The following presentation is a response and a rebuttal to the Muslim argument which preaches that Jesus never said, “I am God worship Me.”
In recent days Muslims all across the globe have suddenly presented an argument that they say proves that Jesus was not God in the flesh, and that argument is stated as follows: Where in the Bible did Jesus say, “I am God worship Me?” Islamic scholars have even gone so far as to say that if someone can show them where in the Gospel Jesus said “I am God worship Me,” that they will get baptized immediately! Now even though Jesus may not have uttered the exact words which Muslims have argued He never said, this doesn’t mean that Jesus never claimed to be divine or that He did not desire or allow others to worship Him. This work will attempt to defend the divinity of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Bible and reveal how Jesus was in fact worshiped all throughout the Gospels.
For a man to stand up before a crowd and make the statement, “I am God worship Me” would most certainly guarantee this person to be either insane, narcissistic, or both. So for God to incarnate as man, He would most likely need to be a little more gracious in order for people to take Him seriously. God the Father is humble and Jesus Christ as the Son of God is also humble. Christ never forced people to worship Him nor did He force others to believe in Him, but rather left it up to the individual to either believe in Him or to reject Him. Jesus never made an arrogant statement about Himself, but His actions and His miracles were enough evidence to reveal Jesus’ divinity without Him having to make a roaring declaration in order to prove that He was God nor to demand that all should worship Him as God. There were times however, when Jesus was left with no other choice than to confess that He was in fact the Son of God, such as He did during His trial before the Sanhedrin for example (Mark 14:61-62). Though Christ made no statement that believers should worship Him, Jesus did not hinder His followers when they did worship Him. That being said, let us now take a deeper look into the Gospels where we find that Jesus was indeed worshiped as Lord and as God.
In the opening verses of the second chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we witness men worshiping Jesus Christ even when He was just a newborn baby. For it is written, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2). So even before Jesus was born men of understanding traveled afar in order to worship Him as the King of the Jews: The Messiah. Additionally, the Magi were not the only Gentiles who worshiped Christ, for a Canaanite woman worshiped Jesus when pleading with Him to heal her daughter who was vexed with a devil (Matthew 15:25). Among His fellow Jews, Jesus identified Himself as the Son of God to a blind man that He gave sight to. Once the former blind man believed in Jesus as the Son of God the Gospel says that he worshiped Jesus (John 9:35-38). Going further, after His resurrection Jesus met His disciples, “saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him” (Matthew 28:9). So here we see that even though Jesus did not tell people plainly to worship Him as God, the individuals who recognized Him as the Christ took it upon themselves to give Him the honor and praise that was His just due, and in turn Jesus accepted their worship and did not admonish them for worshiping Him.
Now when someone begins to study any sacred text, it is severely inappropriate for mortal men to approach God, God’s Word, or one of God’s holy prophets and demand a word from them that would generate a belief system based on one’s own terms and on one’s own limited human understanding. For a Muslim to say I won’t become a Christian unless I see in the Bible where Jesus says I am God worship Me, would be like a Christian saying I won’t become a Muslim unless I read in the Qur’an where Mohammad says I came to save the world and to give my life as a ransom for many. So for a person who adheres to one religion to go and compare their faith to the faith of another religion, then there will of course be differences of beliefs and opinions found in that foreign faith. But to project a differing personal viewpoint towards another religion without thoroughly studying that faith, only gives birth to a weak argument that is based on a desperate attempt to foil the teachings found in that separate religion.
When studying the Gospel, the description of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is clearly expressed and His worship as Lord and God by others is also vividly outlined. For example, after His resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples and Thomas (who had previously doubted that Christ rose from the dead) upon seeing the wounds in Jesus’ glorified body realized that Jesus was indeed divine and exclaimed unto Him, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Also after Jesus sent His disciples out to preach, they returned and told Jesus that some people were saying that He was Elijah or one of the prophets. But when Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, “Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus even referred to Himself as the Son of God in John 10:36, and also spoke of Himself as the Christ in Luke 24:46. But the most telling of all passages found in the Gospel which solidifies the Godhood of Jesus is found in John 8:58, where Jesus tells the Jews that, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” This statement made by Christ reveals that Jesus is indeed the Great I AM, who appeared unto Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).
In conclusion, after scanning all the verses quoted from the Gospel in this brief work, a clear case has been made for the Christian doctrine which holds that Jesus is in fact the Son of God and that He is worshiped and accepts worship. The argument which expresses that Jesus never said “I am God worship Me,” is an attempt to twist the sayings of Jesus found in the Gospel and to brazenly put words in God’s mouth instead of reading the Gospel honestly and accepting the teachings of Who Jesus truly is according to what has been outlined in the holy scriptures. Jesus is the Word of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity which is one in essence and undivided. Before His incarnation, Christ Jesus was always in the very bosom of God the Father from eternity past. For as it is written in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And in the book of Revelation Jesus refers to Himself as the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending…the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). So from the very mouth of Jesus it is revealed that He is Almighty God and is worshiped according to His divinity as one of the Holy Trinity, Who is glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.