No, Jesus Did Not Actually Claim to Be God

That's an invention of his later followers.

Growing up around conservative Christians, I was taught that Jesus was God. Full stop. No questions asked. But as I've dug deeper into that actual scholarship around this issue, I've come to a pretty startling conclusion: Jesus himself probably didn't think he was God. And that's okay.

Now, before you unsubscribe and report me to the heresy police, hear me out. This isn't about denying Jesus's importance or his central role in Christianity—or even him having a message from God. It's about understanding who the historical Jesus actually was, separate from the theological developments his later followers simply made up.

Let's break it down:

1. Jesus was thoroughly Jewish. He lived and died as a Jewish man, preaching to other Jews about the coming Kingdom of God. The idea of a human literally being God would have been blasphemous to first-century Jews (much as it is today).

2. The "I Am" statements in John's Gospel? They're probably not historical. Most scholars agree that John's Gospel, written decades after Jesus's death, reflects later theological development rather than Jesus's exact words.

3. Jesus talks about God as separate from himself. He prays to God, he says things like "the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). That's not how you'd expect someone who thought they were God to talk.

4. The earliest Christian writings we still have (Paul's letters) don't portray Jesus as God. Paul sees Jesus as exalted and divine in some sense, but not as God himself.

5. The doctrine of the Trinity wasn't fully developed until centuries after Jesus lived. It took a lot of arguing and some serious philosophical gymnastics to get there.

So what did Jesus think about himself? Most likely, he saw himself as a prophet, maybe even the Messiah (the person who would re-establish the Israelite kingdom outside Roman rule, not in the way later Christians understood that term). He had a unique relationship with God and a world-changing message, but he wasn't running around Galilee saying, "Hey guys, I'm actually Yahweh in human form!"

And let's not forget—had Jesus gone around claiming to be God, he'd have been stoned to death for blasphemy faster than you can say "Leviticus." Leviticus 24:16 lays out the punishment for blasphemy: stoning. It’s the death Stephen would endure in Acts 7.

But that's not what happened. Jesus was executed as a political troublemaker, crucified like a rebel against Rome. That tells us a lot about how he was perceived - not as a blasphemer, but as a rabble-rouser shaking up the status quo.

Does this mean we have to throw out Christianity? Not at all. It just means we need to rethink some things. The historical Jesus – a radical Jewish prophet preaching love, justice, and the Kingdom of God – is every bit as challenging and transformative, if not more, as the later theological developments.

As the great Marcus Borg wrote, "To say that Jesus was not God is not to say that he was 'just a man'... Rather, it is to affirm that he was utterly remarkable."¹

Ultimately, this view of Jesus brings us closer to his actual message and mission. It's not about worshiping Jesus as God, but about following his example and teachings. And that, my friends, is a faith worth having.

With love,

Andrew
Rehoboth Beach, De.

1. Marcus J. Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (HarperOne, 1995), 39.