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Did Jesus Claim To Be God?

The belief that Jesus is God is at the very heart of Christianity.

What if Jesus never claimed to be God? What if his followers later came to this conclusion only after his death? Can we prove that Jesus believed that he was God? Watch as Karlo gives examples to show that Jesus did, in fact, claim to be God.

 

Transcript:

At the heart of Christianity is the belief that Jesus is God. But what if Jesus never claimed that for himself? What if his followers later came to think he was divine—like the Buddha? Many skeptics, such as Bart Ehrman, conclude this is the case.

But is this true? The answer’s no, and here are some reasons why.

First, the divinity of Jesus would have had to come from Jesus because it doesn’t make sense that faithful Jewish folk would just ‘out of the blue’ begin thinking a man was God. Such an idea would have been repulsive to the Jews.

Second, the Gospels record Jesus saying things that suggests his divinity. For example, in John 8:58 Jesus refers to himself with the divine name, ‘I Am.’ “But wait a minute,” you might say, “Ehrman and others don’t accept this Johannine passage as historical. Is there any evidence from the Synoptics?”

Sure there is. Consider Mark 2:5-7 where Jesus claims to have the power to forgive sins and merits the charge of blasphemy. In Matthew 11:10 Jesus identifies John the Baptist as the messenger that prepares the way for Yahweh as indicated in Isaiah 40:3. If John is the messenger, then Jesus is Yahweh. Luke records in 12:8-10 Jesus’ claim that he has a unique knowledge of the Father that can only mean one thing—he has the same nature as the Father.

So, Jesus claims to be God—that’s a fact. But should we believe him? Well, that’s a question that we’ll have to save for another time.

If you want to learn more about this topic and others like it, visit our website at catholic.com.

For Catholic Answers, I’m Karlo Broussard. Thanks for watching.

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