Is Jesus really God?

After showing that the Gospels are historically reliable sources of information for the life of Jesus, the argument for Jesus’ divinity falls into place.

The first step after showing the trustworthiness of the Gospel accounts is to look at the gospels and see what they say about Jesus, in particular what they say Jesus said about himself.  Some will say that Jesus never said he was God (which Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses claim).  This technically is true, but only in the sense that the gospels never record Jesus frankly saying, “I am God.”  There are however numerous verses in which Jesus says he is so close or similar to the Father that in fact he is saying, “I am God.”  Jesus also made statements which directly stated his divinity, in which case his audience responded with insults and shouts of “blasphemy.”  However, because we are not fully aware of the ins and outs of Jewish culture or even the teachings of the Bible, we might miss the meanings of such direct statements.  It also makes sense that Jesus never verbatim said, “I am God,” because He was sent to give glory to His Father in heaven, so the way Jesus usually stated His divinity also gave honor to His Father. 

Verses in which Jesus puts himself equal to the father:

John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Mark 9:37
John 5:23
John 14:1
John 14:7
John 14:6
John 14:9
John 14:21
John 15:23

Statements in which Jesus directly claimed divinity upon himself (evidenced by the audience’s response):

John 10:30-33 “I and the Father are one." Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

John 5:17-18
John 8:58-59
Mark 14:61-64

Other Verses that show Jesus’ divinity though what Christ said or did or allowed others to do:

Mark 2:5-7
Matthew 28:16-17
John 5:21-27

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

From looking at these verses, it is clear that Jesus claimed to be God.  From a look at why the Gospel accounts can be trusted for their historical accuracy, one must come to the conclusion that Jesus actually made these statements about himself, or else as John Warrick Montgomery stated one must “allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity.” 

We must remember that just because Jesus said he was God, that doesn’t mean it’s true.  Many people have claimed divinity, such as Augustus Caesar, who also had titles similar to Jesus such as, “Son of God” and “Savior.”  With this in mind, it is reasonable to question Jesus’ claims to divinity.  Many people however ignore such claims to divinity and simply pigeonhole Jesus into being a great, moral teacher who performed many acts of benevolence.  To this conclusion of the historical accounts of Jesus, C.S. Lewis gave the following famous response in his book Mere Christianity:

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”    

The idea is that if Jesus knew he wasn’t God but taught that he was, he must be a liar.  He also would be a deceiver, and an idiot, because his claims to be God led to his crucifixion.  If he was a liar, then he cannot be a great, moral teacher. 

If however, Jesus actually thought he was God, but was wrong, then he would be a nutcase.  Isn’t that how we have labeled others in history who think they are God when they are not?  If someone I knew began to wonder from town to town proclaiming he or she were God, I can guarantee you that person would be labeled mentally deranged and likely end up with a straight-jacket in a mental asylum. 

The other possibility is that if Jesus wasn’t a liar, or mentally deranged, then his claims must be true, and then he must be Lord. 

These are the three possibilities laid out by C.S. Lewis in what has been called the trilemma, which should be shared with anyone who wants to say Jesus was merely man who was a great, moral teacher. 

While all three of these conclusions are possible, the one that Jesus is Lord is the most probable, because, as has already been stated, if Jesus was lying, he must have been the stupidest person ever in the history of mankind to maintain that lie to his death.  However, nothing about the historical accounts of his life indicate that he was a fool.  Neither do Jesus’ teachings fit those of a madman.  His teachings are very sound, and even the religious leaders of his day would admit that he was great teacher.  Today, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” and some of his parables are in classroom literature books because of their teachings on morality and love.  Clearly, his teachings do not match those of a nutcase.   Jesus however supported his claims of divinity with his miracles and ultimately his resurrection from the dead. 

Abductive Reasoning: Myth, Man, Madman, Menace, Mystic, Martian, or Messiah?

Some say that the trilemma of Liar, Lunatic, or Lord actually falls short in its argument, because it does not consider all possible conclusions in response to Jesus’ claims to be God.  Kenneth Samples in Without a Doubt teaches that abductive reasoning “attempts to arrive at the best explanation for an event or a given series of facts” (109).  This approach doesn’t have to prove an explanation correct; it simply looks at every possible outcome or conclusion and decides which one is most probable.  This is where the trilemma falls short in this type of reasoning by not evaluating all the possible hypotheses for Jesus’ claims.  To give C.S. Lewis more credit though, he does address more than just the options of liar, lunatic, or Lord.  In his full explanation, he addresses the possibility of Jesus speaking of himself as God, as in the Hindu understanding of Brahman, as being inconsistent with Jesus’ Jewish understanding and teachings of God, and for C.S. Lewis and his presentation of the trilemma comes after idea that the Jesus accounts are just legendary has been dismissed.  Nevertheless, Kenneth Samples stretches the trilemma for anyone who says it falls short of addressing all plausible explanations to include more categories with the repetition of the letter “M” with by evaluating the possibilities that Jesus could have been a myth, man, madman, menace, mystic, Martian, or the messiah. 

The story of Jesus is just a myth.

The response to this statement is the historical argument (see “Why are the Gospels Trustworthy?”).  In brief, the Gospel accounts were written by eyewitnesses amongst other witnesses, both friend and foe who could have easily disproven the apostles accounts if they were false claims about Jesus.  For myth or legend to have crept into the Gospel accounts there just simply isn’t enough time between the events of Jesus’ earthly life and the time the Gospels are written. 

Jesus is just a man, a good moral teacher!

This is probably the most common explanation of who Jesus is amongst people who do not believe Jesus’ claims to divinity to be true.  People around the world will look at the Gospel accounts and see Jesus’ message of love for all mankind, through both his teachings and his actions.  When the full portrait of Jesus is inspected, it is evident that Jesus claimed to be God through direct claims and indirect claims he made.  As noted before, he forgave sins and allowed others to worship him.  If someone is not God, they cannot be a good, moral teacher, if they do and say the things that Jesus did and said. 

So, was Jesus a Menace?

Samples uses this label in place of C.S. Lewis’ use of the title, “liar.” Essentially, if Jesus claimed to be God, but he was not, he would be a liar.   Anyone who intentionally deceives people, doing and saying all the things that Jesus did and said, is a menace to society.  However, nothing about Jesus’ life indicates that he was a menace, or that through any of his claims or actions, he was seeking earthly fame, wealth, or power.  In every way, Jesus taught love, peace, justice, equality, and servitude, and these weren’t just hollow words.  Jesus talked the talk and walked the walk!  Hence, the reason people who are not Christians, who deny his divinity, still point to Jesus and lift him up as an example of the best in human morality.  The menace label simply doesn’t fit. 

Then maybe he was a Madman?

Usually if someone claims to be God, and they’re not, and they genuinely think they are God, then most of the time, if not all of the time, that person ends up in a mental institution.  If Jesus was just a man, and claimed to be God, and again, genuinely thought he was God, then he would have to be a nut-job! 

Nothing in his life however matches with an insane person.  When he taught, crowds were amazed (Matthew 7:28-29).  They recognized that he spoke with wisdom (Matthew 13:54). 

It must be noted that not everyone who claims to be God has to be insane.  For instance, some people claim to be God, or even claim to have a message from God, and openly try to deceive people into following them, and they are never called out for being insane.  These people are in fact sane; they are just immoral and attempt to spiritually deceive others. 

Could Jesus Have Been a Mystic and spoke of God in the sense of Hindu Brahman?

Another explanation is that when Jesus claimed to be God, he was doing so in the sense of speaking that God is in all things and that the divine is not distinct from anything in nature.  This understanding of an imminent divine source is expressed in the Hindu teaching of Brahman.  Brahman in Hindu understanding is like an impersonal, divine power, or energy, which all things consists.  When one understands this concept that Brahman is within and is in fact one with him or herself, then one can legitimately say, “I am God,” as well, “Everyone is God.” 

Some would say that this is the sort of understanding Jesus had and meant when he expressed his divinity.  Supporters of this explanation claim that Jesus traveled to India and spent time studying with Hinduism during the unrecorded years of his life within the Gospels. 

There isn’t support for this within the evidence of the Gospels.  Jesus was a Jewish rabbi and clearly confirmed an understanding of God that was consistent with the Jewish Scriptures.  Nothing within his teachings supports a Hindu understanding of all things consisting of and being of the same divine nature.  Also going against this teaching is that there is not any plausible evidence to support the trip to India, and in fact within the Gospel records there is damaging evidence against an Indian trip, because during Jesus’ public ministry, people recognized Jesus.  They could not have recognized him if he was galvanizing around India.   

Could Jesus have been a Martian?

This explanation doesn’t mean Jesus was from Mars, it just states that Jesus was an alien from another planet.  Some of you may laugh at this idea for even being considered, but it is a real explanation that does have its followers.  It is common amongst UFO-cults to teach that Jesus was in fact an alien. 

This view however would have to contain real, nuts and bolts, spacecrafts for transportation from one planet to another planet.  Nothing in the way of scientific data supports this plausibility.  Of the 70-some planets that have been found outside of our solar system, none of them contain all the required features to sustain life.  Such features involve the distance from its star and if it has a larger planet outside of its orbital circle to serve as a shield against meteors.  In fact the possibility of a plant meeting all of the requirements is 10¹⁷⁴ .  The farthest of these discovered planets is light years away, so at best the nearest possible planet that could sustain life is further away than that.  It must also be considered that if life forms from another planet could travel at the speed of light they could not travel that distance in a straight line from their planet to Earth without hitting something.  At that speed, just space dust hitting the ship could be devastating. 

Also very damaging is that the scriptures clearly show that Jesus was born of flesh and blood and had a genealogy that was of humans, not extraterrestrials. 

For a complete Christian perspective and investigation on UFOs, read Little Green Men and Lights in the Sky.

Does this mean Jesus was the Messiah?

From abductive reasoning and looking at all the possible explanations for who Jesus really was in light of the Gospel accounts, the explanation that he was in fact the Messiah, the God-Man, stands to be the most plausible when looking at a comprehensive explanation that does not ignore any of the facts. 

Using Jesus’ “Who do you Say I am?” Question as an Apologetic Tool

Now consider Jesus and how he asked his disciples the question, “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “The Christ, the living Son of God.”  

In any conversion, where you are asked about Jesus, you could easily turn the question back to the person asking by saying, “Who do you think Jesus was?”  From the person’s answer, you then know where he or she stands on the matter and also how you can then respond.  A chart below lists the different responses and the simple rebuttals.  Instead of just going straight for the rebuttal, it might be advantageous to ask the person more questions about why he or she has come to that conclusion.  Then after listening and understanding his or her point of view, gradually begin to present the rebuttal through guided questions and conversation. 

By: Andy Wrasman

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