Jesus’ words and Peter’s confession lead to the question of whether Jesus is a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.
Primary passage: John 5:16–18
Was Jesus really convinced he was the son of God?
We already established that Jesus was an actual human being that walked on the face of the Earth. We know from many historical texts, not only the Bible itself. So with that in mind, everybody has to wrestle with who Jesus was.
- Did Jesus believe he was the son of God?
- Did Jesus believe he was the son of man?
- Did Jesus see himself as the final Messiah?
John 5:16-18
16. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
17. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
18. For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Matthew 16:13-17
13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14. They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15. “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16. Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
So the answer to the original three questions: did Jesus believe he was the son of God, the son of man, and the final Messiah? The answer is yes.
So, if Jesus really walked on the Earth, and he believed all these things about himself, then everybody has to wrestle with a question made famous by CS Lewis.
- Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord?
People today will say he was a great teacher, or a prophet, or a very famous religious leader, but that isn’t good enough.
- I spoke to someone who said he believes in Jesus, but he also thinks there are lots of ways to heaven. This is a very common problem that people wrestle with. How do we know that Christianity is correct? Can I be a believer and also accept that there are many ways to get to heaven?
No, I cannot. Jesus didn’t believe there were many ways. Jesus said this:
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel.
Translation notice: The historical source does not explicitly identify the Scripture translation. Quotations are preserved as supplied; NIV is used only as the default passage-link destination.
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