is Jesus God? No honest skeptic will doubt that Jesus of Nazareth lived during the first half of the first century in Roman occupied Palestine . Neither does anyone question, that this Jesus was a preacher and teacher of rather revolutionary, profound and life-changing ideas. Many of His contemporaries considered Him to be a worker of miracles and the Messiah as foretold in the Jewish Scriptures.  The historical evidence and non-Biblical corroboration for His untimely death by crucifixion  is abundant. But was this Jesus also divine? Was He the Son of God and as the Christian faith proclaims, part of the Trinity?

Analyzing the Scriptures, three convincing exhibits were presented to support the claim that Jesus is God:

1. Reading about Jesus’ life, teachings and ministry has led even the most cynical skeptic to the conclusion that Jesus was an extraordinary teacher of wisdom and moral truths. Studying what Jesus actually did and said, reveals that He Himself thought and taught that He was divine. At numerous occasions He claims to be the Son of God, be sent by the Father, is the only way to the Father, claims to forgive sins, accepts worship, refers to Himself by the name Jehovah (“I am”) and so on. Logically this only leaves three alternatives. If Jesus is not God, then He either (a) deliberately deceives His followers and therefore is a liar, or (b) He sincerely believes to be God but is not and therefore He is deluded, He is a lunatic. Or, He indeed is God and therefore (c) He is who He claims to be. Jesus’ teachings and actions contradict the liar or lunatic alternatives to such an extend that no serious scholar considers either one to be a valid explanation. Therefore the only logical conclusion that Jesus is God is left as an option. Remarkably, many critics seem to be entangled into a reasoning of intellectual dishonesty admitting that Jesus was an honest and great moral teacher, while at the same time rejecting the very thing Jesus taught as an essential part of his teachings, namely that He is God.
2. According to the New Testament gospels, Jesus performed numerous miraculous acts during His life and ministry. The four gospels combined describe a total of thirty five different miracles. The majority of these miracles deal with healings of disabled, sick or demon-possessed people and from an evidence perspective can be challenged for a lack of objective confirmation and/or other explanations. Nine of the described miracles however describe events where Jesus’ actions defy the laws of nature. Additionally these miracles were observed by multiple, in some instances even thousands, of witnesses. These nature miracles, of which “the feeding of the five thousand” as described in all four gospels is likely the most impressive illustration, showing Jesus’ ability to make things happen that can only be explained by His deity.
3. The books of the Old Testament contain hundreds of explicit and detailed prophecies about a promised Messiah (translated to the word Christ in the Greek) who would come to the Jews to be their everlasting King. These prophecies predict the family line of the Messiah, the circumstances and location of His birth, His life and purpose and in graphic detail His death and burial. Against staggering statistical improbability and beyond His control, Jesus fulfilled all these prophecies to the letter, making Him the only person that ever lived on earth to fit this prophetic fingerprint of the Messiah.

Each of the above described exhibits strongly support the case that Jesus is God and convinced His disciples during His lifetime of who He was. However, despite of these evidences, they all deserted Him when He was arrested and later crucified. Something else had to happen to finally convince His followers to commit themselves to His message: the resurrection. Only the resurrection solidifies Jesus as God. Only the resurrection proves the validity of His sacrifice  as a payment for our sins. Only the resurrection explains the commitment of the apostles to preach the gospel and their willingness to pay the ultimate price for their missionary work. Only the resurrection could ultimately convince me personally to become a follower of Christ.

The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth on that Sunday morning of the first Easter is remarkably solid and compelling. Logically the resurrection is proved in the following steps:

4. The Biblical texts describe in graphic detail Jesus’ execution by crucifixion .
5. Secular historical on the practice of Roman crucifixions confirm that these inevitably lead to the death of the victim.
6. Biblical details as well as extra-Biblical corroboration of the events leave no reasons to doubt that Jesus indeed died on the cross.
7. All gospels describe how Jesus is subsequently buried by Joseph of Arimathea  and some of His female followers on the evening of His death. The location of that grave was well known. On Easter morning, the same women find the grave empty, the body is gone and has remained missing over the last twenty centuries.
8. Appearances of the resurrected Jesus are mentioned in all four gospels, the book of Acts and throughout Paul’s writings. The most extensive (and non-disputed) creed  on the resurrection is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). This creed  mentions a total of six different resurrection appearances and can be traced back to be composed within a few years of the date of the resurrection.
9. However even more compelling than the verbal accounts about Jesus’ resurrection, are the evidences of changed behavior of Jesus’ disciples. Before the resurrection the Twelve lack real commitment and faith. After the resurrection they become bold, they abandon their professions and possessions and commit the remainder of their lives traveling the world in poverty and under persecution, proclaiming the gospel, ultimately giving testimony through their martyrdom.
10. Dramatic changed behavior is also recorded about Saul-Paul who feverously persecutes Christians until he meets the resurrected Jesus and dramatically transforms into the great missionary to the Gentiles.
11. And also, James, the half-brother of Jesus, is introduced during Jesus’ life as a non-believer. Only his encounter with the resurrected Christ can explain his later leading role in the early Christian Church in Jerusalem  and his subsequent martyrdom.
12. Various attempts have been made to propose alternative explanations for the radically changed behavior of the first Christians after the crucifixion  of Jesus that have led to the remarkable birth and astounding growth of the church in the lifetime of Jesus initial followers. These alternative explanations include legendary exaggerations, wild conspiracy theories, hoaxes, visions and hallucinations . However none of these proposed alternatives can stand the test of objective analysis against the facts. They require such unrealistic and improbable assumptions that logically these alternatives, one by one, have to be rejected.

So, is Jesus God? Only the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth fits the historically recorded testimony and events. And this resurrection would only be possible if Jesus is who He claimed to be: God Himself!

read about: 17 Exhibits for the Divine Inspiration of the Bible