Did Jesus claim to be God?

Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 3

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.’ ”

Isaiah 40

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus, and Isaiah says that the voice crying in the wilderness will prepare a way for Jehovah.

Matthew 11

9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
10 For this is he of whom it is written:
Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You
.’

Malachi 3

1 “Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the LORD of hosts.

Jesus says that John is the messenger who will prepare the way, and that the Lord (ha adon, only used of God in the entire Old Testament) will come to His temple (and 1 Chronicles 29:1 tells us that the temple is God's).

Matthew 12

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.
7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Exodus 20

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

So Exodus says that the Sabbath is of the LORD your God, but then Jesus says that He is Lord of the Sabbath. Hmm...

Matthew 21

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.
3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

Zechariah 9

9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Remember, the King is the One riding on the donkey. Another prophecy by Zechariah regarding this:

Zechariah 14

3 Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

The feet of Jehovah shall stand on the Mount of Olives. Remember that Matthew 21:1 said that Jesus was at the Mount of Olives.

Zechariah 14

9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.

The LORD, Jehovah, shall be King. Check Matthew 21:5 again - it plainly shows Jesus is Jehovah!

Acts 1

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.

"Jesus will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven," and "They returned from the mount called Olivet." Clear enough?

Matthew 21

9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”

The multitudes were citing a Psalm:

Psalm 118

25 Save now (ho'oshiah 'na), I pray, O LORD (anna *YHWH);
*O LORD
, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

and applying to Jesus the prayer written to Jehovah.

Matthew 21

15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant
16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise
’?”

The religious leaders were angry because the people and the children were applying Psalm 118 to Jesus. And Jesus here quotes Psalm 8:

Psalm 8

1 O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

and applies it to Himself, which probably infuriates them all the more.

Matthew 21

33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.
35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.
37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Jesus distinguishes the servants and the landowner's son, which means that (verse 45, this was about the Pharisees) Jesus isn't a mere servant but also the Son of God in a divine sense, greater than all the prophets who were killed as God's servants.

Matthew 22

1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:
2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,
3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.
4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’
5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.
6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

Again, Jesus distinguishes the Son from the prophets, for it is the Son who is the head of the wedding feast, and the prophets who are the servants.

Matthew 22

43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?
45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

Psalm 110

1 The LORD said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

In just these several verses is the entire Trinity laid out: the pre-existent Son who is David's Lord, the Son's Father who said to the Son to sit at His right hand, and the Spirit who inspired David to write this (verse 43).

And now the infamous passage in Matthew 24:

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Does Jesus mean to say that He doesn't know the day and hour and is not God? Obviously not, because Matthew 24 isn't the start of the Gospel of Matthew, and it has 23 chapters preceding it, throughout which Jesus has gone out of His way to show that He indeed is God in the flesh.

So to understand what He means by this and what He doesn't mean by this, you need to read the entire Gospel. So far we've established that He did in fact claim to be God, so why did He say what He said in verse 36?

I will share some of the writings of St. Athanasius concerning this topic.

Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse III

Chapter 28

Our Lord said He was ignorant of the Day, by reason of His human nature. If the Holy Spirit knows the Day, therefore the Son knows; if the Son knows the Father, therefore He knows the Day; if He has all that is the Father’s, therefore knowledge of the Day; if in the Father, He knows the Day in the Father; if He created and upholds all things, He knows when they will cease to be. He knows not as man, argued from Matthew 24:42. ... He said He knew not for our profit, that we be not curious as in Acts 1:7, where on the contrary He did not say He knew not.

Chapter 43

... but why, though He knew, He said, ‘no, not the Son knows,’ this I think none of the faithful is ignorant, viz. that He made this as those other declarations as man by reason of the flesh. For this as before is not the Word’s deficiency, but of that human nature whose property it is to be ignorant. ... Not then when the heaven was made by Him, nor when He was with the Father Himself, the Word ‘disposing all things,’ nor before He became man did He say it, but when ‘the Word became flesh John 1:14.’ On this account it is reasonable to ascribe to His manhood everything which, after He became man, He speaks humanly. ... it is plain that He knows also the hour of the end of all things, as the Word, though as man He is ignorant of it, for ignorance is proper to man, and especially ignorance of these things. Moreover this is proper to the Saviour’s love of man; for since He was made man, He is not ashamed, because of the flesh which is ignorant, to say ‘I know not,’ that He may show that knowing as God, He is but ignorant according to the flesh. And therefore He said not, ‘no, not the Son of God knows,’ lest the Godhead should seem ignorant, but simply, ‘no, not the Son,’ that the ignorance might be the Son’s as born from among men.

Chapter 45

For, had He been ignorant divinely, He must have said, ‘Watch therefore, for I know not,’ and, ‘In an hour when I think not;’ but in fact this has He not said; but by saying ‘You know not’ and ‘When ye think not,’ He has signified that it belongs to man to be ignorant; for whose sake He too having a flesh like theirs and having become man, said ‘No, not the Son knows,’ for He knew not in flesh, though knowing as Word.

Chapter 48

For whatever He does, that altogether He does for our sakes, since also for us ‘the Word became flesh.’ For us therefore He said ‘No, not the Son knows;’ and neither was He untrue in thus saying (for He said humanly, as man, ‘I know not’), nor did He suffer the disciples to force Him to speak, for by saying ‘I know not’ He stopped their inquiries. And so in the Acts of the Apostles it is written, when He went upon the Angels, ascending as man, and carrying up to heaven the flesh which He bore, on the disciples seeing this, and again asking, ‘When shall the end be, and when will You be present?’ He said to them more clearly, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power Acts 1:7.’ And He did not then say, ‘No, not the Son,’ as He said before humanly, but, ‘It is not for you to know.’ For now the flesh had risen and put off its mortality and been deified; and no longer did it become Him to answer after the flesh when He was going into the heavens ...

I encourage you to read the entire thing: St. Athanasius - Discourse III Against the Arians

But let's move on.

Matthew 26

31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
‘I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Zechariah 13

7 “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
Against the Man who is My Companion,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered;
Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.

The Hebrew for companion here is amith (Strong 5997), defined as an associate or a fellow in the dictionary. The Shepherd is associated with the LORD. The Hebrew geber amiti (the Man who is My Companion in the NKJV) implies one united to another by possession of common nature, rights, and privileges, indicating essentially an equal. The only other use of this term is in the priestly context of Leviticus (Leviticus 18:20; 19:11, 15, 17; 24:19; 25:14-15, 17) where it has the idea of neighbor, fellow, associate, or companion, and it is closely related to the idea of the word ah (brother), such as in Leviticus 19:17 and 25:14.

The shepherd is often used as a figure of the ruling king, as in 1 Kings 22:17 where the prophet Micaiah predicts that the absence of the king would result in the sheep (Israel) being scattered on the mountains. Since this equates the LORD who struck the shepherd with the shepherd himself, the only shepherd that could qualify as the associate or companion would be a divine Messiah. This identification is sound biblically (Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 23:6, Daniel 7:13, Psalm 45:6-7, Psalm 110:1). In theological terms, the shepherd is a man, but also divine - the Lord Jesus.

Matthew 26

63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
66 What do you think?”
They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.”

The high priest recognized the Old Testament passages Jesus was alluding to, and immediately said He was blaspheming, because He was claiming to be God.

First: the Son of Man

Daniel 7

13 “I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.

Second: sitting at the right hand of Power

Psalm 110

1 The LORD said to my Lord,
Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Third: coming on the clouds of heaven

Coming on the clouds of heaven is something only Jehovah does in the Old Testament, with the exception of Daniel 7:13 that we already talked about.

Isaiah 19

1 The burden against Egypt.
Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence,
And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

Deuteronomy 33

26 “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun [the upright one, Israel],
who rides across the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in His majesty.

2 Samuel 22

10 He [the LORD] parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under His feet.

Psalm 68

4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him.

Psalm 104

3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,

Nahum 1

3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.
The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

I could keep going but you get the point. Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah in front of the high priest and the entire Sanhedrin, and was sentenced to death.

Matthew 28

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

This is post-resurrection, so Jesus was glorified and has received His authority again, now that the Scriptures have been fulfilled.

Notice how in verse 19 He says, "baptizing in the name (singular!) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," so here again we have the Trinity laid out plainly in just one short passage.

And Jesus also said, "I am with you always." For that to actually be true, He must be omnipresent and omniscient, attributes which only God Himself possesses. You really don't have to be an intellectual to see that Jesus claimed to be God all throughout the Gospels.


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Pub: 06 Oct 2022 00:01 UTC
Edit: 22 Jul 2023 07:33 UTC
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