DID JESUS CALL HIMSELF GOD?

---

Recently I was asked, “What can we do to defend our faith against those who attack us?”

Well, first thing is to continue learning about your faith. It’s a case of knowledge is power!

Other than that, that’s a hard question to answer, because an attack – yes, there are those who aggressively attack the Christian faith – can come in many different forms.

One could attack specific practices, or specific believes, or the history of Christianity, or even make things up! Yes, people do this – just watch television around Christmas or Easter!

But, I realize I’m not being very helpful here, so I’ll address one specific attack I’ve seen several times.

In this one, people often say, “Jesus didn’t call himself God, so why would you worship him as such!”

This is an interesting one, and a good question (if someone is genuinely asking). Does scripture record Jesus as saying, “I am God”?

Let’s find out!

GOD REVEALED HIMSELF AS “I AM”

Before we can answer this question, we first need to take a journey through the Old Testament.

You may recall that God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush. In that event, God revealed his divine name!

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exo 3:13-14 RSV)

The Greek translators of the Old Testament (3^rd century B.C.) translated “I AM,” this way: “ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν.” (You’ll want to remember this.)

In Hebrew this “I AM” is YHWH, or Yahweh. In older English translations, you sometimes see this as Jehovah.

This is the name that God revealed to Moses!

THE NAME OF GOD IS PRESERVED IN MANY MODERN NAMES

Sometimes Yahweh is shortened to Yah. In this form it is preserved in many names.

Some of those names are:

• Elijah (Eli-Yah)
• Jeremiah (Jeremi-Yah)
• Isaiah (Isai –Yah)
• Joshua (Yah-shua), which is sometimes spelled this way: Jesus
• Josiah (Josi-Yah)
• Hezekiah (Hezeki-Yah)
• Zechariah (Zechari-Yah)

It’s also preserved in the common saying: alleluia (halleluiah), which means, “praise Yah!”

BUT JEWS DIDN’T PRONOUNCE THIS NAME

Over time, the name Yahweh became to be so revered that people didn’t want to pronounce it.

So, when reading the Hebrew text, they would say, “Adoni” instead. This simply means “Lord.”

When the Old Testament was translated into Greek (3^rd century B.C.), the translators followed this tradition. So, instead Yahweh they wrote, κὐριος ο θεὀς.

This is exactly what we do in English as well. Instead of translating Yahweh, we typically see this in our Bibles: “LORD God.”

BUT JESUS USED “I AM” TO REFER TO HIMSELF

So, back to our question: did Jesus call himself God?

Well, in Greek – the language of the New Testament – he did!

In fact, there are several places where Jesus calls himself Yahweh, “I AM” (ἐγώ εἰμι in Greek).

Here they are: Matthew 14:27; Mark 6:50, 13:6, 14:62; Luke 21:8, 22:70; John 6:20, 8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 13:19, 18:5, 18:6, and 18:8.

Here’s just a few of those verses:

But immediately he [Christ] spoke to them, saying, “Take heart, it is I [ἐγώ εἰμι]; have no fear.” (Mat 14:27 RSV)[cf., Mark 6:50]

And Jesus said, “I am [ἐγώ εἰμι]; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mar 14:62 RSV)

I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he [ἐγώ εἰμι].” (Jhn 8:24 RSV)

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he [ἐγώ εἰμι], and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. (Jhn 8:28 RSV)

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am [ἐγώ εἰμι].” (Jhn 8:58 RSV)

When Jesus said to them, “I am he [ἐγώ εἰμι],” they drew back and fell to the ground. (Jhn 18:5-6 RSV)

As you can see, scripture clearly records Jesus calling himself ἐγώ εἰμι, the Greek translation of Yahweh.

So, our answer is YES! Jesus called himself God.

WE CALL JESUS LORD BECAUSE HE IS YAHWEH IN THE FLESH

You may be thinking, but can’t ἐγώ εἰμι also just mean “I am…” as in: “I am here, I am hungry, I am sitting,” etc.

Yes, that’s true, but Greek doesn’t do that very often. So, when it’s used, it’s unique.

Plus remember that Jewish tradition of not pronouncing the name Yahweh? Remember instead they said, “Lord”?

And what title did the early Christian give to Jesus?

It was Lord!

There are several places where St. Paul uses “Lord” in this way.

To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:7 RSV)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1Co 1:3 RSV)(c.f., Gal 1:3, Eph 1:2)

WHEN ONE READS THE BIBLE IN ARAMAIC IT’S EVEN MORE CLEAR

The language Jesus spoke was Aramaic. And, believe it or not, we have an Aramaic Bible, which probably preserves the ancient traditions of the early Aramaic speaking Christians.

This Bible is called the Peshitta.

In Aramaic Yahweh is “Maryah,” which literally means, Lord Yah. In all 6,500+ times that Yahweh appears in the Hebrew Old Testament, the Aramaic has Maryah.

So, it’s clear that Maryah is referring to the divine name of God, Yahweh.

IN ARAMAIC JESUS IS CLEARLY CALLED “MARYAH” (YAHWEH)

What’s nice about the Peshitta is that we have both an Old and Testament.

There are several instances where Maryah is used:

He said, “I [John the Baptist] am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord [Maryah],’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Jhn 1:23 RSV)

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God [Maryah], and him only shall you serve.'” (Luk 4:8 RSV)

So, it’s clear that the New Testament is using the name of God, Yahweh, in its Aramaic form: Maryah.

But guess what! In Aramaic, this name gets directly applied to Jesus!

My computer doesn’t do Aramaic script so I took a picture of it.

This one example is Romans 1:7, which I quoted above.

In fact, every time St. Paul calls Jesus “Lord,” the Aramaic actually has Maryah – the name of God, Yahweh!

So it’s clear that the ancient Christians understood that Jesus was Yahweh in the flesh.

P.S. THE ORTHODOX CHURCH STILL CALLS JESUS YAHWEH!

So, is Jesus God? The answer is Yes! He’s the one who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush as Yahweh.

As we say in our Creed, Christ is the “One Lord.” He’s as divine as the Father, “Light of Light, true God of true God.”

In fact, the Orthodox Christians even assert that Christ is Yahweh in our iconography!

Do you remember the full Greek “I AM” statement from Exodus? It’s “ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν.”

What do you see in the halo below?

That’s right, the “ὁ ὤν”!

What other church places such imagery right up front?

We declare that Jesus Christ is the one through whom the Father created; he’s the one who spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden; he’s the one who saved Noah in the ark; he’s the one who freed the Hebrews from slavery; and he’s the one who became enfleshed for our salvation!

Come this Sunday, and pray with the Orthodox. Pray before the icons that declare that Jesus is truly divine! (St. Elias, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque @ 10:30 am) (or find your nearest Orthodox Church here).