Reply to Nick Norelli’s “I am God” Post

This post is for Nick Norelli who stated that “Of course Jesus never used the exact words: “I am God” (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός) but why should that be evidence that he never claimed deity? Many people who use this argument might be interested to learn that Jesus also never spoke the words “I am a man” (ἐγώ εἰμι ἄνθρωπός) either. Would we assume from the lack of such a specific statement that Jesus was not a man? Of course not, so why assume such from the lack of the other statement? ….Yet he didn’t use the exact phrase “I am a man” (ἐγώ εἰμι ἄνθρωπός). The point of this post is that if his not using the exact words “I am God” is enough to conclude that he is not God, then the same can be said about his being a man.” Instead of posting another comment in his blog like I did before, I decided to put forward a full rebuttal here. Any “you” here is addressed to Nick and others who are thinking in the same way as he.

Well, I still maintain that Jesus said he is a man. If you examine closely what Jesus said in John 8:40 (“Ye seek to kill me—a man who hath spoken to you the truth I heard from God”), it is a complex sentence, which can be broken into 4 simple sentences: (1) “Ye seek to kill me”, (2) “I am a man”, (3) “I hath spoken to you the truth”, (4) “I heard the truth from God”. It would be very awkward, immature and unnatural to say it as “Ye seek to kill me and I am a man and I hath spoken to you the truth and I heard the truth from God” or even “Ye seek to kill me. I am a man. I hath spoken to you the truth. I heard the truth from God” in contrast with what was written.

Jesus subordinated the 3 other sentences by making them dependent clauses. The 1st sentence was the main or independent clause, the second sentence is a noun clause in the form of an apposition or an adjective clause modifying the direct object of the 1st, the 3rd sentence as an adjective clause modifying the complement of the 2nd sentence or the direct object of the 1st sentence, and the 4th sentence as an adjective clause modifying the indirect object of the 3rd sentence. Dependent clauses are either preceded by relative pronouns or conjunctions or can be without them and the counterpart in the dependent clause of the part of the sentence they modify is omitted. Yes the exact phrase is not there, but only because it was subordinated. So yes, he did say he is a man, essentially.

The point of my comment is that it can be shown that Jesus did say he is a man (“me, a man”) but it can never be shown that he said he is a God, either in an independent clause (“I am a God” or “We is/are a God”) or in a dependent clause (“me, a God” or “us, a God”) or other formulations. So the assertion that he is a man because he said he is a man and that he is not a God because he did not say he is a God is both valid and true; to assert that he is a God even if he never said he is a God but instead said he is a man would be distorting the scriptures, and you know the penalty for that.

Additionally, your point that Jesus never corrected them is plainly untrue. You said “The fact remains that Jesus’ audience thought he claimed to be God enough to want to kill him for making himself equal with God (Jo. 5:18) and stone him for blasphemy (Jo. 10:33). They must have had some basis for doing so, even if Jesus didn’t use a specific phrase that some people argue he must have to claim deity…..Also, their understanding was quite correct, which is why Jesus never corrected them.” The whole story can be read from John 5:1 to 10:42. The Jews were persecuting him because he instructed the sick man to pick up his cot and walk on a sabbath (John 5:16), thus to them a violation of the 4th of the 10 commandments. YHWH made the Sabbath holy and Israel should also keep it holy (Exodus 20:8,11), no one should go out of his place (Exodus 16:29) or work during the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10-11) and any man defiling it by working is to be put to death (Exodus 31:14-16). When the Jews confronted him, they all the more wanted to kill him because he is calling God “my Father” which to them is “making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). It’s a commandment that anyone who blasphemes God is to be put to death (Leviticus 24:15-16), so to the Jews who misunderstood him, he is guilty right away, deserving a sentence equal to a double death penalty. But he is not blaspheming as he is not making himself equal with God. He corrected them by explaining that by himself, he can’t do anything and he was sent (John 5:19-23, 30; he who sends is greater than he who was sent – John 13:16), those who will not believe him will have their judgment (John 5:24-29), there are others that bear witness about him and to the truth (John 5:31-47) , called once more God “my Father” (John 5:43) with no recorded response by the Jews, and afterwards he left. Later he was saying “my Father” in reference to God again and there were no more objections because Jesus has already justified why he is calling God his Father. He pointed out that its the Father who is the God (John 6:27) . In another encounter with the Jews, he said they wanted to kill him because his words finds no place with them (John 8:37). And he called God again “my Father”(John 8:38), and to avoid a repeat that he could be misunderstood as making himself equal with the Father, he said he is a man, a man who is telling the truth (John 8:40).

Before the stoning incident, they themselves called God their Father as well (John 8:41-42). Yet in another encounter with Jews, when Jesus called God “my Father” and said that he and his Father are one (John 10:30), they tried to stone him because of blasphemy for, according to them, he is making himself a God although he is a man (John 10:33). Yet again Jesus corrected them, saying that in the same way that others are called “gods” by the scriptures, he is also since he is the sanctified Son of God (John 10:34-36). If you look at that part of the scriptures cited by Jesus, they are called “gods” because they are Sons of God (Psalms 82:1-2,6). Now, if you use that to believe that Jesus is a God, you should take it back as you are also making these others God(s) as well. Yet he never said “I am a God” or “They are Gods” but that it is the Father who is the only true God (John 17:1-3). Why? because he knows the truth, he keeps telling the Jews of it (John 7:16-18), its very plain in their sight yet they do not believe him because God’s words have no place in them. And I would suppose you also know why the Jews thought he is making himself a God when he said he and the Father are one, because it is the same verse used by Trinitarians to prove that Jesus is God, thoughts which are very similar to that of the Jews. If you notice, the Jews allegation has changed, from “making himself equal with God” to “you make yourself a God”, from equality to identity, for apart from calling God his Father, he also said they are one. This is another misunderstood saying of Jesus, for the oneness that he meant here between him and the Father, without adding words to the Bible, is not about Godness or diety, but about the function of protecting the sheeps. Jesus said “no one will snatch them out of my hand”, in the same way that “no one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father” (John 10:28-29). Thus they are one in not allowing anyone to snatch the sheep out, of protecting them. And these verses are right before the verse where Jesus said he and the Father are one, thus he is making a conclusion.

If you read from John 5:1 to 10:42 and you do not understand what he meant, then you are in the same position as the Jews and Muslims who think that God cannot have a son who is a man, unless the son is claiming equality with God (or is making himself a God) or is blaspheming God. Pay special attention to John 10:25-27 and read John 12:47-50 and Matthew 13:13-15. So please go over every line of my arguments and check if your Greek Bible confirms it. And heed Jesus when he said not to judge by appearance (John 7:24). Now hopefully this is the kind of apologetics that you might like. But more importantly, may God have mercy on you to see the truth in what Jesus said and renounce this false belief. You may post your comment anytime you like. Cheers.

PS: To a commenter named Drew who said “Anyone who is looking for Jesus to say “I am God” has no sense of metaphor along these lines which is prevalent in his revelatory activity among the disciples” is joking and does not know the Bible at all. Anyone who publish, translate or interpret (teach, preach or study) the Bible must not add to it, especially a metaphor that contradicts what is written. We must reject fables (1 Timothy 4:7; other versions use either myths, tales, fiction, legends, or stories; choose whichever is most acceptable to you) and those unlearned and unstable who distort those hard to understand things are sowing their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).