Is Jesus God?

Jesus claimed to be eternal Yahweh

John 8:58 (NIV)

58“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jesus claimed equality with God

John 10:30 (NIV)

30I and the Father are one.”

Jesus openly accepted worship

Matthew 8:2 (NIV)

2A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

John 9:38 (NIV) (the man who was born blind)

38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus openly forgave sin

John 8:11 (NIV) – (Jesus and the prostitute)

11“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Matthew 9:2 (NIV) – (Paralyzed man)

2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus expected the disciples to pray in his name

John 14:13-14 (NIV)

13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

A further list of claims by Jesus is included at the end of this page for your reference.

Furthermore, in John Chapter 5:17–24, Jesus makes five distinct claims of being equal with God. He is 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)

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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

22. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

23. 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.

24. “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 FOLLOWERS

Moreover, we also see statements made by Jesus’ close disciples.

Although initially, it took them a while, they eventually recognized that behind the cover of His humanity abided the Glory of His Divinity.

Thomas called Jesus God

John 20:28 (NIV)

28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

John opens his book by calling Jesus God

John 1:1 (NIV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 (NIV)

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Mathew refers to Jesus as Immanuel in his book

Matthew 1:23 (NIV)

23 The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

Even from a historical study, the early Church refuted claims that reduced Jesus to being merely a man and warmly welcomed Jesus as God.

The Chalcedonian Creed, written in 451 AD (statement of the early Church), asserts that Jesus is indeed God and Truly Man.

These clear statements from the Bible are sufficient for anyone to recognize that Jesus was more than a just man and was God revealing Himself in human flesh.

In fact there are only three possible explanations for the claims that Jesus made. Either he was crazy, a deceiver or exactly who He claimed to be. He could not have possibly been merely a good moral teacher for such people do not make the kind of claims that Jesus had made – as C. S. Lewis notes,

”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 His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Below are a few more relevant extracts/statements that support Jesus’ claims for divinity;

Additional references with Bible Verses where Jesus claimed:

To be the eternal Yahweh (John 8:58)
To have equality with God that no other prophet had claimed (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 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 the 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 have been sent into the world by the Father (Matt. 10:40; Mark 9:37; Luke 10:16; John 3:17; 4:34; 5:23–24, 30, 36–38; 6:29, 39, 44, 46, 57; 7:16, 18, 28–29, 33; 8:16, 18, 26, 29, 42; 9:4; 10:36; 11:42; 12:44–45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 15:21; 16:5; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21)
to be the Savior of the world (Matt. 20:28; Luke 9:56; 19:10; John 3:17; 12:47; cf. 1:29; 4:42; Matt. 1:21; 1 John 4:14)
to be the determiner of people’s eternal destinies (Matt. 16:27; 25:31–46; John 5:22, 27, 30; cf. Luke 12:8–9; John 8:24)
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 be the only way to God (John 14:6; cf. Acts 4:12)
to have the right to be honored on an equal basis with the Father (John 5:23; cf. Matt. 21:15–16)
to be one with the Father (John 10:30; cf. 1:1; 12:45; 14:9; 17:21
to have the power to raise the dead (John 5:28–29; 6:39–40, 44, 54) and even rise from the dead Himself (Matt. 16:21; 17:9, 22–23; 20:17–19; 26:32; 27:63; Luke 24:6–7; John 2:19–22)
to be the One to whom the Old Testament Scriptures pointed (John 5:39, 46; cf. Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:27, 44)
to be without sin (John 8:46; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22)
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 be greater than the temple (Matt. 12:6), Jonah (12:41), Solomon (12:42), Jacob (John 4:12–14), and Abraham (8:51–58)
to be the Bread of Life, the only source of spiritual sustenance (John 6:33, 35, 48, 51)
to be the Light of the World (John 3:19; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35–36, 46; cf. 1:4–5, 7–9)
to be the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
to be the Messiah (Matt. 16:20; 26:63–64; John 4:25–26; cf. 1:41)
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)