Did Jesus Claim To Be Divine?
Jesus never directly claimed to be God himself. The divinity of Jesus needs to be interpreted from his "indirect" claims listed below.
- Jesus claims to be one with the Father
- Jesus claims to forgave sin against God
- Jesus claims to be glorified
- Jesus claims to be in His disciples
- Jesus claims to be the life
- Jesus claims to be the light
- Jesus claims that you receive God when you receive him
- Jesus claims to be the Good Shepherd
- Jesus claims the throne
- Jesus claims to his yoke is easy
- Jesus claims to come from God
Some would object to say that Jesus could not make direct claims, because he knew the people would not be able to handle this new revelation that a god could become a man. However in the Greco-Roman world it was common belief that gods like Apollo could take the form of a human being. Likewise the idea that a human could become a god was also common. When Paul healed someone, the Greeks thought that Paul and Barnabas were pagan gods who descended to them (Acts 14:11–13).
This begs the question:
- Why did Jesus never said he was God?
- If Jesus did said that he was God, why didn't the Gospel authors recorded these statements?
Some would argue the Trinity is to complex to explain to simple Jews. However, Jesus always used parables to explain complex subjects. Why are there no analogies recorded regarding the Trinity? For example Jesus could have illustated God is like water, ice and steam if he was a Modalist or God is like an egg (shell, white and yolk) if he was a Partialist.
Strongest Proof that Jesus Claimed to be Divine
Important questions to ask to proof the divinity of Jesus:
- Did Jesus claim to be the "I AM"?
- Did Jesus claim to be omnipresent?
- Did Jesus claim to have 2 natures??
- Did Jesus claims to be good?
However, Jesus directly stated multiple times that he is not God (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19; John 5:19,44-45; 8:54; 17:1-3).