Jesus. Depending on who you ask, it’s a name that can lead to many different viewpoints on who he is.

Have you ever stopped to consider who Jesus is?

Perhaps you’re thinking he was simply a great moral teacher or an insightful philosopher. Biologist and best-selling atheist author Richard Dawkins famously said he believes “Jesus was a great moral teacher,” but “somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today.”

Maybe instead you view him as a lunatic or a fraud. Some may even go so far as to say he was a megalomaniac (someone obsessed with power). Others might know Jesus as Savior or God.

To begin to answer this question, let’s look at who Jesus claims to be.

Throughout the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament) there are many instances in which Jesus tells us himself.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.”

—John 14:6

In this one sentence, Jesus acknowledges that he is four things: the way, the truth, the life, and the only pathway to God. It can’t get much clearer than that. In the very next verse, Jesus goes on to say that if you know him, you know his Father (God) as well, establishing his One-ness with God.

There are many other instances in the Gospel of John in which Jesus continues to share who he is through various analogies.

“I am the bread of life.” John 6:35-48
“I am the light of the world.” John 8:12, 9:5
“I am the gate.” John 10:7
“I am the good shepherd.” John 10:11-14
“I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25
“I am the true vine.” John 15:1-5

Each and every “I am” reference points to Jesus’ existence as God, the eternal God incarnate. Furthermore, at another point in the Gospel of John (John 8:56-58), Jesus takes it a step further to explain that he has always been in existence—that he was there when the world was made. Because of that, there was no beginning and there will be no end to Jesus.

With this verse—and so many others throughout Scripture—Jesus point blank says it to be true: He is one with God, because he is God.

Seems outrageous, right? How can anyone say that? How can Jesus say that? How can we believe that? Because the Bible is infallible—it is the written word of God—thus, it is fact that Jesus is God, and his constant, never-ending love for us reveals it each and every day.

If these verses—and so many more—are true, then claiming and believing that Jesus is just a great moral teacher, cannot remotely be an option. We all must make a choice: Either Jesus was just a moral teacher or he was and is God. Renowned author and theologian C.S. Lewis said it best:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ 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 up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

—C.S. Lewis

In Matthew 16:15-16, Jesus asks the disciples himself what they believe:

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

How do you answer that question? Do you believe what Jesus said in the Bible is true and that Jesus is God? Or do you have more questions and want to explore the idea of Jesus being God a bit further? If you’re reading this, you’re already taking a step in the right direction. We would love to talk with you and answer your questions about Jesus today. Give us a call or send us an email here today.