John 10: 30-42 A Claim To Be God!

23.08.09 John 10: 30-42 (NASB)

Audio SermonFile: John 10:30-42, Part 1

Going Deeper: Study Guide

A Claim To Be God!

If you remember from last time beginning in verse 22 of chapter 10 - Jesus’ public ministry, in the Gospel of John, begins to come to a close. It is also to be Jesus’ last offer of salvation to the hard hearted Jewish religious authorities. All this takes place during the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem (v.22), about 3.5 months before Jesus’ crucifixion. It was here that the Jews encircled Jesus or surrounded Him, out to get something out of Jesus.

What the Jews were after was an answer to their question - If you are the Christ, tell us plainly (v.24). The dark underlying reason behind this question by the Jewish authorities was that they wanted Jesus to outright publicly declare that He is God. This would in their twisted thinking substantiate a charge of blasphemy, justifying their murderous hatred towards Him, and therefore be able to kill Jesus.

The answer to who Jesus is - is the whole focus of the Gospel of John, and it will help us to understand whether Jesus is God in human flesh or not. Today in our passage we can settle that issue in our minds also. The truth of who Jesus really is - is clearly presented, and it is up to you to receive it in faith or to outright reject it. What ever your conclusion is, the truth of this passage is unchangeable.

The well know author C.S. Lewis in his popular book Mere Christianity wrote these words: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

Through this work of CS Lewis, the argument of a claim to be God by Jesus was crystallized into this popular challenge concerning Jesus…and many of you may have heard someone say this before - Either Jesus is a LIAR, LUNATIC, OR LORD.

And this is what we, like the Jews in our passage are faced with. The push of this passage is a life or death situation.

The people are faced once again with a decision about who this guy Jesus is. Jesus is making all these claims, so who is He? We also need to answer that question for our selves and decide one of two things:

1. Accept Jesus as God who will save you from your sins
OR
2. Out right reject Jesus as God and look for any other way to get to heaven.

Our passage states: 30 "I and the Father are one." 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out [to be] God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, `I said, you are gods'? 35 "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'? 37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." 39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp. 40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. 41 Many came to Him and were saying, "While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true." 42 Many believed in Him there.

Today we are going to examine these three questions. And with the answers we will need to come to a decision our self about Jesus’ CLAIM TO BE GOD - these are the 3 questions:

Is Jesus A Liar?
Is Jesus A Lunatic?
Or Is Jesus The Lord?

As I go through the passage I will be asking these 3 questions. We will be covering only the first 4 verses (so down to and including verse 33) and we will finish the rest next week. So we are going to have a bit shorter sermon, as I try to go slower, so you can understand this very important passage. As we go through our 3 questions - I am not going to be dealing with each question completely one by one, but I am going to return to each question as it pertains to the verses of today’s passage. So As I go through the passage I will be asking the 3 questions several times. Let's begin.

Is Jesus A Liar?

v.30 - As we open in verse 30 Jesus makes a very deep and very powerful statement. It is the culmination and the pinnacle of all that has been revealed by Jesus through out this Gospel, and in the direct context of the verses before this one in chapter 10. And having stated that, we must understand that as Jesus spoke of our salvation, that it is firmly in His grip… and so also He is the guarantor of our salvation.

Therefore as we get into our passage today we now may ask our first question - IS JESUS A LIAR? Jesus says - I and the Father are one. In order to determine if what Jesus had just said is a lie or not, we should try to understand what Jesus is actually saying. Once again we need to keep the immediate context of the passage back in verses 28-29 in focus. It is also important to keep this in context with what is said in the broader context of chapter 10 and even the whole Gospel to come to a sound conclusion. In 10:28-29, what Jesus was saying about His sheep, is that no one would be able to snatch them out of His hand, or the Father’s hand - that this is a work that is of both the Father and the Son. They equally share in this.

So in verse 30 - Jesus is not saying that He and the Father are one person - because an examination of the word one in verse 30 - tells us that the word one is gender specific in Greek. In this case it is neuter and not masculine. Why is this important to understand? If the word one was masculine then it would be that Jesus is the same person as God the Father. Therefore what Jesus is claiming is to be equal in mind, purpose, and action as the Father. Yet Jesus’ statement presupposes His unity in both nature and essence with the Father, as we will discover when we get down to verse 33.

So Jesus is not claiming to be God the Father, which would be wrong because when we look at the Bible and understand the nature of the One true God we understand that there are three persons to the godhead. This is what theologian Paul Enns states: "While there is one God, there are three eternally distinct and equal persons in the godhead, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is distinct from the other, yet the three are united as one God. The term Triunity may best express the idea."

The full depth of what is presented in the Bible is affirmed by it, but for our finite minds it is impossible to grasp this unique unity of the one true God.

Jesus is God the Son.

If Jesus was one and the same as God the Father, then that would go against what the Apostle John was inspired to declare in his own gospel, back in chapter 1. John 1:1-2 clearly states this - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. So in order for Jesus the Word, to be with God in the beginning - then it should be apparent that Jesus is not the same person as God the Father. Later on in verse 14 we find this: 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So what Jesus is saying to the Jews is that He and the Father share a common bond of unity, and oneness in purpose. And that is a serious statement to make. This doesn’t mean that Jesus is not claiming to be God. It certainly doesn’t mean that Jesus is another ‘god’ - as at least a couple of the cults claim. This should be clear from the overall context of our Gospel. If we try to answer the question was Jesus a liar? We can look at what Jesus asked of the Jews: 8:46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?

Jesus challenged anyone to prove that He was a sinner. Now if He were a liar then He would be guilty of sin, and everything that He said in His life would be open to question. But no one brought forth any legitimate charge against Him of sin. Therefore Jesus is not a liar. Back to the passage…. what Jesus does say is not misinterpreted by the Jews. Jesus’ truthful response is in answer to the Jews desire from Jesus to tell them plainly, whether He is the Christ or not (v.24) - so He did. They fully understand that Jesus is declaring unity of essence and nature with the Father and therefore He is claiming Deity.

So the question is raised - when Jesus claims to have the attributes of God - is He lying? Allow me to suggest to you the answer NO - because Jesus is without sin, so His statement cannot be a lie. On top of this, is the reason from the text later in verse 33 - of why the Jews want to stone Jesus. Well then ….

Is Jesus A Lunatic?

v.31 - Because of Jesus’ concise declaration, the Jews are instantly stirred into an uncontrollable rage - the plain truth was intolerable to them. So they picked up stones again to stone Him. This was not the first time and if you remember back to chapter 8 - where Jesus made Himself equal to God - He at that point said before Abraham was born, I am! (8:58), using the very own words that God used to identify Himself to Moses. In that incident the Jews attempted to stone Jesus, but He slipped away because it was not according to the will of God. Ha… so Jesus must be a lunatic! Was He? Was Jesus such a lunatic that He risked His life just to make a statement?

v.32 - Now, the same thing as in chapter 8 is emerging. We should note how Jesus lines up His defense, drawing His opponents back to the signs that He performed. Jesus doesn’t back down and cower at the assassination attempt. He doesn’t back down on His clear declaration of equality with God. But Jesus goes forward a notch and pushes His opponents to take a hard look at His many good works which were performed at the bidding of the Father. What I want you to keep in the back of your mind as we go through this passage, is this - would a lunatic be able to have the kind of intellect that Jesus demonstrates in countering His opponents? So we need to ask - Is Jesus A Lunatic?

So Jesus refers to the many good works from the Father that Jesus showed them. Once again there is a close intimation of relationship with the Father through whom the miracles proceed out of. It is interesting to note that Jesus says that these were good works /miracles. It underscored the Pharisees hidden ingratitude not only to Christ who did the miracles, but their hypocritical profession of God as their Father (8:41). These works demonstrated clearly, by offering undeniable proof of what Jesus stated in verse 30 - I and the Father are one. Jesus said back in John 5:36 - But the testimony which I have is greater than [the testimony of] John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. So Jesus response was to extinguish the false charges of blasphemy against Him.

In Jesus’ response He raises the question to His assailants - for which of them are you stoning Me? So in other words…for what miracle are you wanting to stone me for….and in between the lines as we expand this verse…. since when does the Law prescribe stoning for good works? Of course they would not be able to give an answer to that. Remember that the Jews had the stones in their hands, they probably even had their arms raised ready to pelt the Messiah with as much violent force that they could muster to satisfy their sinful rage. So what we find here is that the Jews, in going against Christ they are reviling God - in fact they are the real blasphemers.

Is Jesus A Liar?

v.33 - So the only thing that the Jewish leaders could say is - For a good work we do not stone You. But this was a denial of the facts - an outright lie - Jesus wasn’t a liar, they were - for that was why they wanted to stone Jesus when He healed the blind man on the Sabbath and made the declaration in chapter 8:58 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" Knowing that they couldn’t go down that avenue, they need to come up with something else. Therefore they had to try the tactic of a charge of blasphemy.

What is Blasphemy? It is an insult, irreverence, or contempt towards God, or anything that takes His honour, glory, or majesty away - like saying, I and the Father are one, which is the act of claiming attributes which only belong to God. The Jew’s claim that they knew exactly what Jesus was proclaiming - that He was God - which would be in the Jew’s minds blasphemy, since He was as they state and assume, a man - and the OT penalty was death by stoning if a man were to claim to be equal to, or claim to be God. Therefore in His statement of verse 30 - Jesus does in fact implicitly make [Himself] out [to be] God. Jesus does claim to be God.

So was Jesus a Liar? Well I think it is clear from this passage - and the very words of the Jews spoke - that the Jews took Jesus’ declarations to be true. As an important side note - Jesus claimed Deity…not divinity. Deity is a claim to being God, and divinity is a claim to being God like - there is a big difference between these two words.

Is Jesus A Lunatic?

Now if Jesus was not claiming that He is God - just think about this - and remember the stones…the Jews got their fingers on the trigger - so why doesn’t Jesus say hey wait a moment…wait a moment…please put those stones down…hey you guys got it all wrong …. I’m not saying that I am God…let me clear up this misunderstanding? He doesn’t say anything because, Jesus does - as the Jews state - make Yourself out [to be] God. Jesus acknowledges the claim to be God - as true, because it is.

Now we really begin to see Jesus’ intellectual genius in His crystal clear, logical, and valid defense. As to the charge of blasphemy, it is not valid. If Jesus were - as the Jews also stated - being a man - then yes it would be blasphemy for declaring unity of essence and nature with the Father. But, it is not blasphemy because Jesus is God. And being God, He cannot be taking away any honour, glory, or majesty from Himself - He is who He is - in other words as He declared I AM.

Well we are going to leave this passage at this point, and there is much to digest in understanding what Jesus is stating and claiming. And their is an immense depth of impact of the truth contained here, if rightly understood and believed.