DID JESUS THINK THAT HE WAS GOD?

 

It is common for those who deny the Deity of Christ to point to the fact that Jesus never explicitly said that “I am God” as one Facebooker had claimed:

·       Jesus never claimed to be YHWH; He never claimed to be “The Great I AM” of the OT, YHWH. He did, however, repeatedly claim to be the unique Son of God, the Lord’s Messiah (Luke 2.26).

Approvingly, another responded:

·       I wrote a book on this called "I Am" in which I outline EVERY place in scripture (and I mean every) where someone uttered "I Am" the exact same phrase, but it was not rendered as "I AM" and no one thinks that person was claiming to be God. Including Paul's famous statement "by the Grace of God I AM THAT I AM."

However, the context largely determines the translation. Check it out:

·       So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” [or “I AM”] So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:57-59 ESV)

Evidently, the religious leadership was aware that Jesus had been cryptically claiming that he was God. He even claimed that He had been present when Abraham existed. No prophet of Israel had ever claimed pre-existence! The Pharisees therefore intended to stone Him to death. Others who also claimed “I am” were not regarded as heretical. Why not? The context!

Besides, the Pharisees understood that Jesus had been equating Himself with God:

·       This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18)

How then did Jesus respond to His challengers? He could have set them straight if He wasn’t implying that He was God. However, He didn’t. Instead, He claimed that He did the same things that the Pharisees knew that only God does:

·       For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. (John 5:21-26)

Everything Jesus had said equated Himself, once again, with God. Only God judges, gives life, receives the honor and glory.

Why then didn’t Jesus explicitly say, “I AM God?” Here’s my guess – Had He revealed this explicitly at this time, He would immediately have been put to death and even rejected by His own followers.