By RAYMOND DE SOUZA In this article we continue where we left in the previous one: providing more historical proofs that Jesus actually claimed to be divine, which deny the assertion that all religions are different path to God, as Pope Francis said in Asia to young people, and that Bishop Barron said to Ben Shapiro that Jesus was a privileged way. Let us investigate the historical evidence:
                1. Jesus claimed to be omnipotent, to possess all divine power, therefore equal to the Father in Divine power. For instance, “All power is given to Me is Heaven and on earth…I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world” (Matt 28:18-20).
                2. “Amen, amen, before Abraham was made, I am.” Notice how He does not say I was, or I have been, but I am — present tense (John 8:57-58). By the way, in Hebrew and Aramaic, I am sounds like Yahweh…
                3. “The Father has given all judgment to the Son, that all men may honor the Son, as they honor the Father.” How must all men honor the Father? With divine worship and adoration. Jesus claims that this is how the Son must be honored too (John 22:23).
                4. Jesus does not claim to know the way to God (the king’s mission), or to teach the truth (the prophet’s mission) or to be able to restore spiritual life (the priest’s mission). He claims to be “The way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
                5. He calls on God the Father to glorify Him with Divine glory: “Glorify Thou Me, O Father with Thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee, and all My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine” (John 17:5,10).
                6. His enemies recognized His claim of Divinity and crucified Him precisely because of that claim: “The Jews sought to kill him because He said that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal to God…We have a law and according to that law He out to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7).
                7. His enemies admitted He had made the claim of Divinity, but they rejected it: “I and the Father are one.” They were about to stone Him for these words, “because,” they said, “Thou being a man makest Thyself God” (John 10:30-33. Jesus never indicated to them that they had misunderstood Him.
                8. He made it clear that He had two natures, one Divine and one human. When He said, “I and the Father are one,” He refers to the Divine nature, the same of the Father. But when He said “The Father is greater than I” — He refers to His human nature, created, and necessarily inferior to the Father.
                9. When He cured a man on the Sabbath, the Jews took offense. He said, “My Father works until now and I work” (John 5:17). Their reaction? “They sought the more to kill Him.” Why? “Because…He said God was His Father, making Himself equal to God” (John 5:18). Far from saying they had misunderstood Him, Jesus replied, “Whatsoever the Father does, these the Son also does in like manner…for as the Father raises up the dead and gives life, so the Son also gives life to whom He will” (John 5:19-20). Here He claims to Himself the power to do the things the Father does — Divine power, including that of giving life.
                10. When Pilate tried to acquit Jesus, the Jews cried out, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die.” Why? “Because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). He could have easily denied it or explained it away. But He didn’t.
                11. Even His mother could have tried to save Him from death by simply claiming that His father was her deceased husband, Joseph. But she didn’t.
                12. He claimed to be able to forgive sins in His own Name: To the man sick with palsy, He said “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees objected: “Who can forgive sins but God only?”  (Mark 2:5-15). And they were quite correct: only God can forgive sins. To prove that He had the power to forgive sins — a Divine power, by the Pharisees’ own assessment —  He healed the sick man, right there and then. Therefore, by performing the miracle to prove that he was able to forgive sins, Jesus was demonstrating publicly that He had Divine power of His own — that He Himself was Divine.
                13. The same situation happened with He said about Magdalene, “Many sins are forgiven her because she has loved much…” And later to her: “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:47-48). Therefore, since it is through love of God that sins are forgiven, love of Jesus is love of God.
                14. He delegated the power to forgive sins to His closest disciples, the Apostles: “Peace be to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” When He said this, He breathed upon them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. And whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). This was a delegation of power truly unheard of in the history of religion!
                15. Therefore, it can be stated without any fear of contradiction that the carpenter of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, publicly claimed to be divine, the Son of God, by affirming His power to judge all men on the great Day of Reckoning; to be God the Lawmaker, by adding new perfections to the Commandments; to be omnipotent, to be able to forgive sins in His own Name and to delegate the power to forgive sins to His closest disciples.
                A few more statements from Him suffice to demonstrate that He claimed Divine nature, titles, prerogatives, attributes and names: “I am from above” (John 8:23); “From God I came” (John 8:42); “I am the Bread of Life…that comes down from heaven” (John 6:45-51); “All things have been delivered to me by My Father” (Luke 10:22); “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:10); “All things the Father has are Mine”  (John 16:15); “He that sees Me sees also the Father”  (John 14:9); “All power in heaven and earth has been given to Me” (Matt 28:18); “Know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Matt 9:6); “Whatsoever the Father does this the Son does in like manner” (John 5:19-23); “He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt 10:37); “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6); “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25).
                Conclusion? Jesus Christ claimed to be not only the Messias awaited by the Hebrew people but
also the Son of God Incarnate. This is self-evident, according to the historical record left by the
Apostles: “The Word was God…the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14); He
died because of that claim is also evident: “He said God was His Father, thus making Himself
equal to God…” (John 19:7).
                And yet, a claim may be made, but it is not necessarily true. It can be either true or false. But not
both. It cannot be a matter of opinion, true for one and untrue for another.