But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Matthew 26:63-66 ESV

Perhaps the greatest Muslim missionary/apologist/polemicist of all time was the late Ahmed Deedat from South Africa. He is famous for introducing the “exact words” argument against the divinity of Jesus. It goes like this: “Show me one verse in the Bible where Jesus says, ‘I am God, worship me’… in those exact words.” Implied in this conditional statement is “If you can’t find those exact words, then Jesus isn’t God.” A cursory examination shows this to be a fallacious argument, and yet it is still widely used by novice and experienced Muslim apologists alike. Apparently, Muslims demand blunt statements regarding their deities. While Jesus uttered no such exact quote in the New Testament, it would be fair to reframe the question as “Did Jesus ever plainly say that he was God and deserved our worship?” Continue reading →