BIBLE BITS: Matthew 5-7

One of the claims that is often made against Jesus is that he never claimed to be God, and that this title was assigned to him later by his apostles and the early Church.  If there is any truth to this claim, it would only be that you will never find a verse in the Bible where Jesus says, "Ahem.  Let me make this as clear as I possibly can: I am God Almighty, Immortal, Eternal.  And don't you ever doubt it!"

Nevertheless, Jesus makes many statements that he could only make if he is God.  If he is not God, then his statements are rank blasphemy and he can be dismissed as a nut-job.  Well, Jesus' enemies DID understand his words clearly enough.  Therefore, they DID accuse him of blasphemy, making himself equal to God.  And since there is only one God, not several who share equal status, then by making himself equal to God, he is saying he IS God!  And while Jesus' enemies did not use the phrase "nut-job," they did accuse him of being possessed by a demon.

So, while people today insist that Jesus never made any claims to be God, his enemies recognized that he did just that.

In today's personal Bible reading, we have one of those instances where Jesus says something that only God could say.  Several times in Matthew 5, Jesus utters a phrase like this: "You have heard that it was said....  But I say to you."  In most cases, the "it was said" phrase is one of the Ten Commandments.  Verse 21 is the 5th Commandment.  Verse 27 is the 6th Commandment.  Verse 38 paraphrases the 8th Commandment.  Jesus does not deny the Commandments.  He intensifies them.  By saying, "But I say to you..." he seems to be trumping the very words of God.  Who would dare do this--unless Jesus IS God?

But that is precisely the claim.  Jesus can speak as one having authority because he does have divine authority.  Jesus has divine authority because he is divine.  

Jesus has, indeed, claimed to be God.  I suppose many will dismiss him as a nut-job or demon-possessed.  It is the joy of the Church to confess with the apostle Thomas, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28)!  And those who refuse to confess Jesus as Lord and God now will be forced to do it one day (Philippians 2:10-11).