Who Do You Think You Are? (John 8:48-59)

We pick back up in John 8:48-59 with Jesus’ confrontation with the Jews regarding His identity (and teaching). Rather than de-escalate the argument, Jesus refuses to back down. What has Jesus claimed? He claimed to be sent by God to earth (7:28). He claimed that His teaching is from God (7:16). He claimed that whoever believes in Him will receive the Holy Spirit (7:39), receive eternal life (8:12, 51), and will be set free from sin (8:31). He also said that those who do not believe in Him will die in their sins (8:24). The crowd heard what Jesus said, but didn’t know what to think of Him. Is He insane? Is He demon possessed? Is He a deceiver (e.g., Samaritan)? 

C.S. Lewis famously spoke of Jesus and His identity when He presented His trilemma. He said of Jesus’ claim to be God that He is either a liar, lunatic, or Lord. Because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God who alone provides eternal life; this means He is either Lord (what He claimed was true), liar (what He claimed was false and He knew it), or lunatic (what He claimed was false, but He thought it was true). Lewis said, “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God…” Using Lewis’ trilemma as a guide, let’s examine Jesus’ claims regarding His identity.

Is He a Liar?

Did Jesus make claims that He knew were false? We were told in John 7:5 that “His own brothers did not believe in Him.” Was this because they knew the “real Jesus”? Did they have access to the private life of Jesus that betrayed His public ministry? Before Jesus arrived at the Feast of Booths, there was confusion about Him with some saying, “He deceives people” (7:12). Some in the crowd had difficulty believing His message because He did not have the proper educational background (7:15) and that He was from Nazareth, not Bethlehem  (7:27,42). Jesus knew this. This is why He said, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (8:47). They reject Him because they cannot hear God’s voice. Jesus said they are not able to hear what He says because they are not listening to God, but listening to the devil (7:42-44). Some concluded that Jesus was a liar. 

Is He a Lunatic?

Did Jesus make claims that He thought was true, but were actually false? He was accused of being demon-possessed three times (7:19,8:37,40). He was accused of being suicidal (8:22). He was considered crazy by many who heard His teaching (8:57). There were some in the crowd that were convinced that Jesus genuinely believed His own words, but they could not comprehend that what He said was true. Jesus is not a lunatic; He is glorified by the Father (8:54). Also, Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad” (8:56). What does Jesus mean by this? That’s what the Jews wanted to know! They asked Him, “You are not yet fifty years old and You have seen Abraham!” (John 8:57). Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth…before Abraham was born, I am!” The Jews knew what He meant because “at this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (John 8:59). Some concluded that Jesus was a lunatic. 

Is He Lord?

Did Jesus make claims that are verifiably true? What did He claim? Jesus did not claim to just be a good moral teacher. Jesus did not claim to just be a prophet of God. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God who is to be worshiped as God. He declared this in His teaching and verified this in His miracles/signs. In John 8:58, we have one of the clearest examples of Jesus claiming to be God and it is for this reason the Jews picked up stones to throw at Him.

Why did they attempt to stone Jesus? Stoning was a judicial punishment for a number of offenses; including blasphemy. Leviticus 24:16 says, “anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone Him.” The Jews believed Jesus was guilty of blasphemy when He said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” Why did they think this? Because Jesus was referring back to the covenant name of God: Yahweh (Ex 3:14). In Exodus 3, the Lord told Moses to go to Egypt and bring back the Israelites. Moses answered, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” The “I am” refers to the covenant name of God: Yahweh. 

Yahweh is an important name of God because it is the one He gave to Moses so that the Israelites would know Him (Ex 3:15). John MacArthur wrote, “the meaning and implication of this name is God’s self-deriving, ongoing, and never-ending existence.” The name Yahweh denotes God’s continuous existence (i.e., eternal life) detached from the constraints of time and space. When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am”, He is claiming that He is Yahweh. The significance in the context of John 8 is that Jesus is contrasting Himself with Abraham. Whereas Abraham was an important man during his time, Jesus is God who exists in all of time. C.H. Dodd wrote, “Jesus does not stand within the temporal series of great men, beginning with Abraham and continuing through the succession of the prophets…His claim is not that He is the greatest of the prophets, or even greater than Abraham himself. He belongs to a different order of being.” In other words, before Abraham existed, Jesus has always existed (Heb 13:8). He is God!

My Lord and My God!

Jesus is not a demon-possessed Samaritan, but the Son of God sent by the Father into the world to bring salvation. Jesus claimed to be God! His claim is genuine. He is who He says He is. Jesus is God and we should worship Him (Rev 22:9). C.S. Lewis concluded his trilemma: “Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”  Thomas knew this and declared to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Do you profess the same? Do you profess that Jesus is Lord? Do you live that out in your life?