Did Jesus really say “I am God”?
Jesus (Peace be upon him) never said the word “I am God” nor “I am the second person in Trinity”, nor “I am human and divine”, but as I mentioned before, Jesus clearly said that the Father is the only God, and that He is his God, and that he doesn’t know the hour,…..etc. You will tell me that he clearly declared his deity through lots of scriptures, I say actually he didn’t say it clearly, but all these are conclusions made, and by examining them, we find that they are not real, I will try in this section to cover these scriptures as much as I can, and if I forgot something, you can contact me.
“Before Abraham was born, I am!”
This actually is not a proof that Jesus is God because he is eternal, because this language was present in the Bible, it only means that he was in God’s foreknowledge, the same as what said concerning Jeremiah and Paul:
Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.
Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:
The context also proves this when he said before:
Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. Joh 8:57 The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Joh 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.
Jesus (Peace be upon him) meant here is that Abraham (Peace be upon him) rejoiced when he knew that Jesus (Peace be upon him) will be from his descendants, and this is clear through the word “my day”, he didn’t say:”when he saw me”, this clearly means that he meant that Abraham knew that he will be raised one day, so he was rejoiced for that day.
The word “I AM” doesn’t claim divinity, anyone can say I am. The word “ego eimi” if it really meant Jehovah, it wouldn’t have been translated but it have been written Jehovah, especially when we see that the same word “ego eimi” was said by others:
Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” (John 9:9)
Is the beggar God? Of course not, but it actually means “I am the Messiah”, and this is very clear with what he said to the Samaritan woman:
Joh 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. Joh 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Which was said in other translation:
(MKJV) Jesus said to her, I AM, the One speaking to you.
This is a very clear proof that he didn’t mean to Jehovah by this word, and the context can show that as above.
“I and the Father are one”:
Well, this word in itself is not a proof that he claims divinity, for the unity can be unity in aim, for example what Jesus said concerning the disciples:
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
Of course this verse doesn’t mean that they are one by body, but by aim and faith, it is the same also concerning John 10:30. Dr. Thomas Constable, a Christian commentator acknowledges this on his notes on John 10:30:
“Jesus did not mean that He and the Father were the same
person of the Godhead. If He had meant that, He would have used the
masculine form of the word translated “one” (Gr. heis). Instead He used
the neuter form of the word (Gr. hen). He meant that He and the Father
were one in their action. This explanation also harmonized with the
context since Jesus had said that He would keep His sheep safe (v. 28)
and His Father would keep them safe (v. 29)……..First, Jesus’ claim to
oneness does not in itself prove the Son’s unity in essence with the
Father. In 17:22, Jesus prayed that His disciples might be one as He and
the Father were one, namely, in their purpose and beliefs…….In short,
this verse does not say that Jesus was claiming to be of the same
essence as God. Here He claimed to function in union with the Father.
However the context and other statements in this Gospel show that His
unity with the Father extended beyond a functional unity and did involve
essential metaphysical unity.”
So Dr. Constable is saying here that this verse in
itself doesn’t mean real unity but figurative one, but the context
proves that he was claiming to be God, but actually I don’t agree with
him on that, because the context disproves his deity, let’s look at what
the context says:
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered
them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of
those works do ye stone me? Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, For a good
work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a
man, makest thyself God. Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not
written in your law, I said, ye are gods? Joh 10:35 If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be
broken), Joh 10:36 say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent
into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Joh 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. Joh 10:38
But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye
may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.
Joh 10:39 They sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their
hand.
When we look at the context, we find actually that Jesus
is actually disproving the claim that he is God not proving it. The
Jews misunderstood what he said, and thought that he was saying that he
was God. Actually what the Jews said means that they understood from the
scriptures that the Messiah is not God, so anyone who is saying that he
is God is blaspheming. if they really misunderstood the scriptures, it
should have been that Jesus answers their misconception by quoting a
verse from the OT telling that the Messiah will be God as Isaiah (9:6
for example, see my post (Old Testament and Jesus), but the verse he quoted proves the opposite, Jesus referred to Psalms 82:6:
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods?
So simply Jesus is quoting people who were called gods when they
are not actually God. Just a metaphorical godhead, Jesus says that as
these judges in Psalm 82:6 are called gods metaphorically, I am called
son of God metaphorically. So I am called son of God as these were
called gods and sons of Most High, if the Psalm wasn’t blasphemed when
they called the judges as gods, why do you consider me blaspheming when I
am called son of God?
Finally coming to the last point which some may say that Jesus said
that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. This is not also a
proof, as it only means that he has a good relationship with God since
he is a prophet, and this language is very common:
Joh 14:20 In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
1Jo 2:24 As for you, let that abide
in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from
the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the
Father.
Forgiving sins:Jesus (Peace be upon him) said “your sins are forgiven” NOT ” I forgive your sins”, he referred forgiving sins to unknown which is inevitably God, he didn’t refer it to himself. And it’s clear through the context:
Mat 9:8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Also in another verse, Jesus asks the Father to forgive those who harmed him, if Jesus really forgives sins, he would have forgiven them immediately without praying to God.
Luk 23:34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Also in many Christian denominations, people go and confess to the priest who says at the end “your sins are foregiven”, no one said that the priest is God.
John 1:1-3:
First of all, these are the words of Gospel John’s writer. Actually there is a doubt in the identity of the writer of Gospel John being John the apostle or an anonymous writer. What is more important is that this verse is mistranslated. The first “God” in “the word was with God” in this verse is “hotheos” in Greek origin which means God (with capital G) and with ho a definite article, while the second which is in “the word was god” is “theos” with no definite article which is supposed to be translated into god (with small g). Of course there is a big difference between both words , since the word “God” means Jehovah of the Old Testament, while the word god, means a god for pagans which is not meant in this verse, or god which means master as told about Moses (Peace be upon him):
Exodus 7:1″ And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh. And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.”
Or Psalms 82:6 “:
”I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ (Psalms 82:6)”.
As for John 1:3
Joh 1:3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.
These things doesn’t necessarily mean creation, but it is his
religion, and saving the people by faith in God and in Jesus as a
prophet, since many scripts prove that Jesus (Peace be upon him) is not
God.
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father
The Bible clearly tells that no one can see God really:1Jo 4:12No one has ever seen God
Exo 33:20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
So the verse here tells that what Jesus (Peace be upon him) says and does is what God really wants so seeing Jesus as a real prophet is like seeing God, some might say that the Greek word used in John 12:45 meant real seeing, well in Thayer’s definition to that word(G2334 θεωρέω theōreō), it can mean seeing mentally or discerning, besides this was referred to Jesus when he said to the disciples:
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also.
The Greek word “behold” here is the same one used in John 12:45, and in this verse seeing meant seeing by faith not real seeing, but seeing by faith as Albert Barnes and other commentators said.
Calling Jesus Lord:
First of all, the word “Lord means Master or Sir, it is a famous title for the Peers, for example “Lord Chancellor, Lord justice Bingham. In Britain, you adress a judge or Peer as my Lord” ( Cambridge International Dictionary of English). This was what meant by Paul calling him lord:
1Co 8:6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.
So Paul separated between the two words God and Lord because he meant that Father is the only God to be worshiped other than false gods, and Jesus (Peace be upon him) the only master to be followed other than false prophets, this was also meant by saying “through whom are all things, and we through him.”, because Jesus is the prophet whom they get their religion through him. Even there are some English translations which sometimes use the word Master instead of Lord. For example in John 5:7, CEV and LITV uses the word lord instead of Sir or Master, in John 13:36 YLT and WNT use the words Master or Sir instead of Lord.
Thomas calling him “My Lord and my God”:
Calling him “my Lord” doesn’t mean that he is God as mentioned before, and calling him “my God” can’t mean that he is God since it clearly contradicts with what Jesus (Peace be upon him) said to the Father:
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
So either the word God mentioned in that script like the one meant for Moses (Peace be upon him):
And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. ( Exodus 7:1) ESV
Or that Thomas said this here as an exclamation as when one says “O my God”, or that this script was interpolated so that it can be a proof for the divinity of Jesus (Peace be upon him), but actually it clearly contradicts with other Bible verses as we have shown here and through the other article which tells that Jesus actually tells that the Father is the only true God.
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me:
This is the case with all prophets, so what? Christians believe in the OT, and believe that Moses, David, Isaiah and others were prophets from God, if someone came and said that he believes in Jesus but believes that Moses or other OT prophets are liars and false prophets, could they come to the Father that way? Surely not, because disbelieving in any of the prophets is disbelieving in OT which was confirmed by Jesus and which you believe it’s the word of God, so saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” doesn’t apply on Jesus only but on all prophets.
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