Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Many, even in the theological community, have advocated that Jesus never claimed to be God. They say that this was only a later addition to his claims, propogated by later Church writers. However, is this true?

Was Jesus just a man who had diety thrust upon him by some well-meaning followers, to bolster his claims and advance the cause of Christianity? Or did he indeed claim this for himself?

To investigate this subject, we must start where all study of the New Covenant must begin, with the Old.

Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh (I Am that I Am)

It is with this name that we come to the greatest revelation of God in the First Covenant. It is given in response to the question of Moses, "Who shall I say sent me?". It is 'a declaration of the unity and spirituality of the Divine Nature'. The Jewish interpreter Rashi, sums this up as, 'I will be what I will be'. This signifies that no words are able to encompass, all that He will be, or can be to His people.

This name is the foundation for all later revelations of Himself. We should note that in ancient culture, the name of a person, or a god, established their identity of being, describing their nature or character. As concerns God, the name(s) He reveals, are only for man's benefits. That is, He has no need to name Himself, for He fully knows himself. He has no reason to identify Himself to Himself. Therefore, the names which He reveals to men, are for the benefit of men, so that we may understand the nature and character of the ALL BEING ONE.

In this name, is found His true NAME. This means that the designation Elohim gave to Moses, "I am that I am" ¹ , is an all encompassing title for all that He is, Limitless and Boundless in His Being (Eyn Sof). This Name is the closest that can signify the totality of all that God is, was, or shall be. Each subsequent revelation of God, as shown below, is a part or measure of His limitlessness and is revealed for the benefit of man.

The Hebrews wrote this Divine Name (YHVH) as ADONAI. It also became the usual practice to refer to the Divine Name simply as, THE NAME, or Ha'Shem. Another way of stating the Divine Name is "the One who is, who was, and who is to come".

In the LXX ² , this name is expressed as 'I myself am THE BEING ONE'. In other LXX references, it is shortened to ,'I (myself) Am'.³ God himself shortens this name to "I Am", as He stated to Moses in Exodus 3:13,

Isaiah 43:10,

Isaiah 48:12,

This is quite significant when we come to the Revelation of God in the New Covenant writings. Of course, more will be said later concerning this. As stated previously, this NAME is the foundation for further unveilings which are to be understood as revelations of God's character or person. It is pulling back the veil on some of the facets of the NAME.

All of these NAMES are revelations of some particular facet of God's person. In each revelation, He unveiled that particular part of Himself, that was necessary for that moment. He is all of these at once and for all time. And of course, these cannot be separated into different persons, but are only various aspects of His One Infinite Being. Although there are other names that are applied to God, it is ADONAI, "I Am that I Am", that appears to be the supreme revelation of Him in the First Covenant. However, we will gain more insight into this great I AM, as we enter the New Covenant revelation.

JESUS SAYS ' I AM '

As already stated, God gave Himself the designation, I AM. This being a shortened version of I AM THAT I AM. When we come into the New Covenant, John's gospel in particular, we see Jesus using this phrase to make certain designations about Himself. There are seven fundamental ones revealed in John.

As Jesus makes each one of the above statements, he is revealing specific aspects of his person. In each of these sayings, he says I AM (ego eimi). This goes back to the designations of God found in the First Covenant. Remember that Adonai, shortened I AM THAT I AM to I AM. This I AM as translated in the LXX, is ego eimi. This literally means, I Myself Alone Am, to the exclusion of all others.

To give an example of the importance of these sayings of Jesus, we must compare them with what is said of God in the First Covenant. In the Tanakh⁴ we see God designated as ADONAI RAPHA, or the LORD our Healer. Understanding that ADONAI is a substitutionary word for the Sacred Name, Y-H-V-H, this Name for God would literally read, I AM THAT I AM, OUR HEALER. When we see how God shortened this to I AM, then it could be read, I AM our HEALER. With this in mind, we can see that all of these Names of God, as listed earlier, can be read, I AM ----.

Having this in mind, when we come to the above sayings of Jesus, these should be read and understood as being on the same level as those given in the First Covenant. Each of the I AM statements, reveal a specific aspect of the Person of God. It is like holding a diamond in the light, and as you turn it, it reveals a different facet of its being. So God, when seen in a particular light and situation, reveals that particular facet of His Person.

When we understand the significance of this I AM, it sheds glorious light on other sayings of Jesus.

John 8:23-25

Here Jesus makes a very simple yet profound declaration of Himself. He says that if you do not believe that he is I AM, you shall die in your sins. This statement makes very clear, that Jesus claims to be God. He claims for himself the Name of the I AM, who revealed Himself to Moses and to the Israelites.

Men of all ages have made certain admissions about Jesus. Some say he was a great teacher. Others that he was one of the great prophets of ancient times. But here He makes it quite clear who He is and that believing this, is necessary to the application of Salvation.

Believing that Jesus was a great teacher will not save you; believing that he was a great prophet will not save you; believing he was a man with divine power upon him will not save you. Only believing that he was God who came in the flesh and died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead for your justification before God will effect salvation on your behalf.

John 8:56-59

After Jesus made the statement of the necessity of believing that He is the I AM, the scriptures say that 'many of them believed on him'. To those who professed a belief in him, he continued to stretch their commitment to this new found faith.

He makes the statement that Abraham, who they said was their father, or their source and pattern of faith, saw his day (his manifestation) and was glad (or rejoiced). These new believers thinking in the carnality of their minds, found this to be ridiculous. They said, 'You are not even 50 years old yet, so how can you say that Abraham has seen you'. Then Jesus, seeking to purify and test this new faith in him, says, "Before Abraham was (or, before Abraham came into existence), I AM."

This statement by Jesus, set himself outside time and space. It's intended purpose was to show that He is the I AM, whom they claim to worship in the temple. The response of the new believers, was not worship, but was to take up stones against him, and stone him. So much for their new found faith. Jesus obviously knew what was in their hearts. He knew that if they were going to be true believers and follow him, they would have to follow him on his terms, and not on conditions which they could feel comfortable with.

So it is today. Many have downgraded Jesus into a format which they can feel comfortable with. They make Him a great teacher, or prophet and they feel pretty good about this. They would say, "I believe in Jesus". Jesus would say, 'Oh, really?'

There are other sayings of Jesus that we could point to, where he makes this claim and applies the Name I AM, to himself. See John 13:19; 18:5. One passage of such a claim is not found in John, but comes from Matthew. The disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee at night, when a storm arose, putting their life in danger. They saw what they thought was a phantom of some sort, coming across the water toward them. They cried out in fear of what they thought they were seeing. But as this 'spirit' came closer, it was Jesus and he said, "Be of good cheer, I AM. Do not fear."

Many have mistakenly asserted that Jesus never claimed to be God. This assumption is based upon the fact that Jesus never came right out and said, "Hey world, I am God". But the truth is, Jesus did make such claims, which only become clear when we read the Hebrew Scriptures from a Hebrew understanding.

Some may stumble at this claim of Jesus. They will say, 'How can He be the God of the First Covenant?' When one understands that He is the Word of God made flesh, the answer becomes quite clear. Remember what was said concerning the Memra of God? How that whenever God revealed or manifested Himself in Creation, it was through His Word? Wherever we see God manifesting Himself in this creation, we are seeing His preincarnate, eternal Word in operation. We are seeing the Memra of God in action, before it became flesh and was called Jesus.

Some have said that there are two YHVHs to be identified in Scripture (Ps. 110:1 for example). Again, it is not that there are two ADONAIs. But the Word of God that manifest Himself to men, is man's Adonai. The ADONAI that interacted with man, was man's contact point with the Eternal, Infinite God. It is for this reason, that Jesus claims the Name, I AM. Because in His relationship to the Eternal, he is Man's ADONAI. This is why He can make the claim, "I AM the Way. . .no man comes to the Father, but through me." It is stated that Jesus is the God-Man. This means that He is God to Man, and Man to God. Glory to God in the Highest!!!!