There’s a convenient myth among modern people that the true Jesus, the one who actually wandered around Jerusalem, was likely just an itinerant moral teacher. He was a good one, a societal revolutionary, and maybe even a messenger with a special connection to divinity—similar to the Buddha, Mohammad, or the Dalai Lama. But he never claimed to be God. That claim only came later, added as a legend to beef up his authority.
The trouble with this line of thinking is that there’s no evidence for it. Literally none. All of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry include his claims to divinity. It wasn’t some later addition that Christians adopted to help out their cause; it was the controversial center of everything Jesus said and did.
Take the book of John, written in the first century by one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Throughout John, the key conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders is Jesus’ persistent claim to be God. In John 8, for instance, Jesus makes the odd claim that Abraham (from centuries earlier) rejoiced in Jesus’ ministry. The Pharisees, naturally, respond with some version of, “Um, you really aren’t old enough to remember Abraham, pal.” To which Jesus provides this zinger: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
Their response? “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59). Why were they trying to stone him? Because he used bad grammar? Of course not. They recognized that in using the name “I AM” for himself, Jesus was claiming divinity. “I AM” was the sacred name of God. Not only was it inappropriate for Jews to take this name for themselves, they weren’t even allowed to utter it without committing blasphemy. And here comes a guy who says, “You remember the Old Testament stories about God, the great ‘I AM?’ Well, you’re looking at him.”
Jesus’ audience knew exactly what he was saying. The religious leaders didn’t try to arrest him because he was an unusually insightful teacher but because he claimed to be God. The only way to miss this is to intentionally close your eyes to what John presents.
But wait, the critics say. Maybe John was the one who added all of these claims to divinity!
That’s another variation of this myth—that these types of bold claims only appear in the Gospel of John. Those who hold to this make the case that John was written later than the other Gospels. In the earlier ones (Matthew, Mark, Luke), Jesus really is depicted as a sort of “hippie moral revolutionary.” But for whatever reason, years and years later, John included all the “big God stuff.”
This doesn’t hold any more water than the first claim. For one, John wasn’t written much later than the other Gospels. Sure, it was the last Gospel written, but it was still within the first generation of Christian followers. Second, and more importantly, the other Gospels most certainly put forward Jesus’ divinity—they just do it more subtly because, as Jesus himself said, he preferred to let people discover he was God through the works that he did rather than only through outright claims. Anyone could claim to be God; Jesus wanted to demonstrate it and have people come to that conclusion on their own.
Just because the claims were more subtle, though, doesn’t mean they’re any less clear. In Matthew and Mark, for instance, Jesus says, “Tear down this temple ... and I will raise it up in three days” (Matthew 27:63, Mark 14:58). Matthew and Mark both highlight that in saying that Jesus was talking about himself. He’s the new Temple. For the Jews, the temple was the place where God dwelt, and Jesus said, “I am that place.” That’s a pretty strong claim to divinity. So strong that the religious leaders decided to kill him for it.
In Matthew and Luke, five different times are recorded when the disciples worshiped Jesus, something Jews believed was reserved for God only.
In all of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus forgave sins, and when the Pharisees objected, saying, “But only God can do that,” Jesus didn’t dispute their reasoning. Instead, he backed up his claim by making a paralyzed man walk. Then he said, “If I’ve got the power to make this man walk, which we know only God could do, maybe you should believe me when I say I can forgive sins, too.”
Each Gospel writer affirms Jesus’ deity, but they develop it differently. This isn’t even taking into account the writings of the Apostle Paul, which are earlier than the Gospels and even clearer about the divinity of Jesus.
What does this mean? Simply this: The popular myth—that Jesus was one of history’s great lights, who had perhaps a special connection to deity like many others—is just not true.
Ironically, one of the greatest assessments of this in modern times comes from the mouth of U2’s Bono. He said in an interview with his biographer Michka Assayas:
The secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: ‘He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius.’
But actually, Christ says, ‘No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me a teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying ... “I am God incarnate.”’
And people say: ‘No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet we can take. You’re a bit eccentric, but we’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, and we can handle that. But [not God]! Not the Messiah! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you if you say that.’
And he goes: ‘No, no, I ... actually am the Messiah.’ At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes and says: ‘Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this.’
So what you’re left with is either Christ was who he said he was—God incarnate, the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. … I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s far-fetched …
Not bad, Bono. Seems like he might have found what he was looking for!
Photo Credit: SWN Design
Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A, serves as a Council member for The Gospel Coalition, and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids.
"Editor's Note: Pastor JD Greear's "Ask the Pastor" column regularly appears at Christianity.com, providing biblical, relatable, and reliable answers to your everyday questions about faith and life. Email him your questions at [email protected]."
