When we interview for a new job or fill out paperwork for a new home, we need to do more than say, “Just trust me, Bro.” Instead, it’s very reasonable for others to require verification of our identity. We need to show that we are who we say we are.
During Jesus’s ministry, it was not unique for someone to claim Messianic status — for blasphemy was a criminal charge prior to the first century. Therefore, Jesus would need to do more than merely say, “I am the promised Messiah,” or “I am God, worship me.” He would need to boldly demonstrate his identity in ways only God could do.
Jesus did just this!
Again, as only God could do, Jesus exhibited who he was through the worship he accepted, the God-oriented attributes he displayed, the titles he applied to himself, the noteworthy deeds he carried-out, and the preexistent authority he claimed to possess. Scripture is filled with such evidence!
C.S. Lewis makes the case logically:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.” (Mere Christianity, 55-56)
We are basically left with…
- If Jesus were not Lord, he would be a liar or a lunatic.
- Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic.
- Therefore, Jesus is Lord.
In their book “The Incarnate Christ and His Critics,” Authors Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski provide a “tested and proven device for enabling people of different backgrounds to remember and explain the biblical evidence for identifying Jesus as God (HANDS of GOD)” p.37.
“Relating to Jesus as to God is important for every aspect of the Christian life. We hope it is obvious that understanding Jesus’ identity as God is extremely relevant to how we relate to Jesus. Knowing that he is God incarnate is the only sound foundation for approaching Jesus, for coming to him in prayer, and for trusting in him for salvation. Relating to Jesus as God is also crucial to the message me take to the rest of the world. We must know whom we represent if we are to represent him faithfully. Our Christian walk, witness, and worship all must reflect a sound understanding of the identity of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — Bowman & Komoszewski; Putting Jesus in His Place, p22.
“Come to me (Jesus), all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 📕
Hold Fast Apologetics 