WHO WOULD BELIEVE IN GOD LET ALONG THAT GOD HAD A SON OTHER THOSE WHO READ THE BIBLE OR ARE DELUDED BY RELIGIONS? Actually, Many People Turn To God Because They Realize That Those Who Claim There Is No God Are Probably The Most Deluded People On Earth, For They Have Limited Knowledge Yet Boast That They Know The Omniscient One Does Not Exist. Tragedy comes in many ways, but hearing people proclaim that the Creator does not exis,t and being born to die is all that we exist for, has to be the greatest of all tragedies.

When Jesus admitted to Peter that he was the Christ was he claiming to be God?

Feel free to tell of other scriptures where he claims to be God but I'm specifically interested in whether his claim to be the Christ is the same as his claim to be God

Harry Riches Answer requested by Diane Shatto

Clearly Jesus was affirming Peter’s confession that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

• Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:16-17)

Jesus was accused of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God. Moreover, Jesus never denied the accusation when He replied and pointed to the fact that His Father was bearing witness to the reality that He is the Son of God by the miracles that they themselves witnessed.

• If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:35-38)

The Temple’s high priest had obviously heard of miracles that were taking place and the claims that Jesus was making. When Jesus was finally brought before the high priest, he clearly understood that the Christ would be the Son of God. If this were not the case, then he would not have asked Jesus whether he was the Christ, the Son of God.

• But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63)

Pilate appears to have been taken aback when the Jews declared that Jesus had spoken of Himself as the Son of God. Nevertheless, the conviction of the crowd’s declaration that Jesus needed to be crucified was such, because He claimed to be the Son of God, this caused Pilate to be afraid.

• So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by Athat law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. (John 19:5-9)

Merely hearing about someone performing miracles and saying that He is the Son of God is one thing, but it is another matter when people’s hatred towards the person is so strong that they demand the person be crucified.

Obviously, Jesus was not just another lunatic. Jesus was to be taken seriously. Jesus of Nazareth was not just another mealy-mouthed man seeking to promote Himself for His own self-aggrandizement or personal gain. How much more ought we take the claims of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ seriously, today?