06-28-2019, 08:43 AM
I think that the reason for a lot of the confusion is the Gospels themselves. The four Gospels were written for a few different reasons and within four different communities (and there are more Gospels than just the four that never made it into the cannon) and yet they were all gathered together and included to create a common story, so you end up with a kind of patchwork.
The Christians whom you'll usually hear saying that Jesus "I am God" are usually Evangelicals. Nowhere in the Gospels--even in the Gospel of John--does Jesus ever say that. Furthermore, there's a strong probability that he ever claimed to be the Messiah. At issue in this latter case is a motif in the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) called "The Messianic Secret." This motif refers to a few incidents in the Synoptic Gospels where Jesus never outright states that he's the Messiah but his apostles guess that he's the Messiah with Jesus asking them to keep that information secret. The motive behind Jesus' asking his disciples to keep this information secret is never explained in the Gospels, and it's likely it's a literary device added in by the author(s). Jesus would've had no motive, if the thought he was the Messiah, to keep that information secret, so in all likelihood, the fact that he keeps it a secret in the Gospels is likely a device used by the author to explain to his other followers at the time why Jesus was the Messiah in spite of his never having said so while he was alive.
There are a few instances like that in the Gospels.
The Christians whom you'll usually hear saying that Jesus "I am God" are usually Evangelicals. Nowhere in the Gospels--even in the Gospel of John--does Jesus ever say that. Furthermore, there's a strong probability that he ever claimed to be the Messiah. At issue in this latter case is a motif in the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) called "The Messianic Secret." This motif refers to a few incidents in the Synoptic Gospels where Jesus never outright states that he's the Messiah but his apostles guess that he's the Messiah with Jesus asking them to keep that information secret. The motive behind Jesus' asking his disciples to keep this information secret is never explained in the Gospels, and it's likely it's a literary device added in by the author(s). Jesus would've had no motive, if the thought he was the Messiah, to keep that information secret, so in all likelihood, the fact that he keeps it a secret in the Gospels is likely a device used by the author to explain to his other followers at the time why Jesus was the Messiah in spite of his never having said so while he was alive.
There are a few instances like that in the Gospels.