Was Jesus Really God?

Most scholars agree that Jesus was at least a historical man who lived, was baptized, and was ultimately put to death by the Romans through crucifixion.

The debate revolves around who exactly Jesus was.

Was He a Gandhi-like moral teacher?

A 1960s-style, peace-loving hippie?

Some kind of religious prophet?

Or even the human Son of the divine God?

The best way to find out is to see what Jesus claimed about Himself.

Jesus never explicitly said, "I am God."

If He had, would you have believed Him?

In the apostle John's eyewitness account of Jesus' life, he recounts Jesus speaking to a crowd of Jews in the temple:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." So they (the Jews) picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple. John 8:58

At first glance, the crowd's reaction seems extreme—until you understand that Jesus was, in fact, claiming to be God.

When Moses, a key historical leader in Jewish history, asked God for His name, God responded, "I am" Exodus 3:14

By using the same phrase, Jesus was making a clear declaration of His deity.

The people around Him understood this claim so clearly that they tried to kill Him for it.

However, it wasn't His time yet; He still had to go to the cross to suffer and take the punishment for the sins of anyone who believes in Him.

The Bible leaves no room for doubt: Jesus is God.

No metaphor can fully explain how God can be three persons —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— yet one God.

Just as there are mysteries and paradoxes that science cannot explain, so too, the true nature of God remains a mystery to our human minds.