Great article for understanding the claims of Jesus’ deity.
Granted. Jesus never uttered the words, “I am God”, but He forgave sins, He claimed the Divine name YHWH for himself – hence the charges of blasphemy against Him.
Jesus also identifies Himself with the Son of Man in Daniel 7 who is given all power and authority in heaven, and He definitely accepts worship in John 20:28 (and many other places in the Gospels) – not to mention how Jesus speaks about Himself in the Book of Revelation.
While Jesus never said He was God, He definitely acted, thought and talked like God 🙂
Just recently, Justin Bass posted a two part review of his recent debate with Bart Ehrman on Justin Bass vs Bart Ehrman | “Did the Historical Jesus Claim to Be Divine?
In his review he says that Ehrman says: “In none of those passages (from the Synoptics) does Jesus say ‘I am God.’”
Obviously, you can go on to read what Bass says in response to this topic. I have found this objection to come up quite a bit in my own discussions with Jewish people, Muslims, and skeptics as well. If interested, given the culture Jesus was ministering in, this is my own response as to why Jesus would never explicitly say “I am God.”
Dissecting Jesus 