Did Jesus Claim to Be God?", "did Jesus Need to Be Born of a Virgin?", and "does the Bible Have Authority?

I. Introduction

In today's world, there are many questions concerning the validity of the Bible, as well as the validity of Jesus himself. I hope to answer three such questions; "Did Jesus claim to be God?", "Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?", and "Does the Bible have authority?"

II. Section One: Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Although Jesus did not come right out and say, "I am God," it was implied that He was proclaiming it in John 10:30, when He said, "I and My Father are one." We see that even the Jews believed that Jesus was claiming to be God, and for this reason, they tried to stone Him. Jesus did not deny His claim to be God, although His meaning was not in the physical. The Jews understood that He was claiming deity, which to them was blasphemous. When Jesus declared that He and His Father were one, He was in fact saying that He and the Father had the same divine authority and the same deity. However, Jesus makes a different claim in John 14:28. He said to His disciples, "If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." Here, He is not speaking about His divine nature or essential being. Much like the earthly father has a higher function than his son; the Father and the Son in the Trinity are equal in essence but with different functions. Jesus is equal to the Father in nature, character and essence; but the Father is greater than Jesus in function, and position. As Elmer Towns stated, "perhaps the greatest boast of all is when Jesus constantly claimed to be the great "I AM"." Knowing what Jesus was implying with the use of this statement, the Jewish leaders took great offense sought to have Him stoned. Jesus also claimed to have the ability to forgive sins, which was something only God was able to do. His claim to deity was represented in more than just oral statements. They were backed by action as well. In Matthew 14:33, Jesus is seen allowing people to worship Him. It states, "Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the Son of God." One may wonder why Jesus did not rebuke the people for worshipping Him if He were not claiming to be God. According to Elmer Towns, "just because he made claims to be God does not mean that He was, in fact God."

III. Section Two: Did Jesus Need to be Born of a Virgin?

Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin? The answer is, yes. The virgin birth of Jesus is the fulfilling of prophecy. Isa. 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." This lays the foundation to the claim of His deity. If there was no virgin birth, the Word of God would be flawed and there would be no need to have faith in Jesus. Either the prophecies would be false or the Messiah has not come yet. Jesus did not need to be born of a virgin to be sinless because as the Son of God, He was already without sin. However, man is inherently sinful from his very existence. This sin nature is generational