Question 49 – Jesus never said he was God, did he?
One of the common arguments against Christianity is the assertion that Christians invented the divinity of Jesus. Critics point out that Jesus never directly claimed to be God. In this, they are right. We have no record of Him ever saying something akin to, "I am God, I created you all." However, this does not mean in the slightest that the matter is settled. Although Jesus did not express His divinity directly, He made countless indirect statements from which it is unmistakable that He considered Himself to be God. This is a vast area that requires detailed study of specific biblical passages. However, we do not have the space for that here. Allow me to summarize and mention the most important conclusions, from which Jesus's divinity clearly emerges. For those interested in deeper study, I am listing biblical references for some, while others are listed without references [1, 9].
Jesus and Bible
1) Jesus has attributes that can only be attributed to God:
He is eternal (Micah 5:1-2; Isaiah 9:4-6; John 6:47; John 17:5; Hebrews 13:8; 2 Peter 1:11)
He is omnipotent (Psalms 33:6; Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:8; 4:8; 5:5)
He is omniscient (John 1:48; 2:24-25; 16:30)
He is omnipresent (Matthew 28:20; 18:20; John 14:23)
2) Jesus claims to be one with God the Father:
John 1:18; 10:29-30, 33, 38; 14:11; 10:30; 16:15; 17:11
3) Jesus, or others about Him, state in various ways that He is God:
Isaiah 9:6 (not 9:5); Matthew 26:64; John 1:1, 18; 5:18; 10:33; 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:19; 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3, 8-9; 1 John 5:20; Revelation 1:8; 4:8
4) Jesus Christ asserts that faith in the Father is dependent on faith in the Son (they are identical in nature):
John 5:23; 6:40; 15:23; 14:6; Matthew 11:27; 1 John 2:23; 4:15
5) Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father:
Psalms 110:1; Matthew 26:64; Mark 16:19; Acts 7:55-56; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; Revelation 3:21; 4:2; 5:6; 22:1, 3
6) Prayers are directed to Jesus, which belong to God alone:
John 14:13-14; Acts 3:6; 7:59-60; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 John 5:14; Romans 10:13; Revelation 6:10
7) Jesus Christ forgives sins, which no one else but God can do.
8) The world was created through Jesus and for Him.
9) Jesus used divine names for Himself, revealed in the Old Testament.
10) Jesus did not rebuke those who called Him God.
11) Jesus accepted praise from people, which Israel could attribute only to God.
12) The grave could not hold Lord Jesus, and He was resurrected.
These and many other arguments present a clear and undeniable profile of Jesus Christ's personality – God who became man. This is also why He was tortured and killed. On one occasion, when He declared that He is "one" with God the Father, the Jews wanted to kill Him. He asked them why they wanted to do this. They replied:
"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." (John 10:33)
Elsewhere, after Jesus's resurrection, when the doubting Thomas saw Him, he proclaimed:
"My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)
It must be noted that Jesus did not rebuke him; instead, He indirectly confirmed his words. Jesus was not merely a created being, as some, such as Muslims or Jehovah's Witnesses, try to teach. According to the Bible, He was the living God. In conclusion, let us once more hear from the world-renowned Christian thinker C. S. Lewis, who wrote:
"The historical difficulty of giving for the life, sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than the Christian explanation is very great. The discrepancy between the depth and sanity and (let me add) shrewdness of His moral teaching and the rampant megalomania which must lie behind His theological teaching unless He is indeed God, has never been satisfactorily got over. Hence the non-Christian hypotheses succeed one another with the restless fertility of bewilderment." [10]
Summation
The Bible, in many different ways, points to the fact that Jesus is a part of the Divine Trinity, the living God who became man. There are people and groups who attempt (e.g., by manipulating Bible translations) to deny this fact; however, their conclusions are untenable from the perspective of Biblical analysis.