Did Jesus Actually Claim to Be God?

Picture by Alex Bobica (http://bit.ly/1CiCssH)
Picture by Alex Bobica

What is forgiveness of sins?

When people forgive someone, we let go of what we held against them.  We decide to no longer hold a grudge—we’re no longer going to hold another person culpable for what they’ve done.  That’s about as far as our forgiveness can go.

But Jesus claimed to do more than that.

When Jesus said in Matthew 9:2, “your sins are forgiven,” He meant something different.  His word for forgiveness could be translated, “your sins are remitted,” which means your sins are actually taken away from you.  You are released not only from the guilt of your sin, but also from the power of your sin.  Your sins are gone, as far as God is concerned.

Jesus is claiming to be able to release sin’s grip from this man’s life.

But I thought only God could do something like that?  Only God can declare someone innocent by freeing them from sin’s grip.  As a result, the law teachers soon begin to accuse Jesus of blasphemy, because there’s no way this manJesus—can forgive sins—because He’s not God!

Or is He?

Jesus’ claims about what He could do tell us just as much about who He is.

Join us at 10:30am this Sunday at Faith Presbyterian Church as we dig deeper into Jesus’ claims to being God in the flesh.

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