Jesus Did Not Say He was God

“Jesus did not claim to be God in the Bible.”

What was your first reaction to that statement? I didn’t believe it either. Then I started thinking: “Let’s dig into this a little bit.”

Jesus didn't claim to be God? Let's go to the Word and find out the Truth.

This subject was the focus during a recent lesson at the Kingdom Fit Bible College, where I’m taking some Bible classes. A common claim by Muslims is that Jesus “didn’t say He was God in the Bible.” Well, it turns out, He did.

You just have to listen and pay attention to the context in which He is saying it. Jesus was debating the Jews in John 8. Remember when He told the Jewish religious leaders, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Well, this made no sense to them because they pointed out that Jesus then wasn’t 50 years old and claimed to have been seen by Abraham more than 4,000 years earlier. Here was his response in verse 58: “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus is directly referring to Exodus here, when God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. God was telling Moses he would be the person to lead the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. The story picks up in Exodus 3:13.

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

In verse 14, God provides a powerful answer: “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

Notice the similarity in names used? Jesus was telling the Jews that He was God.

He made a similar reference in John 14:9. He’d just let the disciples know that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Phillip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”  This was the Lord’s response in verse 9:

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?”

Does it get any simpler than that?

How about this one, when Jesus was being interrogated by Caiaphas, the High Priest, and the Sanhedrin? The story picks up in Mark Chapter 14, verse 61: “But He kept silent and answered nothing (against the false accusations). Again, the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’”

In verse 62, Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power (God) and coming with the clouds of Heaven.”

Two words stand out: “I AM.” Jesus didn’t do things by accident. They were deliberately chosen to tell those who would listen that He was the Lord God.

Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He was and IS God.

Here’s the logical follow-up question: “Why didn’t Jesus come out and say He was the Son of God more directly and sooner than He did?”

It’s a fair question. Claiming to be the Son of God was proof to the Jews that He was claiming to be God. This was the highest form of blasphemy, a capital offense under Jewish law, and the penalty was stoning to death.

Did you notice what happened when He finally came out and said it? They killed Him on the Cross. Jesus needed time to get His ministry underway, teach His followers, and establish the New Covenant. There was a lot to do and a limited time to do it in.

In fact, claiming to be God was so shocking to the Jewish religious leaders that when Jesus finally answered, “I am” in verse 62, the high priest literally tore his clothing in shock. In Old Testament culture, tearing clothes was a powerful demonstration of shock, grief, or intense anger at blasphemy. It signified intense upheaval.

Once Jesus was ready for the final step of death on the Cross, then it was time to come out and say it. That put His sacrifice on the fast track, and His work would soon be done on Earth.

In short, Jesus did claim to be God. As always, the answers are there in the Bible. God’s Word is waiting with the words of Life.