Is Jesus God? A big question. This question has stirred controversies within and without Christendom up to this day. What if we were to ask Jesus Christ Himself whether He is God or not. What would He have said? Well, Jesus has long spoken His mind about the subject of His divinity or deity and we can find His answers in some Bible verses.
1. Jesus claims to be God and God’s coequal
It was not Christians who framed the divinity of Jesus. Knowledge about the divinity of Jesus came from none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ Himself claimed, accepted, and taught the people in His sermons that He is God. Let revisit a few of Jesus’ words that were His claims that He is God:
30 “I and My Father are one.” 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” John 10:30 – 33
After Jesus said, ‘I and My Father are one,’ the Jews wanted to stone Him to death. Why? Because they understood well what He meant to say. They understood that Jesus was claiming to be God and equal with God Most High, and they thought He had spoken blasphemy.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. John 5:17, 18
Right from His time on earth, the people understood that Jesus Christ claimed to be God and equal with God; for which reason the Jewish people counted Him as a blasphemous liar and sought, on several occasions, to end His life by stoning.
2. Jesus claims to be eternal
I was not born, nor have a beginning and an end. Who am I? – God. That is exactly what the Scriptures teach us – that God is eternal, meaning He has no beginning nor end; He was not born at any point, nor will His life ever come to an end. The LORD God was the first to claim to be the first and the last – eternal. Isaiah wrote, “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he (Isa 41:4).”
Apart from the LORD God, no other entity had been able to claim to be eternal until Jesus came. Jesus was next after the LORD God to claim to be eternal – the first and the last, making Himself equal to the LORD God who once claimed to be the first and the last. In the Book of Revelation, when the resurrected Jesus revealed Himself to John the apostle on the Island of Patmos, these were some of the claims He made:
- “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
- I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)
- And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he (Jesus) laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelation 1:17)
3. Jesus claims He gives life
Life – it has a broad meaning in the Scriptures. It could refer to the breadth of life in us that makes us living beings and enables us to go about life processes such as eating, working, etc. Or it could also refer to the spiritual state of health – that is, having a healthy relationship with God. Whichever way we understand it, life sources from God. And the power to give life is unique to God: None order than God is able to give life. Hence the Bible says:
- The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 1 Samuel 2:6
- See now that I (God), even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. Deuteronomy 32:39
Apart from the LORD God who once claimed to give life, no other person had been able to claim to give life until Jesus came. Jesus claimed that just as the LORD God has the power to give life, He also has the power to give life to whomever He wills.
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. (John 5:21)
By claiming to give life, Jesus Christ claims to be God and makes Himself parallel to the LORD God who once claimed to be the source and giver of life.
4. Jesus claims He shall judge mankind
From time immemorial, the people of God acknowledged the LORD God to be the judge – the judge of the nations (Isaiah 2:4) and the judge of all mankind. It is written: ‘But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another (Ps 75:7).’ Also De 32:36, Ps 50:6, etc.
One day while Jesus was in the course of delivering a powerful sermon and was surrounded by a skeptical multitude of Jews, He made this claim: ‘‘For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, (John 5:22)’
Jesus has claimed every known attribute of the LORD God of old. And every role that the LORD God is known to play, Jesus claimed to play the same role. Hence, all these claims cumulate to His claim of being God.
5. Jesus claims to be the Son of God and part of the Trinity
Which God do Christians worship? All along God – the God of the Bible has been a unity of three distinct personalities. That is, God comprises the Father, the Son or the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore we have a Trinity. Jesus said,
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son (Jesus Christ), and of the Holy Ghost: Matthew 28:19
Jesus always claimed to be the Son – the Son of God, calling the LORD God His Father. Jesus said: ‘I and my Father are one (John 10:30). Also Mt 7:21, Mt 10:32, etc. Jesus’ claim of being the Son of God and part of the Trinity is enough proof of His claim of being God.
Why should we believe Jesus’ claims of being God?
When Jesus was arrested, He was brought before the Sanhedrin for trial. Apart from other false witnesses who were there to seek Jesus’ doom, almost all the members of the Sanhedrin were enemies of Jesus who would not hesitate to bring up accusations against Jesus if only any is available. However, amid a gathering of enemies and false accusers, nothing evil was found against Jesus and no provable charge could be leveled against Him. Hence, the Bible testifies that Jesus was a perfect, sinless man –
“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth” 1 Peter 2:21-22
Jesus Christ did not sin and never told a lie. Therefore I ask, what is your justification for your doubts about Jesus’ claims to divinity? The Bible bears witness that Jesus regarded Himself as God and taught the same in His sermons. So if you are waiting to ask Jesus whether He is divine or not, He has already borne witness to Himself that He is divine.