Aren't Christian's bothered by the fact that Jesus never declared himself son of God, not even at his trial?

Question

Isn't it slightly suspect that the man himself wouldn't say when asked yes I'm the son of God, but instead replied you say that I am. Although he did refer to God as his father so do many others all over the world and in other religions refer to the deity as father or mother.

It seems from many of the answers many of you are reading different versions of the Bible or/and making different interpretations. Get your story straight and you'll be stronger for it.

Answer 1

Jesus is not God’s Son in the sense of how we think of a father and a son. God did not get married and have a son. Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that He is God made manifest in human form (John 1:1,14). Jesus is God's Son in that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35 declares, "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'" In Bible times, the phrase “son of man” was used to describe a human being. The son of a man is a man.

During His trial before the Jewish leaders, the High Priest demanded of Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God" (Matthew 26:63). Jesus responded, “Yes, it is as you say, ‘but I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). The Jewish leaders responded by accusing Jesus of blasphemy (Matthew 26:65-66). Later, before Pontius Pilate, “The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God’” (John 19:7). Why would claiming to be the “Son of God” be considered blasphemy and be worthy of a death sentence? The Jewish leaders understood exactly what Jesus meant by the phrase “Son of God.” To be the “Son of God” is to be of the same nature as God. The “Son of God” is “of God.” The claim to be of the same nature as God, to in fact “be God,” was blasphemy to the Jewish leaders; therefore, they demanded Jesus’ death. Hebrews 1:3 expresses this very clearly, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being…”

Another example can be found in John 17:12 where Judas is described as the "son of perdition." John 6:71 tells us that Judas was the son of Simon. What does John 17:12 mean by describing Judas as the "son of perdition"? The word "perdition" means "destruction, ruin, waste." Judas was not the literal son of "ruin, destruction, and waste" - but those things were the identity of Judas' life. Judas was a manifestation of perdition. In this same aspect, Jesus is the Son of God. The Son of God is God. Jesus is God made manifest (John 1:1,14).

Answer 2

Yes highly suspect but saying that I don't believe in the bible
so I suppose I would be slightly biased when it comes to questions referring to it.
Saying that I was highly religious in my younger years and I did wander at that and several other points but as I was religious at the time just thought I needed to pray for a better understanding!
And then I came to see that the bible and religion are man made and that since man is flawed religion and the bible must be and how can something from god be flawed hence my new understanding that the bible and religion are not from or of God and now am much happier person being free from them!

Answer 3

Isaiah 9:6 says the Messiah would be born as a child and would be Mighty God. In the New Testament Jesus tells John that he is the "one to come", the Messiah. 1 Timothy 3:16 says God was manifest in the flesh. Colossians 2:9 says the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus. Philippians 2:5-8 says God took on human form.

Answer 4

Actually, I am not bothered because Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man. This title actually has more theological import in the first century than what Son of God would have had. For instance, the one Old Testament reference to the Son of Man is in Daniel chapter 7 where the Son of Man shares Yahweh's throne, rides on the clouds and judges the earth (thus, this son of man figure resembles a man and is yet on status with Yahweh). Not only does Jesus refer to himself as the Son of Man more than any other title, he quotes from Daniel 7 in his trial before the Sadduccees thereby making a connection between himself and the Son of Man figure who also doubles as a divine figure. Why else would Jesus have the charge of blasphemy? He was blaspheming because he was claiming to be God, not just the Messiah. For more on this please see N.T. Wright "Jesus and the Victory of God" and read the section on the trial of Jesus.

Answer 5

I am not bothered, because when Jesus asked Peter who Peter thought He was, Peter replied,"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus said, "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but the Spirit of God." Many references to the coming of Christ such as the Angel telling Mary that she would bear a Child, and He shall be called Emmanuel, which translates "God with us." No other Prophet came back from the dead after three days in the tomb, and was witnessed by thousands.

Answer 6

The Father declared Jesus to be the Son.
Mr 1:11
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Jesus Declared Himself to be the Son of God and also God by...
Mark 14:61-62
But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Luke 22:70
They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied, "You are right in saying I am."
In using the name of "I am" Jesus is calling himself the Most High God.
Ex 3:14
God said to Moses, "~I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: '~I am has sent me to you.'"


Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ (The Son of God)
Luke 9:20
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

The demons declared it.
Mr 3:11
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."

Answer 7

Christ may never have never declared himself as the Son of God. He did, though, often say that God was His father. I think that in saying "it's you who say I am" He was still offering the choice to believe or not. Neither God nor Jesus can ever be said to have forced anyone to believe. God said "I am" and "this is my son". That's why faith is called faith. Christians do not need to physically witness miracles on the street every day. We believe....

Answer 8

Jesus is the Son of God in the Spirit realm. On earth He declared Himself to be son of man. And He did say that He was sent by the Father.

Answer 9

If Jesus, prior to his death, had ever publicly and definitively stated that he was God, then Satan might well have realized that he was exactly who he seemed to be, and prevented the Jews and the Romans from putting Jesus to death. In that case, we would all still be trapped in our sins, to this day.

Afterwards, things were different.

Jesus' resurrection ... just as he predicted ... proved that he was exactly who he always said he was.

And afterwards, when (doubting) St. Thomas finally kneeled before him and declared him to be "my Lord and my God" Jesus and all the apostles happily accepted his declaration, without qualification or exception.

The resurrected Jesus clearly stated that he had been given all power in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

Then Jesus gave his apostles the power to forgive sins in his name ... a power that could only come from God.

Finally, after providing the apostles with some 40 days of remedial education, training, and divine revelation, Jesus took his resurrected body back to heaven with him ... in plain sight of all those assembled ... once again clearly demonstrating power and authority reserved to God alone.

Answer 10

When Jesus was baptized a voice was heard from heaven that said: "This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved."

Jesus was on trial because Jesus had already claimed to be the Son of God and the Jewish religious leaders felt that this was blasphemy. It would not have made any difference what Jesus said at his trial, he was on earth to give up his life and that time had arrived.