Imagine the scenario: you’re at school or work, and a fellow student or co-worker tells you they don’t believe that Jesus is God.

How would you respond?

In this devotional, we’ll examine a Bible passage that very clearly shows the deity of Jesus (deity means that Jesus is God).

John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Question: What in verse 17 reveals that Jesus is God?

When Jesus said “My Father,” He was proclaiming His divine (divine = God) nature. Just like you have a human nature because you have earthly parents, Jesus has a divine nature because His Father is God.

When people today say that Jesus never claimed to be God, consider using these defenses:

1. Those who spoke with Jesus had no doubt He was claiming to be God. In fact, in John 5:18, the Bible states, “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
2. Jesus never corrected His claims. Don’t you think that if Jesus didn’t mean that He was God, He would have clarified His statements? After all, the Pharisees wanted to kill Him for making Himself equal with the Father! Yet, Jesus knew exactly what He was claiming: He is God.
3. Jesus wouldn’t have died for a lie. If Jesus was lying about being God, why not give up the lie and live? Because He truly was God, and His claims were accurate and without mistake.
4. Jesus claimed things only God could claim (see below).

In John 5:22, Jesus proclaims that He is the judge of all mankind:

“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:”

In John 5:23, Jesus says He should be honored as His Father is honored (Jesus is equal in value with God and must be worshipped as God). To say that Jesus is simply a great teacher or prophet (and not God) is actually to both disrespect and blaspheme Jesus!

“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”

In John 5:24 and 27, Jesus proclaimed that He alone has been given the power to give mankind eternal life.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (v. 24)

In John 5:28, Jesus states that He is the resurrection and will raise all bodies from the grave, the saved to eternal life (v. 29) and the unsaved to condemnation (v. 29).

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,"

In summary, these are claims that only God could make. There's no way you and I could raise the dead, grant eternal life, and judge men's souls. Only Jesus can do such powerful works, because He is God.

Next time you talk with someone who doesn’t believe Jesus is Who He said He is, consider sharing with them some of Jesus’ own words found in John 5.