Did Jesus claim to be God?

Some people say, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” The New Testament is very clear. Jesus claimed to be God many times. One of those times is found in Mark 8. The most important question you will ever answer in your life is, “Who is Jesus?” Your eternal destiny hangs in the balance.

Jesus and His disciples traveled a hundred miles north of Jerusalem to Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asked them in verse 27, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples answered, “John the Baptist; and others Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

Herod Antipas had killed John the Baptist. Some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected from the dead. Others thought He was Elijah or one of the prophets brought back to life. All of these answers fall short. Many people today think Jesus was simply a good teacher or a good man or a great moral example. These answers are insufficient.

Verse 29 reads, “And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’” The word you is in the emphatic position. “Who do you say that I am?” Every one of us must answer this question.

Peter was the leader of the disciples. He answered, “You are the Christ” (verse 29). Matthew 16 is a parallel passage. In Matthew 16:16 Peter literally said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the God, the living One.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but My Father Who is in heaven.”

The disciples understood His person. He is God’s Son. They also understood His mission. He is the Christ. Christ is not a last name. Christ is a title. He is the Messiah. He is the Hamashiah or the Promised One of the Old Testament. Jesus was clearly claiming to be God.

This is not the way a righteous person or an angel when falsely declared to be God responded in the New Testament. In Acts 14 the apostle Paul healed a lame man. “When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have become like men and have come down to us (verse 11).’” Verse 12 says that they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes.

How did Paul and Barnabas respond? Verses 14 and 15 read, “But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you….’” Our Lord Jesus did not respond this way because He is God.

Revelation 22 is the last chapter in the Bible. The apostle John was so overwhelmed he fell at the feet of an angel to worship him. The angel quickly responded, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this Book. Worship God” (verse 9).

C. S. Lewis made a very famous argument that Jesus is either “bad, mad or God.” He said that there are only three possibilities. If He wasn’t Who He said He was, and knew it, He is a liar. If He wasn’t Who He said He was but didn’t know it He is a lunatic. The right option is that Jesus is Who He said He was and He is Lord.

Lewis said, “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon 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 did not leave that open to us. He did not intend to…. I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

Jesus is God. He came to suffer for our sins. He is coming back again. Who do you say that Jesus is? This is the most important question you and I will ever answer. Our answer determines where we will spend eternity.

Ethan Hansen is a pastor at Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.