Who Did Jesus Say He Was? The Answer Is More Surprising Than You Think

(Editorial note: This post was adapted from the sermon manuscript and transcript written and preached by Pastor Chris on Sunday, June 21, 2026 with the assistance of AI.)

Most people have a sense of who Jesus was. Gentle teacher. Moral example. The one who died for our sins. Depending on your background, you might reach for words like Lord, Savior, or Son of God. All of those are words the church has used about Jesus for two thousand years.

But they raise an important question: what did Jesus actually call himself?

The answer is more specific, and more surprising, than most people expect.

The Title Jesus Preferred

If you read through the Gospels looking for Jesus's own words about himself, a pattern emerges quickly. His favorite title was not Son of God. It was not Messiah, Lord, or Savior. He called himself the Son of Man, and he used that phrase more than any other when talking about who he was.

The phrase is not random. It comes from the seventh chapter of Daniel, where a human figure rides into the presence of God on the clouds of heaven and is given an everlasting kingdom. He does not just serve at God's side. He shares the throne. When Jesus called himself the Son of Man, he was pointing to that figure and saying: that is me.

The clearest moment comes when Jesus is on trial before the religious leaders. They ask him directly whether he is the Messiah, the Son of God. His answer: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One, coming on the clouds of heaven. He quotes Daniel 7 to his accusers. At his own trial. The implication is impossible to miss.

Who Did Jesus Say He Was?

Beyond the title, Jesus also talked about his mission. Early in his ministry, he stood in a synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah: the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. Then he sat down and told the crowd: today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. This was a passage his listeners associated with the coming Messiah. Jesus looked at his hometown crowd and said, that is me.

When John the Baptist later sent followers to ask Jesus directly whether he was the one they had been waiting for, Jesus did not give a yes or no. He pointed to the evidence. Go tell John what you see, he said. The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The dead are raised. Look at the work.

He never said the words "I am the Messiah." He just kept pointing to what was happening and let people draw their own conclusions. It is a more interesting move than a direct declaration. Evidence is harder to dismiss than a claim.

What Those Who Knew Him Best Said

Jesus's own words are not the only evidence. Some of the most important testimony about who he was comes from the people who actually spent time with him.

John, one of his closest disciples, opens his gospel with words that leave nothing to the imagination. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He writes about Jesus before recording a single story or miracle. He wants the reader to know who they are dealing with first. This Word, John says, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The Son of God, the Word of God, God incarnate.

Peter, another of Jesus's closest followers, arrived at a similar conclusion. When Jesus asked his disciples who they believed he was, Peter was the first to answer: you are the Messiah. Jesus did not correct him.

These were not people making theological arguments from a distance. They had spent years with Jesus, traveled with him, watched him up close. Their conclusions carry the weight of eyewitness testimony.

What "God Incarnate" Actually Means

One phrase that comes up in this conversation is "God incarnate." It is a theological term that can feel abstract, but its meaning is straightforward: God became flesh in Jesus. He came, took on human form, and walked among his people.

That is the claim John makes in his opening lines. Not that Jesus was inspired by God, or that he represented God, or that he pointed toward God. But that God himself entered human history as a person, with a name and a hometown and a face people could look at.

Jesus of Nazareth was God, walking around the ancient world, teaching and preaching and calling people to follow him. He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. And then, as the Gospels describe it, he returned to his Father's side.

Why This Question Still Matters

Understanding who Jesus said he was changes how a person reads everything else about his life. It changes what it means that he healed people, that he forgave sins, that he called people to follow him. It gives new weight to John 3:16, a verse many people know by heart but few have fully absorbed: for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

That verse is not just a warm sentiment. It is a statement about who the Son is: the Son of Man, the seed of David, the Son of God incarnate. The one the Father sent to fix what was broken and offer life again.

This post is part of an ongoing series on the Triune God, working through who the Father, the Son, and the Spirit each are and how they work together. The goal is not just to understand doctrine, but to know more fully the God Christians follow and worship.

Jesus is worth taking seriously on his own terms, beginning with the question he himself kept returning to: who do you say I am?

[Watch the full sermon here.]