At the heart of every Christian’s faith is Jesus Christ. To His followers He is everything. Others however use His name carelessly as an expletive. Some might assert He was a good man but no more than that. Some might see Him as a religious leader and some see Him merely as a figure from history.

This controversy is not a new phenomenon and Jesus Himself was aware of it. Here’s what He asked His disciples:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew chapter 16 verse 13)

And the answer reported by the disciples shows how contemporary opinion was divided:

So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (verse 14)

The biblical record is however clear: when Jesus asks the question

“But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (verse 15)

So what is the evidence? What does the Bible say about who Jesus is?

Just before His birth the message that was given to Mary, His mother, was clear:

“. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke chapter 1 verse 35)

At the time of His birth the message announced by angels was:

^“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke chapter 2 verse 11)

What did God say about who Jesus is? In a miraculous event three of the disciples were allowed to see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Carried away by the thrill of the moment Peter wanted to make tabernacles, or tents, for them, then God spoke:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew chapter 17 verse 5)

And what claims did Jesus Himself make?

In the 4^th book of the New Testament, John, there are seven statements made by Jesus all beginning with ‘I am.’ Perhaps the best known is:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John chapter 14 verse 6)

Now it might not be immediately obvious that in these statements Jesus is claiming to be God: in the Old Testament ‘I am’ is a title of God¹. The Jews understood His claim:

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. (John chapter 5 verse 18)

The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” (John chapter 10 verse 33)

For us today the question must be answered: do we accept the record of the Bible and the claims of Jesus Himself that He is God, Lord and Saviour or do we reject His claims totally? There is no half measure. Here’s how the writer CS Lewis puts it:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. . . . You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”²

¹Exodus chapter 3 verse 14

² CS Lewis, Mere Christianity