Did Jesus Ever Claim to be God? (Part 1)

"Jesus never claimed to be God, 

that was an invention of the church centuries later!"

Many people skeptical of Christianity today ask a very poignant question: did Jesus ever claim to be God?  Christians seem to believe that Jesus was God, but why didn't he ever say he was?  

A popular theory today is that Jesus only thought of himself as a good teacher (a rabbi), as did his disciples, and it wasn't until the fourth century that Christians began exaggerating Jesus' claims to make it sound like he claimed to be God.  

How do we as Christians respond to this argument?  Simple - look at Jesus' statements.  Jesus claimed to be God in five different ways.  Follow the link below to find out the first way:

Jesus Claimed to Possess the Attributes of God:

An attribute is simply a characteristic about a person.  Intelligence, humor, and wit are all attributes of a person.  God has attributes as well.  Some attributes we share with him (intelligence), and others we do not (eternality).  The attributes that only God possesses include his omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), omnipresence (everywhere-present), and eternality (always-existing).

Did Jesus ever claim to possess these attributes of God?  Yes!  And by doing so, he was claiming to be God!

Jesus Claimed to be Omniscient:

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12:40)

*He prophesied of his death*

“Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”” (Luke 22:31-34)

*He prophesied of Peter's denial*

“Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

(John 2:19)

*He prophesied of his resurrection*

Jesus Claimed to be Omnipotent:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18)

*He claimed to have equal authority as God*

 “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:17-18)

*He claimed to have power over life and death*

“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves” (14:11).

*He claimed to have equal miraculous power as God*

Jesus Claimed to be Omnipresent:

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

*He claimed to be everywhere and anywhere two people met in his name*

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)

*He claimed to be with all of his followers at all times*

Jesus Claimed to be Eternal:

 “Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”” (John 8:58)

*He claimed to exist prior to Abraham, prior to human life itself*

“I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father” (John 16:28).

*He claimed to exist with God prior to his earthly life*

“So now, Father, glorify Me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” (John 17:5)

*He claimed to exist prior to the creation of the world*

Next time we will look at how Jesus claimed to perform the activities of God...