Jesus Claims Equality with the Father

When the Jewish leaders began to conspire to kill Jesus because he was claiming equality with God, Jesus addressed them, but not to apologize, clarify, or defend himself. No. Jesus began to speak of the many ways in which he was equal with the Father, and to appeal to the witnesses of this truth. This puts us in a difficult predicament. We must decide if Jesus was truly equal to the Father, and therefore God in the flesh, or if Jesus was exaggerating, lying, or mad. Unless he was truly equal to the Father, the Jewish authorities would be in the right to have him killed - it was a capital crime. What will we judge? Interestingly, our decision on the issue will not matter concerning Jesus' death penalty, but it will matter concerning our own.