Did Jesus Deny Being Divine?

Earlier in the semester, some students had asked me about the apparent discrepancy between the synoptic gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke) accounts of Jesus’ trial before the Jewish officials. The question arose from the fact that in each gospel account of the Jewish Council asking Jesus, “are you the Son of God,” a different answer is recorded. Mark records Jesus simply responding with the affirmative “I am” (Mark 14:62). Matthew and Luke, however, record a seemingly ambiguous response by Jesus. Matthew’s account has Jesus replying, “you have said so” (26:64) while Luke has Jesus simply state, “you say that I am” (24:70). So the question of whether Jesus resisted identifying himself as divine in two accounts while boldly proclaiming an affirmation in another account was presented.


We hear the words, “you have said so” as a statement that at least dodges the question at hand and at most presents a puzzling detachment from committing to assenting. Nevertheless, this term was an idiom of the time that effectively meant “the answer should not need to be given except that it had been asked.” In other words, the answer is so obvious that question need not even be presented. It is by no means a denial of an affirmation, nor is it a calculated ambiguity. It is a round-about way of essential stating, “I am.” Elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus previously uses this same term when Judas Iscariot asks, “is it I, Master?” in response to Jesus’ revelation that a traitor was amongst them who would betray the Son of Man. At Judas’ inquiry, “is it I, Master,” Jesus responds with the same phrase - “you have said so.” (26:25) In this entire episode, Jesus presents himself as very aware that Judas (specifically) would betray him, and when pressed by the betrayer himself to identify him as such, he replies in a manner that is even more condemning than merely stating, “yes, Judas, it is you.” Instead, he states, “you have said so” – the answer is so obvious that the question does not even need to be asked. Jesus, then, uses this phrase in a like manner when before the Jewish Council in this same chapter.

So, then, there is no true discrepancy between these gospel accounts. Matthew’s “you have said so” is effectively the “I am” in Mark, presented in a different way. Luke’s “you say that I am” corresponds to this same idiom, especially since it is at this very declaration that the Council declares that they need no further testimony against him, for “we have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” (22:70-71) By their reaction, the Council had certainly heard an assertion of divinity in those words, rather than a baulk. So, “did Jesus affirm his divine identity in all three gospel accounts?” you ask. You have said so.