Answers From a Christian

Did Jesus Claim To Be God?

The question asked by Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, and even faithful Christians at times asks is, did Jesus Christ ever explicitly say He was God?

Often they insist that this be a specific wording. They say Jesus MUST say, "I am God" word for word or Jesus must not be God. Before I begin, I must say, first, this is illogical. Let's take for example another doctrine. God is omniscient, meaning He knows everything. Just because God never says the specific word for word phrase, "I am omnipotent" in the Bible or Quran or Book of Mormon or any other Holy book does not mean He isn't omnipotent. He says He knows everything using different wording. Just because God does not use the wording you or I may think He should does not mean He didn't say it.

Second, Jesus Christ actually said that He would be vague about certain things in His ministry like His deity, death, resurrection, and salvation. He said He would use things like parables, symbolism, and generally elusive language so that the truth ones who wanted to know would understand but those who did not want to know would merely be confused. I'm not saying that because you are confused you are a scorner, but if you insist Jesus use clear terms on the level you expect, that is a step in the wrong direction that Jesus said not to take.

Matthew 13:10-14 - And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Jesus promised that after He left, the disciples would be filled the Holy Spirit and know exactly how to explain everything in an explicit way by the power of God unlike Jesus Christ. This is true, as we see the epistles and the Gospels say many times explicitly that Jesus is God, the incarnate, to be worshiped, and that salvation is by grace and putting faith in His death for our sins.

John 14:26 - But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Anyway, keeping this in mind, we can continue. Until one accepts this though, they are purposefully closing their eyes to the fact that Jesus is God and will not be able to see it because they do not want to see it in the way God has chosen to reveal it. Remember, we as humans must go on God's terms, not our terms.

Isaiah 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

First, we must ask, what qualifies as someone saying they are something? For example, let's say someone never says word for word, "I am the King of England." BUT He does say, "I am a King. I rule in England. I make laws. I judge the law breakers. I was born into a position of royalty." Let's say then the people that hear him say that then say, "This man thinks he's the King of England. He's crazy!" And then this man never contradicts him. Even if this man never says "I am the King of England" do you think it is kind of obvious that he is claiming to be the King of England? This man claimed to have the titles, character traits, and abilities as the King of England would. This is basically saying he is the King of England. Would you agree?

The same happened with Jesus. Jesus claimed, as stated above, to have the titles, character traits, and abilities as God.

Let's start with titles.