Was Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God? This article provides five arguments in favor of Jesus' deity - arguments based on the writings of Lee Strobel.
Overwhelmingly, Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The deity of Jesus Christ is the central premise of orthodox Christianity and has been for all its history. Yet there are many critics today who argue that Jesus was not God and never claimed to be God.
Lee Strobel, bestselling author of The Case for Christ and The Case for the Real Jesus, provides ten reasons people should accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God in "Tough Questions About Christ," part of an apologetics anthology edited by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler. The anthology is titled Who Made God? and Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith. This article provides five of Strobel's 10 arguments.
1. Jesus Called Himself the "Son of Man"
There is widespread agreement among ancient history and biblical scholars that Jesus of Nazareth preferred the title "Son of Man" above all others. Some critics allege this proves Jesus' humanity, but Strobel argues that that the "Son of Man" designation is a reference to Daniel 7:13-14. That passage reads (in the NKJV):
13 I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
Clearly, the "Son of Man" in Daniel 7 is divine, not human. If this is what Jesus had in mind when he called himself the "Son of Man," then he was asserting his divinity.
2. Jesus Applied "I am" Sayings to Himself
The Jewish community understood that Jehovah God's self-appointed name was "I AM." According to Kevin Vanhoozer, a research professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a scholar interviewed by Strobel, Jesus associated himself with God by applying "I am" sayings to himself.
The most dramatic example of this is found in John 8:58, when Jesus says: "Before Abraham was born, I am!"
3. Jesus Forgave Sins Not Committed against Himself
When a person does something wrong against you, and you forgive him or her, that's considered decent and appropriate. However, do you have the right to forgive sins committed by other people - sins that, in no way, pertain to you?
Jesus took it upon himself to do just that, as seen in Mark 2, when he pronounced the paralytic forgiven of all his sins.
4. The Selection of Twelve Disciples
This one is subtle, but Jesus made it a point to select twelve primary disciples. (There was a larger group of followers, including many women, but there were twelve primary companions who accompanied Jesus everywhere he went). These twelve disciples represented symbolically the renewed Israel.
"If the Twelve represent a renewed Israel," says Ben Witherington, author of The Christology of Jesus, "where does Jesus fit in? He's not just part of Israel, not merely part of the redeemed group, he's forming the group - just as God in the Old Testament formed his people and set up the twelve tribes of Israel."
5. Jesus Affirmed His Own Truthfulness
According to Strobel and Witherington, Jesus' understanding of himself as God comes through in the way he affirms truthfulness about his teachings. He often begins with the phrase "Amen, I say unto you." So what, you ask?
Witherington explains that "Amen, I say unto you" is to say "I swear in advance to the truthfulness of what I'm about to say."
The key in appreciating this significance is that Jesus was addressing issues and concepts for which he had no direct human authority or credibility. Witherington says that in Judaism, "you needed the testimony of two witnesses" to affirm truth. Not Jesus. He "witnesses to the truth of his own sayings. Instead of basing his teaching on the authority of others, he speaks on his own authority."
If Jesus wasn't God, then he was at the very least one of the most audacious claimants in all of human history.
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Sources for this article include:
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Who Made God? And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler (editors)
