Does God exist? Part 12: Vindication of Jesus Christ’s Claim to Being Divine

“Actions speak louder than words.” “Talk is cheap.” “Put up or shut up.” These expressions are stinging words intended to invoke a response. They call out someone to follow up their words with action. Those who are consistent in what they say and what they do are bestowed both honor and respect. Who cares about those who do not? The principle of words and deeds going hand-in-hand applies even to Jesus of Nazareth. He made claims to His own divinity and they were confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders.

First century Jews normally expected words and deeds to go hand-in-hand. Trees are known by their fruits. New Testament scholar Ben Witherington indicates that “it was believed that what one did or how one behaved revealed one’s character. This being the case, if someone acted like God come to earth, he had either better be God or be gone, because otherwise it would be a clear case of dealing with a fraud or a delusional person, subject to stoning in the former case and being cast out from normal society in the latter.”¹ The performing of miraculous signs and wonders certainly identified Jesus as an agent of God, but they even served to prove His divine character or nature.

Jesus demonstrated divine authority through pronouncing forgiveness and providing healing to a paralytic. Mark 2:1-12 tells of the healing of a paralytic in Capernaum. A group of men brought their paralyzed compadre to the Lord, and the Lord pronounced, ““Son, your sins are forgiven” (v. 5).²  Scribes in the audience muttered to themselves, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”(v. 7). Jesus supernaturally picks up on what they were thinking and replies, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?” (v.9). He then tells the paralytic to stand up, pack up the bed, and head home. The paralytic is miraculously healed, gets his stuff together, and leaves, which leaves the audience “amazed,” and glorifying God, they said, “We never saw anything like this!” (v. 12).

Craig Keener notes, “Jewish teachers knew that only God could ultimately forgive (on the Day of Atonement in response to sacrifice); but they also recognized that healing ultimately came from God. Both were from God but could be announced through God’s agents acting according to his will.”³ The pronouncement of forgiveness and divine healing certainly confirms Jesus acts in the role of an agent of God, specifically the Lord is carrying out His vocation as the Son of Man.

Performance of signs and wonders served as a primary component to Jesus’ earthly ministry. The Gospel of Matthew indicates the Lord went about teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of afflictions (Matt. 4:23; 9:35). The Gospel of John highlights seven of the miraculous signs Jesus performed during His earthly sojourn:

1. Turning water into wine (Jn. 2:1–11).
2. Curing the royal official’s son (Jn. 4:46–54).
3. Healing the paralytic at Bethesda (Jn. 5:1–15).
4. Feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (Jn. 6:1–14).
5. Walking on water (Jn. 6:15–21).
6. Giving sight to a man blind from birth (Jn. 9:1–41).
7. Raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:38–44).

All these demonstrate Jesus doing the works of God. However, the God throughout Old Testament history similarly used ordinary people in extraordinary ways. As God’s agents, Moses, Elijah and Elisha performed many signs and wonders. Elijah even raised the dead (1 Kings 17:17-24). So did Elisha (2 Kings 4:18-37) The drying bones of the deceased Elisha even raised the dead (1 Kings 13:20-21). What was so different about Jesus that led others to believe Him to be divine?

William Lane Craig, a Christian philosopher and theologian, contends “that God has revealed Himself decisively in Jesus,” and “the resurrection is God’s vindication of Jesus’ radical personal claims to divine authority.”⁴

Jesus stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” The Lord answered, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61-62). Jesus answered in the affirmative. The high priest was using “Christ” and “Son of the Blessed” as messianic titles, an ordinary human with a divine anointing to do something extraordinary, the Lord took things a step further in connecting His messianic vocation with the Davidic ruler of Psalm 110:1 and the Son of Man predicted in Daniel 7:13-14. Darrel Bock explains, “Jesus is claiming there is a coming vindication whereby he will demonstrate his sharing of God’s authority. He is claiming the right to go directly into God’s presence in heaven…Jesus ironically claims that rather than the council being his judge, he is the judge of the final judgment. The authority that Jesus possess, he has received from God directly, like the Son of Man image of Daniel. Implicit here is a claim to be able to go directly into God’s presence and work at his side, a claim that he is really their judge.”⁵ Here Jesus portrays Himself enthroned in the heavenly courtroom judging the high priest along with the rest of the Sanhedrin tribunal, which is essentially appropriating for Himself a divine prerogative. Who alone but God could be seated in the heavenly court pronouncing judgment? The claim to divinity could not be missed and the Sanhedrin sentenced Him to death for blasphemy. If Jesus was immensely deluded, the tribunal would have been completely justified. However, the resurrection vindicated Jesus’ claim to divinity.

The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is fourfold:

1. Jesus died upon a cross. It is hard to believe Christ would survive the scourging (Matt. 27:26; Jn. 19:1), the crucifixion (Matt. 27:33-56; Mark 15:22-41; Lk. 23:33-49; Jn. 19:16-30), and the spear through the heart (Jn. 19:31-37). This is one of the most agreed upon points among biblical scholars whether conservative or liberal.
2. Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57-61; Mk. 15:42-47; Lk. 23:50-56; Jn. 19:38-42).
3. The tomb was discovered empty on the third day (Matt. 28:1-10; Mk. 16:1-8; Lk. 24:1-12; Jn, 20:1-10). The Gospel accounts of Mary Magdalene and other women discovering the empty tomb are significant. For the Gospel writers to report such a thing would have been “unusual for the culture and shows that this detail was not one constructed by the church, because a woman’s testimony would not be respected in that culture.”6

4. The resurrected Lord appeared to His followers. (Matt. 28:8-20; Lk. 24:13-53; Jn. 20:11-21:25).⁷

The good news about Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 is actually an early Christian creed which is believed to date “from three to eight years after Jesus’ crucifixion,”⁸ or perhaps even earlier, like within months of the first Easter.⁹ The formula “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received” (1 Cor. 15:3) signifies that the Apostle Paul is passing on what he had been taught by others. “Jewish teachers would pass on their teachings to their students, who would in turn pass them on to their own students,” writes Craig Keener.¹⁰ The tradition of Jesus dying and rising again on the third day was well established by the time Paul composed 1 Corinthians (AD 53-54).

The first followers of Jesus were radically transformed on account of the resurrection. None of them expected Israel’s long-awaited messiah would die and rise again on the third day. For example, Peter refused to accept Jesus’ own teaching concerning His death and resurrection, and the Lord rebuked the disciple, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Mk. 8:31-33). Neither would they have ever imagined their messiah would be incarnate deity! That was before Easter, but after Easter a new day had come. The resurrection of Jesus rocked the disciples’ world and nothing was the same afterwards. First century Christians were convinced of Jesus Christ being the Theanthropos — the God-Man.

The significance of the resurrection can hardly be understated. Hank Hanegraaff says, “The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ constitutes the very capstone of our faith. Without it, Christianity crumbles.”¹¹

God is decisively revealed in the person of Jesus Christ!

What about those that say the Christian doctrine of Jesus being the Divine Messiah was influenced by pagan mystery religions? Did not pagan myths tell of gods coming down to earth and living among humans? Zeus came down and sired many children, as in the case of Hercules, Perseus and Helen of Troy. Is not the Jesus the divine messiah the retelling of other ancient pagan myths? This will be addressed in the next post.

— WGN

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Notes:

1. Ben Witherington, Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2010), 159.
2. All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
3. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 2:9–12.
4. William Lane Craig, “The Resurrection of Jesus,” https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/jesus-of-nazareth/the-resurrection-of-jesus/
5. Darrell Bock, Jesus According to Scripture, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 374
6. Ibid, 394
7. Appearances of the resurrected Lord are also mentioned in the longer endings to Mark’s Gospel (Mk. 16:14-20).
8. Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 1996), 124.
9. Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, InterVaristy Press, 2010), 234.
10. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, 1 Co 15:3.
11. Hank Hanegraaff, The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition Revised and Updated (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 251. For a more in depth treatment on this subject, please consult Hank Hanegraaff, Resurrection (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 2000), Michael Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), and N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003).