Is Jesus God? A response to Islam Online
If you search for 'Is Jesus God?' you quickly discover an article by Islam Online in which the central claims are Jesus never said he was God and made statements that prove he wasn't God. The Christian Bible is quoted to prove this.
So, let’s examine the evidence put forward in this short blog post from Islam Online and see if the claims stand up.
For the most part, I’ll tackle the claims as they come up, quoting the Islam online article first and then responding. You can find the Islam Online article here.
1. Jesus never said he was God?
Islam Online:
‘The answer may come as a shock to many Christians. Jesus never said he was God. Actually, he said over and over again, and in many ways, that he was not God.’
If you search the New Testament Scriptures of the Bible, you cannot find the claim, not even once, where Jesus said he was not God. On the contrary:
Jesus says he can forgive sins, which only God can do (Mark 2:6).
Jesus accepts the worship of the disciples, when only God should be worshipped (Matthew 14:33, 28:9, 28:17)
Jesus refers to himself as ‘I am’, which is the same as Yahweh, God’s personal name in the Old Testament (John 4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5,6,8).
Reading Islam Online sympathetically, I can only assume that what the writer means by Jesus ‘said over and over again, and in many ways he was not God’ is that Jesus said things that inferred he was not God. We’ll see whether that is the case below, but for now, there is no direct statement from Jesus in the New Testament where he says, ‘I am not God.’
Much more could be said on this point, but we’ll move on as we come back to some of these ideas below.
2. Does the Torah teach God could not take human form?
Islam Online:
'Jesus was a practising Jew, and the very idea of God taking a human form is antithetical to the Torah or the Law of Moses.'
This isn’t quite right. The law of Moses was antithetical to any person making an image to represent God (Exodus 20:4-6). But that is not the same as saying God himself couldn’t take human form. Just because we’ll get the representation of God wrong doesn’t mean he will.
Consider this unique and baffling event in the Old Testament, when the LORD appears to Abraham.
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. (Genesis 18v1-15)
Abraham goes on to provide a meal to these three men, eat with them and have a conversation with the LORD.
Could the Creator take up the form that he created? Is this outside his power? The passage above is suggestive that it is entirely possible.
3. Jesus and the Mosaic Law
Islam Online goes on to argue that Jesus was a devout and learned Jew, a rabbi. This is mostly correct. Jesus was certainly devout and learned. He taught like a rabbi did and people called him rabbi. But he was not ever formerly accepted as a Rabbi. This is one of the reasons why the religious leaders in the New Testament constantly questioned Jesus’ teachings.
If Jesus was a rabbi, he wasn’t going to overthrow the Mosaic law. But if Jesus was something more than a rabbi then his relationship to the law might be different.
And it is.
Islam Online:
‘Throughout the New Testament, Jesus exhorted the people to worship God alone and keep the Mosaic commandments.’
This isn’t correct. The situation is more complex regarding the Mosaic Law and more revealing. For Jesus did more than teach others to keep the Mosaic law.
He taught all food was clean and this overturned the Mosaic food laws. (Mark 7:1-23, note especially verse 19)
Jesus claimed to have more authority than the Mosaic law (Mark 2:18-27)
Jesus repeatedly redefined the law while teaching the fulfilment of the law (Matthew 5:17-20 compare to Matthew 5:21-22 and following.
Jesus thought his coming was greater than the Mosaic laws. Someone who goes around ending, redefining and claiming to be the fullfilment of the law is more than a rabbi. He is claiming the authority of someone who transcends the law. This is consistent with the New Testament teaching.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1v17-18)
And this takes us to something even more interesting which challenges the whole premise of Islam online.
4. Jesus is worshipped
Islam Online:
As above ‘Jesus exhorted the people to worship God alone’.
Jesus certainly exhorted people to worship God alone (Matthew 4:10). This is true. But he also accepted the worship of his disciples.
Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:33)
Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. (Matthew 28:9)
When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. (Matthew 28:17)
This last quote takes us to the end of Matthew’s gospel:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Jesus claims the authority of God, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’ And he claims that converts are to be discipled and baptised in his name (the name of the Son,) with the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit. In these statements, Jesus makes himself equal to the Father.
This reflects the theology of the book of Matthew. When the coming of Jesus is first announced in the opening chapters he is called Immanuel: God with us (Matthew 1:21-25).
Jesus, who is God with us, is the one who will save people from their sins. This is entirely consistent with the Old Testament statements from Yahweh about himself. See for instance Isaiah 45:17.
This is why records outside the Bible show the very earliest Christians, worshipped Jesus as God. Pliny writes to Trajan about Christians:
‘They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god'. (Pliny Letters. 4th paragraph)
5. Jesus’ Lordship of Heaven
Islam Online:
'Jesus even scolded those who called him Lord', quoting ‘Matthew 7:21-23.
Did Jesus scold those who called him Lord? Here is the quote in full.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
The issue is not that some people call Jesus Lord. It is that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord has him as their Lord.
Not only that but the Lordship of Jesus is assumed! Let’s follow the logic. In verse 21, who is the one who enters the Kingdom of God? The one does the will of the Father. That’s clear. But there will be those who did things in the name of Jesus who Jesus did not know. ‘I never knew you.’
The implication is clear. The one who enters the Kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is the one who does the will of the Father. This is equated with being known by Jesus. They are the ones who can truly call him Lord.
This is an incredible claim to authority by Jesus. He is claiming to be the one who decides who is in or out of God’s kingdom. He is claiming it depends on whether or not he knows someone. This isn’t the claim of a prophet. No prophet of the Old Testament ever claimed to have authority like this. They were God’s messengers who spoke with authority. But they never determined people’s eternity. But here Jesus does just that. Isn’t this an implicit claim that Jesus is the Lord?
6. Jesus’ prayers
Regarding prayers. We’ll look at a few quotes together.
Islam online:
‘Surely, when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane he demonstrated that he was neither omnipotent nor omniscient: “Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)
There is no doubt this is a challenging verse. For if Jesus, was God and God was not triune, Jesus clearly cannot be God. But is this all that is going on here? No, the Bible claims that Jesus came as fully God and fully man. And what this passage reveals is that Jesus, though God (God the Son) was always faithful and in perfect obedience to the will of God the Father. And so, Jesus did what Adam, the first person did not do and what no other person has ever done since, obey God perfectly. Jesus could do this because he was fully God, whilst being fully man.
Islam online:
‘We see that throughout the Gospels, Jesus prayed to God. This certainly argues against his being God. God would not pray to Himself.’
And later,
‘One of the most compelling pieces of evidence that Jesus was not God is in the way that he taught the disciples to pray.'
Yes, no doubt, Jesus did pray to God as Father and taught his disciples to do so. But pause for a moment and consider the nature of prayer. Prayer is talking. Now consider one of the earliest texts that both Christians and Muslims revere, Genesis 1.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)
The words ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’ are very significant. God is talking to himself, in the plural. Now, some scholars argue that God is speaking with a royal plural and others that he speaking to the heavenly court. But the plural continues all the way through, humanity is made in our image.
Right at the start of the Bible, we discover that this one God, speaks to himself and refers to himself in the plural.
John starts his Gospel with this statement which references Genesis.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (John 1:1-4)
In just a few more sentences we discover that this Word, who is the Creator, is Jesus who took on human flesh (John 1:14).
The statement made in the Islam online article, ‘God would not pray to himself’ has the assumption built into it that God is not triune. Is this assumption correct?
Islam online
‘Note that Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, our Creator, not to himself. In fact, he did not mention himself in any way, nor did he indicate that we should pray in his name. His instructions were very specific-we are to pray to God alone.’
Jesus did teach his disciples to pray to the Father. But, he also instructed his disciples to pray in his name. ‘You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (John 14:14). Not only does Jesus instructs his disciples to pray in his name, but he says, ‘he will do it.’ Not the Father will do it. But he will answer the prayer. This is incredible, given that Jesus also told his disciples to pray to the Father.
We are left with 2 options. Either John's gospel or Matthew's gospel misrepresents Jesus. Or, Jesus sees himself as God who answers prayers, just as God the Father answers prayers.
7. Direct identification of Jesus as God in the Bible
Islam online
‘the fact that nowhere in the Bible do we see a direct identification of Jesus as God’
Ironically, direct identification is a key way in the Gospels that Jesus is shown to be God. (Some of these have been touched on above)
Jesus forgives sins, which only God can do (Mark 2:6).
Jesus gives life to the dead, which only God can do (Luke 7, Mark 5).
Jesus controls the creation which only God can do (Mark 4).
Jesus makes food in the wilderness like God did as the Israelites fled Egypt (Matthew 15, Luke 9).
Jesus claims that if you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father (John 14).
Jesus claims that if you’ve heard him, you’ve heard the Father.
His judgment is the Father’s judgement (John 5:30).
Jesus' actions are the Father’s actions (John 5:19)
Furthermore, in Paul’s writings, we see direct statements that Jesus was God or that he had the authority and power of God himself such as in Philippians 2:6, and Titus 2:13.
Conclusion
Jesus assumes the authority of God, calls himself God, and invites prayer to himself as he does to God. He is also identified as God and worshipped. He is the Lord of heaven and determines who will stand in the presence of the Father of heaven. All this makes it clear that the New Testament of the Bible teaches that Jesus is God.
And if that is the case, then how could we ignore his words, his deeds and his death on the cross for us?