Topic(s): Atheism & Unbelief, Bible Authority, Bible Infallibility, Gospel, Jesus

Bob Prichard

Links to this entire series:

• How do we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?: Part 1
• How do we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?: Part 2

The Old Testament prophecies that He fulfilled, the record of the miracles He performed, and the testimony of His followers point to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Additionally His actual claims demonstrate that He is the Son of God.

Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). When He healed the paralyzed man let down through the roof to Him, He first forgave the man’s sins. When His enemies began to accuse Him of blasphemy in their hearts, because only God can forgive sin, He said, “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (Mark 2:9-11). As Jesus stood before the high priest, and His life was in danger, the high priest asked Him, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus answered, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61-62).

Jesus claimed for Himself the rights of deity, and taught that He was so closely associated with His heavenly Father that He could say, “I and my Father are one.” Since He clearly claimed to be the Son of God, there are only four possible explanations for His words. He is a liar, a lunatic, a legend, or in truth, the Lord.

Could Jesus have been a liar? Was He misleading all of His followers in His claims? Was He just a good man, but no more? Even those who reject the deity of Jesus will almost always acknowledge that He was a teacher of the highest moral character, and His Sermon on the Mount stands as the greatest summary of balanced living ever given. He cannot be just a good man, however, because all He taught rested on His claim to be one with the Father, the Son of God. We must reject the possibility that He was a liar.

Perhaps Jesus just thought that He was the Son of God because He was mentally unbalanced, or a lunatic. Early in His ministry, His own family thought this might be the case, saying “He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21). We find no signs of the erratic or outrageous teaching or behavior we might expect from a lunatic in His life, however. He kept His composure and balance in the most difficult of circumstances.

Perhaps the man Jesus was just a legend, made up to further the ends of His followers. Perhaps they embellished His teachings. The disciples gained nothing from an earthly point of view, however, by what they taught about Christ. They did not gain wealth and power, but persecution. Why would they endure persecution for what they knew was only a legend? The first century readers of the gospel accounts would have repudiated the claims of a legend, because many of them were eyewitnesses to the events.

There is thus just one reasonable conclusion: Jesus is Who He claimed to be. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.