Facing Jesus’ Claims to Divinity

July 15, 2008

By Jennifer McClure

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Jesus declared His divinity to the Jews of His day. Recently I was reading in the Gospel of John. By the end of chapter 8, I found myself cheering for Jesus, pumped up for how directly He answered the Jews’ questions of who He claimed to be.

“ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ ” (John 8:58, NIV)

If you’re a follower of Christ who was raised in a Christian home, you might assume key doctrinal teachings are common sense rather than anything to be questioned and proved. But it is important to understand why we believe what we claim. This is especially true when it comes to the divinity of Jesus.

Some who question Jesus’ divinity may look for a place in the Bible where Jesus says, “I am God.” Though in our language, in our terms, that exact phrase doesn’t come through, His audience knew what He meant when He said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” I believe they would have immediately associated His statement of “I am” with what God told Moses in Exodus 3:14.

Moses had asked God whom he should tell the people it was that sent him. God replied, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” That Jesus’ statement would clearly connect to Exodus 3:14 offers a sound explanation as to why the crowd “picked up stones to stone Him.” They viewed His statement as a blasphemous claim to be God, a crime punishable by death.

To Jesus’ audience, He was clearly claiming divinity. In that chapter alone, Jesus makes the following statements:

“I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

“I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me” (John 8:16).

“I am from above. … I am not of this world” (John 8:23).

“My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54).

Jesus proclaimed himself as the Son of God in verse 54 and as equal with God in verse 58. In verses 31 and 32, He taught that if we hold to His teachings we will know the truth “and the truth will set you free.”

How awesome it is the Son of God had such great compassion on us in our helpless state that He was willing to lay down His life (John 10:18) that we may have life.

Thank You, God, for the life You make available through Your Son Jesus Christ.

— Jennifer McClure is assistant editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Going Up? (jmcclure.agblogger.org).