Did Jesus consider himself the Son of God?

The examination of the Devil's temptation of Jesus shows that when the Devil said, "If thou art the Son of God" (ASV) Jesus did not deny that he was this. Then when he talks about entering the kingdom of God, it is important to realize a small detail. Jesus here says " he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. " Why did Jesus not use the same wording he used when he taught us to pray? There he said "Our Father . . ."

The last case Jesus taught us how to address God. We are not God's only-begotten Son; thus, we need to use the respectful address of "Our Father" or perhaps 'Heavenly Father.' In the first case, Jesus is addressing God himself, and here we see that he says not Our Father but my Father. This confirms with Jesus' own words this relationship.

Also, in Matthew 8:28-33, Jesus doesn't deny it when he is called the son of God. Instead he demonstrates the authority that such a son of God would have by dismissing the demons and sending them forth into the pigs. Right after this, he makes another demonstration of his God-given authority by telling someone "your sins are forgiven" (9:5) and then calls himself "son of man."

For the record, Jesus also described himself as 'son of man' in several places. This also ties into OT prophecies. Daniel chapter seven shows this son of man being given the kingdom. We can then understand that God's appointed king is both son of man, son of God, Christ, and a variety of other titles. Again, the harmony of the entire Bible is obvious. Those that object because of what the Qur'an claims should take note of this harmony. Such harmony cannot exist throughout the Bible if what the Qur'an claims is true.

 All things have been delivered unto me of my Father:
and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father;
neither doth any know the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.
(Matthew 11:27, ASV) 

Mark 14:61, . . . Again the high priest asked him, and saith unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (ASV)

Thus there is no doubt as to what Jesus himself said. Let those that believe Islam know that salvation is impossible without accepting Jesus' own message and the Bible's. Even his closest disciples, the apostles, believed this.  Twice, God himself spoke those words!

33And, they in the boat, bowed down to him, saying—Truly, God’s Son, thou art! (Matthew 14:33)

And, Simon Peter, answering, said—Thou, art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 17And Jesus, answering, said to him—Happy, art thou, Simon Bar-yona,—because, flesh and blood, revealed it not unto thee, but my Father who is in the heavens. (Matthew 16:17, Rotherham)

While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (Matthew 17:5, ASV) 

Matthew 16:17, From that time, began Jesus Christ to be pointing out to his disciples that he must needs, into Jerusalem, go away, and, many things, suffer, from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain,—and on, the third day, arise. (Rotherham)

004.157 That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
Al-Qur'an, 004.157 (An-Nisa [Women])

Matthew 17:22, And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men; 23and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised up. And they were exceeding sorry.

Matthew 20:18, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, 19and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify: and the third day he shall be raised up. (ASV)

Again, Jesus personally and repeatedly together with all the Bible testify to Jesus' need to become the sacrificial Lamb that had to be killed, and, again, God's enemy is subverting believers to a wrong message.

Did God and Christ mean for the nations to become fellow servants of Jesus? Jesus said here in 12:21, " And in his name shall the Gentiles hope." In this way we may rest content and secure in the knowledge that Christians were given. Salvation in Christ beckons both Jew and Gentile.

What about this though?

Matthew 15:24, But he answered and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (ASV)

Matthew 10:5, These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (ASV)

Jesus did come in the flesh to save as many, a remnant, of the Israelite nation as he possibly could before it was too late. That is why until his death, that was his primary field and work. It was necessary that an effort was put forth to gather as many before the Law Covenant became obsolete.

Jesus stated this fact several times. The quotes below tell the tale.

Matthew 21:43, Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust. (ASV)

Matthew 23:37,38, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Matthew 15:8,9, This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.

I Peter 2:9,10, But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (ASV)

Ephesians 2:12, That ye were, in that season, separate from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and godless in the world; 13But, just now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who at one time were afar off, were made nigh in the blood of the Christ. (Rotherham)

From these verses, it becomes obvious that the holy nation of God is the Christian nation of spiritual Israelites. The verification above then comes from Jesus himself and from his appointed disciples, even from the OT since that is what Peter quotes.

What kind of Laws did Jesus intent for us to keep? He did say that some would be done away with by stating, "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. " (Matt 5:18 ASV)

However, Jesus did say something to cause us to pause. What am I talking about?

Matthew 5: 19, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

There are two keys to this. One is given when we keep reading from that verse and see what Jesus meant; he explains himself below. Until the end of the chapter, Jesus keeps telling us how to be perfect and to obey the commandments. Later on when conversing with a young man, Jesus gives us another key, it is quoted below:

1st key: Matthew 22:37, And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.

John 14:15, If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.

Jesus said something eyeopening in Luke 16:16

2nd key: the law and the prophets are till John; since then the reign of God is proclaimed good news, and every one doth press into it . . . (YLT)

That sentence has three parts:

A. By Jesus own mouth, the Law and the prophets are until John the Baptist. This of course refers to John's generation which included Jesus' own. Thus when Jesus died, as Paul shows, the Law Covenant came to an end.

B. from John's time on, in fact while he still lived, the Kingdom of God was preached as the Good News.

C. Every one presses into it – refers to what Paul teaches; namely, that upon Jesus death the two peoples, the Gentiles and the Jews, became united in one nation, the spiritual Israel under God, God's nation.

Romans 13:9, Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. 9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 10Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfilment of the law. (ASV)

James 2:8, Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 9but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point , he is become guilty of all. 11For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty. 13For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment. (ASV)

Romans 10:4, For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth. (ASV)

Hebrews 8:13, In saying, Of a new sort, he hath made obsolete, the first; but, the thing that is becoming obsolete and aged, is near, disappearing! (Rotherham)

Luke 18:31-33, Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. (KJV)

Remember what Jesus said earlier? "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, "till all things be accomplished."  In Luke quoted above Jesus tells us that all these things have been accomplished." Thus it is time for the Law Covenant to pass away!

The message is not really difficult, though some want to make it so because of personal beliefs in either the Jewish or the Islamic systems, or other such.

Thus the message is that murder, theft, adultery and such serious crimes have always been forbidden by the Christian teachings. Paul states this in no uncertain terms below.

I Corinthians 6:9,10, Or know ye not that, wrong-doers, shall not inherit, God’s kingdom? Be not deceiving yourselves:—neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners—shall inherit, God’s kingdom. 11And, these things, were some of you; but ye bathed them away,—but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 4:9, Whereas, now, having acknowledged God,—or rather, having been acknowledged by God, how turn ye back again unto the weak and beggarly elementary principles, unto which, over again, ye are wishing, to come into servitude? 10Days, ye do narrowly observer, and months, and seasons, and years:— 11I am afraid of you—lest by any means, in vain, I should have toiled for you! (Rotherham)

Colossians 2:16, Let no one, therefore, be judging, you,—in eating and in drinking, or in respect of feast, or new moon, or sabbath,— 17Which are a shadow of the things to come, whereas, the body, is of the Christ. (Rotherham)

Romans 2:28, For, not he who is one in appearance, is a Jew, nor is, that which is such in appearance in flesh, circumcision; 29But, he who is one in secret, is a Jew,—and, that is , circumcision, which is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter,—whose, praise, is not of men, but of God. (Rotherham)

Hebrews 7:27,28, who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. 28For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, perfected for evermore. (ASV)

The above scriptures show what the difference is. The Christian needs not concern himself with the observance of any festivals, the Sabbath or such. Only the annual Lord's supper is to be observed as a must.

Another point is about food and what constitutes clean food. God revealed to Peter and to Paul that there are no restrictions on meat, except for the obvious one – human meat, and the stipulated restrictions, meat from strangled animals and blood must not be eaten.

Finally, the Christian does not have to have priests sacrificing animals for sin offerings or to be circumcised; his circumcision is of the heart , his or hers is a true circumcision, not of the flesh, superficial, skin deep.

All, the usual that love for neighbor demands must be obeyed. Also, the wrongs listed in several places such as shown in I Cor 6:9,10 are to be avoided. These commands are what Jesus want those of us under the Law of Faith to obey.