Is the Bible an Accurate Record of Jesus’ Life? (Part 2)

(extracted from our series “Was Jesus Christ a Liar, a Lunatic, a Legend, or God?”)

The late John Warwick Montgomery was a practicing trial lawyer both in England and America. He held many positions including Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University in Wisconsin. He is also the author of numerous books, including Evidence for Faith: Deciding the God Question.

(continued from Part 3)

Did Jesus Ever Claim to Be God?

Dr. John Ankerberg: Dr. Montgomery, you have debated all kinds of professors that have said right to your face they did not believe that Jesus ever claimed to be God. What did you say back to them?

Dr. John W. Montgomery: If a Martian suddenly landed here, buzzzzzz, plunk, and it had absolutely no contact with the New Testament, there would be no question whatever that in properly reading it, he would come to the conclusion that Jesus claimed to be God. Why? Because of the way in which Jesus speaks of Himself; because of the things that Jesus did; and because of the clear evidence that those particular approaches made on the people around Him.

Now, specifically, in John 14, Philip says, “Show us the Father.” He says to Jesus, “Show us the Father.” Jesus says, “Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9). Now, Philip is an orthodox Jew. He does not believe in a pantheon of Greek deities. There’s only one God for him. Jesus is an orthodox Jew. And so, if Philip asks to see the Father, and Jesus says, “You’re looking at Him,” there is only one inescapable conclusion: that Jesus regards Himself as God.

Going Back to the Earliest Gospel

Dr. John W. Montgomery: Now, that’s in John. And some critics pooh-pooh the Gospel of John. They say, “Ah, the Gospel of John, that’s a late theological interpretation of Jesus.” But we’ve already seen that the Gospel of John was written by an eyewitness, by one of the apostles. So, it reflects direct evidence from a person who had been in contact with Jesus through his entire ministry.

However, let’s go to the earliest of the Gospels. Let’s go to Mark. In Mark’s Gospel you hardly open it, you get to chapter 2, and it presents a day in the life of Jesus. The paralytic passage. The paralytic is being let down through the roof, and the Scribes and Pharisees are mumbling to themselves and they are saying, “What is He going to do?” and all this. And Jesus says to the fellow, “Your sins be forgiven” (Mark 2:5). And the Scribes and Pharisees say, “Who can forgive sins but God only” (Mark 2:7)?

Does Jesus say, “Oops! Oops! You’re perfectly right. Slip of the tongue. Didn’t mean to give that impression.” Not at all! Jesus says, “That you may know that I have the power to forgive sins, I say to the paralytic, Take up bed and walk.” The paralytic takes up his bed and walks and the people glorify God (Mark 2:11-12).

The point being that if Jesus could do the thing that they could see, namely heal the paralysis, then they could trust Him for the thing they couldn’t see, namely forgiving sin. And only God forgives sin. This is a direct affirmation of deity by what He was doing.

On Trial for Blasphemy

Dr. John W. Montgomery: And you go to the end of these Gospels, and you find Jesus on trial. And what is He on trial for? Not for shoplifting, He’s on trial for blasphemy. The High Priest says, “Are you the one?” And Jesus says, “You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with all the heavenly hosts” (Mark 14:61-62). And that’s a reference to Daniel 7:13-14 and the book of Ezekiel where the Son of Man is the divine, apocalyptic Messiah coming to clean up history. And the High Priest says, “What need do we have for further witnesses? He blasphemes! Let Him be crucified!” (Mark 14:63).

Now, nobody had any question about this in Jesus’ own time. They all thought He was claiming to be God. That’s why they crucified Him. It therefore is “small potatoes” in my view that some liberal theologians twenty centuries later tell us that Jesus wasn’t claiming this at all. The eyewitnesses say He was.

Claiming to Be God Is Not the Same as Being God

Dr. John Ankerberg: In terms of the claims, obviously He’s claiming to be God; Father Divine in Philadelphia, I think, he claimed to be God; a lot of people are claiming to be a god or in touch with God or the mouthpiece for God. So what?

Dr. John W. Montgomery: Oh yes! There is the story of the young fellow who went to the insane asylum and there he found a fellow standing with his hand in his shirt. And the fellow said, “Who are you?” The fellow said, “Napoleon, bien sûr!” “Napoleon, of course.” And the fellow said, “What makes you think that?” The fellow said, “God told me.” And a voice came from the other side of the room, “I did not.” So, claiming to be God is not the equivalent of being God. That is perfectly correct.

The One Sign Jesus Offered

Dr. John Ankerberg: So now what is the thing that Jesus gave to us? Did Jesus give us anything to look at that would verify His claim that would differentiate him, make Him absolutely unique compared to all the other religious leaders of the world?

Dr. John W. Montgomery: Well, He said, “One sign is going to be given to you, and it’s the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was in the fish, so I will be in the earth, and I will rise again” (Matthew 12:40). And it also says in the documents that He said on one occasion, “Tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it again, and he spoke of his own body” (John 2:19-20). And after He rose again from the dead, they remembered what He had said (John 2:22). In other words, Jesus made His resurrection from the dead the final proof that He was indeed the person He claimed to be.

What About Hume and the Argument Against Miracles?

Dr. John Ankerberg: Alright, in terms of that, what about the resurrection? A lot of people would say, “Wait a minute. Now you’re getting into the miraculous side of things. And intellectually, Dr. Montgomery, I mean, we’re people of the twentieth century. We don’t believe in fairy tales. We don’t believe in miracles. And, I mean, didn’t David Hume knock that idea right out the window? I mean, when I was sitting in philosophy class, my professor went through that with me, and concluded miracles can’t happen. And here all of a sudden you’re basing the whole story, when we get right down to it, on Jesus’ claim to come forth from the dead. Now, what about Hume, and what about the philosophical arguments against miracles taking place today?”

Dr. John W. Montgomery: Hume’s argument against the miraculous is a classic argument, and it ought to be presented to all first-year philosophy students. But it shouldn’t be presented in the