Page 19 - Christology - Student Textbook

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flesh, and not simply an extraordinary human, even the most unusual person who ever lived.
Claims of Jesus’ Deity

Personal Claims
There are numerous New Testament passages that site Jesus’ own claims to His deity.

In one of the episodes of the trials of Jesus before Caiaphas, the then
lawful high priest, they asked if Jesus was the Christ the Son of God.
Jesus answered in the affirmative. His subsequent affirmation
concerning His seat at the right hand and the manner of His coming
in light of the Jewish usages of Son of God, Jesus confirmed the He
was God. In that same verse, on the interpretation of the word
“power,” David L. Turner notes that it “is an attribute uniquely
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associated with God, and it stands for God by metonymy.”

While preaching in the temple to the Jews, Jesus said, “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58 [ESV]).
Basically, the Jews were denying being slaves to sin and claimed to be obedient to God and the basis
of their relationship to Abraham. Jesus was refuting those claims by arguing that if they were
obedient to God and were children of Abraham, they would be obedient to Jesus because Jesus
came from God and in accordance with God the Father who sent Him. Jesus claimed to be the “I am”
– the Eternal One. Jesus claimed to be eternal before the creation of the heavens and the earth.
Only God is eternal (cf. John 6:35-59; 8:12; 9:5; 10:7, 9, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). Jesus Christ has
existed from the eternity to eternity.

We know from the Old Testament that the Messiah would be God with us (Isaiah 9:6). When Jesus
was confronted by the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar, she informed Jesus that the Messiah
to come would declare all things to her. His response to her (John 4:26) was, “I that am speaking to
you am He.” He declared Himself as the Messiah or Immanuel who would be God with us. He
claimed to be God in the flesh.

Trinitarian Claims
The Jews came to the temple and asked Jesus if He was the Messiah.
Jesus answered in the affirmative as His works validated His claims.
Then Jesus claimed that “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30
[HCSB]). Here, Jesus identifies Himself as one with the Father or as
God the Son. Other passages in the Bible demonstrate that the
Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all God (cf. Matt 28:20;
John 14:10; 1 Pet 1:2). There is no way someone would claim oneness
with God the Father without being equal to the Father, especially if
someone’s speeches and works demonstrated those claims. So,
embedded in the Trinitarian claim is the affirmation of Jesus’ Deity.

In His comforting speech to His disciples prior to His going back to heaven, Jesus stated that He was
going to ask the Father to give them “another advocate” (John 14:16; cf. 16:7 [NIV/NET/ LEB]). Other
translations use “another helper” (ESV/NASB). Still others use “another counselor” (HCSB). Some
say, “another comforter” (KJV). The derivation for advocate/helper/counselor/comforter is a Greek

48 Erickson, Christian Theology, 700.
49 David L. Turner, Matthew: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, eds. Robert W.
Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 640.

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