Why did Jesus never claim to be the son of God?

Answer 1

>>Jesus did claim to be the Son of God, Son of man and Son of the blessed; And many said that Jesus said he was the Son of God. And Jesus said it indirectly on a number of occasions. At the time of His baptism a voice from heaven said, ….This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17. Five of many, many examples are listed below.

But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

Mark 14:61-64

Likewise also the chief priests mocking [him], with the scribes and elders, said,

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

Matthew 27:41-43

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 16:15-17

The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;

John 19:7-8>>

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Matthew 17:5(5-9)

AnswerActually Jesus claimed much more than simply being the Son of God. He claimed to be God incarnate and, rather than a subservient Son of God he claimed to be God the Son - a subtle but profoundly different thing.

By forgiving sins, something that only God could do, he claimed to be God. He claimed to be God incarnate through his miracles (John calls them 'signs' indicating just who Jesus is). Jesus accepted worship. Jesus used the statement 'I am' on many occasions - a statement that referred back to Moses and the burning bush where God gives his name as 'yah Weh' - I AM. Jesus's behaviour angered the Jewish authorities who tried to stone him on several occasions, because, as they put it, 'he claimed to be God'.

The truth that Jesus is God incarnate is born out throughout the gospels. Even the theology behind the atonement - through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross - demands that Christ is God incarnate. For if Jesus was not God incarnate and simply a subservient 'Son' (as, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses would have us believe) then God sacrificed someone else on the Cross - Jesus. This then suggests a God who demands sacrifice of someone else to appease him much in the same way as the false gods of old demanded sacrifice for their appeasement. This is not in accord with a God of love as described in scripture, and by Jesus himself. Instead God sacrificed himself - through Jesus - as a self-giving act of infinite unconditional love. Finally, even the name given to Jesus in prophesy - that of Emmanuel - means 'God with us'.

So the questioner is actually correct. Jesus did not claim to be a subservient son of God but claimed much more - to be God in human form. Christians believe those claims to be true - not out of blid faith but simply because Jesus' thoughts, words and actions all bear out and confirm these claims to be true.

Answer 2

Some say that he did. In the gospel of John chapter 10, Jesus is quoted, "I and the Father are one." Although Jesus is not attributed to the quote, I John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [emphasis added]"

Answer 3

In Christianity, Jesus does not say he is God. Jesus is the son of God.