Jesus Christ Claimed to Be God | Catholic Philosophy

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The Chapter establishes that Jesus Christ is truly God. Article 1 establishes the first premiss: Christ claimed to be God. The evidence is drawn from the four Gospels, treated as reliable historical documents: Christ claimed pre-existence before Abraham, equality with the Father ("I and the Father are one"), the power to forgive sins (acknowledged as God's prerogative by His Jewish audience), the right to be worshipped, and the divine name "I AM." He accepted divine titles — Son of God, Lord, Messias as understood in a divine sense — without correction or qualification. The character of the claim is then examined: could it be metaphorical, honorific, or in the sense of a merely elevated moral stature? No — the Jewish authorities who condemned Him understood perfectly that He was making a literal claim to divine nature, and condemned Him for blasphemy on that ground. The claim is literal, explicit, and admitted even by rationalist scholars (e.g., Harnack) who deny its truth.

a) The Claim of Christ

I. Standing before the High Priest, Jesus Christ claimed to be God (Matthew xxvi, 63, 64) : “And the High Priest said to him [i.e., Christ] : I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou be Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it [i.e., I am].” i8z

In claiming equality with God the Father, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (John v, 19-21) : “For what things soever he [the Father] doth, these the Son doth also in like manner… . For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life; so the Son also giveth life to whom he will.” In His prayer to the Father, Christ also claimed this equality. (John xvii, 10) : “All my things are thine, and thine are mine.” 3. In claiming to be one with the Father, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (John x, 30) : “I and the Father are one.” (John x, 38) : “Believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” (John xiv, 9, 10) : “Philip, he that seeth me, seeth the Father also. How sayest thou: Show us the Father ? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me ?” 4. In commending the Apostles for confessing Him as God, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (Matthew xvi, 13-17) : “And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying : Who do men say that the Son of man is ? But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them: But who do you say that I am ? Simon Peter answered, and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.” 5. In claiming to be the supreme lawgiver, Jesus

Christ claimed to be God. (Matthew xii, 8) : “For the Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.” That is: I am God; it is I who have made the Sabbath a day of special observance in my own honor; I, therefore, can set aside that observance if I choose. (Matthew v, 21, 22) : “You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill: and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you: that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment… .” That is: I am God, and I can thus explain and amplify the application of the divine law. 6. In claiming to be the supreme judge of men, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (Matthew xxv, 31, 32) : “And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty: and all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.” Again, in the judgment Christ shall say (Matthew xxv, 34-40) : “Come, ye blessed … possess the kingdom … for I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink … etc. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, thirsty and we gave thee to drink … ? And the king [Christ] answering, shall say to them: Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it to me”

That is: I, your judge, deem as done to me the deeds of mercy done to my brethren: I, your God, deem as done to me the kindnesses done to my human creatures. The citation continues with the condemnation of those who have not shown mercy to their fellowmen, and their neglect of this duty is mentioned as neglect of the judge, Christ, and as neglect of God, since it merits banishment from Heaven. 7. In claiming the accepting adoration, which is due to God alone, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. To the man born blind whom He had restored to sight, He said (John ix, 35 ff.) : “Dost thou believe in the Son of God? He answered, and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him: . . * it is he that talketh with thee. And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him.” Again, when Our Lord came to the Apostles, walking upon the water (Matthew xiv, 33) : “They that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: Indeed thou art the Son of God.” 8. In claiming and exercising the power to forgive sins by his own authority and without having this authority communicated to him, Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (Mark ii, 5) : “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.” (Luke vii, 48) : “And he said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee.” When Christ cured the man sick of the palsy, he worked a miracle in proof that “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”

The Apostles understood the claim of Christ to be God, and willingly suffered and died in testimony of its truth. See the Acts of the Apostles iii, 14, 15; v, 41; vii, 56-58; viii, 37; xv, 26; xx, 28. 10. In claiming to be eternal and in using as His own the very name of God (i.e., “I am who am”), Jesus Christ claimed to be God. (John viii, 58) : “Before Abraham was made, I am.” b) THE CHARACTER OF THE CLAIM The claim of Christ to be God was a literal claim, a real claim. It is not to be explained by being explained away. Christ did not use figurative language when He made this claim, nor did He mean anything less than just what He claimed: He claimed to be God. In claiming to be “the Son of God,” Christ claimed to be God. It is true that, in one sense, every man may call himself a child or son of God; it was, indeed, the pride and boast of the Hebrews of Christ’s time that they were the favored people of God, and they delighted to call themselves “sons of God.” But Christ did not make merely this common claim, nor did the Jews understand Him as making a common claim. The Jews would not have resented such a common claim, but they did resent Christ’s claim; they were enraged at it, and uttered a great cry against His blasphemy, and rent their garments in fury. They clamored for the death of Christ and said (John xix, 7) : “He ought to die, because he made himself the

Son of God.” They mocked Christ on the Cross, and said (Matthew xxvii, 40) : “Vah, … if thou he the Son of God, come down from the cross.” There can he no doubt whatever that Christ, in calling Himself the Son of God, claimed to be God in very truth. Let us investigate the meaning of the claim of Christ, following out each item of the first section of this Article: 1. The High Priest adjured Christ by the living God that He tell them whether He was in truth the Son of God, i.e., God Himself. Christ answered simply that He was. That the High Priest understood the full import of the claim is evident from what followed (Matthew xxvi, 65, 66) : “Then the High Priest rent his garments, saying: He hath blasphemed, what further need have we of witnesses ? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy: what think you? But they answering, said: He is guilty of death.” 2. The claim to be equal with the Father is the claim to be God. God is infinite and indivisible, and can have no equal other than Himself. Hence, the claim to be equal with the Father is the claim to be one with the Father; in other words, it is the claim to be the indivisible God. 3. The claim “I and the Father are one” is also the claim to be God. That the Jews understood the claim so, and resented it, is evident from the verse of Scripture which follows that which records the claim (John x, 31) : “The Jews then took up stones to throw at him.” 4. It is evident from the solemnity of St. Peter’s confession, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,” that the title “Son of God” was no ordinary title to be applied to any man or to any Jew. It was a real confession of the divinity of Christ. And Christ declared that God had made known to Peter this great truth, viz., the truth of His divinity. This was an indubitable claim on the part of Christ that He is truly God. 5. God alone can be the authoritative interpreter of divine laws, unless, indeed, He imparts this office to others. But Christ claims no imparted authority, but explains the extent of the Third and Fifth Commandments “as one having authority.” 6. It is the task of God to judge all men. God creates all, preserves all, sets the end for all to achieve. It is inconceivable that any other than God should, of himself, have the right to judge mankind. Yet Christ claims such a right. Therefore, Christ claims to be God. 7. Christ claimed and accepted adoration. And it was Christ Himself who said that adoration was to be given only to God (Matthew iv, 10) : “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore.” Therefore, in claiming the adoration which is due to God alone, Christ claimed to be God.

Christ forgave sins, not as the priests of His Church do, i.e., by authority communicated to them by God. The priests of God’s Church really do forgive sin; they do not merely declare it forgiven. But their power to forgive sin is received in their ordination, and comes down to them through the long succession of bishops who are the successors of the Apostles, to whom Christ committed the power. Christ forgave sins by His own power, a power not received; for He never stated that His power was communicated to Him. Besides, only God can commission men and clothe them with the power to forgive sins, and Christ commissioned His Apostles and clothed them and their successors (and the priests ordained by them and their successors) with the power to forgive sins. Hence, Christ claimed the power of God, and therefore claimed to be God. 9. This point is self-explanatory. Read the citations given. 10. In the Book of Exodus (iii, 14) we read that God called Himself “I am whom am,” and when Moses asked God how he should show the Israelites that God had sent him to lead them out of bondage, God said, “I am who am. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is hath sent me to you.” By using this name, “I am,” and by claiming eternity, Christ claimed to be very God.

Summary of the Article

In this Article we have studied abundant evidence that Christ claimed to be God, and that this claim is not capable of being interpreted in any metaphorical sense, but is a literal and true claim. In passing, we may mention that Harnack, the great German rationalist (1851-1930), admits that the Gospels are historical documents, and that they show a true claim of Christ to be God. Harnack was a bitter opponent of the truth of Christ’s divinity, but the point is that he admits the fact that the claim was made. (Cf. Lukas der Arzt, p. 118).