Did the New Testament writers think that Jesus is God?

Ever had a visit from a Jehovah Witness on a Saturday morning? I have several and each time I do try to engage them in conversation. They will often tried to convince me from the scripture that Jesus is not God. Are they right? Have we in fact misunderstood the Bible? One difficulty we have is that the word Trinity does not exist in Bible. So does that mean Jehovah Witnesses are right. Well yes the word Trinity does not exists in the Bible but you don't need to dig very deep into the Bible to realize that Jesus quite forthrightly states that he and the Father are one. When we are reading the Bible we cannot allow the Jehovah Witness to manipulate the scripture to support their view about Jesus. Rather I found it helpful to see people's reaction to Jesus proclamation. Let the scripture speak for itself.

Firstly, let us consider how Jesus' supporter see Jesus. In chapter 9 of John's Gospel, Jesus healed a man born blind. The Pharisees want to discredit Jesus because he healed the blind man on the Sabbath. John recorded that Jesus caught with the previously blinded man after the Pharisees had rejected the miracle. In verse 35, Jesus asked if the previously blind man believe in the Son of Man. Jesus go on to tell the man that he is the Son of Man. According to many English translations (King James, New International Version) of the original Greek text, when man find that Jesus is the Son of Man, the man worshiped Jesus. The Jehovah Witness Bible use the word obeisance which is only an expression of respect or homage. In fact, In Matthew 28:17

NIV has:

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Interestingly, Jehovah's Witnesses Bible has in v17:

17 and when they saw him they did obeisance, but some doubted.

In both cases, the original Greek word used is prosekynēsan which can mean two things:

1. to do reverence or homage by prostration
2. to pay divine homage, worship, adore

Note that this same Greek word also appear in v9 of the same chapter where Mary Magdalene and the other Mary met the risen Jesus.

Could the Jehovah's Witnesses translation be right? The women have just met the risen Jesus, did they merely paid homage to someone who had just risen from the dead? Verse 17 is even more interesting when we ask who were the ones that doubted. From the other Gospels we know that by this point the disciples had already seen the resurrected Jesus. Therefore they weren't doubting that this was the risen Christ. Could it be that they were doubting whether it was OK to worship Jesus (Deuteronomy 6:4)?

But in all three cases mentioned:

1. The man born blind
2. The women who met the risen Jesus
3. The disciples who see Jesus ascension to heaven

If the Jehovah's Witnesses are right then Jesus must in every instance order his disciples to stop worshiping but he did not. One Jehovah's Witness said to me that perhaps the Gospel writers did not record it. But that is not true because the word prosekynēsan was again used in Acts 10:25-26. Here's Jehovah's Witness translation:25 As Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet and did obeisance to him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying: “Rise; I myself am also a man.”

Clearly, Peter considered Cornelius' "obedisance" is not merely homage. Peter saw Cornelius' action as one of worship! More importantly Peter proceeded to stop Cornelius from worshiping him. Jesus not stop the previously blind man, the women nor his disciples from "obedisance" him.

Finally, how did Jesus detractors react to Jesus' claims. For this we can look at Jesus healing of a paralyzed man in Matthew Chapter 9. Jesus said to the paralyzed man:

“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” and then go on to heal the man. More interestingly, Matthew recorded that the teachers of the law thought Jesus was blaspheming! This is because only God can forgive sins.

From the recorded reactions of Jesus contemporary, the only correct understanding is that Jesus is truly man and truly God.

P.S.

Another interesting passage is Isaiah 42 - the Servant of the LORD (Yahweh). Consider in particular 42:8

“I am the Lord; that is my name!
    I will not yield my glory to another
    or my praise to idols. "

Yet in John 17, Jesus asked the Father to glorify him, in particular Jesus prayed this:


⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Even the Witness' NWT has:

5 So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.

Surely this is only possible and if Jesus is also Jehovah. The same being but a different person! 

In John 8, particularly 8:58 the NIV has:

⁵⁸ “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

This was in the context that Abraham has seen him and the Jews complaining how they could be possible when Jesus (to them) is not yet 50.

Even the NWT has:

58 Jesus said to them: “Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.”

This passage in itself doesn't mean anything. A loony can say the same thing. However, the telling part is verse 59 where the NIV has:

⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.







   
Wouldn't this be a bit drastic if such a claim is from a loony, obviously the Jews didn't think Jesus is a loony. They want to stone Jesus for blasphemy because the they recognize they Jesus is claiming equality with the Father.