Did Jesus Claim to be God?
At the core of Christianity is the belief that God came to earth in the Person of his Son, Jesus Christ.
At least two of those who saw and wrote about Jesus called him the Creator of the universe. The apostle John said, “All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made (John 1:3). The apostle Paul said, “All things were made by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
As J. I. Packer explains, “The gospel tells us that our Creator has become our Redeemer.”1 Because this conviction is the central theme of Christianity, denying the deity of Jesus Christ places a dagger into the heart of the Christian message.
But did Jesus really claim to be God, or is that a teaching that evolved over time? Since Jesus spoke Aramaic (a dialect of Hebrew), we need to understand what his claims meant to his Aramaic-speaking audience. How did they react to his claims?
Since his Jewish audience was immersed in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), we need to also understand Jesus’ claims about himself in light of their teaching about God.
Did Jesus Teach God is One?
The Bible reveals God as the sole Creator of the universe. He alone is infinite, eternal, all powerful, all-knowing, personal, righteous, loving, just, and holy. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God says, “I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11, NLT).
When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush 1500 years before Christ, he told Moses his name is Yahweh, (I AM) (English translation: Jehovah or LORD). Since that time, the foundational Scripture (Shema) for Judaism has been: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
It is in this world of monotheistic belief in one God that Jesus Christ began making claims that astounded all who heard them.
The question we must ask is: did Jesus equate himself with Yahweh, the one true God who spoke with Moses at the burning bush?
To find out, let’s look further at the names Jesus used for himself, and what those names meant to his Jewish audience. Who did they think Jesus was claiming to be?
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