There is a claim that runs around the internet: “Jesus never said He was God: look at John 20:17, He called the Father ‘my God.’” And they stop right there, hoping you will not read eleven verses further. Friend, keep reading.
Yes, in John 20:17 the risen Lord says, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”, that is the true humanity of Jesus, the Son speaking as our brother. But watch what happens in the very same chapter when Thomas sees Him:
“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28, KJV)
Thomas called Jesus his God: to His face. Now think, child of God: if Jesus were not God, that was the moment to rebuke the worst blasphemy imaginable. Instead He blessed him: “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). And John tells you the whole book was written “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). The claim is built on verse 17 and hopes nobody reads verse 28.
He said it plainly, and His enemies knew it
And this was not a one-time thing. Jesus put Himself right beside the Father in the definition of eternal life: “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). He asked for the glory He had “before the world was” (John 17:5), yet God says, “my glory will I not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). He took the divine name: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58; Exodus 3:14). He said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and the Jews took up stones “because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (John 10:33). He forgave sins, and the scribes said, “who can forgive sins but God only?” (Mark 2:7). His enemies understood His claim perfectly, that is why they crucified Him. So no, child of God, Christians are not deceiving themselves. John closes it: “This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Glory to God.
Related Teaching
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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