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Robert
wrote:
Can you give me the scripture where Jesus says he is God?
I
know he says he is God's son but I can't find where he says he is
God.
Thanks
Our Answer:
Hello Robert:
Thank you for
writing. I'm happy to answer your question.
I must begin by saying this question has no meaning.
Jesus does not have to say He is God in order for Him to be God.
I was thinking about the President of the United
States today. I can not remember him ever saying, "I am the
president." He has never proclaimed that he is president, yet
he truly is president. You don't need to proclaim who you are in
order to be who you are.
We know scripture is true and scripture plainly
, and repeatedly proclaims that Jesus is God. For example:
"Your attitude should be
the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand
and cling to his rights as God."
- Philippians 2:6
"looking for the blessed
hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus." - Titus 2:13
"To those who have received
a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter
1:1
The direct
answer to your question is also yes. Jesus repeatedly calls
Himself God. For example, you've said it yourself, Jesus says that
he is the "Son of God." The term "son" had a
different meaning in the ancient world than we give it today. The
Tydale Bible Dictionary provides several examples, such as: "by
calling a doctor 'son of Asclepius'" they were ascribing the
powers and characteristics of the god to the person.
Only God has
the powers and characteristics of God, so by Jesus saying that he
has these powers and characteristics by calling himself the Son
of God, he is saying the He is God.
Jesus also
reveals that he is God through what he does. By demonstrating
he has the characteristics of God, such as omniscience (knows everything,
such as knowing people's thoughts) and omnipotence (has power, such
as to heal a man blind from birth and raise people from the dead).
Mark 2:5-7 (NLT)
- "Seeing their faith, Jesus said
to the paralyzed man, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.' But
some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there said
to themselves, 'What? This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive
sins!'
Only God can
forgive sins. So by forgiving the man's sins, Jesus is claiming
to be God. As you can see from the above, the Jewish teachers knew
that Jesus was claiming to be God.
John 8:58 (NLT)
- Jesus answered, "The truth is, I
existed before Abraham was even born!"
The above is
followed by an attempt by some Jews to kill Jesus because, by claiming
to have existed before Abraham, he just claimed to be God.
Jesus
directly says that he and God the Father are one and the same.
In
John 10:30 (NLT) Jesus says, "The
Father and I are one."
This is a very
clear claim to his being God, because only God can be one with God.
In Matthew
26:63 Jesus clearly says he is God. When the high priest askes,
"I charge you under oath by the living
God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
Jesus replied, "Yes, it is as you
say."
In Matthew 26:63 the high priest had put Jesus under
a Jewish oath that required that Jesus directly answer the question
truthfully. Jesus did not have the option of keeping silent in response
to the high priest. The high priest's question was, do you have
all the characteristics of God? In other words, are you God? Jesus'
answer is "yes".
Jesus always told the truth and he always obeyed
God's law. So he had no choice. When put under this oath, he had
to answer.
The high priests reaction to Jesus' response was
to tear his clothes and declaire that Jesus had blasphemed. By the
way, tearing one's clothes was a common way of expressing anguish
at that time. However, one person was prohibited by Old Testament
law from tearing his clothes--the high priest. For him to tear his
clothes in anguish is another bit of evidence that shows that what
Jesus said was truly horrible. The ultimate blasphemy. Claiming
to be God.
In addition,
Jesus never disputed anyone who called him God. For example,
in John 20:28 the disciple Thomas, upon putting his hand into the
wound in Jesus' side, exclaims, "My
Lord and my God!" This was an excellent opportunity
for Jesus to correct a mistake, if Thomas was making a mistake in
calling him God. But Jesus did not correct Thomas.
Is also important
to note that people did not use the phrase "My God!" to
express astonishment as we do today. Using the name of God that
way is taking God's name in vain, and that's something a first century
Jew would never do -- and something we should not be doing. If Thomas
had expressed astonishment by saying "My God!", Jesus
would surely have rebuked him. It's very clear that Thomas was calling
Jesus God.
There are many
more, but I hope these have answered your question.
Yours in the
love of Christ,
Steve
Mission to America
web site: http://www.evangelical.us
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