Did Jesus Ever Call Himself the Son of God?

Jesus vs. the Son of God

It may seem surprising, but Jesus never literally called himself the Son of God. We will explore that in depth, but first a quick look at a similar question.

Son of God by Marina Petry using charcoal pencils

Did Jesus ever call himself Messiah or Christ?

The answer is the same: no, not directly. But in two instances in the life of Jesus he came very close to just that indeed.

First, there is the incident with the Samaritan  woman. Here Jesus is almost alone at a well outside of a Samaritan town, but probably accompanied by John son of Zebedee, the youngest and most loved of his disciples. The rest of the disciples of Jesus had gone into town to buy food, but the traditional role of the "least" disciple was to remain with and attend to the personal needs of the Teacher.

This left John as eyewitness to an event that he later reported in his Gospel: Jesus engaged in a spirited verbal exchange with a woman who came to the well to fetch water, ending with her statement, "I know that Messiah is coming [the one called Christ]. He will explain to us everything."  (The interpolation of "the one called Christ" is John's translation of the Aramaic 'Messiah' for the benefit of his Greek readers. The woman probably did not say these words.)

Jesus answered her, with an emphasis on the personal pronoun: "I am, the one speaking to you"  (John 4:26). Both the NIV and the NASB render this as "I who speak to you am he," adding the pronoun 'he,' as implied by the gender of the participle 'speaking.' Their conclusion agrees with the KJV. In Episode One of my JOHN! book series, I render this as "I am the Messiah."

It is of note that Jesus did not say this to Jews, only to a Samaritan, a foreigner. It is also of note that this is one of the key times that Jesus uses the words 'I AM' to refer to himself. 'I AM' is one of the personal names of God, found at Exodus 3:14.

The second instance involves Daniel 7:13-14, one of the central texts of this prophet's book. Here "one like the son of man" is presented before the "Ancient of Days" and is given everlasting dominion, glory, and kingship. Christianity and Judaism recognize in this passage the coming of the Messiah, the anointed one of God who will come to redeem and lead his people.

In private, Jesus teaches this verse to his disciples (Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26). But the critical moment comes at his trial before the high priest. The high priest says to Jesus, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God" (Mt 26:63).

Using the term Jesus always used to refer to himself (the Son of Man), Jesus replies with a quote from Daniel 7:13 saying, "You have [already] said it. Nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64, Mark 14:62).

Jesus was most certainly using Aramaic when he said "Son of Man," for the high priest instantly recognized the quotation from the Aramaic words used in the Book of Daniel. And if Jesus' answer replies to the full challenge of the high priest, he has admitted to being not only the Christ but also the Son of God.

Is Jesus the Son of God?

All four of the Gospels agree in teaching that Jesus is the Son of God -- the inheritor of the kingdom who will sit at the right hand of God. But seldom if ever does this teaching come from the lips of Jesus.

No less than seven Bible characters in the Gospels say directly that Jesus is the Son of God: Mark the Evangelist (Mk 1:1), John the Evangelist (Jn 20:31), the angel Gabriel (Lk 1:35), John the Baptist (Jn 1:34), Nathanael the disciple (Jn 3:18), Martha (Jn 11:27), and a Roman centurion (Mt 27:54, Mk 15:39).

In addition Satan challenges him to prove he is the Son of God (Mt 4:3 & 6, Lk 4:3 & 9), and the unclean spirits identify Jesus directly as the Son of God (Mt 8:29, Mk 3:11, Lk 4:41).

Now to the words of Jesus: There are three teaching events where Jesus deals with the subject. Twice he is teaching his disciples, saying that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God" (Jn 5:25), and that Lazarus died "so that the Son of God may be glorified by it" (Jn 11:4). In the latter case Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and does receive glory because of it.

The third teaching event is when Jesus is disputing with Jews from the temple, and cites Psalm 82:6, where God says of Israel's judges, "I said, you are gods." Then he actually says the words, "I am the Son of God." However, these words are placed in a hypothetical construct, effectively saying, "If I  were to say 'I am the Son of God,' would you accuse me of blasphemy in light of this psalm?"

And here is the final thing Jesus had to say on the subject. You may have noticed (above) that the high priest not only challenged Jesus if he were the Messiah but also whether he was the Son of God (Mt 26:63). Luke expands on this exchange, showing that the group with the high priest said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" (Lk 22:70a).

As shown in the Greek, Jesus replies "You say that 'I AM'" (Lk 22:70b). Interestingly, the NIV translates this as "You are right in saying that I am", while the NASB translates it simply as "Yes, I am."  Some scholars have thought that these particular words of Jesus must be an idiomatic phrase used by rabbinical scholars to indicate assent, while others have vigorously opposed this idea.

In any case, the high priest and the crowd around him took these words as an admission that he claimed to be the Son of God. Could it be because he used the "I AM" name of God? Or was it because they had given Jesus a chance to declare he was not the Son of God and he declined to take them up on the offer?

How are we to take these incidents? Why is Jesus reluctant to identify himself directly? Earlier in his ministry, he may have refrained from doing so because he had not completed his ministry on earth. But here before the high priest he is coming to the end of his earthly ministry and no longer has that reason to refrain.

I will offer two reasons for his reluctance to claim glory for himself. The first is directly from the teachings of Jesus, and the other, less certain, is a societal setting to avoid shame.

The first reason is legal: in Jesus' time the testimony of a person about himself is not considered valid unless backed up by two or three witnesses. Jesus says, "If I [alone] testify about myself, my testimony is not true" (Jn 5:31). He then lines up three who testify to the truth of Jesus' claims: John the Baptist, the very "works" that Jesus does, and the testimony of "the Father who sent me" in the form of the words of Scripture.

The second is conjecture, but it would fit the honor-vs-shame tribal society in which Jesus is moving. Namely, it may have been considered shameful for a person to "toot his own horn" and glorify himself. We may have seen that in the Pharisees that Jesus describes who send men ahead of them blowing trumpets to show how righteous and important they were.

One thing is not in doubt: Jesus was and is the Son of God. With that title he expresses the divinity that he shares with his Father in heaven, and lays the foundation for our Trinitarian understanding of the nature of God.