Matthew 10:18, Is Jesus God?

//In the great debate over whether Jesus is God, this verse is key. It takes some pretty creative manipulation to come to any conclusion other than that Jesus claims not to be God. Which is not to say that Trinitarians don’t manipulate the verse; they assume Jesus is teasing his audience, inviting them to understand that he is good and therefore is God. In fact, Trinitarians see evidence all over the New Testament that Jesus is God, just as non-Trinitarians see evidence all over the N.T. that Jesus is not. Quite often in the very same verses.

So, the debate continues, as mainstream Christians continue to embrace the Trinity while many other groups on the fringes of Christianity do not. Note that these groups never deny the divinity of Jesus, they simply don’t assume it, or don’t equate Jesus with God Himself, because the scripture isn’t clear. Better to leave it a mystery.

In my opinion, the scripture is clear on both counts. This is one verse of many that indicates Jesus is not God, while others (such as John 1:1 and John 1:14, when put together) indicate that Jesus is God. There is only one logical conclusion I can draw, but it’s a conclusion that somehow endears me to neither the Trinitarians nor the anti-Trinitarians: different Bible writers held different opinions. John thought Jesus was God in the flesh, but it never crossed the mind of Mark or Matthew. I guess it’s normal for people today to hold contradictory theological opinions, but it wasn’t OK 2,000 years ago?