Jesus Never Claimed to be God

You've heard it said time and time again: Jesus never said, "I am God, worship me." Such a claim by Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses and other sceptics attacks the foundation of Christianity and the deity of Christ and so requires a thorough rebuttal. Also check The Trinity.

## **Explicit Passages**

### **Isaiah 9:6**

*"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."*
This verse in the Old Testament, speaking about the messianic child, regards the child as "Mighty God" and "Everlasting Father." Isaiah regarded the messiah as synonymous with God.

### **Daniel 7:13-14**

*“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."*
Jesus refers to himself as this "Son of Man" many times in the New Testament. The act of riding on the clouds is a term that exclusively refers to God himself (Deuteronomy 33:26, Isaiah 19:1, Psalm 68:4). Therefore, like Isaiah's prophecy that the messiah would be God, Daniel affirms that the "Son of Man" will be God, or at the very least, equal with God.

### **Mark 2:28**

*"Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”*
Jesus refers to himself as Lord of the Sabbath, indicating he has power over the Sabbath. God is the one who gave the Sabbath to man in Exodus 20. If Jesus has power over the Sabbath, that means he has equal power with God.

### **Mark 6:45-50**

*"Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the nightg he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”*
In Isaiah 43, God tells his people not to be afraid when they pass through the waters, for he is the Lord their God, referring to himself as the great I AM. Jesus mirrors this passage in Mark, the earliest gospel and is a divine theophany on Jesus' part.

### **Matthew 18:20**

*"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”*
This verse details Jesus' omnipresent nature. Throughout the text we can see Jesus giving himself the attributes of God.

### **Matthew 22:41-45**

*"Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?' They said to him, 'The son of David.' He said to them, 'How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet''? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions."*
Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1 to show that David's messianic descendant would be "my Lord" and that the LORD (Yahweh) would have him sit at his right hand (See Luke 22:69). This shows that the messiah would be the Lord of David, i.e. God.

### **John 1:1, 14, 18**

*"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 any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men."*
*"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."*
*"No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known."*
In the beginning (which means creation), the Word was in the presence of God, but was also God Himself. This Word, which is God, became flesh (became human) and dwelt amongst men and was seen by them.

So God = the Word = Jesus, which means Jesus = God.

Some have argued that Jesus' divinity is in question because some manuscripts of verse 18 state *"the only Son"* instead of *"the only God."* (please read Reliability of the New Testament). But as we will see in the subsequent verses passages, John was explicit about the nature of Christ.

### **John 8:58**

*“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”*
Exodus 3:14 states:

*"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.'"*
What is Jesus doing here? He is using the very words of God to describe his own character. This is an open declaration that he is God.

The greatest proof we have in this verse isn't even what Jesus says. It's what the crowd does next: they pick up stones to throw at him in verse 59. Why were they stoning him? It is clear that Jesus was declaring that he is the I AM of the Exodus. If this is not what Jesus meant, he would have reproved the Jews by telling that he was not God. But he doesn't.

### **John 10:30-33**

*"'I and the Father are one.' The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?' The Jews answered him, 'It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.'"*
Jesus openly affirms that he and the Father are of the same substance.

Once again, the Jews pick up stones to cast at him because he is claiming to be God. They explicitly state that Jesus makes himself God. How much clearer can this get?

He later goes on to state that if someone where to call themselves "god" then they would not necessarily be calling themselves the God that Israel worshipped: the Eternal, Almighty One. (See Exodus 7:1, Psalm 82:6, 2 Corinthians 4:4) So when Jesus says "I Am" he is making sure that the Jews know that he is God. If he were to just say "I am God" they wouldn't necessarily accuse him of blasphemy, because the term "god" was used interchangeably depending on the context.

### **John 14:8-11**

*"Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."*
When Jesus says whoever has seen him has seen the father, it is clear his attitude towards his relationship with the father was one of dual personhood.

### **John 20:28**

*"Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!'"*
Some have claimed that this verse is Thomas crying out an expletive in shock. However, this does not seem the case.

1. If this were the case, Jesus would rebuke him for blaspheming God.
2. Jesus does not react to Thomas in a way that would indicate Thomas' reaction was one of vitriol.
3. If Jesus was not God, he would rebuke Thomas for calling him God. Seeing as Jesus does not rebuke him, he must condone what Thomas says: calling him God.

### **Revelation 1:17-18**

*"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.'"*
Isaiah 44:6 states that God is the "First and the Last" and that beside him there is not other God. Would a mere man refer to himself by one of God's many titles?

This verse also talks about how Jesus has power over death. Isaiah 25:8 talks about how God will swallow up death forever. Jesus has defeated death, just like Isaiah said he would.

## **Implicit Passages**

### **Psalm 3:8**

*"Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah"*

So only God can give out salvation. How can Jesus, if he is only a created being, not only bare the weight of our sins, but have authority to dish out salvation when only God has that authority? Why would God switch the object of worship to a created being?

### **Mark 2:6-7**

*"Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"*
In Mark chapter 2, when Jesus came to Capernaum, he was shown a paralytic man and healed him, stating *"Son, you sins are forgiven."* The passage above states how the Jewish scribes reacted to Jesus' actions. The Jews knew that God alone can forgive sins. Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic. Therefore, Jesus was claiming to be God.

### **Matthew 25:31-32**

*"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."*
Jesus states that he will be the one to carry out the final judgement. Psalm 7:6 states that God has appointed a judgement. James 4:12 states there is only one Lawgiver and one Judge. If there is only one Judge that must mean that Jesus is the same Judge as God, indicating they are the same.

### **John 16:15**

*"All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."*
In Isaiah 42:8, the Lord states that he does not share his glory with anyone. When Jesus states that he has all that the Father owns, that includes the glory of the Father, therefore, Jesus and the Father are the same being.

### **John 14:13**

*"Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."*
Jesus is able to answer prayers, just through his component of the Trinity.

## **Worship by the Disciples**

### **Matthew 2:11**

*"And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipoed him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh."*
When the wise men came to Jesus, they worshipped him, as they knew who he was.

### **Matthew 14:33**

*"And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'"*
The disciples worshipped Jesus, as they knew who he was.

### **Matthew 28:17**

*"And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted."*
After being resurrected, but before his ascension, the disciples worshipped him. The same in said in Luke 24:52.

### **John 9:38**

*"He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him."*
The blind man worshipped Jesus. If Jesus was not God, he would have rebuked the blind man for worshipping the creation, not the creator. These four passages in the gospels show that Jesus was the object of worship before, during, and after his ministry.

## **History of Christ's Deity**

### **Early Church Affirmation and Consistency**

#### **Apostolic Fathers**

Ignatius states the divinity of Christ multiple times in several of his works from 105-115 AD:

*"There is one only physician, of flesh and of spirit, generate and in generate, God in man, true Life in death, Son of Mary and Son of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord."*
*"For our God Jesus Christ, being in the Father, is the more plainly visible."*
*"I give glory to Jesus Christ the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you."*
*"Await Him that is above every season, the Eternal, the Invisible, who became visible for our sake, the Impalpable, the Impassible, who suffered for our sake, who endured in all ways for our sake."*
Polycarp states around 120 AD:

*"Now may God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the "eternal Priest" himself, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, build you up in faith and truth, and in all gentleness, and without wrath, and in patience, and in longsuffering, and endurance, and purity, and may he give you lot and part with his saints, and to us with you, and to all under heaven who shall believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his "Father who raised him from the dead."*
#### **Pre-Nicaean Fathers**

Justin Martyr states from 150-160 AD:

*"And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as Man, and Angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also was manifested at the judgement executed on Sodom, has been demonstrated fully by what has been said."*
*"... the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God."*
Melito of Sardis states around 170 AD:

*"He that fixed the heavens was fixed with nails; He that bore up the earth was borne up on a tree; the Lord of all was subjected to ignominy in a naked body-God put to death! the King of Israel slain with Israel's right hand! Alas for the new wickedness of the new murder! The Lord was exposed with naked body: He was not deemed worthy even of covering; and, in order that He might not be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day became darkened because they slew God, who hung naked on the tree."*
Irenaeus of Lyons states in 180 AD:

*"Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father."*
*"Christ Himself, therefore, together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spake to Moses, and who was also manifested to the fathers."*
*"Carefully, then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a virgin, and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates this)."*
Clement of Alexandria states in 190 AD:

*"This Word, then, the Christ, the cause of both our being at first (for He was in God) and of our well-being, this very Word has now appeared as man, He alone being both, both God and man--the Author of all blessings to us; by whom we, being taught to live well, are sent on our way to life eternal."*
*"For it was not without divine care that so great a work was accomplished in so brief a space by the Lord, who, though despised as to appearance, was in reality adored, the expiator of sin, the Saviour, the clement, the Divine Word, He that is truly most manifest Deity, He that is made equal to the Lord of the universe; because He was His Son, and the Word was in God..."*
Tertullian states from 200-220 AD:

*"For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God."*
*"Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled. The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its qualities; so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one."*
*"... being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ."*
Origen, writing from 230-240 AD, states:

*"He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory), became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was."*
*"'Thus saith the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.' For who else was "He which is to come" than Christ? And as no one ought to be offended, seeing God is the Father, that the Saviour is also God; so also, since the Father is called omnipotent, no one ought to be offended that the Son of God is also cared omnipotent."*
### **Timeline of Christ's Deity**

So just as an overview of the texts that affirm Jesus' divinity to show the consistency prior to the council of Nicaea

* Paul: 48-62 AD
* Mark: 60 AD
* Matthew: 64 AD
* John: 90 AD
* Ignatius: 105-115 AD
* Polycarp: 120 AD
* Justin: 150-160 AD
* Melito: 170 AD
* Irenaeus: 180 AD
* Clement: 190 AD
* Tertullian: 200-220 AD
* Origen: 230-240 AD
* Council of Nicaea: 325 AD

The claim that the Council of Nicaea made up Christ's divinity on the spot or that it was not taught beforehand is simply unfounded.

For a rebuttal of the Gnostic heresies like Marcion who rejected Jesus' divinity, please see Gnosticism.

## **Sources**

### **Ancient Sources**

1. ↑ Ignatius of Antioch - *Letter to the Ephesians*, 7.2
2. ↑ Ignatius - *Letter to the Romans*, 3.3
3. ↑ Ignatius - *Letter to the Smyrnaeans*, 1.1
4. ↑ Ignatius - *Letter to Polycarp*, 3.3
5. ↑ Polycarp - *Letter to the Philippians*, 12:2
6. ↑ Justin Martyr - *Dialogue with Trypho*, ch. 128
7. ↑ Justin Martyr - *First Apology*, ch. 63
8. ↑ Melito, *Fragment 5*
9. ↑ Irenaeus of Lyons - *Against Heresies*, 1.10.1
10. ↑ Ibid, 4.5.2
11. ↑ Ibid, 3.21.4
12. ↑ Clement of Alexandria - Exhortation to the Heathen, ch. 1
13. ↑ Ibid, ch. 10
14. ↑ Tertullian - *A Treatise on the Soul*, ch. 41
15. ↑ Tertullian - *Apology*, ch. 21
16. ↑ Tertullian - *Against Praxeas*, ch. 2
17. ↑ Origen - *De Principiis, Preface*, ch. 4
18. ↑ Origen - *De Principiis*, 1.2.10