
So anyway, this woman cornered me and started talking about how Jesus never claimed to be God. In fact, she grabbed my Bible off the table, held it up as a visual aid, and said, “According to this, Jesus never claimed to be God.”
As a World Religions professor at a couple of universities, I hear this challenge a lot. The popular concept is that Jesus of Nazareth never said He was divine or never claimed to be the Son of God. But what about this? Did Jesus really say He was God? What does the historical evidence actually show?

Did Jesus really say He was God?

That’s exactly how Jesus’ original audience seemed to take it when He said, “I and the Father are one.” In fact, the Jews were ready to kill Him right there! Why? “Because you,” they said, “a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).
On another occasion, He used the personal name of Israel’s God–the name revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14)–to refer to Himself. And He even used the Torah for context, so no one would misunderstand Him: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). This would be about wild as telling a Muslim, “I am your God, Allah.” Don’t try that in Saudi Arabia! It’s no wonder the Jews tried to stone Him to death. That was the exact penalty for blasphemy under the Jewish legal system. It was pretty clear to everyone there that He was saying, “I am Israel’s God.”


So did Jesus say He was God? Yeah. Did He use the exact words “I am God?” We don’t read a direct quote like that in Scripture, but here’s the thing: Jesus didn’t have to say the exact words “I am God,” in order to claim to be divine. But why is this a problem?
I don’t have to say the exact words, “I am married” to indicate that I’m married. I can say “I’m her husband,” or “this is my wife,” or “It’s our 12th wedding anniversary.” The question is, what did the people who were actually a part of conversation think about what Jesus said?

So Why Don’t People Get It?

Honestly, some never look into it. They believe whatever they hear about Christianity in pop culture. Others never look into it honestly. But some will actually be open-minded and give the Bible a fair hearing. Why don’t some of these people get it right away?
Jesus claimed to be God in ways that were pretty clear to the people He was talking to. Our problem as 21st century readers, is that we might not easily get what some of Jesus’ sayings actually meant to the people who were part of the conversation. For example, Jesus also claimed to be divine when He said He was the ”Son of Man.” I’ll admit that the first time I heard this title, I thought it was kind of like Muhammad saying, “I am but a man like you” (Qur’an 41:6)—Now there’s a religious figure who never claimed to be God! But this isn’t what Jesus meant at all. Let’s take a look at the term, “Son of Man.”

Jesus claimed to be the Son of Man

“Son of Man” seems to be Jesus’ favorite thing to call Himself–He uses it 80 times in the New Testament Gospels. Interestingly, it’s only used 1 time outside the gospels (Acts 7:56). So this probably wasn’t something the church made up. How many modern worship songs can you think of that use the term, “Son of Man?” We know this title didn’t emerge later on in history and it wasn’t written back into the earlier traditions about Jesus. But why is this title important? Because it’s referring to a figure that Jews recognized as divine. Here’s what the Jewish prophet Daniel wrote (7:13-14):

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Here’s the point: The “Son of Man” in Daniel’s vision is rightful heir to the divine throne. According to the prophecy, He’ll rule forever. Nations will worship Him and His kingdom will be unstoppable.

Jesus claimed to be the Divine Messiah

Back to my family get-together. I asked the lady where she heard that Jesus never claimed to be God. I let her talk and explain her ideas. Then, I gently took my Bible back from her and asked, “Could you read this for me?” I turned to Jesus’ trial, as recorded by Mark (14:60-64). She read the record of Jesus’ cross-examination:

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. (63-64).

Jesus publicly claimed to be the Messiah. He claimed to be the Son of God. He even used the divine name in His answer: “I AM.” Now, at the very least, Jesus answered, “Yeah, I’m the Messiah. I’m the Son of God.” At that point, the High Priest probably thought something like, “Gotcha!”
But then, Jesus follows up with, “I’m also the Son of Man. And you’ll see me seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” That’s when people freaked. Why? Because Jesus basically said, ”You know that guy in Daniel’s vision? That’s Me.”


The high priest didn’t misunderstand Him for a second. His response was essentially, “Yikes! You just said you’re God and everyone should worship you!” No ambiguity there. But this just expressed what Jesus already seemed to assume by walking around and doing the things He did. Things like claiming to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-11, Luke 5:20-24). He certainly didn’t object when people worshiped Him or called Him God (John 20:28-29).

Jesus said He was God

If you’re willing to look at the historical record, you’ll find that there’s a reasonable explanation for the early Christian belief that Jesus was divine: Jesus Himself said He was God. Even people who hated Jesus attest to the fact that this is what He said about Himself.
So if anyone ever asks you, “Did Jesus Say He Was God?” You can confidently say, “Yes.” Just be ready to mention at least a couple of these talking points. It doesn’t hurt to memorize at least a couple of the Scripture references, too. Try it!
But what happened at my little family get-together? The woman decided to change the topic and drop it. I don’t think she’d ever seen these reports in the Bible before. I almost felt bad for her and just let it go. After all, this was a casual family reunion and I think she got the point.
I went back to look for more chips. And I finally got to that blue cheese dip, too.

Your Turn

Has anyone ever surprised you with a challenge to the truth of an essential Christian belief when you least expected it? How easy was it to respond? Would you respond differently if you could re-live that encounter?

A Series on the Book of Judges - Part 2

Part 2 - God, the Canaanites and the Problem of Suffering

Deuteronomy 20 v 16-17 is evidence that has, as C.S. Lewis might describe it, “put God in the dock”: “In the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them…..as the LORD your God has commanded...”

Of course, God doesn’t require anyone to defend him; but let’s explore what was behind this statement, which at first glance appears to be instructing ethnic cleansing that we condemned in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The killing was not primarily to vacate the land for new incoming tenants, although that was a by-product.  There was a moral imperative here - this was a judgment on the Canaanites, similar to the Flood or destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  
But “everything that breathes” includes babies and young children. What was going on in Canaan that was so bad that God ordered even the children killed? (Sinful Egypt, Edom, Moab and Ammon were not completely destroyed, so the Canaanite sin must surely have been more serious). Was there no alternative; could God not have given them another chance?

Our final article in the series will expand further on the Caananite religion, which was the root of the problem.  But to illustrate: when a new house was built, a child would be sacrificed and its body built into the wall to bring the family luck. The firstborn were often sacrificed to Molech, a giant hollow bronze image in which a fire was built. Parents would place their children in its red hot hands and the babies would roll down into the fire. The sacrifice was invalid if the mother showed grief; she was supposed to dance and sing. This is sickening and warped stuff.

The Canaanites saw Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed completely - a warning that God would judge wickedness.  But God didn’t hurry to judge the Canaanites. God told Abraham: In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”  Genesis 15:16. God gave the Canaanites 400 years while Israel was in Egypt and after Israel passed through the Red Sea, He waited 40 more years while Israel wandered in the wilderness.
The people knew Israel was coming, and that God had given the land to them, as the Canaanite Rahab testified: “I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us…." Joshua 2:9.  Families could well have migrated out of the land and settled in nearby areas. God gave no instructions to hunt down and kill Canaanites who left the land peacefully. Jericho had six additional days to repent while Israel did laps around it and even on the seventh day of judgement, Israel marched around the city seven times to provide a further opportunity.

There is a pattern here - God judges swiftly when He finally acts, but He patiently warns and waits for repentance.

The point of God’s command was to destroy the evil Canaanite culture rather than the individual Canaanite people. Otherwise, as God said “they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 20:18. 

Later in the Bible, Canaanite individuals like Uriah the Hittite show up as righteous characters. Rahab herself was a Canaanite harlot who repented before Jericho was destroyed and even became an ancestor of Jesus Himself.  So God’s judgment was not based on racism or favoritism.  

God is never arbitrary or unjust, despite how some events might appear when viewed from a human, limited perspective. Those of us who know Him trust that His justice is perfect and His patience and forgiveness are immense. He waits for repentance and gives everyone the opportunity to choose between salvation and judgment.  This is true today – He wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.  But the clock of judgement is ticking and one day, maybe soon, time will be up, and there will be no more opportunity for repentance. That is why today really is the day of salvation.

A Series on the Book of Judges - Background

There have been many forms of government in history – such as democracies, oligarchies, monarchies and dictatorships.  But a fairly unusual type, a judicial model headed by a judge, once operated in Israel. 

It is best known from the period covered by the Bible book of Judges but not limited to then.  Moses was a judge leader and in Exodus 18, we learn that (as is often the case today) his court was swamped with cases; delays and exhaustion were the result.  Many more judges were appointed to help out the chief judge and each had to adhere to certain standards of integrity and impartiality.  Even when the judge was replaced by the king as the figurehead of the nation and the chief dispenser of civil justice (see David in 2 Samuel 15:2), judges remained a vital part of Israelite life (see Ezra 7:25, 2 Chronicles 19:5).

Perhaps the first thing you might think of in relation to a judge is dealing with criminals.  You’ll recall the famous case of Solomon, the baby and the sword? It typifies the kind of civil law justice that would have been their main focus – the resolving of disputes.  There were certain important administrative functions to be performed which also oiled the wheels of social life; an example of which is the recognition of the lifelong binding of a slave to his master (Exodus 21:5-6).  At times, the worked in tandem with the priests (see Deuteronomy 17:8-10) and logically the latter would have been the primary experts on ceremonial law.   But it would also seem that guilt in the context of criminal law was established not by the judges but by witness testimony of the community (see Deuteronomy 17:6 for example).

In Judges, the judges were pressed into emergency service - rescuing the people from raiding marauders (Judges 2:16).   The name of one of the famous judges, Joshua, means Saviour – relevant of course to his role and also a pointer to the future Saviour of the same name.

Did this model work?  The judges themselves were of varying calibers and there was a general dearth of strong leadership role models across the nation which meant that the moral and spiritual environment was poor.  As a result the period was very volatile and instability was never far away.   

How long God would have persisted with the model is a matter of speculation, but it was the people themselves that called for a change.  Their motives were largely selfish but they were given an excuse by the unethical behavior of Samuel’s sons (see 1 Samuel 8).   Behind that, the people wanted a more visual and dynamic leader which would make them like everyone else.  

God took this very personally – he somewhat surprisingly told Samuel that the people were actually rejecting him.  God knew full well what they were letting themselves in for but his warnings fell on deaf ears.  Key differences in the monarchical model would cause issues over time.  The main difference was that kingship was hereditary (and not raised up directly by God like the judges) and this was to cause trouble:

·         many sons proved to be unsuitable candidates

·         often undue influence of family members or family battles for succession

·         potential for inexperienced kings and unstable government

·         focus on self-aggrandizement and passing on of wealth

·         increase in political and military maneuvering  for own gain

Ironically, these issues often resulted in less justice for the people. Despite these drawbacks, at least the highlights of the reign of David are a foreshadowing of the great King that was, and is, to come.   Today, we often rightly complain about the apparent unfairness of life, the social inequalities that exist and a sense that justice is not being done.  We can look forward to a future day, in the Millennium, where the Lord will reign on earth as King/Judge and we will really see what good civil government looks like:

“In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness." (Isaiah 16:5).