Who was Jesus? Once again, the question cannot be answered with certainty but so much evidence can be amassed in support of a particular answer that a final step of faith is small and guided as opposed to large and blind.
Let us begin by trying to find out who Jesus claimed to be. Based on Chapter 8, "who he claimed to be" was accurately recorded in the New Testament autographs. Based on Chapter 7 we can learn the content of these autographs using the Greek text derived from more than 5000 manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Finally, if we consult a translation faithful to the Greek text, we are not even required to learn Greek.
The fifth chapter of John tells us Jesus broke the fourth commandment by healing a man on the Sabbath; He then encouraged this man to likewise violate the Sabbath by telling him to pick up his bed and carry it away. When confronted by the Jews, Jesus said He was working because his Father was working. To the Jews, this meant Jesus was making himself equal with God.
In the eighth chapter of John, Jesus claimed to have existed as a person since before Abraham was born.
The tenth chapter of John indicates Jesus claimed to be one with the Father; the Jews understood this to mean Jesus was making himself out to be God.
When Jesus appeared to "doubting" Thomas, as recorded in the twentieth chapter of John, Thomas addressed him as God; Jesus accepted this greeting.
Jesus healed a paralytic in the second chapter of Mark but, before the physical healing, He forgave the man's sins. Scribes in the audience asked themselves, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
In the fourteenth chapter of Mark, the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God. Jesus replied, "I am."
These examples show who Jesus claimed to be; Jesus claimed to be God! He was executed, not for any crime against man, but for something that would be blasphemy if not true. Was the claim of Jesus true or false?
This question will be addressed with the help of the generic two level logic tree in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Generic two level logic tree.
The statements located at branch tips are A, B, and nB. The fact that one and only one of these three statements must be true can be seen by: (1) assigning "false" to any group of two and deducing the value of the third and (2) assigning "true" to any one of the three and deducing the values of the other two:
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A = 0
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