Is Jesus God? But He Never Called Himself God

Is Jesus God? How can a man be God? When did He become God? But He Never Called Himself God.

In prophet Isaiah’s prophecy before Christ, he called him God. Meaning, he won’t just be any baby, he is God.

Isaiah 9:6: “unto us a child is born,… his name shall be called mighty God, The everlasting father… “.

Then the virgin birth of Jesus should make us ask questions? Is there anyone else who was born this way? What does this stand for?

 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). – Ish 7:14

Someone has prophesied years before it eventually happened and he said, that child that will be born to a virgin will be called Immanuel, which means God has come dwell with men. God incarnate- embodied in human form.

And interestingly, when Mary was to be pregnant with Jesus, an Angel appeared to her and told her that same prophecy by Isaiah many years before then.

Matthew 1:23: “…a virgin shall be with child… and they shall call his name Emmanuel,… God with us”. God(spirit) was seen (manifest in flesh) in the midst of men.

Then all through the New Testament, we see verses that pointed to Jesus as God. God in bodily form.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “...Christ, who is the image of God… “.

2 Corinthians 5:19: “…God was in Christ…”

1 Timothy 3:16: ” And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh…”.

John beautifully puts it in John 1:1-14: “…in the beginning was the word… the word was God…the word was made flesh”!

In short, Mary was overshadowed by God’s spirit, carried it for 9 months and this spirit (God) manifested as a man! Amazing right, definitely.

Then believe – God who is spirit, made himself known/visible, exposed himself to view, appeared/became known: plainly recognized and thoroughly understood in Christ Jesus.

“But Jesus never directly called himself God”, some have said.

Didn’t he? Well, maybe not. But we can see why from Paul’s explanation is Phil 2:6-7:

“…Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”.

It’s clear from this that God placed aside his superiority and became a man; hence, Christ ‘bragging’ that he’s God would totally contradict this.

We can discern from his teachings that the Jews hated him mostly because he always compared himself with God. In his teachings and explanations, Christ never separated himself from God. He never explained God outside himself. He made it so that we can’t speak of God outside him.

In Luke 24:27,44, He said the prophets wrote of him -he didn’t say about God.

In John 5:46-47, He said Moses’s writings are about him -he didn’t say about God.

Why? Because he’s God! Let us reflect on his conversation with his disciples in John 14 . In verse 5 he said he’s the way, the truth and the life. In verse 7, he said knowing and seeing him is knowing and seeing God. He didn’t say he would lead them to God. In verse 8, Philip asked him to show them God; and Jesus said in verse 9:

“…have I been so long with you, and yet  thou hast not known me… he that hath seen me hath seen the father (God)…how sayest thou then, show us the father… “

If he wasn’t God, he should have simply lead them to God  or -at the very least- shown them where to find God. Instead, he made it clear that seeking another God outside him is folly and unbelief.

Read Also – If God Made Man In His Image, Is God Male or Female?