Jesus never said he was God in the N.T

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How do you answer someone who tells you the reason they do not believe Jesus is God is because He never directly said in the New Testament that He was God? This person is not Jewish or part of any denomination. Jesus said, “I AM.” but it’s hard to convince someone who is not too familiar with the bible!

Any help appreciated.
 
Count the number of times Jesus said “I AM” in the Gospel of John.

The most obvious is, “Before Abraham was, I Am”. Did the Jews understand what Jesus was saying? It sure looks like it, for they tried to kill him immediately after this.

Of course, why is this important. What did God tell Moses when he asked Him who sent Moses? God said to Moses, “Tell them I AM sent you”.

BTW, Welcome to the Forums, Papillon!!!
 
Read the gospels. Jesus clearly knew who he was, and so did the people around him. These are only four examples; there are many more.

Mark 3
11 And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, saying: 12 Thou art the Son of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known.

John 1
49 Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.

John 10
30 I and the Father are one. 31 The Jews then took up stones to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, maketh thyself God. 34 Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? 35 If he called them gods, to whom to word of God was spoken, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36 Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

Matthew 16
16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.
 
Joel_Tunnah said:
John 10
30 I and the Father are one…
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I personally think this is the best Scriptural evidence for Jesus referring to himself as God.

The Bible references of “I AM” in the New Testament are good supporting evidence for John 10:30. Also, the other references regarding Jesus as the Son of God is support of the Trinitarian understanding of God.

More support for Jesus as being God is the prologue of John’s Gospel (bold my emphasis):

**1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. **
2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be 4 through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; 5 4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 5 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came for testimony, 6 to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people 7 did not accept him. 12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 8 who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh 9 and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.
 
Joel_Tunnah said:
John 10
30 I and the Father are one…
Click to expand...
I personally think this is the best Scriptural evidence for Jesus referring to himself as God.

The Bible references of “I AM” in the New Testament are good supporting evidence for John 10:30. Also, the other references regarding Jesus as the Son of God is support of the Trinitarian understanding of God.

More support for Jesus as being God is the prologue of John’s Gospel (bold my emphasis):

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be 4 through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; 5 4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 5 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came for testimony, 6 to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people 7 did not accept him. 12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 8 who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh 9 and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.
 
Seriously, whether or not Jesus directly said He was God in so many words, the I AM references seem to have been both intended as such by Him AND understood rightly as such by those around. What else could He have meant even by saying He existed before Abraham in any event?

And that change from past to (eternal) present tense in the middle of the sentence makes sense no other way.

Moreover His Apostles, including John, one of the three closest to Him who wrote the Gospel of the same name and Revelation, certainly knew He was God! So did St Paul, who also knew the minds and teachings of the other Apostles if anyone did.
 
The fact that Jesus was God was the centre of his doctrine–without that simple fact, everything he says and does bares no signifigance, and the Gospels would have to have been written (after all, who would write a book about a lunatic and start a religion based on it?)

This is exactly the reason why Muslim biblical scholarship is a bit off–logically, they should see Jesus as a blasphemer, not as a prophet.
 
Pious_Mat said:
The fact that Jesus was God was the centre of his doctrine–without that simple fact, everything he says and does bares no signifigance, and the Gospels would have to have been written (after all, who would write a book about a lunatic and start a religion based on it?)

This is exactly the reason why Muslim biblical scholarship is a bit off–logically, they should see Jesus as a blasphemer, not as a prophet.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. Muslims don’t view the New Testament as infallible in the same sense they view the Quoran as infallible. To the Muslim, there could be errors in the Christian text. For example, Muslims claim that Jesus didn’t die on the cross even though the New Testament is pretty explicit that He did.
 
papillon53 said:
How do you answer someone who tells you the reason they do not believe Jesus is God is because He never directly said in the New Testament that He was God? This person is not Jewish or part of any denomination. Jesus said, “I AM.” but it’s hard to convince someone who is not too familiar with the bible!

Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...
What does this person think Jesus was executed for? :eek: :confused:
 
One God expresses himself through three persons (one what, three who’s), but those three persons are eternally distinct.
God is one being with three natures.

“Jesus is God” running master list.
Consider the totality of what is said.

Matthew 14:33
contrast this worship with Acts 10:25-26, Revelation 22:8-9, and Deuteronomy 5:8-9

Matthew 26:64-66
the audience understood this as a claim of deity in violation of Deuteronomy 5:6-7

Matthew 28:18
Jesus claims to have the authority of the God of heaven

Mark 2:5-12
Jesus takes for himself a privilege and power that is reserved to God alone

Luke 24:52
contrast this worship with Deuteronomy 5:6-9

John 1:1-14
Compare this to Genesis 1-2. Jesus is the God that created the universe.

John 2:19-21
Jesus claimed to rise from the dead under his own power. Contrast this with 1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:32-37, and Acts 9:32-42, where men of God raised the dead not by their power but by God’s power.

John 7:37-38 and 8:12
In the context of the Festival of Booths (verse 7:2) claims to be the source of “living water” and the “light of the world” are naked assertions of deity.

John 8:48-59
Jesus claims to be God’s glory, and he claims for himself the name by which Moses knew God

John 10:30-33
“The Father and I are one” [Greek, “one thing”] was understood by the audience as a claim to be the God of the Old Testament in violation of Deuteronomy 5:6-7.

John 10:38
Jesus and the Father are one, not two

John 14:8-11
Jesus and the Father are one, not two

John 20:28
contrast this with Deuteronomy 5:6-9

Acts 4:12
If Noah, Abraham, Jonah, and Moses read this, they would conclude that Jesus is their God.

2 Corinthians 4:4
contrast this “image of God” language with Deuteronomy 5:8-9

Philippians 2:6-11
contrast this “being in very nature God” and “every knee shall bow” with Deuteronomy 5:6-9

Colossians 1:19 and 2:9
“fullness of the deity” implies that God did not hold back, which in turn implies that Jesus is God

Hebrews 1:1-14
creator, exact representation of God, radiance of God’s glory, sustainer, imprint of God’s very being, sits on the throne, accepts the worship of God’s angels, controls God’s angels, eternal – all of these imply that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament

James 2:19
there is only one God, not two

1 John 2:2
that Jesus died for the whole world implies that he is more than human, more than a prophet

1 John 2:13
existing from eternity past implies self-creation, a characteristic reserved to God alone

1 John 5:12 & 20
that Jesus is eternal life implies self-creation, a characteristic reserved to God alone

1 John 5:20
“Jesus is the true God”
 
Laudatur Iesus Christus

Pope Benedict XVI points out in his recent book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” that the following verse is a direct statement of Jesus’ divinity:

“For the Son of man is **Lord **even of the sabbath,” (Matthew 12:8).

The word translated as “Lord” here is the same in the Greek as in this verse:

“At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, **Lord **of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones,” (Matthew 11:25).

It is also the same as the Greek word used by the translators of the Septuagint in this verse:

“But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the **Lord **thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates” (Exodus 20:10).

Once one realizes that Jesus continually refers to Himself as “the Son of Man,” it becomes clear that Matthew 12:8 is an explicit statement by Jesus that He is not only God, but the very God who created the world.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
If you believe in Scripture----

At the begining of the book of** John **we learn that the "Word" is someone, not something.

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

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him.

4 What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men;

5 and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.

He is talking about Jesus!

And if you look at the begining of the book of Genesis you’ll notice God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

God the Father

2 And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the **spirit of God **moved over the waters.

**
God the Holy Spirit**

3 And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

The Word of God, before He came in the flesh, Jesus!

26 God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.”

The Holy Trinity

Back to the book of John

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only **begotten of the Father,) **full of grace and truth.

15 John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.
16 And of his fullness we all have received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only **begotten Son **who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Begotten =1. spawn, sire, breed, father, (esp. of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring).

Our children share our nature,they are human beings because we are.

Jesus shares His Fathers nature, He is God because the Father is God.

Jesus also shares His mothers nature,He is human because she is human.

All of us have one nature we are human.

Jesus has two natures He is both human and Divine. because of His parents.

And because Jesus is one with His Church, His Church is both human and Divine.

We make up the body of His Church, that is the human part. Jesus being one with His Church, and the Holy Spirit guiding it. That is the Divine part.

Through Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. This is how I know Jesus is both, at the same time, human and Divine.
 
Gospel of John

“27”: Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

“28”: And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

Click the link in my signature for great references.
 
Matthew 3
  1. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Click to expand...
 
for me a simple way would be to ask someone how may beginnings and how many ends are ther? Only one. Sadly I don’t have the passages but show them in the OT where God states he is the beginning and the end and then show them in the NT where Christ states he is the beginning and the end… only one Alpha and Omega.
 
It may not all be in the form of direct quotes, but it seems to me that no one who actually reads the book of John could possibly miss the fact that John indicates the divinity of Jesus. John seems to keep repeating that theme again and again. Especially if you don’t just look for a phrase out of context, but actually sit down and read a few chapters.
 
Sam88 said:
It may not all be in the form of direct quotes, but it seems to me that no one who actually reads the book of John could possibly miss the fact that John indicates the divinity of Jesus. John seems to keep repeating that theme again and again. Especially if you don’t just look for a phrase out of context, but actually sit down and read a few chapters.
Click to expand...
Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear “Sam88”:

You are correct. However, I assume that the original poster’s interlocutor has been tainted by the “Modernist” or “secular” attack on the Gospels. The slander lodged against the Gospels is that their theology is a later addition by the Apostles and their followers which does not accurately reflect Jesus’ teaching or His understanding of Himself.

Because of this assumption, I think what the interlocutor claims is that Jesus Himself never said explicitly that He was God. Statements by Apostles about Jesus would not satisfy this challenge – given its assumed context.

Nevertheless, if one understands the language used and the role of the Sabbath and the Torah in the faith of Israel, it becomes clear that Jesus’ claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath and to have the authority to revise, expand, and perfect the Torah amount to direct claims to be God – the Author of both the Sabbath and the Law. Read in this light, it is hard not to see the first Gospel as a dramatic account of Jesus’ claims to have authority over the Sabbath and the Law, and the religious officials’ growing impatience with these claims, leading to Jesus’ death.

In this circumstance, the Resurrection is the definitive revelation that Jesus’ claims to be the God of the Sabbath, the Law, and of life and death are unequivocally true and just.

Not only does Jesus consistently claim by His words and deeds to be God, this claim and the official response to it constitute the main thrust of the story told in the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

Of course, you are correct, St. John understood these facts and made them abundantly explicit in the Gospel according to St. John.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
papillon53 said:
How do you answer someone who tells you the reason they do not believe Jesus is God is because He never directly said in the New Testament that He was God? This person is not Jewish or part of any denomination. Jesus said, “I AM.” but it’s hard to convince someone who is not too familiar with the bible!

Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...
Jesus also said that I and the Father are One, and He who beholds me beholds Him that sent me, and finally, Philip I have been with you all this time, how can you say show us the Father?

The god of this world has blinded your friend, you need to love your friend, patiently share the scriptures and pray for him to be enlightened.
 
And why do you wish Jesus should have said categorically he was God? Do you think the people of his time would believe him?The principal message of his coming into flesh is humility! Your wish would be like wishing God to tell a lie just to prove that nothing is impossible to him.
 
Laudatur Iesus Christus.

In discussing this thread with some friends another point was raised.

Though to a modern person it might seem reasonable for Jesus to have said something like “I am God, ” this is not reasonable on reflection. It would be unreasonable, because, unlike today, at the time of Jesus’ public ministry the idea of “god” would not have been specific enough to make clear His exact meaning.

Jesus did not say that He was “God;” rather:

He said that He was God the Creator from the Book of Genesis (the Lord of the Sabbath), see Matthew 12:8:

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

He said that He was God worshiped in the Temple at Jerusalem, see Matthew 12:6:

“But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.”

He said that He was God who spoke to Abraham and who spoke to Moses in the Burning Bush, the “I AM” (Yahweh), see John 8:56-58:

"Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.”

He said that He was God the giver of the Law on Sinai, see Matthew 5:21-22:

“You have heard that it was said to them of old [by the God of Sinai]: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

He said that He was God the Lover and Teacher of Israel, see Matthew 23:37:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?”

(And so on: these are not all such statements which came from Jesus’ mouth itself.)

Once these statements are understood, they amount to a more persuasive, direct, and precise statement of Christ’s declaration of His divinity than the one imagined to be missing from the Gospels by the interlocutor of the original post.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
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