It is true that Jesus never said the exact words, “I am God”, but then neither did God (the Father)! He did, however, make the claim to be God in many different ways, and those who heard Him knew exactly what He was saying.
He also didn’t tell people to worship Him. They did that without needing to be asked, risking breaking their laws to do so.
Background:
Isaiah 41:4 “Who has performed and accomplished it, Summoning the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the LORD (Yᵊhōvâ), am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another.”
Isaiah 43:10-11 “…Before Me there was no God (eL) formed, And there will be none after Me. 11 “I, only I, am the LORD(Yᵊhōvâ), And there is no saviour besides Me.”
Isaiah 48:12-13 “Listen to Me, Jacob, Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. 13 “Assuredly My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.
Exodus 3:14. And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
So when someone says he is the first and the last, or that he is “I AM” he is either God or blaspheming (saying he is God when his is not). If you say this to a Jew, you’re using a deity term for yourself.
Isaiah 9.6 “For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” So the Son of God’s name will be Mighty God 'ēl gibôr, Eternal Father! The next chapter is says that Jehovah is the Mighty God. The very verses that predict the Messiah, whilst calling the Messiah Son of God, equate that Son of God as in fact being the very same God. So Jews calling Him the Son of God, if versed in their own scripture, will have realised they were calling Him God!! Boom!
Leviticus 24:16, Stoning was the penalty for blasphemy. So if we find Jesus about to be stoned for something it was for saying He was God.
Ranking is different to personhood
The Father has greater rank, with a higher position and role, and can send the Son. He has a greater role, but not a greater deity or essence.
A man and wife are equal in essence, both being human beings, but at the Bible says in Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 5.23, Christ is the head of the Church and the Husband is the head of the Wife. The man has a greater in position but not in essence. Or an employer and an employee. An employer is no more human than his employee, but his role and position is greater.
Isaiah 48:16 it says “Yahweh sent Yahweh”. This only makes sense in this context.
John 8:56. “Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” Scholars including Jews thought Abraham had undocumented prophesies from God. Abraham likely had prophetic insight to Jesus’ sacrifice, acting it out with his Son Isaac, on likely the same hill.
John 8:58. “Very truly I tell you, . . . before Abraham was born, I AM!” he was claiming to be the voice in the burning bush that spoke to Moses. The Jews, upon hearing Him, clearly understood that He was claiming pre-existence and, more than that, to be Yahweh, the great “I AM” of Exodus and Isaiah.
Mar 12:29. Jesus answered, when asked which Law (things in first five books of Bible or Torah) was foremost “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, ISRAEL! THE LORD IS OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE;” Notwithstanding the problems folk who don’t believe in the trinity have with the wording “…is one”; who, other than God can prioritise God’s Laws? As such it was a “trick” question, the asker knew this, and Jesus knew it, and decided to answer anyway, thereby confirming He believed Himself to be God. The only other option is that Jesus Christ was mad, but seldom is this asserted.
Matt 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ Similar question, different answer, same insinuation (of divinity) . This time the question was which was the greatest commandment in the Law (first five books of our Bible). It’s not the answer per se, that points to His divinity, but that He answered at all.
John 10:30. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” This statement alone should be enough.
John 10:33. When He asked them why they were attempting to stone Him, they said, “For blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God”. On each occasion, they tried to stone Him for blasphemy (saying He was God), but He escaped.
John 17:5. And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the Glory which I had with You before the world existed. He was claiming to have been as one with the Father before the world was created and assignable of glory!!
Mark 10:17-22 and Luke 18:18-23 The rich young ruler. Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” He doesn’t say “I am not good only God is”, the “why” isn’t to deny being good, but to check the man’s understanding of the implication of what he had said. This is shown in the rest of the interaction, where Jesus addresses the man’s common misconception that he, a mere man, is ever “good”.
John 10.11 Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
Jesus claims only God is good. Verifying that in Mark 10:17-22, Jesus does affirm to be good and in John 10.11, therefore, Jesus claims to be God.
John 13.34-35 “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” Now it’s not the content or the profundity of the command that is of interest for this purpose, but that Jesus should say it at all! You don’t go around saying to Jews (only eleven disciples were present for this, not Jewish leaders) “ I give a new commandments to God’s Law”…without them thinking, “hang on a second, only God can do that, all the law previously was given as divine revelation to Moses”. Moses didn’t give the Law, he was given in it and wrote it down.
Luke 19:37-40 And as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: “BLESSED IS the King, THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And yet some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!” So Jesus is accepting worship, which as a Jew, only God can do.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (not the word was a god, as the JW bible has mis-transcribed, Greek is ALL CAPITALS, so one God can’t have caps and the other not, and there was no “a” in between was and GOD).
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John is affirming that the Word (Jesus) is God, and He left heaven to come to earth in the form of a man to live with men and display the glory of God the Father.
John 4:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him”. Only deity can say this, not “a god”, or an “angel”, or of course a man.
John 20:28 Thomas declared Him to be “my Lord and my God”. If Jesus were not Lord and God, He would have corrected Thomas, but He did not; Thomas spoke the truth.
Matthew 14:33. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!” After seeing Jesus walking on the water, His disciples worshipped Him
Matthew 28:9. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Rejoice!” And they came up and took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. This is when He appeared to them after the resurrection. The disciples were well aware of the Mosaic Law’s penalty for blasphemy, and worshipping anyone but God, yet they worshipped Him as God, and Jesus accepted their worship. Jesus never rebuked people for worshipping Him, accepting their worship as good and proper.
Titus 2:13 “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” Paul eagerly awaited this and encouraged us to do the same.
John 1:3 “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being”. John declared that Jesus created the universe.
Colossians 1:16 “for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him”. Paul declared that Jesus created the universe.
Genesis 1:1 clearly says however that God created the heavens and the earth. This can only mean that Jesus is God.
Even God the Father referred to Jesus as God: About the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever’” (Hebrews 1:8, quoting Psalm 45:6).
Rev 1.13 “….and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like the son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash”. So John says it was Jesus speaking.
Rev 1.17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades”. John again, using “the first and the last” – a title only God uses, meaning before and after time or outside of time. “was dead and behold I am alive..”, confirming again this is Jesus and Jesus saying he is God.
Rev 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this…” John again, using “the first and the last” – a title only God uses, for what Jesus says.
Rev 22:12-16 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” More of John reporting Jesus saying he is God.
Muslims are prone to saying “Jesus never said he was God or that we should worship Him”.
Lots of ways to rebut both, but isn’t it also interesting as to why these two premises are so important to Muslims?
The matters of not having pronounced/given a prescribed unequivocal English name, and not given us instruction to worship him?
Are these really the only 2 things to check off for Deity / Christophany and why these 2? Is it simply because a cursory review of the scriptures makes the statements seem true, ergo, he wasn’t God – sussed a bundle you foolish Christians!! Perhaps. Perhaps there’s other and better attributes to check for and these aren’t offered into the debate to help us. Must look into this….
But have the 2 items special meaning to the character of spirit behind the “tricky question”? Might that Character secretly/openly want to be named himself God, or be struggling with his own identity / titles (maybe lost a name given him), and wants to instruct people to worship him?
In Psychology this is called projecting. Putting on the other person, what is in fact your own foible. So of course if you’ve beef with Jesus being known as God, you’d throw an aspersion projecting your own sin: wanting to be called or on a par with God and wanting the worship of people.
So who does this sound like? Gen 3:4-5 we have the temptation of not dying and becoming like God and in Matt 4:8 we have the temptation to worship the Devil. The Devil perhaps lost the name Lucifer when exiled from Heaven (no verses to support this) and has many names assigned him.
Maybe best not to say to a Muslim that throws these two “facts” at us: “that proves your religion is underpinned by the Devil, let me explain why….” But worth remembering that a) it’s a closed argument (accounts for too little), b) it’s wrong (both points can be proven wrong) and c) what’s the source of fascination with being like God and being worshipped?