What did Jesus say about himself?
Answered from the commentary of A. J. Pollock, Fritz Ridenour, Hamilton Smith and 22 others
Jesus said that He was God, the eternal Son, one with the Father. "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30) means one not in Person but in essence or nature, and one also in power and in care for the sheep; His hearers rightly took it to mean that He, being a man, made Himself God. "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58) takes the name God gave Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14), so He declared Himself the Eternal One with no beginning and no end. He also said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9) and "I am in the Father, and the Father in me," which teaches His essential Godhead as one with the Father. He said He came forth from the Father, was sent by Him, and had glory with Him before the world was (John 17:5). His witness about Himself was true because He knew where He came from and where He was going (John 8:14). When the high priest asked whether He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, He answered "I am," and added that they would see the Son of Man at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds (Mark 14:61-62). For that confession He was condemned for blasphemy. His "I am" sayings were the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, and the true vine. Most of these writers hear His Godhead in them, while one reads them as what He is as Man for men, distinct from "I AM THAT I AM". In saying "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), He made Himself the Way, not merely a way, and so shut out every other way to God.
The title He used of Himself most often was "the Son of Man". It marks the reality of His manhood, and yet in His use it set Him apart as more than other men. It also carries universal headship, His sufferings, and His coming glory. As Son of Man He claimed power on earth to forgive sins and proved it by healing the paralysed man (Mark 2:10), showing that He was God. He also said that all judgment is committed to the Son, so that all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father (John 5:22-23). He said He came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45), which He meant as a plain statement of the substitutionary and atoning character of His death. In the same way He called Himself the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He foretold, plainly and in detail, His betrayal, His rejection, His death, and His rising again on the third day. After Peter confessed Him as the Christ, He charged the disciples to tell no man so, because the nation had refused Him and the cross was now before Him (Matthew 16:20). He said "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28), but He spoke as Man, of the lowly place He had taken, not of any inferiority in nature. Some of these writers stress that it was subjection, never inferiority. He could also say He was greater than the temple and Lord of the sabbath, and that His disciples rightly called Him Master and Lord (John 13:13). These claims are either blessedly true or the most daring blasphemy, and God answered them by raising Him from the dead.
Verses: Exodus 3:14, John 8:14, John 5:22, John 5:23, Matthew 16:20, John 14:28, John 13:13, John 14:6, John 8:58, John 10:30, John 11:25, John 11:26, John 6:35, John 8:12, John 10:11, John 10:9, John 15:1, John 15:5, Matthew 16:15, Matthew 16:16, Matthew 16:17, Mark 14:61, Mark 14:62, John 4:25, John 4:26, John 14:9, Mark 10:45, Matthew 11:27, Matthew 11:28, Matthew 11:29, Luke 19:10, John 5:17, John 5:18, John 5:39, Luke 24:44, Matthew 28:18, Revelation 1:17, Revelation 1:18, Revelation 22:13, Revelation 22:16, John 17:5, John 6:38, John 6:51, John 3:13, John 3:14, Matthew 12:6, Matthew 12:8, Matthew 12:41, Matthew 12:42, Mark 2:10, John 18:37, Luke 4:18, Luke 4:19, Luke 4:20, Luke 4:21, Matthew 20:28, John 10:36, John 9:35, John 9:36, John 9:37, John 8:23, John 8:24, Matthew 5:17, John 12:46
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
The Lord claimed to be God; claimed to be the promised Son of Man; claimed to be the King of the Jews; claimed to be the Light of the world; the Bread from heaven, without the appropriation of which there was no divine life for any; claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that He alone could be the way to the Father, He alone was the depositary of the truth, nay, was the Truth itself in His own Person, was the Life, from whom all divine life would flow; claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life; claimed that His death was to be an atoning death on the cross; claimed that the work His Father had given Him to do was done to His glory, exclaiming on the cross, “IT IS FINISHED”—words of the deepest blessing to the human race, or words that were untrue and, if so, the most daring height of blasphemy possible, and what was God’s answer to all this?
Of primary importance is what Jesus said about Himself. On several occasions, He claimed to be equal with God. See, for example, John 10:30: "I and the Father are one." On another occasion Jesus told Philip and some of the other disciples that because they had seen Him they had seen the Father (see John 14:9).
In addition, Jesus frequently referred to Himself as God. In John 8:58, Jesus told the Pharisees, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!" The Pharisees, being excellent Bible students, knew that in Exodus 3:14 God had said to Moses, "This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.âââThe Pharisees knew that Jesus was claiming to be the God of Israel.' They picked up stones and would have tried to kill Him, but He slipped away.
But in the light of all this His self-assertion as Man in the gospel of John is so striking and unique. I AM the Bread of life (John 6:35). I AM the Light of the world (John 8:12). I AM the Door of the sheep (John 10:7). I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:14). I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). I AM the true Vine (John 15:1).
These last words of Christ, considering, too, the place in which they were uttered, might have led them to pause, and to review their ways. Abraham was but a creature. There was a time, therefore, when he did not exist. Referring to that, it could rightly be said, "Before Abraham was." What follows was intended to mark the great difference between Abraham and Himself; for of Himself He could say, "I am." Now "I am" was God's announcement about Himself to Moses (Ex. 3:14). The Lord declared, therefore, that He was the Eternal One, who had no beginning, and will have no end. In the past He was, "I am." In the present He is, "I am." In the future, and for ever, He will be, "I am." Such was the meaning of His words, revealing to those people that He was God.
In chapter 10 of John's Gospel the Lord says, "I and My Father are one," and once more the Jews "took up stones to stone Him." They knew very well what the Lord was claming. "Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God" (John 10:32-33). The Lord's statement was a clear affirmation of His deity. Not only was He one with the Father in purpose, but one with Him in essence and being. In this the Son and the Father were inseparable: they were one. This was the issue when the Lord Jesus appeared in their council. Adjured by the High Priest to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, His plain response was, "I am" (Mark 14:62. cf. Matt. 26:64; Luke 22:70). As the consequence of His statement He was again accused of blasphemy and condemned to death (Matt. 26:65-66; Mark 14:63-64). Likewise, when He was before Pilate the Jews said, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God" (John 19:7).
The high priest tried to put Him on the defensive, as though He needed to defend Himself against such manifestly empty charges; but He wisely answered nothing. However, the high priest then goes further to question Him, not concerning any charges of wrongdoing (to which a judge should confine his investigations), but concerning who He actually was: was He the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? He does answer this question with absolute, positive finality, "I am." He bore clear witness to the truth. More than this, He adds the positive, clear declaration that His accusers would yet see, not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Though being the Son of God, He had come in lowly humility as the Son of Man. But as Son of Man He would come again, no longer in lowliness, but as the Man of God's right hand in power and majesty.
First, as to Christ personally. He claimed to be the Son of God—equal with God, “that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23)—Son of Man with universal claim and authority.
“My Father!” From the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ those two precious words often fell. Their full meaning we may not yet have grasped, but the Spirit is here to lead us into all truth. It is plainly evident that Jesus must have been speaking as a Man when He said, “MY Father is greater than I” This therefore explains to us how He stood in relation to His Father as “the Son of the Father,” for when He spake of Himself as the Son, one with the Father, He did not then say “My Father,” but speaking as God the Son He told those who listened to His words, “I and THE Father are one” (N.Tr.). There is therefore no contradiction between John 14:28 and 10:30, but each Scripture glows with divine beauty, one revealing Him to us as Man and the other as God, the first in His obedient place as the Son of the Father, the second in His equality as the Son with the Father.
The claim to be one with the Father involves His Deity. The Lord can say "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). At once His enemies reply, "Thou being a Man makest Thyself God." The truth indeed is, that He being God became Man, but at least they rightly recognise that One using such words is laying claim to Deity.
Could love assure its objects of more? His love would impart to them the certainty of His own deepest joy, His Father's love as sure as His own; and so He closes His communication with it. "My Father Who hath given to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one." Here we rise into that height of holy love and infinite power of which none could speak but the Son; and He speaks of the secrets of Godhead with the intimate familiarity proper to the Only-begotten Who is in the Father's bosom. He needed none to testify of man, for He knew what was in man, being Himself God; and He knew what was in God for the self-same reason. Heaven or earth made no difference, time or eternity. Not a creature is unapparent before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare in His eyes with Whom we have to do. And He declares that the Father Who had made the gift resists all that can threaten harm, and as He has given to Christ, so He is greater than all, and none can seize out of His hand. Indeed, the Son and the Father are one, not one Person (which ἐσμεν with every other Scripture bearing on it, refutes), but one thing, ἓν, one Divine nature or essence (as other Scriptures equally prove). The lowliest of men, the Shepherd of the sheep, He is the Son of the Father, true God and eternal life. And He and the Father are not more truly one in Divine essence than in the fellowship of Divine love for the sheep.
Verses
- Exodus 3:14And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you.
- John 8:14Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is true, because I know whence I came and whither I go but ye know not whence I come and whither I go.
- John 5:22–2322for neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son; 23that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who honours not the Son, honours not the Father who has sent him.
- Matthew 16:20Then he enjoined on his disciples that they should say to no man that he was the Christ.
- John 14:28Ye have heard that I have said unto you, I go away and I am coming to you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice that I go to the Father, for [my] Father is greater than I.
- John 13:13Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am [so].
- John 14:6Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father unless by me.