Did Jesus ever claim to be God?
There are a lot of people who believe that Jesus never really claimed he was the Son of God; instead, this belief was started by overzealous followers of Jesus years after his death. The real Jesus saw himself as nothing more than a rabbi, a teacher of God, but not God himself. But it is not what the evidence clearly shows.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8:58-59
When Jesus applied the “I am” saying to himself, it was such an obvious allusion to God’s words to Moses out of the burning bush his audience pick up stones to hurl at him for blasphemy. This was an unmistakable declaration of equality with God.
“But what about you?” he asked, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, ”You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus replied,
“ Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
Matthew 16:15-17
When Simon Peter answered Jesus’ question, “who do you say I am?” by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus’ reaction was not to correct him but rather to affirm that this was revealed to him by the Father himself.
At first the disciples had a hard time understanding that Jesus was indeed God. Read a portion of a conversation between Jesus and Philip.
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:8-9