Who Is Jesus? Part 7

Who Is Jesus? Part 7
Monday, January 26, 2026 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Thought for Today / Truth telling

As if we have not seen enough evidence of the reality that Jesus is God, we also have Jesus’s own claims to be God.

Many critics insist that Jesus never claimed to be God. They count on people’s ignorance of Scripture, hoping—a hope that, sadly, is often justified—that people will accept their statements at face value. In addition, our human natural inclination is to want to deny even the idea that Jesus is God. We don’t like the idea that we might ultimately have to give an answer to someone else, that ultimately, we are not in control.

Jesus’s own words make that wish impossible. In many places throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus directly speaks the words, “I Am.” While “scholars” often seek to belittle those words, or even deny that Jesus truly said them (the Jesus Seminar’s view), the Jews of Jesus’s time were well-aware of what Jesus was claiming for Himself.

In Exodus 3:14, God declares His identity, His name, to Moses (NAU): God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

For Jews, saying God’s name was prohibited. For example, when Stephen speaks it in Acts 7:56, they cover their ears and cry out with a loud voice. Their next act is to kill Stephen.

To this day we do not know the correct pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (the formal name of God: YHWH). On a side note, in a way it is kind of sad that out of extreme reverence and fear of desecrating God’s name (a valid concern), the original pronunciation of His Name was lost. If married, consider how your spouse might react if you forgot how to pronounce their name. Even to this day, in English, instead of writing “God,” some will substitute “G-d”.

John 8:57–9 (NAU): So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

The context of these verses is Jesus having a discussion with the Jews about his identity. They clearly understood what Jesus was claiming, hence why they picked up stones to stone him. “Stone” has nothing to do with the modern idea of a person’s physical condition when under the influence of drugs. Rather it was a means of execution by battering someone to death by throwing large rocks at them until they died.

The following exchange takes place at the end of another discussion:

John 10:30–33 (NAU): “I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

Once again we see that the Jews clearly understood the claim Jesus was making, that He, Jesus, was indeed God. While many insist that Jesus never claimed to be God, the Scriptures indicate the direct opposite: Jesus is the unique Son of God, both fully human and fully God.

Without question Jesus is God.

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