‘jesus Believed Himself To Be Divine’

Question 1

Intro DC

Answer 1

Divine = of God or like God
This essay will argue that Jesus believed himself to be divine as throughout his life he essentially claimed to be God and performed miracles, meaning he must’ve known he had the ability to do that

Question 2

PE 1

Answer 2

P- The first reason to support title is Jesus essentially claimed to be God and there is an example of one of his disciples thinking he was Christ.
E - 1. “I and the father are one” - John 10:30 2. When asked if he is “the Christ, son of the most blessed” replies “I am” - Mark 14.
Mark 8:27-29 = “tell me who do people say I am … Peter answered you are the messiah” (messiah = a messenger of saviour sent from god)
Claimed to do things only god can do : authority to judge nations (in parable of sheep and goats) and to forgive sins “my son your sins are forgiven” - mark 2:5

Question 3

A 1

Answer 3

• Convincing as lots of examples of Jesus claiming to be god, not just a one time thing.
• Able to forgive those of sins is something he wouldn’t be able to do if he didn’t know he was divine as only god is able to do this.
• Also not just him claiming he is god (Peter) is also aware of his divinity- more convincing as not just based on one person

Question 4

C 1

Answer 4

However, this argument could be refuted by the argument that the things Jesus said about himself were ambiguous and could be interpreted differently. E.g 1. never explicitly said he was god “I and the father are one” suggests he and god are in unity not saying they are the same being or person 2. “Are you the son of god then? And he said to them, you say that I am” -Luke 22:70 - doesn’t admit he is, doesn’t explicitly answer q and leaves room for ambiguity

Question 5

E 1

Answer 5

This counter argument fails however as whilst he never explicitly says he is god he never explicitly says he isn’t. Is lots of example where most interpret the meaning of his words to be he is as there is ambiguity but not enough to say he was not

Question 6

PE 2

Answer 6

Further reason to support title is Jesus performed miracles, he must’ve known he had divine powers to even attempt this e.g 1. J walks on water “he came to them walking on water” this suggests Js authority and that he knew he was different from rest of humanity and had power to alter his universe works 2. J heals a blind man “Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud paste; he rubbed it on the man’s eyes … the man went, washed his face and came back able to see” knew he was capable of healing otherwise wouldn’t have attempted it

Question 7

A 2

Answer 7

Convincing as there are lots of examples of miracles that Jesus performs requiring different capabilities e.g healing, changing water to wine, making small amounts of food last and wouldn’t have attempted these if knew he was human and couldn’t do it. Miracles also act as prove that he is actually divine

Question 8

C 2

Answer 8

However this argument could be refuted by the argument that there is confusion amongst J’s followers about who he was “ who do people say I am? Some say you are John the Baptist” they answered, others say you are ellijah, while others say you are one of the prophets” - Mark 8:27-29 - don’t actually fully know who he is don’t put son of god in the list, if they aren’t sure, how can we be so many yrs later

Question 9

E 2

Answer 9

This counter argument fails however as jesus does clarify that he is the sin of god in mark 14 and many other times throughout his life. Which removes the importance of the confusion of his disciples as jesus clears any confusion up. Also whether he is aware of his divinity is irrelevant to whether anyone else knows.