{"id":1875,"date":"2016-08-31T18:31:34","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T23:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/?p=1875"},"modified":"2016-09-01T00:07:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T05:07:37","slug":"the-deity-of-jesus-a-defense-part-66","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/the-deity-of-jesus-a-defense-part-66\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deity of Jesus: A Defense. Part 6\/6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus Shares the Seat\u00a0<\/em>of God<\/span><\/h1>\n

In this series of 6 blog posts<\/a>, I show\u00a0that, using only historical data that critical\/skeptical scholars grant<\/em>, it is possible to build a cumulative case demonstrating that Jesus not only was considered God by his followers and the early church, but that he claimed to be divine and acted consistently with such claim.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the previous post<\/a>, we argued that Jesus is God because he shares\u00a0the\u00a0Deeds\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>of God<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now we follow along the same line, arguing that Jesus is God because he Shares the Seat\u00a0of God:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 6.\u00a0Jesus Shares the Seat\u00a0<\/em>of God<\/span><\/h1>\n

Historically speaking about Jesus, one has to answer the ultimate question: <\/span><\/p>\n

Why was he killed? <\/span><\/h2>\n

If he was such a loving, charismatic, and wise person, why did he end up dead as a lowly thief? The answer is relatively simple: blasphemy<\/strong><\/em>. And by blasphemy here we mean \u201cmaking oneself equal to YHWH.\u201d When Jesus forgives sins (Matt. 9:3; Mark 2:7; Luke 5:21) the scribes take him to commit a blasphemous act. We can conclude this from their questioning, <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWho can forgive sins but God alone?\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Modern skeptics can try to soften the fact that Jesus made himself equal to God, but what is important is the reaction<\/em> <\/strong>of the Jews\/Scribes opposing Jesus and what they<\/em> <\/strong>understood at that time. A clear self-designation that Jesus used that would warrant the charge of blasphemy was the term \u201cSon of Man.\u201d \u201cNot only is it Jesus\u2019 favorite self-designation, according to the gospels, but it is found in all the traditional gospel sources or strata!\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This is a well attested title Jesus used for himself, confirmed by by the \u201ccriterion of dissimilarity.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Why would the term \u201cSon of Man\u201d warrant the charge of blasphemy? The answer is found in Daniel 7:13-14. In this passage, \u201cSon of Man\u201d is a divine figure sent by YHWH (the Ancient of Days). This divine figure is pre-existent and is sent forth to set up \u201cThe Kingdom of God.\u201d In Mark 14:61-64 Jesus is charged with blasphemy (and the high priest tore his garments) after the exchange: <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAre you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jesus\u2019 answer was enough to warrant execution: <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jesus makes several claims that can be interpreted as blasphemy individually: (1) the affirmation \u201cI AM\u201d (Ego eimi), (2) the use of \u201cSon of Man\u201d (3) seated at the right hand<\/em> of Power, and (4) coming with the clouds of heaven. \u00a0Dr. Gary Habermas sums up the situation:<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, what set off the high priest?\u2026In this passage in Mark 14, Jesus responded, Ego eimi<\/em>, as in \u201cI am the Son of God.\u201d Then he said that, as the Son of Man, he would be seen sitting on God\u2019s right hand and coming with the clouds of heaven. So Jesus claimed to be the preexistent one who came from the Ancient of Days to set up God\u2019s Kingdom. He also used the enigmatic phrase, \u201ccoming with the clouds.\u201d That phrase is used often in the Old Testament as a reference to God. But scholars often agree that claiming to sit on God\u2019s right hand was the most serious and blasphemous claim of the entire passage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The high priest\u2026in contemporary terms, instead of tearing his clothing, he might have responded with an energetic fist-pump in the air, followed by something like, \u201cYeah, we\u2019ve got him now. He\u2019s going to die for this.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n

While it is true that Jesus didn\u2019t seem to have uttered the words \u201cI am God\u201d or \u201cI am Divine,\u201d we can certainly derive such conclusion from the way he was perceived, his words, and the form in which he conducted his life. After all, it would be hardly needed to be said, \u201cI am a chef\u201d if instead I show skill with the knife, deep knowledge of ingredients and cooking techniques, and I own a restaurant in which I prepare 5-course meals day after day. With Jesus we have the same phenomenon: we have shown\u2014using only data granted by critical scholars\u2014that Jesus shares Honors<\/em><\/strong>, Attributes<\/em><\/strong>, Names<\/em><\/strong>, Deeds<\/em><\/strong>, and the Seat<\/em> <\/strong>of God almighty (Easily remembered by the HANDS<\/em> <\/strong>acronym). With these data in place\u2014as cumulative evidence\u2014the conclusion is clear: Jesus considered himself to be divine<\/strong>. This was agreed by his followers, and his enemies tacitly granted that fact declaring him a blasphemer worthy of death and nailing him to the cross. The implications of this are tremendous, given the overwhelming evidence in favor of his resurrection<\/a>.5<\/a><\/sup> Not only did he claim to be deity but he provided evidence to back up that rather bold claim by coming back from the dead. Now the question is: <\/span><\/p>\n

Will you trust him with your life? The final choice is yours…<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Ibid., 2670. Kindle. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. These sources are, as indicated: \u201cGospel of Mark; \u2018M\u2019\u2013the special material that Matthew includes that none of the others include; \u2018L\u2019\u2013the special material that Luke has alone; the Gospel of John; and this enigmatic \u2018sayings document\u2019 that critical scholars call \u2018Q,\u2019 which is their name for the verses that are contained in both Matthew and Luke, but which are not found in Mark.\u201d Habermas, The Historical Jesus<\/em>, 34. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. This is a test of historicity for a saying of Jesus. The test indicates that we can confidently accept a saying of Jesus if such saying was not taken from Jewish sources and if it is not found in use by the early Church. Both terms \u201cSon of Man\u201d and \u201cSon of God\u201d fit such criteria. Ibid. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0Ibid., 38. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Christophe A. Du-Pond, \u201cResurrection: Fact or Fiction?\u201d,<\/em> Personal Blog http:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/resurrection-fact-or-fiction\/, (accessed November 30th, 2015). ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Jesus Shares the Seat\u00a0of God In this series of 6 blog posts, I show\u00a0that, using only historical data that critical\/skeptical scholars grant, it is possible to build a cumulative case demonstrating that Jesus not only was considered God by his followers and the early church, but that he claimed to be divine and acted consistently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,269,1003,268,280],"tags":[844,996,942,285,938,939,1002,943,994],"class_list":["post-1875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics-en","category-historicity","category-jesus-as-god","category-new-testament","category-old-testament","tag-daniel-7","tag-divinity-of-jesus","tag-gospel-sources","tag-jesus-en","tag-jesus-as-god","tag-jesus-deity","tag-puttin-jesus-in-his-place","tag-q-source","tag-was-jesus-god"],"views":404,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritasfidei.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}