What Did Jesus Say About Himself?

Recently I’ve seen people post emphatically that Jesus himself never actually claimed to be God within the gospels. And that he is not divine but is just a great prophet, equal to Abraham or Isaiah or Ezekiel or Muhammad. This claim intrigued me, so I decided to look into this more thoroughly, beyond the scriptures I recalled from memory. With this article I hope to take a close look at what Jesus actually said about himself.

What exactly did Jesus say about himself during his life on earth? To cover this adequately will require at least two posts. In part I, I will group the sayings of Jesus about himself from the synoptic gospels, Matthew Mark and Luke. Because Matthew and Luke are believed to have used the book of Mark as their primary source.

In part II of this post I will look at and discuss the sayings of Jesus from the gospel of John and we’ll get to the bottom of this.

In the book of Matthew alone I found eight self-revealing testimonies of Jesus about himself. He clearly is making strong claims for himself, some of which got him sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Many claim Jesus is to be loved as only a prophet but, do prophets claim to be both God and man? Or equal to God? I think not.

If they did would this not disqualify them as prophet? Even further if Jesus was not God then he was in fact a blasphemer and a lunatic, as the Pharisees accused him of. And by their law they were justified in killing him.

8 Things Jesus Said About Himself in the Synoptic Gospels

In his own words from the book of Matthew.

1. Matthew 10:37 He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of ME; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of Me.

• Here Jesus is applying the first of the 10 commandments to Himself. You shall love the Lord God above all things, (even above parents and children), no prophet ever applied this to themselves but to God. Nor would they, if they were only a prophet. If Jesus is not God then based on this statement alone he is a mad-man.

2. Matthew 12:6 But I say to you something greater than the temple is here. and Matthew 12:8 for the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.

• Jesus puts himself greater than the Temple and the Sabbath, what prophet is greater than the house and laws of God? Only God is greater than the temple and the Sabbath.

3.  Matthew 11:27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

• “Everything handed over the Jesus by the Father”, “no one can know the father except the Son, and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him to.” We cannot know God except by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who is alive and well, is the constant revealing of God to mankind, he is no dead prophet.

4. Matthew 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, “O you of little faith why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• They worshipped him and said he was God’s son and Jesus didn’t turn away their worship, as any legitimate prophet would.

5.  Matthew 15:25 Then she (gentile woman with demon possessed daughter) came and worshipped him saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 But he answered and said “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 27 and she said ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

• Again he is worshipped and doesn’t turn it down, he answers a gentile’s prayer and exercises his power over Satan. If only a prophet He would have turned down worship. What sort of prophet accepts worship from people?

6. Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst.”

• Only a living God can do this? what prophet has ever said anything close to this about themselves? or even implied they are able to do this after their death? None have, none would except for God himself through the Holy Spirit.

7. Matt 19:21 Jesus said to him if you wish to be complete (beyond following the law, which kept him incomplete), go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

• Jesus himself was the completion of this devout Jew who had fully followed the law but knew he was incomplete. Then he went away sad, then Jesus said its easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom…the disciples then said who can be saved? …Then Jesus said with God all things are possible.
• Stating emphatically he himself was God because he himself was the command for this man to follow. Notice he said ‘come follow me’ then ‘with God all things are possible’. ‘Follow me’ and ‘with God’.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

8. Matthew 22:42-45 “The Christ being the son of David, yet David called him lord”

• This passage is fascinating, Jesus is challenging the Pharisees’ thoughts about the Messiah not being human but not divine. “If David then calls him ‘Lord’, how is he his son?” In other words if David called him ‘Lord’ but, he also was his descendant?  How can a human descendant be the Lord?  David did understand this dual nature of God and man in the coming Christ. “God with us”, the title Jesus was claiming for himself.
• He is divine AND He is the son man (from the line of Mary) both. He was trying to show them that the prophesied human messiah, the Christ, would also be the Lord God himself worshipped and followed by Israel.

This point in particular seems to be what many Muslims are stumbling on today about Jesus Christ. Thankfully Jesus directly and intentionally addressed this to the Pharisees, may he address it to many today as well.

There are also several instances recorded in Matthew where others testify as to who Jesus is. We see examples like God the Father speaking by a voice from heaven more than once declaring who he is. We see demons testify who he is, Satan himself challenged him during his fasting time in the wilderness he said ‘if you really are the Son of God’.

And countless times his disciples, those closest to him testify also throughout the New Testament.

For Part II of this post I will skip the books of Mark and Luke and go to the book of John.

I pray that for anyone reading these posts that God would open spiritual eyes to see Jesus Christ who He really is. Both God and man, one glorious Christ all gathered up into one. May he shine in your heart and may you come to know him as he really is. Once he shines in your heart, no logic, no arguing persuasion can undo Him.

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