Did Jesus Claim To Be God?

Fundamentalist Journal, 1985

Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 82:6, ‘I said, You are gods’, a riposte to the accusation that he had blasphemed by making himself equal to God, has attracted considerable attention. The latest suggestion by Jerome H. Neyrey rightly insists that any solution to the problem should take account of the internal logic of the Psalm and argues that it derives from or prefigures a rabbinic Midrash on the Psalm which refers it to the restoration of the immortality lost by Adam to Israel at the giving of the Torah on Sinai. This immortality was then lost again because of the sin of the golden calf. Whilst agreeing that the Psalm is interpreted in the context of the giving of the Torah on Sinai, this article argues that its reference is directed towards Moses on Sinai rather than Israel in general. This accords with the interpretation of Philo and Josephus and other sources much earlier than the Mekkilta de Rabbi Ishmael that Moses is rightly called a god and is assumed to heaven in glory without dying. Rather than deny this attribution of divine features to Moses due to his reception of the Torah on Sinai, John argues that the Torah was received from the hands of Jesus as the Logos. Therefore, Moses’s derivative divine features simply confirm the true divinity of the Logos as the expression of the Father. Moses could be called a god because he knew Jesus as Logos and wrote about him (5:45–5:47), but he sinned and died like any mortal. The corollary is that Moses and his disciples lost their status and died like any mortal, whilst the disciples of Jesus who are ‘taught by God’ and believe in the Incarnate Logos (6:45), have not only seen the glory denied to Moses but are born from above to become divinised as tekna theou (1:12) and do not die.

Trinitarians and deity of Christ believers think that Jesus claimed to be God when Jesus said in John 8:58, “I am”. John 8:58 is probably among the top five of verses put forth as evidence for the deity of Christ. This article gives reasons why Jesus’s “I am” statement in John 8:58 is not a claim to exist before Abraham in the past but is better understood in the context of Jesus’s presence, and who Jesus is, before Abraham comes to be in the future.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) Islam and Christianity, the world's two largest Divine religions, have many beliefs in common, such as God's absolute existence, His eternal existence, His creation of the universe from nothing, and His control of all matter through His infinite might. Muslims and Christians oppose the same intellectual errors; struggle against atheism, racism, fascism, and moral degeneration; and use very similar methods to communicate the message of God's existence. Their common aim is to help all people know God so that they can build a world full of justice, one in which they can live in peace and tolerance. They act out of fear, respect, and love for God; follow the path of His messengers, and abide by His revelation. There is also great harmony in terms of moral values. A human model that thinks only of its own interests, is without love, ruthless, selfish, self-interested and lacking in honesty is the exact opposite of the religious moral values espoused by Muslims and Christians alike. Christians also long for a world governed by love, honesty, compassion, devotion, justice, humility, and fraternity, and endeavor to bring such a world about. They also strive against the behavior forbidden by our Lord, such as prostitution, homosexuality, drug abuse, violence, and exploitation. Both Christians and Muslims harbor a deep love of and respect for Prophet Jesus (pbuh), God's chosen messenger who was introduced to us in the Qur'an and made superior to the worlds: He [Jesus] is, "of high esteem in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near" (Surah Al 'Imran: 45). He is a most valuable servant, one honored by God with various miracles and superior moral values. This book concentrates on the false belief in the trinity, which does not form part of true Christianity (defined as the message revealed to Prophet Jesus [pbuh]) and which only emerged long after he had been raised to God's presence. We shall examine, in the light of both Christian sources and the Qur'an, the monotheistic belief on which true Christianity is based, and analyze how belief in the trinity, based on the concept of the son of God (God is surely beyond that!), came into being. However, before doing so, we wish to declare that we consider that both our Lord and Prophet Jesus (pbuh) are free of all of the expressions we shall be using to describe this belief in the trinity. In addition, throughout the book, several changes have been made to Biblical passages: the word Father has been replaced by God-Lord, and Son by Prophet-messenger. Wherever the name Jesus (pbuh), the Prophet of God, appears, the word "Prophet" has been appended as a mark of respect.

‘If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’ Romans 10:9 What would Paul’s readers have understood him to mean by speaking of Jesus as ‘Lord’? What are the implications for Christian life and ministry today? This essay explores the meaning of Paul’s statement in Romans 10:9, in particular regarding what it means to say ‘Jesus is Lord’, and its implications. I seek to answer the question by looking at how Paul presents Jesus as Lord with regard to his identity, position and power. To draw consistency with other Pauline writings I have briefly touched on texts from Galatians and Corinthians. The understanding of Lord also seeks to frame it’s meaning in light of the world in which Paul lived, namely the Greco-Roman world. The conclusion drawn is that the statement ‘Jesus is Lord’ requires an understanding of Jesus as a supreme benevolent ruler and saviour to whom we must wholly submit. The implications of this being that the evidence of our willingness to submit is seen through how we live our lives and whether we live in obedience to Christ, or in pursuit of our own self centred goals.

The debate on Jesus's divine nature is as old as the New Testament text itself. The so-called "titles" ascribed to Jesus often take centre stage in this type of discussion. The aim with this study, however, is to show that Jesus is not an equivalent of . To argue my case convincingly, I will have to show that, textually, Jesus is a distinctly different literary character from that of . I will also need to show that Jesus never claimed to be . As an introduction, I will briefly sketch the Jewish-Hellenistic background and possible meanings of the term . I will then deal with all those references traditionally used to argue that Jesus is equivalent to . This will be followed by concluding remarks.

Jesus’ View of the Old Testament and Its Composition, Historicity, Authority, and Purpose, 2020

2021

In the Gospel of John chapter 5, Jesus healed a lame man at the Pools of Bethesda in Jerusalem. John 5:18 has been one of the standard passages that Trinitarians interpret as evidence for the deity of Jesus. According to the Trinitarian claim, the statement that Jesus "made himself equal with God" is to be understood that Jesus is "co-equal" and of the same substance as God, and therefore is God himself. It is often said that the Jewish leaders' correctly interpreted Jesus calling God his Father as a claim to be God. The reason why Jesus couldn't be accused of blasphemy was because he was God (or so the claim goes). My position is that neither Jesus calling God his own Father, nor the statement about Jesus "making himself equal with God" should be understood as a claim of deity (a metaphysical equality of essence with God). Rather, both Jesus's calling God his own Father, and the statement about Jesus "being equal with God" should be understood in light of the law of agency, as an equality of representative authority, encapsulated in the Hebraic proverb: "the one sent is equal to his sender" השליח שוה לשולחו שְּׁלוּחוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם כְּמוֹתוֹ