Every believer should have a biblical answer to questions raised against the deity of Jesus Christ.

There has never been more confusion regarding the person of Jesus Christ in history than today; while most people readily accept that He was once a man, many will rage at claims that state He was more than a man.

Some have also alleged that Jesus never said He was God, but this is totally incorrect. Jesus asserted that He was God, and His statements shocked the listeners who heard Him.

Let’s  look at some of Jesus’ claims concerning His deity, including those of His closest followers and the statements of the early church.

Claims of Jesus:

• To be the eternal Yahweh (John 8:58)
• To have equality with God (John 10:30)
• To be able to forgive sin (John 8:11; Mathew 9:2)
• To be the Lord of Sabbath (Mark 2:28)
• To have all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 11:27; 28:18; John 17:2; cf. John 3:35; 13:3; 1 Cor. 15:27; Heb. 1:2)
• To have the authority to answer prayers (John 13:13-14)
• To be the Apocalyptic ‘Son of Man’ (Mark 14:62; Daniel 7:13-14)
• To be the Lord of King David (Mathew 22:41-45)
• To be Greater than the temple of God (Mathew 12:6)
• To be the supreme Judge who will one day return in glory (Matt. 16:27; 24:30; Acts 1:11; 2 Thess. 1:7)
• To be wherever His followers are gathered (Mathew 18:20)
• To be with His followers forever (Mathew 28:20)
• To be Eternal (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:6)
• To have come down from heaven (John 3:13; 6:38, 62; 8:23)
• To be the determiner of people’s eternal destinies (Matt. 16:27; 25:31–46; John 5:22, 27, 30)
• To be the source of eternal life (Mark 10:29–30; John 3:16; 4:14; 5:39–40; 6:27, 40, 47, 54; 10:28; 11:25; 14:6; 17:2)
• To have the right to be honored on an equal basis with the Father (John 5:23)
• To be one with the Father (John 10:30)
• To have the power to raise the dead (John 5:28–29) and even rise from the dead Himself (Matt. 16:21)
• To be the One to whom the Old Testament Scriptures pointed (John 5:39)
• To be omnipresent – ever-present (Matthew 18:20; 28:20)
• To be omniscient – all-knowing (Mathew 11:27; John 16:30; 21:17)
• To be omnipotent – all-powerful (Phillipians 3:21)

Furthermore, in John Chapter 5:17–24, Jesus makes five distinct claims of being equal with God. He claims to be equal with the Father in His person, in His sovereign power, in His works, in His judgment, and in the honor that is due to Him.

John 5:17-24 (NKJV)

But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working. 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. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Claims of Jesus: 

Moreover, we also see statements by Jesus’ close disciples who acknowledged Him as God. Despite some of them taking a while to fully realize it, they finally discerned that behind His humanity dwelt the glory of His divinity.

• Thomas called Jesus God (John 20:28)
• John calls Jesus God (John 1:1; John 1:14)
• Mathew refers to Jesus as Immanuel in his book (Mathew 1:23)
• Peter recognized divine identity as the “Messiah, the Son of living God” (Mathew 16:16)

Claims of the early Church:  

According to the Chalcedonian Creed (a doctrinal statement of the early Church) written in 451 AD, the Church openly affirmed that Jesus was both God and man; and even refuted any claims that reduced Him to merely a man.

Concluding Remarks  

As we can see from these clear statements, there is sufficient evidence for anyone to recognize that Jesus was more than just a man. He was God revealing Himself in human flesh. In fact, there are only three possible explanations for the claims that Jesus made.

(1) Either he was crazy, (2) a deceiver or (3) exactly who He claimed to be – that is, God incarnate.

C. S. Lewis, the famous author, had this to say concerning the deity of Christ and those who claim that Jesus was merely a good teacher;

”A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”