Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Alex O'Connor & David Wood Debate Jesus' Divinity

Like many theologically-minded teenagers, I binge-watched the classic noughties debates between the New Atheists and their Christian counterparts: Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, William Lane Craig, John Lennox, and co.

If like me, however, you thought that the age of scintillating Christian-sceptic debates was long over… Think again. For we have now been treated to another:

In this much-awaited contest, Alex O’Connor flew across the pond to engage Christian apologist, David Wood, on the question, Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Alex and I have spent many hours discussing Jesus’ self-understanding. I therefore thought I had some idea of how the debate would run: Wood would argue from Jesus’ more obvious claims to his divinity in John. Alex would counter that Jesus’ divine claims are exclusive to John and don’t go back to Jesus himself.

Yet what actually went down was a far more interesting – and in some ways sophisticated – debate than I had anticipated. Wood read the Gospels through a ‘Two Powers in Heaven’ theology, which formed the backdrop of Jesus’ claims to divinity in the Synoptics. Meanwhile, it was Alex who argued from John, claiming that even Jesus’ words in the Fourth Gospel fall short of an explicit divine claim.

Some of you have asked me what I made of the debate. There is much to discuss, but I want to touch briefly here on the four key fault-lines in this discussion. These are the four major areas of disagreement upon which the debate hung:

1. The question of what it means to be ‘God’.

2. Whether Jesus was worshipped as God during his lifetime.

3. The Christology of John.

4. The historical Jesus and historicity of the Gospels.

For those watched the debate (or intend to watch it), I hope that this serves as a helpful guide, and offers you some food for reflection going forward.

1. ‘Two Powers’ or Intermediary Figures?