Simon Brown.

Join me on this journey. Let's seek the truth together! 💡 Proverbs 8:34-36 Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. For whoever finds me finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.” Psalm 84: 11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly. 12 Yahweh of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you. 1 John 5:5 Now who is the one overcoming the world, except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

Tuesday, 8 September 2026

Quick Facts: Who Did They Say Jesus Really Was?

Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons examining who they identified Jesus as in the Bible—the Christ and Son of God.

Bible research image examining the testimony of Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons concerning the identity of Jesus Christ and the repeated biblical title Son of God.

QUICK FACTS: WHO DID THEY SAY JESUS REALLY WAS?

Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the Demons — Did They Call Jesus God, or the Son of God?

Five Remarkable Biblical Witnesses to the Identity of Jesus Christ

Research by Simon Brown

There may be few questions more important in Christianity than:

WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

Millions of Christians today confess that Jesus is God.

Classical Trinitarian Christianity teaches that Jesus is God the Son, the second divine Person of the one God, eternally distinct from the Father while sharing the same divine being.

But when we turn directly to the New Testament, we repeatedly encounter another expression:

THE SON OF GOD.

This raises an important question.

When people in the New Testament were confronted directly with Jesus, how did they identify him?

What did Peter say?

What did Martha say?

What did John the Baptist say?

Even more remarkably, what did Satan and the demons call Jesus?

Did they say:

“You are God”?

Did they say:

“You are God the Son”?

Or do the Gospel writers repeatedly record another confession?

Let's examine five extraordinary biblical witnesses.


Quick Facts poster showing Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons and examining whether they identified Jesus as God or the Son of God.

Detailed Bible research poster examining five remarkable biblical witnesses—Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons—and what they actually said about the identity of Jesus Christ.

WITNESS 1 — WHAT DID PETER SAY JESUS WAS?

Perhaps nowhere is the question more direct than in Matthew 16.

Jesus asked his disciples:

“But who do you say that I am?”
— Matthew 16:15

This is remarkable.

Jesus himself asks for his identity.

Simon Peter answers:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Matthew 16:16

Peter's confession contains two enormously important titles:

THE CHRIST

and:

THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

But what happens next is even more important.

Jesus does not correct Peter.

Instead, he tells him:

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
— Matthew 16:17

According to Jesus, Peter's understanding came from:

THE FATHER.

Therefore we have:

THE FATHER

revealing the identity of:

JESUS

to:

PETER.

And Peter's confession is:

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”


BUT DOES “SON OF GOD” MEAN JESUS CANNOT ALSO BE DIVINE?

We need to be careful here.

A Trinitarian would immediately respond:

“Peter calling Jesus the Son of God does not mean Peter denied Christ's deity.”

That is a fair objection.

Matthew 16:16 does not explicitly say:

“Jesus is not God.”

Therefore, we should not make Peter say something he did not say.

But neither should we make Peter say something else he did not say.

Peter's actual confession is:

“THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

And Jesus accepts and blesses that confession.

That is the biblical evidence before us.


WITNESS 2 — WHAT DID MARTHA BELIEVE?

Now something remarkable happens in John 11.

Lazarus has died.

Martha meets Jesus and says:

“Lord, if You would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
— John 11:21–22

Notice the relationship Martha describes.

Jesus:

ASKS GOD

and:

GOD GIVES TO JESUS.

Jesus then tells Martha:

“I am the resurrection and the life.”
— John 11:25

And asks her directly:

“Do you believe this?”
— John 11:26

This gives Martha a remarkable opportunity to state exactly what she believes about Jesus.

Her answer?

“Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that You are the Christ, God's Son, He who comes into the world.”
— John 11:27

Again, we encounter the same two identities:

THE CHRIST

THE SON OF GOD.

Martha's confession closely parallels Peter's.

Peter:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Martha:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

That is an extraordinary consistency.


MARTHA'S STATEMENT IS EVEN MORE INTERESTING IN CONTEXT

Earlier in John 11, Jesus says concerning Lazarus:

“It is for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it.”
— John 11:4

Again, the passage distinguishes:

GOD

and:

GOD'S SON.

Then Martha says:

“Whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

And finally:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

The entire chapter therefore contains a consistent relational pattern.


WHAT MAKES MARTHA'S CONFESSION ESPECIALLY INTERESTING?

Only shortly before this, in John 10, some of Jesus' opponents accused him:

“Because You, being a man, make Yourself God.”
— John 10:33

Jesus responds by asking:

“Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
— John 10:36

Then, in the very next chapter, Martha confesses:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

We should be cautious about claiming Martha was deliberately answering the controversy of John 10—the Gospel does not tell us that.

But John's literary sequence is nevertheless striking:

JOHN 10:36

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

Then:

JOHN 11:27

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”

Jesus' self-description and Martha's confession correspond remarkably closely.


WITNESS 3 — WHAT DID JOHN THE BAPTIST SAY?

John the Baptist provides another exceptionally important witness.

John was not an insignificant character.

Jesus himself said:

“Among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”
— Matthew 11:11

John witnessed something extraordinary at Jesus' baptism.

He says:

“I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on Him.”
— John 1:32

John explains that God had told him:

“He on whom you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”
— John 1:33

Then John gives his testimony:

“I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
— John 1:34

Once again:

THE SON OF GOD.

John also famously calls Jesus:

“The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
— John 1:29

Notice the relationship expressed by that title:

THE LAMB OF GOD.

John's testimony therefore identifies Jesus as:

THE LAMB OF GOD

and:

THE SON OF GOD.


NOW THE EVIDENCE TAKES A SURPRISING TURN

Peter was Jesus' apostle.

Martha was Jesus' friend and follower.

John was God's prophet who prepared the way for the Messiah.

All three identify Jesus as:

THE SON OF GOD.

But what about Jesus' enemies?

This is where the evidence becomes fascinating.


WITNESS 4 — WHAT DID SATAN CALL JESUS?

During Jesus' temptation, Satan says:

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
— Matthew 4:3

Then again:

“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down…”
— Matthew 4:6

Twice Satan addresses Jesus as:

THE SON OF GOD.

Why doesn't Satan say:

“If You are God…”?

That is an interesting question.

However, we should not turn an argument from silence into absolute proof.

What we can say with certainty is what the biblical text actually records.

And what Satan says is:

“IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD…”


BUT NOTICE SOMETHING ELSE IN THE TEMPTATION

Jesus responds to Satan:

“You shall not test the Lord your God.”
— Matthew 4:7

And later:

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”
— Matthew 4:10

Jesus is quoting Scripture.

The temptation narrative therefore contains both expressions:

JESUS — THE SON OF GOD

and:

THE LORD YOUR GOD.

A Trinitarian will understand Jesus' quotations consistently with Christ's deity.

A Biblical Unitarian will understand Jesus as quoting commands concerning the God whom Israel worships.

The passage itself does not stop to formulate either later theological system.

But it unquestionably records Satan addressing Jesus as:

“THE SON OF GOD.”


WITNESS 5 — WHAT DID THE DEMONS CALL JESUS?

Now we reach perhaps the strangest witnesses of all.

When Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men in Matthew 8, the demons cried:

“What do we have to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
— Matthew 8:29

Again:

SON OF GOD.

They clearly recognise Jesus' extraordinary authority.

They know judgment awaits them.

They know Jesus possesses authority over them.

Yet the title recorded in the account is:

“JESUS, SON OF GOD.”

And this is not unique to Matthew.

Mark records the unclean spirits crying:

“You are the Son of God!”
— Mark 3:11

Luke records demons crying:

“You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
— Luke 4:41

Now the pattern becomes difficult to miss.


FIVE WITNESSES — ONE REPEATED IDENTIFICATION

Place the evidence together.

PETER:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

MARTHA:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

JOHN THE BAPTIST:

“This is the Son of God.”

SATAN:

“If You are the Son of God…”

THE DEMONS:

“Jesus, Son of God…”

These witnesses could hardly be more different.

An apostle.

A faithful woman who loved Jesus.

A prophet.

Satan.

Demons.

Yet the Gospel accounts repeatedly place the same title upon their lips:

THE SON OF GOD.


AND JESUS HIMSELF USES THE SAME IDENTIFICATION

This makes the pattern even more significant.

Jesus says:

“I said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
— John 10:36

So now we can add Jesus himself.

PETER — SON OF GOD

MARTHA — SON OF GOD

JOHN THE BAPTIST — SON OF GOD

SATAN — SON OF GOD

THE DEMONS — SON OF GOD

JESUS — “I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

But there is still another witness we should consider.


WHAT DID GOD HIMSELF SAY?

At Jesus' baptism, the voice from heaven declares:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
— Matthew 3:17

At the Transfiguration:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
— Matthew 17:5

Therefore, we can add:

GOD — “MY SON.”

This is precisely the question examined in my newer investigation:

QUICK FACTS: DID GOD EVER SAY JESUS WAS GOD?

READ THE FULL COMPANION ARTICLE:

https://wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-god-ever-say-jesus-was-god.html

That investigation examines God's declarations concerning Jesus, Jesus' statements concerning his Father, Hebrews 1:8–9, John 17:3, John 20:17, Revelation 3:12, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:5 and other important passages.


BUT DOES THIS PROVE JESUS CANNOT BE CALLED “GOD” ANYWHERE?

NO.

This is an important correction to the argument in some of my older articles.

There are New Testament passages in which the Greek word theos — God is applied, or arguably applied, to Jesus.

Important examples in the debate include:

JOHN 20:28

HEBREWS 1:8

TITUS 2:13

2 PETER 1:1

and other passages.

Some involve grammatical, contextual or textual questions, while others present stronger arguments for applying the title directly to Jesus.

Therefore, the argument should not be:

“Nobody ever uses the word God concerning Jesus.”

That would be too broad.

Nor should we argue:

“Because somebody called Jesus the Son of God, that automatically proves Jesus cannot possess any divine status.”

A Trinitarian could rightly challenge that reasoning.

Instead, the stronger question is:

WHAT IDENTITY DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT PRESENT AS THE CENTRAL CONFESSION OF FAITH IN JESUS?

And here the evidence becomes much stronger.


JOHN TELLS US WHY HE WROTE HIS GOSPEL

After everything John records about Jesus—including the signs, the “I am” sayings, the controversies, Thomas' confession and the resurrection—John explains his purpose:

“But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
— John 20:31

This is extraordinarily important.

John does not merely tell us what Peter believed.

Or what Martha believed.

Or what John the Baptist believed.

He tells his readers what they themselves are intended to believe:

JESUS IS THE CHRIST

THE SON OF GOD.

And:

“That believing you may have life in His name.”


JOHN SAYS IT AGAIN IN HIS FIRST LETTER

John writes:

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.”
— 1 John 4:15

And:

“Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
— 1 John 5:5

Again, the confession is:

JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

That is not an insignificant title.

It stands at the heart of John's presentation of Christian faith.


WHAT DID THE APOSTLES PREACH?

The same pattern appears in Acts.

Immediately after Saul's conversion:

“Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that He is the Son of God.”
— Acts 9:20

Peter preached:

“God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
— Acts 2:36

And Peter says:

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus…”
— Acts 5:30

The apostolic proclamation repeatedly distinguishes:

GOD

from:

JESUS, HIS CHRIST AND SON.

That distinction does not by itself answer every later question about Christology.

But it must be taken seriously.


WHAT ABOUT PETER'S OTHER WRITINGS?

This is particularly important because 2 Peter 1:1 is frequently used in the debate.

Some translations render it:

“Our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Grammatically, this is a strong and legitimate reading of the Greek, and many scholars understand the phrase as applying both titles—God and Savior—to Jesus.

Therefore, we should not simply claim that Peter could never have used theos of Jesus because Matthew 16:16 calls him the Son of God.

Those are separate questions.

The stronger argument is that Peter's confession in Matthew 16 explicitly identifies Jesus as:

“THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

Any interpretation of 2 Peter 1:1 must therefore be considered alongside the wider biblical evidence rather than dismissed because of Matthew 16.

That keeps our investigation accurate and allows us to examine all the evidence.


WHAT ABOUT JOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARING “THE WAY OF YAHWEH”?

There is another important objection that deserves consideration.

Isaiah prophesied:

“Prepare the way of YHWH…”
— Isaiah 40:3

The Gospels apply this prophecy to John preparing the way for Jesus.

Trinitarians therefore argue that this identifies Jesus with YHWH.

That is a serious argument and should not simply be ignored.

However, prophetic agency must also be considered: God's coming, rule and salvation can be manifested through the Messiah whom He sends.

And John's own explicit testimony concerning Jesus remains:

“I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
— John 1:34

Therefore, Isaiah 40:3 deserves careful investigation rather than being allowed to override John's explicit confession without examination.


SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS ACTUALLY PROVE?

Not that the title:

“SON OF GOD”

is a magic phrase that automatically disproves every possible understanding of Jesus' deity.

That would be too simplistic.

What this evidence establishes is something more precise:

THE NEW TESTAMENT REPEATEDLY PRESENTS “THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD” AS A CENTRAL IDENTITY AND CONFESSION OF JESUS.

And it does so through an extraordinary range of witnesses.

Peter says it.

Martha says it.

John the Baptist says it.

Satan uses the title.

Demons use the title.

Jesus uses it concerning himself.

God calls Jesus His Son.

John tells his readers to believe it.

And John says that believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, leads to life in his name.


THEN WHO IS THE GOD OF JESUS?

This is where the wider biblical evidence becomes especially important.

After his resurrection, Jesus says:

“I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.”
— John 20:17

The glorified Jesus later says repeatedly:

“My God.”
— Revelation 3:12

Paul writes:

“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6

And:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus himself prayed to his Father:

“This is eternal life, that they should know You, the only true God, and Him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3

This is why the repeated title Son of God matters so much within the larger biblical picture.


GOD AND HIS SON

The Bible does not present Jesus as insignificant.

Far from it.

Jesus is:

THE CHRIST.

THE SON OF GOD.

THE LORD.

THE SAVIOR.

THE LAMB OF GOD.

THE MEDIATOR.

THE ONE THROUGH WHOM GOD GIVES ETERNAL LIFE.

THE ONE GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD.

THE ONE EXALTED TO GOD'S RIGHT HAND.

THE ONE TO WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN AUTHORITY.

THE ONE THROUGH WHOM WE COME TO THE FATHER.

The question is not whether Jesus is glorious.

He unquestionably is.

The question is:

WHO DOES SCRIPTURE SAY HE IS?


FIVE OLD QUESTIONS — ONE MUCH BIGGER ANSWER

These five investigations were originally written separately.

One asked:

Did Peter believe Jesus was God?

Another:

Did the Devil believe Jesus was God?

Another:

What did the demons call Jesus?

Another:

What did Martha believe?

And another:

What did John the Baptist believe?

But when we place them together, they become much more powerful.

The question is no longer merely:

“What did this individual call Jesus?”

Instead, we discover a repeated New Testament pattern.

PETER:

THE CHRIST — THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

MARTHA:

THE CHRIST — THE SON OF GOD.

JOHN THE BAPTIST:

THE SON OF GOD.

SATAN:

THE SON OF GOD.

THE DEMONS:

THE SON OF GOD.

JESUS:

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

GOD:

“MY BELOVED SON.”

JOHN'S PURPOSE FOR HIS GOSPEL:

“THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”

That cumulative pattern deserves far more attention than any one of these passages considered in isolation.


FINAL CONCLUSION

After returning to these five studies many years later and examining them together, I believe their strongest argument is not that the words “Son of God” automatically mean “not divine.”

Nor is it that no New Testament passage can ever apply the word God to Jesus.

The biblical evidence is more complicated than that, and a serious investigation should acknowledge the difficult passages rather than hide them.

The stronger conclusion is this:

When the New Testament repeatedly asks, reveals or confesses who Jesus is, the answer given again and again is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This confession comes from Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and even supernatural opponents who recognise him. God calls Jesus His beloved Son, and John explicitly says his Gospel was written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believing have life in his name.

For me, this must be the starting point for understanding Jesus.

Not a later creed.

Not a theological label imposed upon the text.

But the confession preserved in Scripture:

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

— Matthew 16:16

And:

“THESE ARE WRITTEN, THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, AND THAT BELIEVING YOU MAY HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.”

— John 20:31

Research by Simon Brown


RELATED RESEARCH

QUICK FACTS: DID GOD EVER SAY JESUS WAS GOD?

This companion investigation examines what God Himself says about Jesus, together with Jesus' own statements concerning his Father and some of the most important passages used in the Trinity debate.

READ ARTICLE:

https://wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-god-ever-say-jesus-was-god.html

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