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Living the Christian Life Magazine
Jesus never claimed to be a religious leader. He never got into religious politics or pushed an ambitious agenda, and he ministered almost entirely outside the established religious framework.
Thomas Jefferson revered Jesus as a good moral, teacher, but he didn’t answer the vital question, If Jesus falsely claimed to be God he couldn’t have been a good moral teacher. But did Jesus really claim deity? In fact, Jesus’ statements about himself contradict the notion that he was simply a great man or a prophet. On more than one occasion, Jesus referred to himself as God’s Son
And that leads us to the question of what Jesus really did claim for himself; specifically, that Jesus claimed to be divine? Some will say that He never explicitly say “I am God”
Jesus’ usage of God’s name greatly angered the religious leaders. The point is that these Old Testament scholars knew exactly what he was saying—
he was claiming to be God, the Creator of the universe. It is only this claim that would have brought the accusation of blasphemy. To read into the text that Jesus claimed to be God is clearly warranted, not simply by his words, but also by their reaction to those words.
In examining Jesus’ claims, it is important to understand that he made them in the context of the Jewish belief in one God (monotheism). No faithful Jew would ever believe in more than one God. And Jesus believed in the one God, praying to his Father as, “the only true God.” But in that same prayer, Jesus spoke of having always existed with his Father.
"I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.… Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 1&:4-5)
And when Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus said,
“Philip, have I been with you so long and you don’t know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:8)
Jesus continually referred to himself in ways that confounded his listeners, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He told Martha and others around her, “I AM the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he is dead, yet shall he live.” Likewise, Jesus would make statements like, “I AM the light of the world,” “I AM the only way to God,” or, “I AM the “truth.”These and several other of his claims were preceded by the sacred words for God, “I AM” . What did Jesus mean by such statements, and what is the significance or the term, “I AM”?
So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.(John 8:57-59)
For answers to the above Scriptures we need to go into the Old Testament for the significant of the statement “I Am”. when Moses asked God His name at the burning bush, God answered, “I AM.” He was revealing to Moses that He is the one and only God who is outside of time and has always existed. Incredibly, Jesus was using these holy words to describe himself. Jesus’ usage of God’s name greatly angered the religious leaders.
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"I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.… Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
(John 1&:4-5)
Did Jesus Actually claim to be God –
I and My Father are One
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:8)